PINE aROVE, NIANTIC MY SECOND HOME Barbara Bean ID551

PINE aROVE, NIANTIC
MY SECOND HOME
Barbara Bean
ID551
J u l y 1979
PINE &ROVE, NIANTIC
MY SECOND HOME
The t e r r i t o r y of N i a n t i c was
West Nehantic I n d i a n s ,
o r i g i n a l l y the home of the
They ^ad two r e s e r v a t i o n s - one
at
Black P o i n t , which gave them the advantage of a good look-out
point on three s i d e s , and the other was
a t the head of the
N i a n t i c R i v e r which a l s o gave them a vantage p o i n t .
The
Ne-
h a n t i c s paid " t r i b u t e " to the Pequot I n d i a n s , but when the
white people s e t t l e d h e r e , the Nehantics
were f r i e n d l y to
them.
The end of the Pequot War, i n 1637, was the f i r s t time
any white people crossed the land on f o o t , now c a l l e d E a s t
Lyme. Captain B u l l and h i s men, v e t e r a n s of the Pequot War,
were f o l l o w i n g an I n d i a n t r a i l overland and n o t i c e d the good
q u a l i t y of the land on which they were t r a v e l l i n g . According
to the r e c o r d s , they asked Captain John Mason f o r a grant of
l a n d . P a r t i a l l y because of t h e i r bravery during the Pequot
War, they were given land now c a l l e d E a s t Lyme.
The white people who were l i v i n g e a s t of the Connecticut
R i v e r , which was p a r t of the o r i g i n a l Saybrook Colony, broke
away and s e t t l e d t h e i r own community and i n 1667, Lyme was
o f f i c i a l l y developed and named. I t s boimdaries i n c l u d e d
the present Lyme, E a s t Lyme, Old Lyme and p a r t of E a s t Haddam.
However, the e a s t e r n boundary was not very d e f i n i t e .
The v i l l a g e of N i a n t i c , or the "Banks", which was the
name given to the open land along N i a n t i c Bay was uninhabited
u n t i l the e a r l y ISOOs. B-fore t h i s time, people would not
b u i l d near or on the waterfront because of the p i r a t e s or
p r i v a t e e r s who s a i l e d along the coast and r a i d e d , burned,
and k i l l e d lone f a m i l i e s who did t r y to s e t t l e on the waterf r o n t . T h i s i s the reason F l a n d e r s was the f i r s t s e c t i o n
of land which was i n h a b i t e d .
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The I n d i a n s worked f o r the whites (they were r e s t r i c t e d
from h u n t i n g , however), auid there was much i n t e r m a r r y i n g between the I n d i a n s and the Negroes,
Nehantic
I n 1871, the t r i b e of
I n d i a n s was proclaraed e x t i n c t ; however, a member
of the l a s t Nehantic f a m i l y . Nonesuch, died i n P e n n s y l v a n i a
i n 1931.
The people who were l i v i n g i n F l a n d e r s had to t r a v e l
nine m i l e s t o attend church i n Lyme.
Because of the c o l d
w i n t e r s , the hot summers, and the muddy roads of s p r i n g t i m e ,
t h i s was a long and tedious r i d e .
L i f e r e v o l v e d around the
c h u r c h , so sometimes they had to r i d e to .Lyme other times
than on Sunday,
I n 1839, t h i s l i t t l e group i n the e a s t e r n
s e c t i o n of Lyme p e t i t i o n e d the S t a t e of Connecticut to become
the "Second E c c l e s i a s t i c a l S o c i e t y of Lyme",
The request
was granted, so i n t h a t y e a r , 1B39, E a s t Lyme was o f f i c i a l l y
e s t a b l i s h e d as a separate towi w i t h i t s own government,
c l a i m i n g 23,515 a c r e s which was bounded on the West by Lyme,
on the e a s t by Waterford, l y i n g between the N i a n t i c and Eour
l\t!ile R i v e r s .
N i a n t i c had i t s own "Awakening" i n t h r e e s t a g e s .
f i r s t was the I n d i a n l i f e .
The
The second stage was the s e t t l i n g
of white f a r m e r s , and the t h i r d stage was the f i s h i n g industry
which f l o u r i s h e d from 1840 to 1880.
The Avery Smith faunily owned much of the l a n d along the
bay and along the r i v ^ r which was not developed.
I n 1850,
he s o l d a g r e a t d e a l of land to the R a i l r o a d company which
a l s o g u a r a n t i e d Smith a l i f e t i n : e job of s e l l i n g
T h i s was the beginning!!
The Banks tremendously.
tickets.
The t r a i n i n f l u e n c e d the growth of
With the coming o f the t r a i n , the
a c t i v i t y changed from Planders south to the shore and to the
railroad.
Smith began t o b u i l d summer c o t t a g e s .
An umbrella
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f a c t o r y (the r i h s were made of whalebone) blossomed, a shoe
f a c t o r y (the b u i l d i n g i s s t i l l t h e r e ) was s t a r t e d , stonecutt e r s were needed f o r M i l l s t o n e and the q u a r r i e s and,of
there was the f i s h i n g i n d u s t r y .
Niantic thrived!
course,
In fact, i n
two decades, from the R a i l r o a d bridge t o B l a c k Point Road, the
main s t r e e t grew from two houses t o t h i r t y - t w o b u i l d i n g s ,
b e s i d e s four s t o r e s , a newspaper, a h o t e l and the umbrella
factory.
had
During the peak of the f i s h i n g i n d u s t r y , N i a n t i c
f i f t y fishing vessels.
I n the s e v e n t i e s , the Luce brothers
s t a r t e d a " l u c r a t i v e , but odorous" b u s i n e s s a t G i a n t ' s Neck,
They made o i l and f e r t i l i z e r froiu the f i s h which caused a
t e r r i b l e odor a l l the way to the V i l l a g e .
They made a fortune!
I n 1881, two important things occurred i n the south p a r t
of the town. One was t h a t the S t a t e of Connecticut took
e i g h t y - f i v e a c r e s of land and s e t up a t r a i n i n g camp f o r the
s t a t e m i l i t i a , as i t was c a l l e d then. Here, men have been
t r a i n e d f o r three wars. The camp c a r r i e s the name of the
governor i n o f f i c e ; a t the present time - "Camp G r a s s o " .
The second happening was a group of Connecticut S p i r i t u a l i s t s from the W i l l i m a n t i c branch^^ltet up a t e n t camp on a
small p e n i n s u l a and c a l l e d i t Pine Grove. They bought f o r t y
a c r e s o f land f o r four thousand d o l l a r s ($4,000.00) from a
farmer, William A. W i l l i a m s , d i v i d e d i t i n t o b u i l d i n g l o t s
each 25 f t . x 40 f t . - l a r g e enough to hold a t e n t , and s o l d
the l o t s f o r f o r t y (40) d o l l a r s e a c h . The l o c a t i o n was i d e a l the N i a n t i c R i v e r was on one s i d e and Smith Cove was on two
other s i d e s . They b u i l t a l a r g e t a b e r n a c l e (which would hold
a few thousand p e o p l e ) , h o t e l s and g r a d u a l l y , cottages r e placed the t e n t s .
Everyone was under the r i g i d c o n t r o l of the r e l i g i o u s
l e a d e r s . However, the l e a d e r s g r a d u a l l y l o s t c o n t r o l by people
moving i n who s a i d they were s p i r i t u a l i s t s , but a c t u a l l y , they
were n o t . The t a b e r n a c l e was turned i n t o a dance h a l l c a l l e d
the P a v i l l i o n which a l s o was a post o f f i c e , s t o r e and l o c a l
meeting p l a c e .
Although they never regained t h e i r former
c o n t r o l , there s t i l l i s one of the l a r g e s t s p i r i t u a l i s t s camps
t h e r e , with people coming from a l l over to a t t e n ^ h e i r meetings.
The Sunday Union - the l o c a l paper - dated August 21, 1881
had an a r t i c l e c a l l e d " S p i r i t u a l i s m i n Camp". According to the
newspaper, the camp was on a p e n i n s u l a covered w i t h p i n e s ,
Pour weeks before the opening of the camp, the p l a c e was i n
i t s n a t u r a l s t a t e . When i t opened, there were three r o a d s ,
p a r a l l e l to each o t h e r , l a i d out i n mathematical e x a c t n e s s ;
one down the c e n t e r of the p e n i n s u l a c a l l e d Broadway, and
one on each s i d e near the water - Cove S t r e e t on the Cove
s i d e and Cherry S t r e e t on the R i v e r s i d e . L a t e r , roads connected the three r o a d s .
How and why d i d the " S p i r i t s " come here?
F i f t e e n years
before (1866),the group had formed "The S t a t e A s s o c i a t i o n of
Spiritualists".
Because there were so many s p i r i t u a l i s t s a t
the meetings a t Lake P l e a s a r i t , and so many Mediums were
f r a u d s , the W i l l i m a n t i c group decided to form t h e i r own group;
and t h e r e f o r e , bought the N i a n t i c l a j i d .
My aunt was a C o n g r e g a t i o n a l i s t , but when ^he married
my u n c l e , whose f a m i l y were s p i r i t u a l i s t s , she becanie a c t i v e
i n the Pine Grove A s s o c i a t i o n ,
" S p i r i t u a l i s m i s a Science" because i t i n v e s t i g a t e s ,
a n a l y z e s and c l a s s i f i e s f a c t s and m a n i f e s t a t i o n s demonstrated
from the s p i r i t s i d e of l i f e .
" S p i r i t u a l i s m i s a Philosophy" because i t s t u d i e s the
laws of nature both on the seen and unseen s i d e of l i f e and
bases i t s c o n c l u s i o n s upon present observed f a c t s . I t a c cepts statements of observed f a c t s of p a s t ages and c o n c l u s i o n s drawn tlierefrom, when s u s t a i n e d by reason and by r e s u l t s of observed f a c t s of present day.
^
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" S p i r i t u a l i s m i s a R e l i g i o n " because i t s t r i v e s to understand and to comply w i t h the P h y s i c a l , Mental, and
Laws of Nature, "which are the Laws of
Spiritual
God."
These three quotations were taken from the 1978 Handbook
of the "Connecticut S p i r i t u a l i s t Camp Meeting A s s o c i a t i o n , "
Pine Grove, N i a n t i c , Conn.
My
aunt was a " b e l i e v e r " .
She e v i d e n t l y was v$ry
recep-
t i v e because she often was
one who
She knew when my uncle was
going to have a h e a r t a t t a c k - the
exact wording was
^
would r e c e i v e a "raej^sage".
"he would be very s i c k so t h a t they could
not take t h e i r u s u a l t r i p , but t h a t he would r e c o v e r " .
They
^
wenu to F l o r i d a every w i n t e r but that w i n t e r , they stayed
w i t h us i n P o r t l a n d .
Ky Bad was a staunch C o n g r e g a t i o n a l i s t who could not see
any of t h i s " f o l - d e - r o l " . He would tease her f r e q u e n t l y and
one time she asked why he d i d not go with her to a meeting
{she had t r i e d mainy times before but he had always r e f u s e d ) .
He s u r p r i s e d her by s a y i n g he would. To make a long s t o r y
s h o r t , he r e c e i v e d a message. The Medium t o l d him a few
t h i n g s which had happened to him i n the past and to which
only he could a s s o c i a t e ; then he r e c e i v e d a message. He never
again r i d i c u l e d S p i r i t u a l i s m , nor d i d he t e a s e her very much
a f t e r t h a t . I must admit, I have never attended a meeting.
My u n c l e ' s f a m i l y came from B r i s t o l (an a l l day t r i p
down to N i a n t i c ) and b u i l t t h e i r cottage up on "the P o i n t "
on tliree l o t s . When i t was f i r s t b u i l t , before 1895, i t was
l i k e a box - three rooms u p s t a i r s and three rooms down, a
couple of s m a l l porches and an outhouse. I n 1895, they put
on the back wing - k i t c h e n and bedroom. Over the y e a r s ,
many changes have been made - c l o s e t s put i n u p s t a i r s , windows
put i n d i f f e r e n t p l a c e s , e t c .
/
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E l e c t r i c i t y was put i n before the 1 9 3 0 » s .
I n 1931, a
b e a u t i f u l s c r e e n e d - i n porch, 2 5 ' x 13' was added and i n 1 9 3 5 ,
a cement foundation
was l a i d (my uncle dug i t a l l out by
h a n d ) , making a complete c e l l s t r .
1937
A bathroom was added i n
when the water was put i n so t h a t a l l of the "modem"
conveniences were a t hand.
•
Then came the '38 h u r r i c a n e !
Complete d e v a s t a t i o n was everywhereI
The only damage to
the cottage was to the chimney which was blown down causing
water damage i n the k i t c h e n ; but Pine Grove no longer had
the p i n e s .
few maples*
Most of the t r e e s now-a-days a r e oaks with a
There a r e very few p i n e s !
I have been coming t o Pine Grove summers f o r y e a r s and
in
1976, the cottage was l e f t to my s i s t e r and me.
I love
i t here and come down on weekends i n the e a r l y s p r i n g and
l a t e f a l l when N i a n t i c i s very q u i e t suid spend the e n t i r e
summer here when the " V i l l a g e " i s a b u s t l i n g p l a c e .
The New London Day, June 25, 1931, s t a t e d : " N i a n t i c ,
the c e n t r a l shopping d i s t r i c t of the town, l o s e s a l l semblance
of a q u i e t New England v i l l a g e w i t h the i n f l u x of summer
tors.
Though N i a n t i c i s never a s l e e p y v i l l a g e , i t s
visi-
more
than quadrupled summer population c r e a t e s an a i r of l i v e l i n e s s
8Uid p r o s p e r i t y t h a t can not be manifested
i n the d u l l e r months."
Pine Grove i s my second home and I love the p l a c e d e a r l y !