The Portland daily press., 1885-07-17
OLD OLD ORCHARD.
A Few Points on the History of the
Watering Place.
The Hermit Home of the Pirate Cap
tain Avery.

tain Avery.
A correspondent of the Boston Record
gives the following as part of the hitherto
unwritten history of Old Orchard: AL
though Martin Pring in 1908, assembled the
Saco river as far as the falls, there is no ac-
count of his exploring the adjacent beaches,
and the first summer visitor at Old Orchard,
was one Richard Tines, an English sea cap
tain, who was sent out in 1909 by Fernando
Georges, president of the Plymouth Company
to traffic with the Indians and hold the coun-
try against the French. Owing to the lack
of hotel accommodations, Vines boarded
with the natives, and passed his time in ex-
ploring these coasts, with an eye, however.
rather to their bargains than to their beau
ties. He would hardly be said to have come
for his health, for at this time that terrible
pestilence was raging which almost decimat-
ed the Indian tribes in New England, and
prepared the way for the early settlers.
Nevertheless, though the mortality was the
greatest that ever happened in the memory
of man, says the old chronicle, ''yet Vines
and his men with him, who lay in the cabins
with these people that died, not one of them
ever felt their heads to ache so long as they
stayed there" Vines continued to visit the
Saco regularly for several years, and finally
obtaining. patent, made a settlement in
1923 at Winter Harbor, ON the south bank of
the Saco and near its mouth. Coming down
lew years we find that the first gentlemen
who owned building lots at Old Orchard
were Thomas Lewis and Capt. Richard Be-
nighton, to whom the territory correspond
ing nearly to the present city of Saco and
town of Old Orchard was granted by the
Plymouth Council in 1929. The name of the
latter proprietor is variously spelled "Bo-
nighton," "Boniton, and "Bonython," but
liable. Whittier, in his ''Mogg Megone,"
misled by the spelling, ''Bonython," has
placed the accent of this word upon the first
syllable:
Boon welcome, Johnny Bonythonl
Bonighton lived about one-half mile be-
low Saco Falls, where the ruins of his habi-
tatlon were to be seen few years ago The
first actual settler at Old Orchard Beach
proper was one Richard Foxwell, whose
wife was daughter of Richard Bonighton.
The granddaughter of this couple married a
young Irish weaver named Patrick Googins;
and thus it turns out that the numerous de-
scendants of the sturdy Patrick, many of
whom now reside in and about Old Orchard.
are lineal descendants of Bonighton the
elder The loom on which Patrick Googins
woye fine table linen is now in existence,
and in possession of one of the family at
Old Orchard.
Slowly the little settlement here increased
In size and Importance A few years after
its founding William Gorges was appointed
governor OF the whole province; and on
March 49, 1886, at the house of Capt. Richard
Bonighton, was held the first term of court
Here then was the first organized govern
ment established within the present State of
Maine. few specimens Of primitive JUS
tlce are still left on record: -Four per
sons were fined each 5s for getting
drunk Maine law the first thing! George
Cleaves was fined IS. for rash speeches"
In the early part of the eighteenth century
the name OF the pirate Avery was a terror in
the Indian Ocean. Lying off the coast of
Madaga scar, directly in the track of the
homeward bound merchant vessels, by un-
paralleled acts of atrocity this pirate reaped
rich harvest of booty. His most celebrat-
ed piracy was the capture of two Indiamen,
Auscat, valued at over 100000. Shortly
after this Avery'S cOnSort, Doe, was cast
away upon the shores of Madagascar and
the seas becoming too hot to hold him. Avery
sailed to America. His whereabouts for sew
eral years following are unknown, but he
appears finally to have resorted to a hermit's
life, and actually to have made his residence
at a point on FoXwell's Brook, about three
miles inland from Old Orchard. A visit to
this spot discloses the ideal pirates retreat.
brings us to projection in the steep bank
OF a narrow arm of the sea- fringed with a
thick growth of sombre pines. At the top
of the bank is the outline of small square
cellar, almost filled up, in the centre of which
is the stump OF pine nearly two feet in di-
ameter. A spring of clear water in the side
OF the bank bears the name of 'Ayery's
Spring" and the projection is itself known
as "Avery's Point, Tradition makes the
old pirate perfect recluse, refusing all in
tercourse with the settlers, and subsisting
upon fish and wild fowl. Strange stories are
told OF some black bearded visitors and of
sounds of wild carousal at the Point But the
old cellar is almost obliterated, and with it
the legend grows faint and indistinct
One of the most interesting and at the
same time mysterious points in the early his
tory of this now famous beach is when,
where and how it got its name. The qhes-
ton has been discussed by historians, big
and little, and each particular ''oldest in
habitant' has clear and conclusive theory
OF his own, which he is prepared to argue at
moments notice; but no two of all the
aforementioned have ever been known to
agree More than a hundred years ago,
resident owner of the lands about the beach,
Mr.. Banks, discovered large apple tree near
the small brook which runs just north of the
Ocean House. 1t was then in bearing, but
mas now been gone. root and branch, for 80
years. This tree is strongly believed by
some to have been the original ''old orchard
Tor which the beach was named, and a small
signboard standing over the alleged exact
spot occupied by the defunct tree has for
years told the public so, though latterly the
effacing finger of time has obliterated the
entire wording
Other local historians give other origins of
the name "Old Orchard" all of which are
interesting. Some, however, are evidently
made up for the sole purpose of telling a
good story. In fact, there are as many
origins of the name as there are "oldest in
habitants" and 'local historians