Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-08-02

FROM BURLINGTON TO BOSTON, THE BEACH AND
THE WHITE MOUNTAINS.

| summer Iflp.
FROM BURLINGTON TO BOSTON, THE BEACH AMI
THE WHITE MOUNTAINS.
| NO. III.
OCEAN House, }
OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Nc, July, 1873. !
DEAR FREE PRKss Forty minutes ride
from Portland, to the south by the
Boston and Maine Railroad. through
the salt marshes along the coast, brought
US to this famous Beach. Many pleasure
seekers come here direct from the White
Mountains, and if one desires con-
trast, in no other way can he get moro
striking one. There the towering noun
tains here the broad expanss of ocean
There the green OF the forest; hero the
white of the sand. There the wiidness Of n
comparatively new region; here the land
marks of an ancient settlement for this
is one of the oldest points in the written
history Of New England. 1t is in the town
| OF Saco. Me , and here, in l6l6-four years
before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth
Rock-an English expedition, under Rich
ard Vines, landed at Winter Harbor, now
The Pool" Tho place is full of old ira
ditons. The Ocean House where We stay,
covers the site of the house and clearing Of
Thomas Rogers, which was destroyed by
the Indians in 1876; and within the hotel
grounds stood the apple orchard-one Of
he ali ir Nnxr To- I'd "a ~ NH; ;ab
the last vestige long since disappeared
which gave to the Beach its name. Within
fifty feet of the railroad station. you may,
as you take your way to the beach. a lev
rods away, find yourself stumbling over old
grave stones of slate. half buried in the
sand. some of them still showing dates of a
hundred years ago. There was something
mournful to me, in these relics of an aucient
burial place, its graves covered, and for the
most part wholly concealed. not by sod
which seems to bo some protection, but by
the loose white sand, and their occupants
so utterly passed from memory that no
descendant cares to enclose their last resting
place or keep the thrOng OF strangers from
trampling over them.
This Beach was noted place for militia
musters and drills. in years long gone by;
and it has its place in literature. Cor it is
the scene of o portion of Whittier's poem of
"Mogg Megone," the Indian chief who bar
tered some of his Saco land for the hand Of
Ruth, daughter Of one of the pioneers. But
it is the Beach, and not its historical and
literary associations, that calls the thou
sands hithsr And as Beach. do not sec
how anything can be finer. What do you
say to a stretch Of fEe sand, level as piazza
floor, hard as gravel walk, as wide as our
City ngll Park in Burlington and extend
ing unbroken. save by a single fordable
stream, for some ten mules! This Beach
reaches around the inner curve of Saco Bay.
from Proui's Neck on the north, to
Fletcher's Neck, or South Point, on the
south-a distance Of over nine miles Its
width is from fifty to hundred feet at or
binary high tide, to over three hundred feet
at low tide. The portion covered for any
part of the day by the sea. is smooth and
hard as a garden walk. The part above
common high water mark is loose sand,
white, almost. as salt. What can be more
unintercs,iug. many a reader may say, than
such stretch of dull, barren sand? Bar
rem it is; but dull, not at all; for the sea
everyw here gives life and motion to the
view. The waves break necessarily upon it
in long lines OF foam--two, three, four.
FIVE and six parallel lines of
white at time-the outer line fringing the
edge of a curling wave the others chasing
each other up the gentle slope of the Beach,
with ceaselsss rush. and yet with constant
variety. Devoid of almost every feature
which gives beauty to an inland landscape,
there is something marvellously attractive to
the inland visitor in the beach itself. and
We never tire of it. We go down to it soon
after breakfast. If the sun be not too hot
we ride along it by the hour. at half or low
tide. We go in bathing at II in the fore
noon or S in the afternoon. We walk out |
upon the Beach in the moonlight evenings
and there is refreshment and strength in
the sea air, and sea food, and great delight |
in the sight and sound and smell of the |
pecan.
Of course such resort is not without its |
elements of human interest. Besides the |
TWO large hotels, which are back upon the |
yreen ridges. an eighth Of mile or more |
rom the sea, and 100 feet above It, there |
,rc dozen or fifteen smaller hotels and |
houses close upon the Beach.
Children are playing at almost all hours
.lOng the: water 5 eIge-snd there is no
nicer or safer place for them in the wcrld.
Bathing houses are abundant: and bathers
,lenty at the usual hours for bathing-and
everybody knows the attraction which the
iumsn form divine, srrayed in the bathing
nit mundane, possesses for the av erage spec
ator. There il no uudertow, and the bath
ng is as sale as walking on shore.
The Ocean House," where We stay. is
lot a nut she'll. lss main bu,lding is 220
cot long and four stories high, and it has
IN l. of 1876 ieet by 40 There are of course
,iazzas on the east and west fronts. and
The halls aud plrlors on the lower hoo- are
paciOus and airy. The dining hail meas
Tres loo by Sc lest. There is Il music hall.
SiiL floor Of hard pine. 100 by 30. The
ooms (most of which are hardly AZ large
.s they should bs in Summer hoteD are
.25 in number The house accommodates
ome 400 people. From the obseIva-
ory on the roof. two hundred feet above
ho sea, Portland may bo socn,
md wide lew OF land and sea. The house
has been taken, this season, by Mr.. John
lindsey. who ior five or six years before has
iept the fabyan House, in the White Noun
aims; and who. it is hardly necessary to
i'd, knows how to keep hotel. lilo has
eftted the house (Which was built in lS70)
md it is everywhere fresh with clsan paint
md varnish. We find the table exceedingly
,eat and nice-permit me to remark by tho
way that the clans of this portion Of the
,oast of Maino are of especially fine flavor,
md they know how TO cook them here and
hat baked lobster is q g creature comfort "
which have here learned to appreciate,
md can commend to all-and the walters
girls) are neat and attentive. Mr.. Lind
ey is courteous host, and Mr.. Barnes, his
hief cerk-an cid newspaper man by tho
way. having been for II years on the staff OF