WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

00:01:56.689 --> 00:01:57.749
I guess.

00:01:57.749 --> 00:02:01.670
Most of this island, there are … let me
back up.

00:02:01.670 --> 00:02:03.200
There are two types of residences here.

00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:05.659
A summer residence and it does look like someone
is here.

00:02:05.659 --> 00:02:08.690
So I will say hi to those guys on our way
past.

00:02:08.690 --> 00:02:13.129
But yeah don’t wander into their houses
please, uh, and we shouldn’t need to because

00:02:13.129 --> 00:02:15.640
most of this island belongs to the national
park.

00:02:15.640 --> 00:02:16.780
Which means, it belongs to who?

00:02:16.780 --> 00:02:17.780
Us.

00:02:17.780 --> 00:02:18.780
You.

00:02:18.780 --> 00:02:21.560
As a US citizen or a visitor from another
country, we welcome you today.

00:02:21.560 --> 00:02:22.560
That’s awesome.

00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:23.840
That allows us to come here.

00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:28.460
So, then my plan is we are going to walk up
the Main street, I’m going to try to keep

00:02:28.460 --> 00:02:31.730
it, uh, as succinct as possible for you guys.

00:02:31.730 --> 00:02:34.849
But I want you to get a feel for the life
of this early family here.

00:02:34.849 --> 00:02:35.849
So we will probably do three stops.

00:02:35.849 --> 00:02:36.849
OK?

00:02:36.849 --> 00:02:40.830
And then when were done there I’m going
to send you guys all out to the dance floor.

00:02:40.830 --> 00:02:41.830
OK?

00:02:41.830 --> 00:02:43.520
Now, the first boat, we already talked about
this.

00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:47.310
Matt’s going to meet us back here at eleven
forty.

00:02:47.310 --> 00:02:50.230
Second boat, I’ll probably bring most of
us together, make sure that we all get out

00:02:50.230 --> 00:02:51.230
of here together.

00:02:51.230 --> 00:02:54.184
But yeah…we got to meet back here at eleven
forty, and the dance floor it takes us about

00:02:54.184 --> 00:02:57.329
fifteen minutes of hiking to get back here
to, uh, meet him.

00:02:57.329 --> 00:03:00.819
So we just wanna make sure we hold them to
their schedule.

00:03:00.819 --> 00:03:05.450
Because Matt has to run the whale watch boat
right when we get back.

00:03:05.450 --> 00:03:08.599
So we want to make sure he gets there in time.

00:03:08.599 --> 00:03:09.599
Ok?

00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:11.120
Alright, any questions logistically guys?

00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:12.120
Ok?

00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:13.260
We’re good with that?

00:03:13.260 --> 00:03:14.260
Alright?

00:03:14.260 --> 00:03:15.260
Yes.

00:03:15.260 --> 00:03:16.459
I just wonder is that the mainland over there?

00:03:16.459 --> 00:03:17.459
Oh, yes.

00:03:17.459 --> 00:03:22.319
So this island next door here is called Little
Cranberry Island.

00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:23.319
Oh, Little Cranberry!

00:03:23.319 --> 00:03:27.299
And that little building you see is the old
U.S. Lifesaving Service Station number nine.

00:03:27.299 --> 00:03:28.299
Yup.

00:03:28.299 --> 00:03:32.760
Umm…now there is also a bar across here
at low tide.

00:03:32.760 --> 00:03:33.849
Guess what?

00:03:33.849 --> 00:03:36.300
You can walk across there.

00:03:36.300 --> 00:03:39.359
And I often say, when we go up here we’re
not going to see a hospital.

00:03:39.359 --> 00:03:40.359
Ok?

00:03:40.359 --> 00:03:43.430
Now, Hannah, came out here with three children.

00:03:43.430 --> 00:03:45.170
But went on to have how many?

00:03:45.170 --> 00:03:46.170
Twelve.

00:03:46.170 --> 00:03:50.910
Here is what I think, I think, Hannah would
there was a midwife over there in the town

00:03:50.910 --> 00:03:51.910
of Little Cranberry.

00:03:51.910 --> 00:03:54.769
There’s a year round town over there, still
today about ninety people live there year

00:03:54.769 --> 00:03:55.769
round.

00:03:55.769 --> 00:03:59.540
Um… so I think Hannah would time it just
right, you know ladies how you time it just

00:03:59.540 --> 00:04:05.120
right, so she would time it for low tide,
she would go across at low tide to the midwife

00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:08.380
where she would have her child and then, but
she had to get back before the tide came in

00:04:08.380 --> 00:04:10.730
because she’s going to have so much to do
out here.

00:04:10.730 --> 00:04:14.009
(Crowd laughing) Life on an island there’s
going to be a lot to do.

00:04:14.009 --> 00:04:17.239
They’re going to be living life on the edge
of survival out here.

00:04:17.239 --> 00:04:19.889
So, I want you to think about that as we make
our way up the Main street.

00:04:19.889 --> 00:04:21.500
Maybe what should we have brought with us?

00:04:21.500 --> 00:04:25.319
Again to help our families survive out here,
really for generations.

00:04:25.320 --> 00:04:30.280
Ok, alright here we are join me as we walk
the main street of Baker Island.

00:04:49.220 --> 00:04:50.420
This post here.

00:04:50.580 --> 00:04:51.660
What is made out of?

00:04:51.760 --> 00:04:52.620
Can you guys tell?

00:04:52.900 --> 00:04:54.840
It’s made out of concrete.

00:04:54.840 --> 00:04:55.840
Yeah.

00:04:55.840 --> 00:05:00.690
So, I will tell you guys that this is an official
marker that officially marks the Main Street.

00:05:00.690 --> 00:05:03.870
If you’re looking you may see a few remnants
of a few more of these as we go along.

00:05:03.870 --> 00:05:08.720
Now, you don’t know a ton about this Gilley
family but do you think they had the need

00:05:08.960 --> 00:05:12.840
the time, or the energy to make this, to
officially mark the Main Street?

00:05:12.840 --> 00:05:13.840
Nah.

00:05:13.840 --> 00:05:16.310
Well they could but why bother?

00:05:16.310 --> 00:05:17.310
Right.

00:05:17.310 --> 00:05:19.280
We will come back to that later though.

00:05:19.280 --> 00:05:22.400
For you today it does mark the way to the
island cemetery.

00:05:22.400 --> 00:05:25.370
I’m not going to take you over there now
but if you’d want to go there make sure

00:05:25.370 --> 00:05:29.870
you leave the dance floor a few minutes early,
you can go over there and check that out on

00:05:29.870 --> 00:05:33.569
your way back to the beach.

00:05:33.569 --> 00:05:36.660
Alright, our first family that settles here,
boom, they have land, they have to build their

00:05:36.660 --> 00:05:37.660
log cabin.

00:05:37.660 --> 00:05:39.770
We think it was right here somewhere but we
actually don’t know.

00:05:39.770 --> 00:05:42.020
But I’m going to tell you something interesting.

00:05:42.020 --> 00:05:46.910
William Gilley, again used to fish out here
and he would sometimes when the weather turned

00:05:46.910 --> 00:05:47.910
bad.

00:05:47.910 --> 00:05:52.150
He would hold up in an “old” abandoned
log cabin.

00:05:52.150 --> 00:05:54.660
“Old abandoned log cabin.”

00:05:54.660 --> 00:05:58.849
We have no idea who that was, cause who was
here for the 150 years after Champlain?

00:05:58.849 --> 00:06:01.720
We don’t know, Oh yeah, there were people
here.

00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:03.319
But no settlements here.

00:06:03.319 --> 00:06:05.610
We don’t know who owned that old log cabin.

00:06:05.610 --> 00:06:08.400
It could have been, you know, some fishing
company out of Europe, just fishing here for

00:06:08.400 --> 00:06:11.599
the summer, built a summer fishing cabin and
boom.

00:06:11.599 --> 00:06:13.850
But it is always interesting as people say
“these were the first settlers.”

00:06:13.850 --> 00:06:14.850
No they weren’t.

00:06:14.850 --> 00:06:17.720
There was an old cabin here, but , we have
no idea who it was.

00:06:17.720 --> 00:06:18.740
I say Vikings.

00:06:18.740 --> 00:06:19.750
It could have been.

00:06:19.750 --> 00:06:23.640
But I don’t know if they would be building
cabins, but maybe.

00:06:23.640 --> 00:06:26.530
Um, so ah, now that first family coming out
here.

00:06:26.530 --> 00:06:28.680
Guys we need to be totally self-sufficient.

00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:29.680
Ok?

00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:34.990
What should we have brought with us to survive?

00:06:34.990 --> 00:06:37.440
We need seed, we gotta grow some crops.

00:06:37.440 --> 00:06:38.470
We gotta build a house.

00:06:38.470 --> 00:06:43.730
Yeah, we’re going to need all the tools
to cut the trees, to build our house.

00:06:43.730 --> 00:06:46.970
Ah, seeds, oh boy, a lot of great soil out
here.

00:06:46.970 --> 00:06:47.970
NO!

00:06:47.970 --> 00:06:48.970
Just kidding.

00:06:48.970 --> 00:06:49.970
This is Maine.

00:06:49.970 --> 00:06:50.970
Ok?

00:06:50.970 --> 00:06:51.970
Terrible soil.

00:06:51.970 --> 00:06:55.389
But the Gilleys grew a over three hundred
bushels of potatoes to help get them through

00:06:55.389 --> 00:06:56.389
the winter.

00:06:56.389 --> 00:07:00.920
And they would grow other crops, you know,
what they could here in the soil.

00:07:00.920 --> 00:07:02.690
Would we bring any animals with us?

00:07:02.690 --> 00:07:03.690
Yeah.

00:07:03.690 --> 00:07:04.960
What kind of animals would we bring?

00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:10.020
Can you imagine getting a cow onto our little
skiff and land that on Baker Island?

00:07:10.030 --> 00:07:11.030
Sheep.

00:07:11.030 --> 00:07:13.370
Islands are great places to raises sheep that’s
right.

00:07:13.370 --> 00:07:14.370
Yeah.

00:07:14.370 --> 00:07:17.800
So the sheep could have the whole of the island,
you just keep them out of the house and out

00:07:17.800 --> 00:07:18.800
of the garden.

00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:20.250
That would probably be the trick right there.

00:07:20.250 --> 00:07:23.669
Um, chickens for eggs, absolutely.

00:07:23.669 --> 00:07:26.500
So, what else would we need out here?

00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:29.840
Water.

00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:31.440
Water, well were not going to bring our own
water.

00:07:31.440 --> 00:07:32.440
Because that’s just too heavy.

00:07:32.440 --> 00:07:35.220
They didn’t do, there was no such thing
as bottled water back then.

00:07:35.220 --> 00:07:39.490
A couple guys started this,uh, at Sieur de
Mont over at the nature center there, that

00:07:39.490 --> 00:07:42.050
boiling spring, they wanted to call it the
sweet waters of Acadia.

00:07:42.050 --> 00:07:44.990
Their bottling water and selling it one hundred-fifty
years ago.

00:07:44.990 --> 00:07:45.990
People thought that was ridiculous.

00:07:45.990 --> 00:07:47.420
No one bought it.

00:07:47.420 --> 00:07:48.990
Why did no one buy it?

00:07:48.990 --> 00:07:50.919
Because people were like water is free.

00:07:50.919 --> 00:07:54.430
They were before their time weren’t they?

00:07:54.430 --> 00:07:58.990
Anyway…So they’ll actually take water,
much like these guys do today.

00:07:58.990 --> 00:08:01.900
They’ll take the water off the roof and
run it into a barrel.

00:08:01.900 --> 00:08:04.360
And there are a few shallow wells out here
as well.

00:08:04.360 --> 00:08:06.990
So they’ll have to, they’ll get their
water out here.

00:08:06.990 --> 00:08:07.990
Ok.

00:08:07.990 --> 00:08:12.639
Let’s see what else do we need to think
about.

00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:14.760
Remember William Gilley had all of his fishing
gear.

00:08:14.760 --> 00:08:18.540
So remember that he came out here to do his
fishing so that’s his occupation.

00:08:18.540 --> 00:08:22.131
Um, yeah, but there will be times guys, I
gotta, I mean look at this view but there

00:08:22.131 --> 00:08:25.810
will be times that in the winter, we’re
going to stay out here in the winter.

00:08:25.810 --> 00:08:27.770
Did I mention that?

00:08:27.770 --> 00:08:28.770
WINTER TIME.

00:08:28.770 --> 00:08:29.770
Ok.

00:08:29.770 --> 00:08:31.960
You guys are wearing jackets and it is August.

00:08:31.960 --> 00:08:33.930
Ok, think about the winter out here.

00:08:33.930 --> 00:08:37.150
And there will be times in the winter time
that we’ll not be able to get off that beach

00:08:37.150 --> 00:08:40.969
and on shore for days at a time would be my
guess.

00:08:40.969 --> 00:08:42.890
Yeah so…we need to be totally self-sufficient.

00:08:42.890 --> 00:08:45.840
But I think we’ve done ok so far.

00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:50.050
Um, I think we have got enough to help us
survive.

00:08:50.050 --> 00:08:55.250
At our next stop as we continue up our Main
street, um… we’ll talk about what will

00:08:55.250 --> 00:08:56.850
our different chores be.

00:08:56.850 --> 00:08:58.540
And what would their life be like a little
bit.

00:08:58.540 --> 00:08:59.839
So I want you to think about that.

00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:04.180
Like what could each of us offer, to help
our families survive out here on this island.

00:09:04.180 --> 00:09:07.040
Alright, so join me as we head up.

00:09:32.680 --> 00:09:37.640
Uh…this white building here is the Elisha
Gilley house it was built in 1840 by Elisha.

00:09:37.640 --> 00:09:39.940
He was one of the children of the original
family.

00:09:39.940 --> 00:09:44.610
Actually you saw a picture of him I hope,
the one around the boat.

00:09:44.610 --> 00:09:47.750
He was the guy with the grizzly old beard
like mending his fishing nets.

00:09:47.750 --> 00:09:51.040
Yeah that is what we’re all going to look
like by the time we’re done out here today.

00:09:51.040 --> 00:09:53.920
That’s Elisha.

00:09:53.930 --> 00:09:56.700
And uh, there’s the two seater outhouse.

00:09:56.709 --> 00:10:00.481
If you and someone else need a little extra
bonding time, whatever works for you.

00:10:00.481 --> 00:10:07.120
This is sort of the classic home for this
area, kind of actually colonial New England

00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:09.569
even over to New York a bit.

00:10:09.569 --> 00:10:12.470
There is one other building that looks like
this in Acadia, does anyone know where it

00:10:12.470 --> 00:10:13.470
is?

00:10:13.470 --> 00:10:15.540
Our historical homestead.

00:10:15.540 --> 00:10:20.040
The Carroll Homestead right, and there is
an interesting connection here, too.

00:10:20.040 --> 00:10:27.690
The matriarch, the mother at the Carroll Homestead
was Rachel Lurvey, Hannah’s sister again

00:10:27.690 --> 00:10:29.310
one of the daughters of Jacob Lurvey.

00:10:29.310 --> 00:10:33.010
So, um… they definitely had that connection
there back to Southwest Harbor and these guys

00:10:33.010 --> 00:10:34.680
were both from big families.

00:10:34.680 --> 00:10:39.040
So, let’s talk about that original family
and what their life would be like.

00:10:39.040 --> 00:10:42.450
So William the man of the family what would
he be doing out here?

00:10:42.450 --> 00:10:43.450
Farming.

00:10:43.450 --> 00:10:44.450
Yeah.

00:10:44.450 --> 00:10:47.540
He’s doing that heavy stuff right, he’s
going to cut the trees, he’s going to pull

00:10:47.540 --> 00:10:48.540
those stumps out.

00:10:48.540 --> 00:10:50.940
They used to use pigs to remove stumps.

00:10:50.940 --> 00:10:54.331
Take a crowbar drive it down in there put
a little bit of corn way down that hole and

00:10:54.331 --> 00:10:55.331
what happens?

00:10:55.331 --> 00:10:58.720
Pigs go after it and then you easily move
the stumps out later.

00:10:58.720 --> 00:10:59.720
Clever, yeah.

00:10:59.720 --> 00:11:05.690
Um, yeah but he’d be cutting a lot of this
off, but he was also out here doing his fishing,

00:11:05.690 --> 00:11:10.360
um … you know let’s come back to him in
a little bit as well.

00:11:10.360 --> 00:11:15.470
Hannah the woman of the family, what would
she be doing?

00:11:15.470 --> 00:11:17.260
Raising the twelve children!

00:11:17.260 --> 00:11:20.240
Sort of the classic role of the day.

00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:29.080
Yeah, so she has to keep all of those children
fed, and clothed, and in shoes, uh nah…

00:11:29.080 --> 00:11:31.630
not in shoes.

00:11:31.630 --> 00:11:34.130
As many of the kids around here probably,
they ran around here most of the year without

00:11:34.130 --> 00:11:35.130
shoes on.

00:11:35.130 --> 00:11:37.470
They only put shoes on when the snows came.

00:11:37.470 --> 00:11:41.800
And clothes, yeah, she’s going to put them
into clothes I guess but you know what?

00:11:41.800 --> 00:11:45.900
You don’t just go to the store and buy clothes
here you make them.

00:11:45.900 --> 00:11:48.540
That’s really interesting to think about.

00:11:48.540 --> 00:11:54.320
We have uh, there’s a display over in the
umm Islesford Museum over there about Hannah,

00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:57.180
and there’s her old umm spinning wheel over
there all right?

00:11:57.180 --> 00:12:03.940
Oh and in the park museum we have one of Hannah’s
old blankets that she made on her loom.

00:12:03.940 --> 00:12:06.480
Guys that’s the complete process.

00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:09.170
Hannah’s like “I need a blanket” What
does she do?

00:12:09.170 --> 00:12:12.010
She goes out to a sheep out in the field.

00:12:12.010 --> 00:12:14.890
They sheer the sheep, they get the wool, she
puts it onto her spinning wheel just like

00:12:14.890 --> 00:12:16.110
this, anyone ever done that?

00:12:16.110 --> 00:12:17.360
It’s really, it’s really kinda cool.

00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:19.020
You spin that on it takes kinda forever though.

00:12:19.020 --> 00:12:22.029
You spin it on to your spinning wheel and
then you take that and then you put it in

00:12:22.029 --> 00:12:24.380
the loom, the wharfs and the wefts and you
do all that stuff and then you cut off that

00:12:24.380 --> 00:12:26.890
end and then you throw off the thrum stuff
and you give it to the sailors, and then you

00:12:26.890 --> 00:12:28.140
have a blanket, that’s the complete process.

00:12:28.140 --> 00:12:30.930
I think that is really interesting to think
about.

00:12:30.930 --> 00:12:35.000
Um, that’s kinda the stuff they were doing
here and you didn’t go to the store to get

00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:36.000
stuff.

00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:41.500
Hannah, don’t forget Hannah was also educated
she went to school until she was thirteen

00:12:41.500 --> 00:12:42.500
in Massachusetts.

00:12:42.500 --> 00:12:44.720
She taught all of her children to read and
write.

00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:47.740
A bunch of her daughters went on to be teachers
in the area.

00:12:47.740 --> 00:12:52.410
Her sons went on to be captains and they
could keep accurate logs at sea and stuff

00:12:52.410 --> 00:12:53.400
like that.

00:12:53.410 --> 00:12:56.160
Um, they would also, uh, were going to walk
past in just a moment, were going to walk

00:12:56.160 --> 00:13:00.850
past the one-room school house, that they
built in that next generation because she

00:13:00.850 --> 00:13:03.290
could no longer educate them in her kitchen.

00:13:03.290 --> 00:13:06.500
So we’ll walk past that in just a moment.

00:13:06.500 --> 00:13:07.500
Um..

00:13:07.500 --> 00:13:08.860
Hannah also wanted her children exposed to
religion.

00:13:08.860 --> 00:13:13.970
She would row them all the way over to Southwest
Harbor, that’s like a seven mile trip.

00:13:13.970 --> 00:13:17.380
Not because she particularly liked the minister
over there, I don’t know, but that’s where

00:13:17.380 --> 00:13:19.990
her family was from so they’d probably be
visiting with relatives.

00:13:19.990 --> 00:13:23.089
Um, what else do I want to tell you about?

00:13:23.089 --> 00:13:25.180
That’s probably good for now.

00:13:25.180 --> 00:13:27.200
Um, oh the kids, what about the kids?

00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:28.630
What are the kids going to be doing out here?

00:13:28.630 --> 00:13:29.970
Yeah their probably going to be helping us.

00:13:29.970 --> 00:13:33.640
Uh, they’re going to be, uh, girls going
to be helping mom learning some of those skills

00:13:33.640 --> 00:13:35.130
like the making of the butter.

00:13:35.130 --> 00:13:38.780
That was a big thing for these coastal islands
co-op it onto sailboats and sail it down to

00:13:38.780 --> 00:13:41.220
Boston or off the other direction to St. John’s.

00:13:41.220 --> 00:13:45.130
Um, so making butter, learning those skills,
oh, the boys.

00:13:45.130 --> 00:13:48.450
Here’s an interesting one the boys by the
time they were ten years old they had built

00:13:48.450 --> 00:13:52.850
their own boats and were out here hunting
ducks by themselves.

00:13:52.850 --> 00:13:53.850
Ok?

00:13:53.850 --> 00:13:58.519
And if I did that as a parent today I’d
probably be in trouble with the law.

00:13:58.519 --> 00:13:59.519
Ok?

00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:04.070
These guys knew their waters and they knew
themselves and of all these twelve children

00:14:04.070 --> 00:14:08.089
that were talking about they all survived,
and they all live to ripe old ages their eighties

00:14:08.089 --> 00:14:09.089
and nineties.

00:14:09.089 --> 00:14:11.020
If you know anything about the healthcare
at the time you know that that was pretty

00:14:11.020 --> 00:14:12.690
impressive actually.

00:14:12.690 --> 00:14:17.080
Um, so a lot to do out here to help our families
survive and get us through the winter but

00:14:17.080 --> 00:14:20.209
do you think that they loved their island?

00:14:20.209 --> 00:14:21.709
Yes.

00:14:21.709 --> 00:14:22.709
Of course.

00:14:22.709 --> 00:14:23.709
Yeah, I’ve heard many tales about how they
loved their island.

00:14:23.709 --> 00:14:26.910
How they loved visitors to stop by invited
them to go up to the dance floor.

00:14:26.910 --> 00:14:30.540
Which is where we’re going to.

00:14:30.540 --> 00:14:32.040
Great place to be.

00:14:32.040 --> 00:14:38.120
Um, alright…I’m going to move us along
though so again we have out time we need out

00:14:38.120 --> 00:14:39.560
on the dance floor ourselves.

00:14:39.560 --> 00:14:42.620
Um, but I’ll tell you this as we start moving
along we’re going to walk past the little

00:14:42.620 --> 00:14:48.029
school house, and when we walk past I’ll
probably say hi, it looks like the owner is

00:14:48.029 --> 00:14:49.029
here she’s awesome.

00:14:49.029 --> 00:14:53.290
Uh, and again a great artist and uh, what
else do I want to tell you?

00:14:53.290 --> 00:14:57.190
Oh, 1828 so after the Gilley family has been
here about twenty years their pretty near

00:14:57.190 --> 00:15:00.360
self-sufficient, in 1828 something comes along
to Baker Island that is going to change the

00:15:00.360 --> 00:15:03.360
life of this family significantly and forever.

00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:04.950
1828 what comes out here?

00:15:04.950 --> 00:15:07.370
I don’t know…let’s go find out.

00:15:07.370 --> 00:15:08.769
Pirates you think?

00:15:08.769 --> 00:15:09.769
No.

00:15:09.769 --> 00:15:12.400
There’s no place to spend their money.

00:15:27.300 --> 00:15:33.080
In our story it was um, 1828 what comes to
Baker Island?

00:15:33.089 --> 00:15:34.089
The lighthouse.

00:15:34.089 --> 00:15:35.450
The lighthouse, right!

00:15:35.450 --> 00:15:40.970
So, um…as this becomes more of our countries’
highway, um and where there is obviously the

00:15:40.970 --> 00:15:43.930
rocky coast of Maine, and as it is getting
busier.

00:15:43.930 --> 00:15:48.240
The government, in fact the early Coast Guard
called the lifesaving service starts putting

00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:49.750
up lighthouses right?

00:15:49.750 --> 00:15:52.070
And so they need a lighthouse keeper.

00:15:52.070 --> 00:15:53.060
Ok?

00:15:53.060 --> 00:15:56.680
William Gilley and his family have been living
here for twenty years, they're nearly totally

00:15:56.690 --> 00:15:59.420
self-sufficient they’re the perfect family
for the job.

00:15:59.420 --> 00:16:02.579
They’re going to pay him a dollar a day.

00:16:02.579 --> 00:16:04.430
That’s pretty good for back then.

00:16:04.430 --> 00:16:07.532
He makes a lot of money and with that money
he actually purchases the Duck Islands, the

00:16:07.532 --> 00:16:11.230
islands that are a little bit further offshore
as a place to raise sheep a little entrepreneurial

00:16:11.230 --> 00:16:14.490
adventure he had going on, worked pretty well
. Oh then their like you know what?

00:16:14.490 --> 00:16:18.850
We’ll throw in all the whale oil your family
needs and they would keep the whale oil separate

00:16:18.850 --> 00:16:21.430
from the towers because of fear of fire.

00:16:21.430 --> 00:16:24.070
They would keep it in this little brick building
which we call the whale oil house.

00:16:24.070 --> 00:16:25.070
Ok?

00:16:25.070 --> 00:16:28.270
Um, and today it’s a little museum were
going to talk about that in a moment though.

00:16:28.270 --> 00:16:31.889
Um, so they got a great deal, and again they’re
the perfect family for the job.

00:16:31.889 --> 00:16:35.500
So he’s got um, he’s got, some big boys
at this point.

00:16:35.500 --> 00:16:37.750
But there is also still some little children
around.

00:16:37.750 --> 00:16:40.880
Little hands that could get in and clean the
Fresnel lenses that would get all smoked up,

00:16:40.880 --> 00:16:41.880
right?

00:16:41.880 --> 00:16:44.120
And you have to polish the light every day.

00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:48.300
So, let’s see…what else is going on at
the time?

00:16:48.300 --> 00:16:56.709
Um, uh there’s people starting to explore
a little bit, explore our country.

00:16:56.709 --> 00:16:59.180
This hasn’t really happened yet.

00:16:59.180 --> 00:17:01.811
This isn’t the people of the cottage era,
this isn’t even the rusticators, this is

00:17:01.811 --> 00:17:06.699
like the early rusticators where some wealthy
professor types start coming to this area

00:17:06.699 --> 00:17:09.149
and exploring it and being like “this place
is pretty cool!”

00:17:09.149 --> 00:17:13.289
And some artists are coming to this area uh,
from like the Hudson River School of Art.

00:17:13.289 --> 00:17:16.269
Their coming to the coastline of Acadia and
their painting the stuff and their telling

00:17:16.269 --> 00:17:18.510
other people, so people are starting to hear
about this place.

00:17:18.510 --> 00:17:22.410
And so, um, they like to come out to Baker
Island.

00:17:22.410 --> 00:17:26.880
So you know the Gilley’s must have been
very welcoming here and ah, they would point

00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:30.360
people out to the dance floor and you’re
going to see that in just a few moments.

00:17:30.360 --> 00:17:34.149
Um, so the Gilley’s got to be friends with
some of these early rusticators.

00:17:34.149 --> 00:17:43.179
Now, um, so time goes on and um, and then
there’s a change in the political parties.

00:17:43.179 --> 00:17:49.130
So in 18…So in 1849 the Whigs take the presidency.

00:17:49.130 --> 00:17:50.130
Alright?

00:17:50.130 --> 00:17:51.850
William Gilley is not a Whig.

00:17:51.850 --> 00:17:52.950
Ok?

00:17:52.950 --> 00:17:57.080
And I don’t want to get into politics here,
uh, but he’s a Mainer and we don’t like

00:17:57.080 --> 00:18:01.640
to be told what to do and how to do it necessarily
and I have seen his written reply.

00:18:01.640 --> 00:18:07.169
He says “I would not become a Whig for all
the lighthouses in the United States.”

00:18:07.169 --> 00:18:08.809
They will remove him from his post.

00:18:08.809 --> 00:18:09.809
Alright?

00:18:09.809 --> 00:18:13.789
Now he’s starting to get a little bit older
now and he’s heart broken, right?

00:18:13.789 --> 00:18:16.270
But he will feel the need to leave Baker Island.

00:18:16.270 --> 00:18:21.110
And this, this is Gilley Lane right here and
at the height of Gilley occupation there are

00:18:21.110 --> 00:18:22.840
like 60 maybe 70 people living on this Main
street.

00:18:22.840 --> 00:18:25.250
All the Gilley’s are married into the Gilley
family.

00:18:25.250 --> 00:18:28.549
But he is going to leave this island he’s
going to go out to the Duck Islands further

00:18:28.549 --> 00:18:29.560
out all by himself.

00:18:29.560 --> 00:18:33.020
He asks Hannah to go with him and she’s
like “you know what I’ll visit you a lot.”

00:18:33.020 --> 00:18:34.020
Alright?

00:18:34.020 --> 00:18:35.020
See ya.

00:18:35.020 --> 00:18:36.799
She’s going to stay here with her kids and
her grandkids.

00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:42.220
So he goes out there, guys, he lives to be
90 years old out there on the Duck Islands

00:18:42.220 --> 00:18:43.220
all by himself.

00:18:43.220 --> 00:18:44.220
That’s pretty amazing.

00:18:44.220 --> 00:18:45.220
Hannah stays here.

00:18:45.220 --> 00:18:49.250
Uh, her health was starting to fail but she
did live to be 69 years old here.

00:18:49.250 --> 00:18:53.660
But imagine the new lighthouse keeper coming
to town, someone from “away.”

00:18:53.660 --> 00:18:54.660
Ok?

00:18:54.660 --> 00:18:58.320
Oh, and that boat that he thought he tied
up real well down there at the shoreline…Hmm…found

00:18:58.320 --> 00:19:00.770
floating out in Frenchman Bay.

00:19:00.770 --> 00:19:04.619
Oh, and the sheep that he brought to help
get him through the winter time go disappearing

00:19:04.619 --> 00:19:06.029
off an island.

00:19:06.029 --> 00:19:10.549
Oh, and then you know what the
Gilley’s they start charging him a toll,

00:19:10.549 --> 00:19:13.600
money to come up their Main Street.

00:19:13.600 --> 00:19:16.390
Then he writes a letter I’ve seen it.

00:19:16.390 --> 00:19:20.419
It basically says I am having a lot of trouble
with these Gilley boys out here what can be

00:19:20.419 --> 00:19:21.419
done about it?

00:19:21.419 --> 00:19:24.419
So the government does do something about
it they purchase this island.

00:19:24.419 --> 00:19:29.309
Oh, yeah you see the Gilley’s never had
title to this island they came here and simply

00:19:29.309 --> 00:19:30.789
started living.

00:19:30.789 --> 00:19:31.789
Ohhhh….

00:19:31.789 --> 00:19:35.850
But, um the Gilley’s decided that they weren’t
really going anywhere.

00:19:35.850 --> 00:19:36.850
Right?

00:19:36.850 --> 00:19:40.899
They had been living here for some generations
now and again they also had again some friends

00:19:40.899 --> 00:19:46.139
in those early rusticators that bought them
the best lawyers that New England had to offer.

00:19:46.139 --> 00:19:50.359
So this thing goes to court it’s a big romantic
popular case it takes place down in Portland,

00:19:50.359 --> 00:19:51.359
Maine.

00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:52.869
I’ve seen some of the documentation.

00:19:52.869 --> 00:19:58.289
I’ll spare you the details but it basically
said um, that William Gilley probably wouldn’t

00:19:58.289 --> 00:20:01.249
have been able to find the title to this island
anyway.

00:20:01.249 --> 00:20:06.629
Remember how sometimes, the um, this was owned
by the French sort of, but then the English,

00:20:06.629 --> 00:20:07.940
sort of a mixed bag.

00:20:07.940 --> 00:20:12.399
Then it kind of went through Massachusetts
and sometimes those French deeds were honored.

00:20:12.399 --> 00:20:13.570
Then sometimes they weren’t.

00:20:13.570 --> 00:20:14.859
Well this was one of those.

00:20:14.859 --> 00:20:19.619
It was one of the vast Madame de Gregouire
holdings and their like you know what?

00:20:19.619 --> 00:20:22.129
He wouldn’t have been able to find title
to this anyway.

00:20:22.129 --> 00:20:26.149
That’s silly but it’s not that weird along
this part of the coast in Maine.

00:20:26.149 --> 00:20:27.889
And then squatters rights, and their like
you know what you guys have been living here

00:20:27.889 --> 00:20:32.340
for a long time so, um, the Gilley’s would
get to keep most of their island, but they

00:20:32.340 --> 00:20:38.740
will lose the top 13 acres surrounding the
lighthouse ok, to the Coast Guard.

00:20:38.740 --> 00:20:41.070
Um, and a right of way at the Main Street.

00:20:41.070 --> 00:20:45.909
Oh and perhaps typical government fashion
they will mark that off with concrete posts,

00:20:45.909 --> 00:20:48.890
ok, about every twenty feet actually, um.

00:20:48.890 --> 00:20:54.859
You might even see them as you walk out the
trail through the woods hidden as we go.

00:20:54.859 --> 00:21:04.590
Um, so what else do I want to tell you, um,
well the Gilley’s will live more or less

00:21:04.590 --> 00:21:11.929
in harmony with lighthouse keepers through
history more or less, let’s say, and um

00:21:11.929 --> 00:21:14.690
the last Gilley will step off here in the
1930’s.

00:21:14.690 --> 00:21:16.950
Would the invention of?

00:21:16.950 --> 00:21:18.210
The motorboat.

00:21:18.210 --> 00:21:20.999
Why do people live on these islands to begin
with?

00:21:20.999 --> 00:21:23.250
To be closer to the fishing grounds.

00:21:23.250 --> 00:21:26.759
With the motorboat if you think about it what’s
going on back in town in the 1930’s culture

00:21:26.759 --> 00:21:31.139
is happening there’s early movie theaters,
these guys are like you know what?

00:21:31.139 --> 00:21:34.720
We’re outta here and we can still get out
to our fishing grounds and back before dark

00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:36.129
or before a storm comes in.

00:21:36.129 --> 00:21:40.029
So there is a mass exodus off all islands
in the world.

00:21:40.029 --> 00:21:42.130
Not just along the coast of Maine.

00:21:42.130 --> 00:21:45.019
Many places people just leave their property
um, oh hey Johnny!

00:21:45.019 --> 00:21:46.019
You’re staying out here.

00:21:46.019 --> 00:21:47.019
Oh yeah you can have my land.

00:21:47.019 --> 00:21:48.019
I don’t want it.

00:21:48.019 --> 00:21:49.019
No one wanted it.

00:21:49.019 --> 00:21:50.019
Isn’t that weird to think about?

00:21:50.019 --> 00:21:51.019
Yeah.

00:21:51.019 --> 00:21:54.179
The Gilley’s were actually fortunate they
would sell their land piecemeal as they would

00:21:54.179 --> 00:21:55.179
leave here.

00:21:55.179 --> 00:22:00.460
There were these people who bought it, um,
that had summer places not too far away.

00:22:00.460 --> 00:22:03.649
People who bought the Gilley’s land piecemeal
as they kinda moved away didn’t do anything

00:22:03.649 --> 00:22:04.650
with it.

00:22:04.650 --> 00:22:08.359
They didn’t develop it . They held on to
it because they had a friend over there that

00:22:08.359 --> 00:22:11.950
George Dorr in Bar Harbor, you know that guy?

00:22:11.950 --> 00:22:17.429
Yeah, he’s got this new park called Lafayette
National Park that would evolve into Acadia.

00:22:17.429 --> 00:22:18.429
Did you know that?

00:22:18.429 --> 00:22:21.039
Yeah, it was Lafayette for ten years.

00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:25.279
Um, anyway they would hold onto that, these
properties out here and they would give it

00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:28.869
over to George Dorr to become part of our
National Park system.

00:22:28.869 --> 00:22:33.679
And I have to tell you guys out of the three
thousand islands off the coast of Maine you

00:22:33.679 --> 00:22:35.600
and I can’t go to most of them.

00:22:35.600 --> 00:22:37.190
Most of them are privately owned.

00:22:37.190 --> 00:22:41.730
This is one that is open for the public and
again we even offer tours out here but anyone

00:22:41.730 --> 00:22:44.470
is welcome to come out here to Baker Island
to enjoy this.

00:22:44.470 --> 00:22:49.679
I really think that we are so fortunate to
have that.

00:22:49.679 --> 00:22:54.700
Um, let’s see… so the Gilley’s lived
here consecutively for 123 years.

00:22:54.700 --> 00:22:55.700
Can you imagine?

00:22:55.700 --> 00:22:57.909
And again can you imagine?

00:22:57.909 --> 00:23:02.340
Being totally self-sufficient and loving their
island, surviving out here.

00:23:02.340 --> 00:23:06.549
You’re going to see another reason they
loved it as we go out to the dance floor.

00:23:06.549 --> 00:23:12.779
Some of you have asked me, um, some of you
actually know this I’m a Lurvey and so Hannah

00:23:12.779 --> 00:23:17.049
of our story was my great-great-great-great
aunt.

00:23:17.049 --> 00:23:21.580
So I am a descendant of one of her brothers
Samuel or her father Jacob.

00:23:21.580 --> 00:23:25.859
So this is a very special place for me to
come and it’s a story that I just love to

00:23:25.859 --> 00:23:26.859
share with others.

00:23:26.859 --> 00:23:31.229
So I hope that enhanced your trip out here.

00:23:31.229 --> 00:23:33.129
Quick question?

00:23:33.129 --> 00:23:34.129
Yeah.

00:23:34.129 --> 00:23:37.919
Why is this not called Gilley Island?

00:23:37.919 --> 00:23:41.440
Um, this is, it probably would have been renamed.

00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:44.679
The person that wrote about the story was
Charles Eliot.

00:23:44.679 --> 00:23:47.759
He was a long time president of Harvard, I
have his book and I am going to share it with

00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:48.759
you.

00:23:48.759 --> 00:23:49.759
It tells all about the story of Baker Island.

00:23:49.759 --> 00:23:51.009
He used to summer over on Sutton.

00:23:51.009 --> 00:23:54.299
Well I’ll talk more about that another time,
on the boat.

00:23:54.299 --> 00:23:59.229
They probably would have changed the name
of this island but…you can’t.

00:23:59.229 --> 00:24:03.149
It’s for navigation and it’s on charts
so people, you don’t get to typically change

00:24:03.149 --> 00:24:04.149
the names of islands.

00:24:04.149 --> 00:24:05.149
How’d it get the name Baker?

00:24:05.149 --> 00:24:08.720
Oh, that’s your question.

00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:11.960
So Baker, there’s three Baker Islands in
the world that I know of.

00:24:11.960 --> 00:24:20.419
There’s one in the south Indonesia or whatever,
then there’s one out of Gloucester Harbor,

00:24:20.419 --> 00:24:22.080
that looks just like this one.

00:24:22.080 --> 00:24:24.779
So when you pull up out of Gloucester it looks
just like this, that’s called Baker after

00:24:24.779 --> 00:24:26.669
a guy that lived on it.

00:24:26.669 --> 00:24:31.399
So I am thinking when these guys came up from
Gloucester and Cape Anne…Baker Island.

00:24:31.399 --> 00:24:34.820
Anyone coming into this area would be like
“hey, turn left at the one that looks like

00:24:34.820 --> 00:24:36.409
Baker Island at home.”

00:24:36.409 --> 00:24:39.759
That’s my best guess but we don’t actually
know for sure.

00:24:39.759 --> 00:24:41.999
This was called Baker Island on really old
maps.

00:24:41.999 --> 00:24:42.999
Yeah.

00:24:42.999 --> 00:24:43.999
Um, yeah…

00:24:43.999 --> 00:24:46.799
How much land is this on, the whole island?

00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:48.539
Uh, high tide or low tide?

00:24:48.539 --> 00:24:52.590
It’s about a half mile and it is round.

00:24:52.590 --> 00:24:54.789
170 acres.

00:24:54.789 --> 00:24:59.039
So, I don’t want to take any more of your
time because I want you guys to explore.

00:24:59.039 --> 00:25:01.960
Now, there’s some options here.

00:25:01.960 --> 00:25:08.600
You can feel free to poke around the lighthouse,
um, we just got that tower so if you’re

00:25:08.600 --> 00:25:11.610
looking at that tower going, wow that looks
pretty rundown and beat up.

00:25:11.610 --> 00:25:14.029
You need to talk to the Coast Guard about
that.

00:25:14.029 --> 00:25:16.999
Uh, because they actually for years have owned
it just the tower.

00:25:16.999 --> 00:25:21.700
We own the house, the park, you and I own
the house.

00:25:21.700 --> 00:25:23.710
Last year the Coast Guard finally gave us
that tower.

00:25:23.710 --> 00:25:25.639
Up till then it had barbed wire around it.

00:25:25.639 --> 00:25:26.639
We were like why?

00:25:26.639 --> 00:25:27.669
So we finally took down the barbed wire.

00:25:27.669 --> 00:25:31.359
But that is like a million dollar fix up project
right there.

00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:35.240
Do not lick the tower please, I have to tell
you that.

00:25:35.240 --> 00:25:38.129
It is a lead based paint.

00:25:38.129 --> 00:25:41.570
So were really interested to see what happens
here at Baker as we move forward.

00:25:41.570 --> 00:25:46.359
This little whale oil house is a museum and
I was hoping Sean would say hi but it looks

00:25:46.359 --> 00:25:47.889
like he is involved in something.

00:25:47.889 --> 00:25:51.820
There is a group out here uh, and right by
the school house their part of that.

00:25:51.820 --> 00:25:55.379
They’re the main drivers behind that, they’re
called the Keepers of Baker Island.

00:25:55.379 --> 00:26:02.469
I love them dearly and I work with their organization
a bit and she has little pamphlets down there

00:26:02.469 --> 00:26:05.340
if you want to learn more about it or tell
them about your experience out here today

00:26:05.340 --> 00:26:06.340
or whatever.

00:26:06.340 --> 00:26:09.890
But they put together this little brick house
whale oil museum in there so there are some

00:26:09.890 --> 00:26:12.559
really old photos that Cornelia found somewhere.

00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:15.950
Ok, she has a history of who the lighthouse
keepers were so you might want to check that

00:26:15.950 --> 00:26:19.549
out either on your way out to the dance floor
or even on your way back.

00:26:19.549 --> 00:26:21.600
So check that out.

00:26:21.600 --> 00:26:25.929
But what I think we should all try to do is
as quick as we can is go to the dance floor.

00:26:25.929 --> 00:26:26.929
How do you get there?

00:26:26.929 --> 00:26:28.940
There is a path down around that way ok?

00:26:28.940 --> 00:26:33.399
Or you can go to the brick museum here uh,
there is another path through there and on

00:26:33.399 --> 00:26:36.519
the other side of this little knoll there
is a white garage.

00:26:36.519 --> 00:26:40.900
As you hit that white garage, right there,
I can see it, there is a path that goes off

00:26:40.900 --> 00:26:42.769
there to the left and it is the only path
on this island.

00:26:42.769 --> 00:26:44.669
That’s going to take us out to the dance
floor.

00:26:44.669 --> 00:26:46.399
It’ll takes us about ten minutes to hike
out there.

00:26:46.399 --> 00:26:47.399
What time is it?

00:26:47.399 --> 00:26:48.399
It is 10:50.

00:26:48.399 --> 00:26:51.030
That’s perfect, that is when I was hoping
to end.

00:26:51.030 --> 00:26:55.549
So that allows us, uh, to get out there, uh
so we will be out there by 11 so you’ll

00:26:55.549 --> 00:26:58.190
get to hang out out there for about twenty,
twenty-five minutes.

00:26:58.190 --> 00:27:00.809
Which is just about what you need hanging
out on the dance floor.

00:27:00.809 --> 00:27:01.809
Ok?

00:27:01.880 --> 00:27:02.860
So I am around for any questions.

00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:04.860
So you guys go enjoy