#01 - Shooting the Gut from Above
South Bristol, Maine 1968 and Today
Cathy Jewitt & Ben Meader, Authors
John Meader, Photo & Content Editor
Gus’s Postcard of the South Bristol Gut, #266. Courtesy of the Penobscot Marine Museum.
On a sunny day in August of 1968, Augustus Phillips flew low over Rutherford Island to photograph Maine from the air. Gus was on a photo shoot with pilot George Robbins, taking pictures of iconic Maine places so he could turn them into postcards for the burgeoning business of tourism. Today he was looking down at the village of South Bristol, recognizable for its swing bridge, Gamage’s Shipyard, and the narrow, deepwater passage linking the Damariscotta River to Johns Bay.
Gus had just turned 70, and his life, like the small village that straddled the slim strip of water below, had spanned years of change. He’d had many jobs—ice harvester, farmer, draftsman, carpenter—but his current one probably would have sounded the strangest to his late father, who’d spent most of his life in the age of horse and sail. Not only was Gus in an airplane, using a handheld, full-color camera, but he spent his summer and fall selling postcards to tourists, a far cry from the maritime and agricultural occupations of his parents. In 1968, to someone of Gus’s generation, the world and its inventions must have seemed like the pinnacle of human ingenuity. Technology had provided Gus with tools to further his creative skills and produce income. His older brother Luther might have found this particular airborne sojourn interesting as well, had he still been alive. Twenty-five years earlier, Luther Phillips, known for his hand drawn cartography, had walked the entire area to plot the houses of local families on a map. He was accompanied by New Harbor lobsterman Walker Gilbert, who helped him chart the local landscape and learn its history. Gus now flew over the same terrain with his own navigator George Robbins in a Cessna 180. Luther published A Map of South Bristol Maine in 1941, and Gus would publish his postcard Maine’s Busiest Drawbridge later in 1968. [^1]
A Map of South Bristol Maine, 1941 by Luther Phillips and Walker Gilbert. Notice that Witch Island is called “Davis Island.” It would be later renamed “Witch Island” after Hetty Green. Photo courtesy of author Cathy Jewitt.
South Bristol, like other communities in coastal Maine, was continuing to adapt to change. Ever since fishermen began to make a living on Rutherford Island, the narrow passage known as “the Gut” was regularly traversed. One of the first ferries negotiated the crossing with a rope system and small watercraft. By the early 1800s a fixed bridge had been constructed to facilitate travel to and from the island. After repeatedly petitioning local and state governments throughout the 1800s, the people of South Bristol were finally authorized to build a new bridge in 1891. The first official efforts were for an improved fixed bridge of stone and timber, despite the initial desire for a movable bridge which would allow marine traffic to pass through the Gut. The upgraded bridge, however, was apparently regarded with some disdain. One resident attributed the structural deficiency to an overabundance of rum during its construction. The reservations were not without merit; during a 4th of July celebration in 1902, the bridge collapsed when the number of people gathered there proved too burdensome for the wooden timbers. A few people were hurt, and almost certainly, no one was happy.
The Gut finally got its first swing bridge, a wooden one, the next year in 1903. Increased traffic, in part from the growth of the Heron Island and Christmas Cove communities, caused the bridge to deteriorate by 1911. Eventually it was replaced by the first drawbridge in the 1920s. Sadly, this bridge operated for only a few years, but it was the subject of many stories. One resident remembers several drivers attempting to cross the bridge while it was open and clearly inclined. According to one source, the bridge broke and fell dramatically in the summer of 1929 when one of the chains snapped. The next bridge, however, stood the test of time. Built in the 1930s, the new bridge was one of the busiest of Maine’s coastal “swing bridges” and operated for over 80 years. Many South Bristol locals remember having fun on the bridge when they were young and daring. As one local tells it, the key to riding your bike off the end of the open bridge was to make sure a long rope was tied to the bike. Then you could haul it back up after the plunge. [^2]
Looking south towards the Gut from land, the early 1900s and 2020. Photos courtesy of South Bristol Historical Society and John Meader.
The swing bridge was replaced in 2016 with the bascule bridge we see today.
Gamage’s Shipyard has changed as well. The Harvey Gamage Shipyard opened in 1924, building many small sailing yachts designed by John Alden, though Gamage’s also built motor yachts designed onsite. The luxury market dwindled during the Depression, and production efforts turned to building PT boats and minesweepers for the Second World War. The minesweeper USS Bittern is pictured in Gus’s postcard. Although not built at Gamage’s, the Bittern was skippered by Gamage’s cousin Ralph Corliss Farrin. By 1968 it had been retrofitted for “quality control analysis of anti submarine devices” and was docked at South Bristol. In the decades following the war, the shipyard produced an average of four boats each year. At the time Gus flew over, Gamage’s had built “the backbone” of the Gloucester and New Bedford fishing fleets. These boats were hefty offshore vessels, ranging from 70 to 112 feet, many of which are still in use today. In addition to several famous research vessels, Gamage’s also built a number of traditional schooners and replicas, including Mary Day, Clearwater, Shenandoah, Harvey F. Gamage, and Appledore II.
Today, the view from above shows evidence of a working boatyard. The dock slips and hauling sling have replaced the old boathouse and launching ways. Although Gamage’s Shipyard has operated mostly as a marina since the 1980s, there are signs that this might change. This spring, the yard will launch its first boats built on site in 40 years: a Flowers 38 and Holland 32, both recreational powerboats. [^3]
Gamage’s Shipyard, looking west from the Gut. Photo courtesy of John Meader, March 2020.
Even though the intricacies of the history of South Bristol may have been unknown to Gus, he would have found the broader changes relatable. He’d certainly seen similar transformative events affect his own community in Northeast Harbor. The rusticators and cottagers of Mount Desert Island were not unlike those of South Bristol’s Heron Island and Christmas Cove. The loss of ice harvesting was not unique to each place, nor was the shift to a service economy.
And so here we are, now, with Gus in 1968. The ice pick and saw of his youth are gone, and, with cameras in hand, the septuagenarian climbs into a Cessna for a few hours, leaning out over the landscape to snap pictures. How often do we look at what we see now and imagine the future? When we look back at the strange happenings of the past, all that we see for certain are people and places captured for a moment.
The South Bristol Gut has different buildings today than it did 52 years ago when Gus flew overhead to capture his moment. And his view was certainly different than a gull’s would have been when it looked down at people fussing over a broken bridge in 1901. But the current in the Gut always ebbs one way then floods the other. The point of sending a postcard is not to lament the loss of the past, but to send a mini time capsule to another so that they can share the moment. The magic of looking at an old postcard is that the past is, for a second, right there in hand, tangible, and allows us to see that the connections we have to the past are much closer than we think.
A modern aerial with historical imagery placed on top. Note the changed buildings at Gamage’s and the old swing bridge. Photo courtesy of Rhumb Line Maps and Bittersweet Landing Boatyard.
A Gallery of Photos by John Meader, South Bristol Gut, 2019:
Special Thanks:
The Penobscot Marine Museum for preserving the Phillips Collection and their support; the South Bristol Historical Society for their anecdotes and resources for the article; Skidompha Library for their help with research and knowledge; and John Meader for his photography.
Partners for the Postcards from Gus blog:
Sources, Notes, Further Reading:
1. Walker Gilbert, Luther’s Map, and Gus’s Flight.
Augustus Phillips, handwritten entry in Spiral Bound Notebook: George Robbins, 1:20 Cessna 180, 30 per hour, collection of author Cathy Jewitt.
Sharon McDunnah and Pete Hope, “Walker Gilbert, 1912-2005, part 1,” Lincoln County News, November 2, 2006, p.13.
2. The South Bristol History, Bridges, Anecdotes.
Ellen Vincent, Down on the Island, Up on the Main (Thomaston, Maine: Tilbury House Publishers, 2003), p.168
Larry Kelsey, Co-President, South Bristol Historical Society, interview by Cathy Jewitt, March 13, 2020, in person.
“A Town is Born, South Bristol, 1915,” Maine Memory Network, accessed March 14, 2020, link.
“Crossing the Gut, The First Swing Bridge, South Bristol, 1915,” Maine Memory Network, accessed March 14, 2020, link.
“A History of South Bristol,” South Bristol Historical Society, accessed March 15, 2020, link.
“History of the Town of South Bristol,” Town of South Bristol, accessed March 15, 2020, link.
“The First Swing Bridge",” Maine Memory Network, accessed March 14, 2020, link.
“The Gut bridge replaced, reopened - South Bristol, ME,” Waterway Guide, accessed March 15, 2020, link.
3. Gamage’s Shipyard.
Evan Houk, “Gamage Shipyard to Launch First New Vessel in Nearly 40 Years,” Lincoln County News,March 9, 2020, link.
Maine Department of Economic Development, “An Inventory of Ocean-Oriented Activities in the State of Maine, 1968” (1968), Economic and Community Development Documents, 47, link.
Scott Farrin, Historian, South Bristol Historical Society, interview by Cathy Jewitt, March 13, 2020, in person.
“A Brief History of Gamage Shipyard and the Area,” Gamage Shipyard, accessed March 15, 2020, link.