The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1927-07-11
GIBSON ISLAND
POPULAR AS
PLAYGROUND
Washington Colony Grows
Apace; Merry Week
End Parties
By JEAN ELIOT

+ H1BSON ISLAND, long a. faVor1te
NJ playground for Baltimoreans,
Is growing" a Washington colony
and a weekend visit to this pic
kuresque post in the Chesapeake
gave a hint of how popular the
place has become with the younger
Get in the Capital.
It's a veritable Treasure Island"
for those to whom long holidays,
spent in New England or abroad,
are impossible. For it provides
bathing, sailing. fishing, golf and
tennis with a setting of grassy
meadows, pleasant woodland and
sunkissed beaches-and all within
80 miles of Washington.
Weekend House Parties
Mr.. and Mrs. George T. sum-
merlin. jr., have one of the pic
turesque little white houses, with
q garden between it's wings. which
dot the island and they had a
group of guests from Washington
with them yesterday. Among them
were Mr.. and Mrs. George Pulver,
who keep their yacht at Gibson
Island most of the time and are
frequent visitors there: Mr.. and
Mrs. James Lee and Mr.. and Mrs.
Howard Newell Tucker.
Mr.. and Mrs. Robert Roebling
had Bishop Hill with them for the
weekend and Eugene Hinckle, of
the State Department, who spends
good deal Of time on the island,
seems to have been a guest Of Mr..
and Mrs. Robert Thompson Pell
this time, for he and Mrs. Pell were
-
afternoon.
The Pells and the Roeblings, both
~of Washington" have two of the
most picturesque houses on the
island. The home Of Mr.. Pell, a
favorite grandson of dear old Col.
Robert M. Thompson, is of the Eng
lish cottage time, with a quaint
enclosed garden at the rear, and
looks off over Chesapeake Bay.
But the Roebling place, which was
described in one of the house and
garden magazines as "a perfect ex-
ample of the small summer cot
tage," nestles in the woodland over
looking a charming fresh-water
lake tucked away in the center of
the island, with the golf course
skirting its rim.
Water Sports
One of the most delightful features
of the Gibson Island Club-the place
Is run on club principles and homes
are only sold to those eligible for
membership in the organizations
the variety of its water life. For
the island lies at the mouth of the
Magothy River and there is the
sweetest of little land-locked harbors.
where the fleet of sailboats tie up,
with the boat club on it's rim. That's
where everybody" goes swimming,
morning and afternoon, although
there are some few unsociable souls
who prefer to battle on the bay side
from the verandas of their own cot
tages.
All sorts of craft lie in the Glib.
son Islands, from the Robert Roeb-
hngs' graceful cruiser to dories
with cupboard motors. But sail.
boats are in the majority and
there Is a large fleet of "star
boats" which stage races every
Sunday afternoon. These are elm.
ination contests and the winners
are to take part later in the sum.
naer in the Chesapeake Bay Yacht
Club races, for which Sir Thomas
Upton gave the cup.
The Gibson Island Club proper,
q spacious place, looks toward
Chesapeake Bay and has a lovely
wide veranda and a beach front
set out with comfortable chairs
and gay striped umbrellas. This
is the center of social activity of
the island and is thanked by cot
tageS where club members may
be put up for week ends or longer
visits. There is one cottage sacred
to visiting girls, with a charming
hostess, Mrs. Bidwell in resi-.
dence.'
st. ChristOphers. by-the-Sea
A quaint weathered brown build.
ing, with thatched roof, turns
out to be st. Christophers.by.th
Sea, where services are held twice
daily and which contributes a pic
turesque note.
Mr.. and Mrs. James William
orme, of Washington, who have
taken Mr.. and Mrs. Basil Gordon s
cottage for the summer, also had
o house party over this last week
end, having Miss Fannie Dial
among their guests. And a lot of
Washingtonians motored down for
the day. Mr.. and Mrs. Gwinn Rust
had Miss Betty Baldwin. daughter
Of Col. and Mrs. Theodore A.
Baldwin, and Emmons Smith, 1r.,
with them. David Turnure of the
State Department group and Mrs.
Turnure who is a daughter of Mrs.
Richard Wilson of New York. were
down and so was Lawrence Hig-
gins, whose mother has a cottage
on the island; and in the after
noon ] soied group of George
town folk Swimming together and
Including Mrs. Rawlins Hume, her
sister. Mrs. Robinson, and DR..
William c. Gwynne.
They chose for their swim the
sunset hour when its rays were