Photos from the Past – New England Scenes & a Scarborough Graduate.

SHS Photo Collection – Part 009
By Don Taylor

The Scarborough Historical Society has an extensive collection of photos. Today, I look at a mix of four pictures from that collection. There are three places, and one is a graduate of Scarborough High School.

---

Maine, Northport, Park Row, circa 1881-1891.

Photographer: Photographic Studio of W. C. Tuttle, (1881) Belfast, Maine.
Inscription: Park Row, Northport
Description: This photograph shows a row of nearly identical wooden cottages arranged along a gently curving dirt road on a wooded shoreline, typical of a late-19th-century summer resort or cottage colony. Beyond the cottages, a sailing vessel is visible offshore.

Research:

• The 1881 date on the back indicates the photo was taken after that date.
• About 1891, W. C. Tuttle & Son began operating, suggesting the photo was taken before that date.
• Google Maps shows that many of the cottages are still there across from Ruggles Park on Park Row in Northport, Maine.

---

Maine, Mount Desert, Green Mountain Railway, circa 1884.

Photographer: B. Bradley, Bar Harbor, Me.
Inscription: Bar Harbor- Mt. Desert
(?) A Niles Grand Central, Sept 12 84
Description: Labeled Photo: “51. Green Mountain Railway, Mt. Desert, Me.”
Research:

• B. Bradley was a photographer in Bar Harbor from the 1870s into the 1880s. Circa 1891, his son was added to the business name.
• The inscription on the back of the photo, “Sept 12, ’84,” indicates the photo was taken before that date.
• The Maine Memory Network states that construction on the Green Mountain Railway began in February 1883.[i]

---

Massachusetts, Chelsea – “Old Pratt House” c 1884.

Photographer: Halliday’s Photographs, of Historic Buildings, 283 Washington St., Boston, Mass.
Inscription: Old Pratt House, Chelsea, Mass, where Washington stayed overnight.
Description: A badly faded photo of a weathered saltbox farmhouse. The structure is two-story with a central chimney, suggesting late 18^th– or early 19th-century construction.

Research:

• Halliday’s Photographs of Historic Buildings operated at 283 Washington Street from 1883 to 1885.
• There are several other “Pratt Houses.”
  • The Ireland-Way-Pratt House has similar window and fireplace placements.
  However, it has a very different roofline, with a 3rd-story dormer. The Caleb Pratt House is very different, with different fireplace placements and a different roof.
  • Local Chelsea tradition holds that George Washington stayed at the Old Pratt House in Chelsea. The original Pratt mansion was demolished in 1855.

So, this (circa) 1884 photo must either be a photo of a photo or a photo of one of the several other “Old Pratt Houses” in Chelsea.

---

Judith Roy, SHS Class of 1961.

Photographer: Wendell White Studio
Inscription: Judy alias Tiger
Description: Apparent High School Graduation Photo.
Research:

• The 1961 Scarborough High School yearbook shows the same photo of Judy.
• Judith passed August 23, 2022.[ii]

I added this photo to SHS Photos – 2025 on Ancestry.com.

---

Endnotes

[i] Maine Memory Network – Mount Desert Island: Shaped by Nature. Image 7 “Green Mountain Rail Road track, Bar Harbor, ca. 1890 (item 21722) description.

[ii] Hobbs Funeral Home Obituary Judith Roy.