by Kitty Wheeler
Coastal Journal contributor
WESTPORT ISLAND - The Garden Club of Wiscasset sponsored a very successful garden and house tour on Westport Island last Thursday, June 26th. Called “Island Vistas”, the tour included nine gardens and seven houses. The day was a sparkling one, and visitors began to arrive at nine a.m. when the tour officially started. The proceeds from the tour benefit scholarships for environmental sciences and civic beautification. The Wiscasset Public Library will have a children's garden developed with some of these funds.
Westport Island is twelve miles long as it stretches down the Sheepscot and Back Rivers. Part of Wiscasset, the island used to be named Jeremysquam and then Freetown. Old houses dot the landscape; very new structures also blend into the terrain. The island has a population of 770, and the residents enjoy their bucolic life. Gardens are important to them as is outside living. Decks, terraces and gazebos lend themselves to looking at the rivers below and feeling the breezes.
Patti and Mort Mendes' spacious grounds and modern house near the river were inviting. A smaller cottage is at the top of the hill, surrounded by perennials including delphinium and peonies. The vegetable garden is set in an open field with a scarecrow askew in the middle of the vegetables. A stroll down to the river's edge and the main house is shady. Once at the house, an herb garden is behind the kitchen and other plants move down toward the river. Stone works weave around the plants. Mort stated in delight, “I never find a stone I don't like.”
Heading South on Route 144, the Dunbar, Lewis and Springhorn houses and gardens were open to visitors, too. Perennials, annuals and woody plants all made statements. The Axelrod-Whitney home is perched above the Sheepscot River. Designed by Josef Tara, the new house clings to a cliff. It has energy-efficient, L.E.E.D.-certified materials in it. A screened porch and cedar deck overlook the woody paths and stairs that herring bone their way down to the dock. The natural landscape has been retained.
Sally and Charlie Howe's extensive gardens overlooking the Sasanoa River with a view down to Robinhood Cove command attention. Sally has worked on the historic gardens for 23 years and happily mixes weeds and flowers. “If it comes up, I keep it up,” she exclaims. Masses of hosta grow in the shady areas, and the gardener adds a row each year. Rosa Rugosa and Lady's Mantle thrive in the sunlight. An historic American elm tree continues to thrive. It may well have been planted when the site was home to Heal's Lower Mill. Steamboats jammed with tourists used to stop at the point.
The Barrett compound has two main houses with other small artists' studios scattered around the property. Both homes have open floor plans, and the expanses of windows highlight the Sheepscot River's mouth and Long Cove. Perennials dance behind a stonewall that was erected from the rocks of the old homestead chimney. A lawn and garden were created from an overgrown wooded area, and a path leads down to a point between the cove and river.
Louana and Ted Frois own Squam Creek Farm on the West Shore Road. The original home was built in 1750, and the living and dining rooms from the original house were open for the tour. An old family cemetery surrounded by a white picket fence is located on the property. There is a peony bed in front of the house, and poppies, irises, lupine and baptisia surround a pond behind the house. Swards of green lead down to the Back River, and a vegetable garden is in the middle of the lawn with a colonial-dressed scarecrow.
The Squire Tarbox Inn owned by Roni and Mario DePietro is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1763, the oldest section of the inn retains the original boards and timbers. Barns house goats and chickens, and the DePietro's son maintains a Community Sustained Agricultural garden behind the inn. A pre-ordered box lunch prepared by the inn was available for pick up there.
Each garden setting commanded attention. Most of them were near the water and flourished with the salt air and breezes. The houses caught the nuance of the rivers as well. Visitors were enchanted with the charm of Westport Island and its gardens and homes that welcomed them. One visitor exclaimed as she left the last garden, “this tour is a ten out of ten”. No wonder the proceeds will happily increase the scholarship and civic beautification funds.
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