The Tale of Two Libraries: Part One

For this trip we added two: Southport Memorial Library on Southport Island and Dorcas Library in Prospect Harbor. Both of these libraries exemplify why Maine’s small and rural libraries are so beloved.

Southport Memorial Library 

1032 Hendricks Hill Road, Southport 207-633-2741​

Knowing Southport’s librarian, Casey Martin, before we arrived, we were expecting a fabulous visit. Even so, the actual library exceeded our already-high expectations. For one thing, it’s bigger than we imagined. What began in 1906 with two sisters lending books to their neighbors later moved to the one-room schoolhouse in 1947, with later additions for a reading room, children’s room and other spaces, including a two-story addition. It’s a warm, lively, hugely welcoming place—organized in a way that invites people in and makes them want to stay and play the piano and visit. Our grandkids proved the point: after a quick tour (and a close look at what I think is a unique butterfly collection), the kids headed straight for the children’s room and didn’t move an inch until we insisted, against their better judgment, that it was time to leave. 

After we left, I read the library history—something I probably should have done before we went. Sisters Susan and Rebecca Zabriskie, who had moved to Southport from New York, began lending their books to islanders in 1906. In 1909 they hired their first librarian, fifteen-year-old Edith Gray Snowman, who stayed on for fifty years and was later followed by her daughter, Marjorie Gray Barter. 

As an aside: I mention these women because I’m beginning to suspect a theme: small local libraries, started and sustained by women giving generously to their communities. (The Jay-Niles librarian Tamara Hoke has already started a collection on this, Overdue – Recognizing Maine Women in Early Public Library History. And as one scholar puts it: “One great gap in library history is created by the failure of historians, so far, to make a systematic analysis of the part played by women's associations in creating public libraries. Perhaps 75 percent of such libraries were initiated by women's groups, often originally for their own use.” Ann Firor Scott, Women and Libraries, 21 J. Lib. Hist. 400 (1986).)

For the adults among us, Southport’s library had plenty to offer too. Many of the books from the original library are still there, and there’s a sizable, lovely art book collection. 

I especially loved seeing the Gustaf Tenggren Collection. Tenggren, who had a home on Southport, was an internationally acclaimed illustrator for Snow White, Pinocchio, and Bambi, as well as The Poky Little Puppy and the more controversial Little Black Sambo. I’m mostly a CloudLibrary and Kindle reader these days, but I have to say that seeing some of these early personal editions was a special experience. 

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We were also touched by the porch table now in the snack room. Casey told us that Dick Barringer and Martha Freeman, friends of ours, had given the table to the library. Martha was Dorothy Freeman’s granddaughter; Dorothy Freeman was Rachel Carson’s colleague and companion, and Southport was the location for Rachel Carson’s summer cottage. The Edge of the Sea is dedicated to Stan and Dorothy Freeman. The visit prompted me to reread Edgar Allan Beem’s essay, Rachel Carson—Remember the Monarchs, and we all want to reread Martha’s collection of her grandmother’s letters, Always Rachel.

We didn’t prepare ahead for the kids and Rachel Carson but have since found Rachel Carson Cared About Our World by Kate Coombs (PreK) and Rachel Carson’s Wonder-Filled World: How the Scientist, Writer, and Nature Lover Changed the Environmental Movement by Kate Hannigan (described as 7-10 years, though of course depends on the reader).

While we were visiting libraries, we revisited Hendrick’s Head Lighthouse and were reminded of the great lighthouse and beach there as well. Lunch on Southport was at Robinson’s Wharf—just what you’d expect and want from a Maine island spot—and it’s clearly a place where the year-round residents gather. Great sandwiches: burgers and fish. Again, all good with the kids and our table of eight.