Work is continuing at the Beech Ridge School Renovation. The old siding has been removed. Some of the wall sheathings were replaced with wide boards. They are now reframing the windows and will install a Mento membrane on outside walls before nailing strapping to hold the siding. Windows will go in next.
Front outside view of Schoolhouse, July 21, 2022.
Photo by Karlene Osborne.
To donate to help this historical renovation, please see our GoFundMe page.
I added the 1970 Scarborough Business Directory – by Scarborough Jaycees
I digitized, OCRed, and added: Class of 1953 – Scarborough Grammar Schools Graduation Exercises, June 11, 1953 – Oak Hill & Dunstan, “America’s Musical Heritage”
I digitized, OCRed, and added: Commencement Exercises of Class of 1954 – Scarborough High School (Includes Graduation Program, Class Ode, NHS, Class Roll, & more.
I digitized, OCRed, and added: Commencement Exercises of Class of 1958 – Scarborough High School (Includes Graduation Program, Class Ode, NHS, Class Roll, & more.
I digitized, OCRed, and added: The Historic Houses of Scarborough, compiled by Charlotte G. Stevens. It includes short descriptions and photos of 35 homes and buildings in Scarborough.
I added a category Jaycees and added the 1970 Scarborough [Jaycees] Business Directory
I posted Linda Snow-McLoon’s article, Remembering Dorothy Shaw Libbey
1826 Letter to Miss Almira Tilton.
I added: 70.14.17.e – Letter: Dated 17 May to M F Tilton from her sister in Roxbury, MA7 – Four Pages: Page 1 – Page 2 – Page 3 – Page 4.
I added: 70.14.17.f – Letter: Dated 17 May (c. 1840s) to M F Tilton ℅ James McLaughlin, Esq., Bangor ME – Four Pages: Page 1 – Page 2 – Page 3 – Page 4.
I added: 70.14.17.h – Letter: Dated Nov – 1826 to Miss Almira Tilton – Twenty Pages – ZIP File.
I scanned the 1810 Scarborough Tax Valuation Book and uploaded it to Digital Maine. This copy includes the names of the heads of households and what they paid in taxes. Originally compiled by Reuben Seavey and dated 23 July 1810. Who created this copy is unknown, but it was probably copied in the late 1800s or the early 1900s. (Note: This booklet needs indexing and/or transcribing. If you are interested in indexing this book, please contact [encode link=”mailto:scarboroughhist@gmail.com”] the Scarborough Historical Society[/encode] by email.)
A 1963 news clipping shows Dorothy Shaw Libbey and historical society president Percy Wright inspecting a scroll presented to her by town selectmen to honor her historical work.
From the SHS collections
Over the years a number of individuals have made major contributions toward preserving Scarborough’s history, but no one has done more toward saving our past for future generations than Dorothy Shaw Libbey. Long before she and her husband Clarke Libbey helped found the Scarborough Historical Society in 1961, Dorothy was working hard to research and chronicle Scarborough’s past. She was the first to hold the title of Historian for the historical society.
Born in 1907, Dorothy could trace her Scarborough family roots to Joseph Waterhouse of Portsmouth, NH, who married Mary Libby of Kittery before they established a home in Scarborough in 1730. She became fascinated with old manuscripts and the early wills of old settlers, and she studied epitaphs on cemetery gravestones. Dorothy spent endless hours before the time of computers hand-copying early municipal, church, and cemetery records. Testimony to her dedicated work were the 40 cartons of her historical material that were brought to the historical society after her passing in 1989.
Dorothy Shaw Libbey’s crowning achievement was her book, Scarborough Becomes a Town, which was published in 1955. Covering events from 1625 to 1850, the book describes the gathering of 29 men from Black Point, Blue Point, and Stratton’s Island on July 14, 1658, to formally create a town where records would be kept, courts convened, and taxes paid under the protection of the government of Massachusetts Bay. The lives of the early settlers, their homes, the introduction of slavery, the schools, and the town’s role in the American Revolution are all covered in her book.
A valuable service Dorothy performed was transcribing the records of both the Black Point and Dunstan cemeteries. She and her husband also drew a map locating many of the smaller family burying grounds in Scarborough.
We certainly owe Dorothy Shaw Libbey a debt of thanks for the extensive efforts she put into preserving Scarborough’s history.
[Editor’s Note:] This article was originally published in the May/June 2022 issue of Owascoag Notes.
The Historic Houses of Scarborough, compiled by Charlotte G. Stevens and donated to the Scarborough Public Library on July 17, 1953. This book includes short write-ups on 35 Scarborough buildings and homes along with photographs of the buildings and homes as they were in the early 1950s. Included are:
The write-up text is included in the PDF book. Higher quality images of the houses are available from the Society for a small fee. Please contact the Society using the form below for further information.
My thanks to the Scarborough Public Library for their permission to digitize and OCR this book.
There are a number of ways various roadways in Scarborough got their names. In early times, roads were often named after a family who lived on the road – the Fogg Road, Burnham Road, and Holmes Road fall into this category. With so many Libbys living in Scarborough, however, one road needed to be more specific: the Manson Libby Road.
In some cases, roads were named to indicate where they would take you: the Gorham Road and Pine Point Road are examples of this. In many instances, those laying out roads would label it after a prominent geographical feature that everyone would recognize, such as the Ash Swamp Road and the Beech Ridge Road. In more recent times, developers have submitted road names to honor a family member. For example, we have Herbert Drive, Phillip Street, and Ellie Avenue.
Then there is the Two Rod Road, which might find us puzzling over that name’s origin. A document that is part of the historical society’s ephemera collection clears up the mystery. On April 14, 1792, Surveyor Bruce Banks reported to selectmen Peter Libby, Joshua Libby, and John A. Milliken that a plan for the roadway they’d requested had been laid out. After specifying the path of the road, he wrote, “Said road to be two rods in width taking one rod out of each lot where two men join such road.” This tells us that the Two Rod Road was originally laid out to be 33 feet wide since a surveyor’s rod measures 16.5 feet, which is based on the length of 25 links in a surveyor’s chain. Today the Two Rod Road is a convenient connector between Holmes Road, Payne Road, and Scottow Hill Road.
The numbering in the top right corner of the document indicates the box, folder, and document number location of this item in the ephemera collection. Since each document has been entered into an index, visitors can easily go right to the location of an item they’re interested in and examine the primary document.
1792 Document regarding Two Rod Road – Ephemera ID 7C-42-37
[Editor’s Note:] This article was originally published in Owascoag Notes, May/June 2022, page 3. If you did not receive that issue because you aren’t a member, please visit our Membership Page.
