The Ruggles House

Happy Spring, Friends:

That is merely a polite greeting. Winter arrived one month late in downeast Maine with much constant cold and enough snow. But here we are in Spring with more than our share of storms. Only the birds, who are finally at the feeders, seem to be enjoying this mess. But April is a winter month.

A peeve is that newsletters arrive, telling of past events. We want you to know about Ruggles House upcoming happenings.

May 19th @1PM Directors meeting at the Columbia Falls Community Center
May 26th Annual Plant sale on the Ruggles House grounds 9AM until sellout. We’ll have annuals, perennials, vegetable seedlings, shrub divisions, house plants-whatever anyone brings to sell.
June 1st House opens at usual hours
June 8-10 232nd Anniversary of the 1st Naval Battle of the American Revolution, called Margaretta Days, sponsored by the Machias Chamber of Commerce. Ruggles House has been invited to set up a display on our museum and may also offer items for sale. This is a part of the Historical Symposium on Friday, 6/8 beginning at 9:30 with different speakers in addition. It ends at 5PM and is at the University of Maine, Machias campus.
July 8 1-3 Annual Ice Cream Social-free ice cream & admission to house
July 19 Ruggles House Society annual meeting 12:30 lunch, 1:30 meeting
August 15 1st annual appraisal day at Ruggles House. We have engaged the services of John D. Bottero, appraiser, who will, for a fee, appraise your antiques or collectibles.
October 6 @1PM Director’s meeting at the Columbia Falls Community Center
October 15 Ruggles House closes for the season
December 2nd: 3rd annual Christmas Tea at Ruggles House. The House will be tastefully decorated for the season and we expect Kathy and Peter Winham of the Englishman’s Bed and Breakfast in Cherryfield to again be serving tea. The Winhams import and distribute 25 bagged and 39 loose varieties of tea from India and China as Teas of Cherryfield. They will welcome questions about tea and have varieties for sale.

Now that the ell is completely finished, it’s hard to think back when we didn’t have this wonderful space. The level off the diningroom adds so much interpretation to the tour of the house. Over the winter several directors have been working on organizing displays in the basement with artifacts recovered from archaeological digs prior to construction and with donated items. Others have gathered in the upper level library and storage area to work on filing papers, sorting through artifacts and books, and making some sense over the Gloria Hayward collection of local genealogy. Thanks to the New Century Grant program we have been able to purchase additional filing cabinets for this material. Now corporate records and RHS artifacts and collection papers are all under one roof. We welcome anyone who might be interested in these papers and books for research but ask that you telephone the house (207-483-4637) to make an appointment so that we have a docent available to assist you. We want the collection to be used.

On one of those days as we sorted and chatted, the mystery of Thomas Ruggles’s vessel, “Spruce", was mentioned. We were aware of such a ship as it is mentioned in his inventory of items upon his death. We have that original in our collection. We know he owned other schooners jointly over his lifetime but the Spruce, we believe, was the only one Ruggles owned outright. Gloria Hayward said that she thought that she had that record and found that the "Spruce" was built in Columbia Mass. (Now Columbia Falls, Maine), in 1815 by Isreal Leighton, master carpenter. It was classed as 98 and 50/95 tons, 64 feet by 20 feet by 9 feet, had one deck, two masts and a square stern. It was enrolled at Machias with Thomas Ruggles as owner and the master was Elisha Handy. We find it enrolled a second time on March 30, 1821 by William H. Ruggles, merchant of Columbia. William was Thomas’ oldest living son. He had apparently taken the schooner "Spruce" on his father’s death in December, 1820. The vessel was enrolled again on March 22, 1822 but was listed as owned by William and Daniel Look, Jr. Esquire of Addison. John Sawyer was the master. By March 20, 1823, Look was listed as the sole owner. Apparently William had sold his share of the Spruce. It was listed again in July, 1825 under new owners.

You will notice in our list of events that we have engaged Thomaston Place Auction Galleries of Thomaston, Maine, to visit Columbia Falls on August 15th from about 10AM to 3PM for the purpose of appraising your antiques and collectibles. This is a fund raising event for Ruggles House and we will be charging (subject to the approval of the board on May 19th) a fee of $5.00 per appraisal or $20.00 for 5 items. As the appraisers will be using a coach to ensure your safety and privacy, you’ll have no difficulty finding the right place. You may at the same time arrange for these fine people to sell items at one of their many auctions.

Can you imagine the surprise when reading "Manhunt: The 12 Days Chase for Lincoln’s Killer" by James L. Swanson, to find that Mortimer B. Ruggles aided in John Wilkes Booth’s escape. There is a Ruggles list on Rootsweb so I asked if Mortimer, who was a young adult at the time, was apprehended? A reply quickly appeared from Robert C. Bainbridge: "He was apprehended along with my gg grandfather and sent to the Old Capital Prison in DC. They were eventually released on Oath of Allegiance to the United States. I have never been able to determine why they were released, although I think there were some political dealings relative to the core conspirators and those who were thought to be peripheral. Scholars have theorized that they were Confederate spies under Mosby and had purposely intercepted Booth to assist with his escape. At the end of the war they left Fauquier for home in King George, but took a route that had been coined "the wrong way home", which led them to the point where Booth crossed the Rappahannock."

Then Tom Ruggles of Concord, Massachusetts added to the story by saying, "My aunt, Eleanor O’Leary Ruggles, is a (little known) author of very erudite books that only super scholars ever read, The Life of Gerald Manley Hopkins, Vachel Lindsey, Cardinal Newman and the Like.

However, she did write one book that got some notoriety called "Prince of Players" -the life of Edwin Booth (that scoundrel’s brother). Apparently Edwin was as good as John was bad, but be that as it may, the book received favorable reviews and was made into a movie with none other than Richard Burton as "the man" himself."

Maybe this is more Ruggles family news that you need to know.

Thanks to the sharp eyes of Nick Emery, loyal Ruggles House supporter, former director and clerk, alerting us to the December 31st article in the N.Y.Times by Tracie Rozhon entitled, "Homes Sell, and History Goes Private". It concerns a trend to sell historic properties along with easements to private parties. It cites reasons such as declining attendance, shifting priorities, diminished staff, and lack of endowment dollars. In private hands, the historic estates might remain visible on virtual tours only. Education programs to encourage interest, repairs, maintenance and staffing are expensive. Ruggles House, a couple of years ago, recognized the problem with some maintenance of deteriorating windows: sashes, frames, sills. We hired a consultant who analyzed the problem and trained craftsmen in the "how-to". Having been unsuccessful in finding outside money to help us along, we shall begin the project a few windows at a time. We know the expense of proper maintenance.

Many preservation groups when offered an old home, will not accept this generous gift without a substantial endowment to maintain the buildings and grounds. It therefore seems sensible to consider returning historic structures to private hands as long as there is a guarantee of preservation. Ruggles House, being a small house museum, worries about keeping our house in top repair so that it serves as a teaching tool for those interested in the Federal period. We have a sound endowment, barring fire, and many supportive donors and volunteers but we do feel the change in attitude toward historic places. To keep our inheritance vital, we have teamed with other museums in an Historic Trail, as yet un-named. We hope to share ideas with this group to keep downeast museums vital and interesting.

Speaking of preservation, we acknowledge and applaud the fine people of Columbia Falls who continue to support the preservation of their old Union Church. It is a Greek Revival period structure built in 1840 by the Union Meetinghouse Association as a non-denominational place of worship. It is well proportioned and features a triangular gabled pediment and columned entrance. In 1898 the bell was donated to the church by the Women’s Society and even today the bell still tolls. In 1903 the church was deeded to the Town as a Town Hall. Today it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the recent past an interested group of local citizens were awarded a substantial grant to make appropriate repairs as it is no longer used as a Town Hall. As the belfry and roof were in need of work, much of the grant money was used. It would make a wonderful cultural center and Ruggles House looks forward to seeing this beautiful old meetinghouse returned to it former utilitarian glory.

We thank you all for your genuine interest in Ruggles and hope that you will visit us at 146 Main Street when the house is open. Two wonderful volunteers, Leslie McSorley of the Crafty Unicorn in Harrington, Maine and Ellen Tenan, have been stitching away on a quilt to be raffled at the House over the summer. The butterfly squares were donated by Joan Oliver of Old Town. We believe that chances will be $1.00 each or 6 for $5.00. A photo and details are anticipated being on the web site when the quilt is finished. Or call us at 207-483-4637

To one and all, be well.
Linda Long, President