Manset Meetinghouse Collection
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The Community and Culture of times past...
Who were the people who gathered at the Meeting House and how did they earn a living? George Edward Street wrote in his book Mount Desert, “The inhabitants of Southwest Harbor were mostly engaged in coasting and fishing. A large number of fishing vessels were owned there.”
If the men weren’t fishing for herring near the Magdelene Islands or for larger fish at the Grand Banks, they were tradesmen. Shipbuilding was still a thriving industry in the late 1800s. In addition, Street wrote, “The chief industries were lumber, ice, fish and granite.”
Ice from the Manset ponds helped preserve the fish catches. When it was time to cut the ice, everyone rallied to help. A saw like this one from the Southwest Harbor Historical Society’s collection broke through the frozen ponds to cut the ice cakes that were loaded onto temporary sluiceways constructed from the ponds to the shore.
Ralph Stanley said it was quite a distance and the cakes would get going at speeds up to 60 mph. The cakes would have to be slowed down so the sluiceway had a slight incline to it before reaching the Stanley Fisheries Ice House on the Manset shore.
These cakes were packed in sawdust or hay to keep them frozen. When a fresh catch was due to land at the wharf, ice cakes were moved to the wharf and put through a crusher. The fish were processed on the wharf and placed in barrels for shipping. Ralph said the layers of fish and crushed ice alternated in each barrel to keep the fish fresh.
Ossie Harper had a trucking business which delivered the iced fish to the wholesale markets in Rockland, Portland or Boston. Then, after further processing, they would be sent to the retail markets. Before trucks the steamboats like the J.T. Morse would stop at the fish wharf, load the barrels and take them to Rockland.
To see this Ice Saw used at ponds in Manset in the Digital Archives, click here.