Hay wagon at the barn, Westport Island, ca. 1910
Item 105223 info
Westport Island History Committee
Jonas Knight and his wife, Albertine Colby—known by islanders as "Aunt Teen"—ran a boarding house named the Rock Hill Inn on Westport Island. Aunt Teen was Verlie's biological aunt.
Jonas Knight used this hay wagon and team of oxen in the summer season for haying. In 1911, a local paper reported that guests from his boarding house were ferried by hay wagon to an ice cream social.
"…[Y]ears ago when there was nothing but oxen and there were two horses, the south end was just as far away as Boston would be for us… There was the north end and the south end. Everybody walked."
Verlie Greenleaf, 1987
Mill at the shore, Westport Island, 1908
Item 101527 info
Westport Island History Committee
Charles E. Colby's portable sawmill stood on the shore of his property looking over the Back River, toward Woolwich. Charles (left) and Mr. Pease worked the mill.
Two of the Colby children, Verlie and one of her brothers, watched the operation.
"Pa had a portable mill. …That was taken when the man set it up, and then he put it down to the shore. That's after they got it set up, … they took a picture of it."
Verlie Greenleaf, 1987
Ernest Colby sharpening saw blade, Westport Island, ca. 1918
Item 101530 info
Westport Island History Committee
Ernest Colby (1884-1969) sharpened the saw blade of a portable sawmill with a stone. The sawmill had a circular saw with a carriage mechanism to move the logs into the saw.
The saw had a lever that allowed operators to control the thickness of the board. The mill could be moved from location to location around the island.
The last ferry under construction, Westport Island, 1938
Item 105120 info
Westport Island History Committee
Verlie's father, Charles E. Colby (1861-1939), a carpenter, farmer, and portable saw mill owner, built Westport's last ferry, which operated until 1950 when the causeway opened.
The cable ferry service connected Westport to Wiscasset for 47 years. The original ferry, or scow, was replaced or rebuilt in 1919; Colby's scow, built in the 1930s, was the final ferry replacement.
"My father was a carpenter. …The last ferry boat going from Westport to Wiscasset [was] built by my father."
Verlie Greenleaf, 1987
This slideshow contains 4 items
