[Ernest G. Stillman--home movies] Reel 014

Date1930

Can DescriptionsCan notes as follows; reel numbers are donor-assigned. Reel 14: Maine herring, cap'd when the [herring swam?]. This is not correct; it is a construction reel. --karan sheldon, 13 August 2013

Viewing NotesMen in white overalls working on wooden framework with stone facing. Excavation. Engineer takes a siting. Beams put in place. Carpentry work. One man in brimmed hat, white shirt, hammer at his belt appears to be a supervisor. Older man with stone, carries it on his shoulder, puts in place on foundation. Views of same mason putting stones in place and adding cement. String along top of wall. More masons join him, at least five working together. Nice sequence. Very short shot of woman facing camera, goes to black with edit. High shot of excavation, masons working with stone row. Man in suit and boy visit work site. Pan of house interior, just timber framing and men putting it up. Water views. Man saws board. View from upper story down to men working on stone wall. Framed structure from a distance. Men in excavation, around ten workers around the site. Stone walls with small arches (for basement light? Drainage?) timber framing with three window and one door opening. Stone wall rises.

Anecdotal Comments & ReflectionsLiz McMullan July 2014, great-granddaughter of Ernest Stillman and cousin of Whit Stillman. Her mother is Penelope Stillman Wolfe: Reel 14 is building the summer home in Seal Harbor, a village that is part of the Town of Mount Desert. The place was called Berry Cliff with 5 plus different edible berries on the property. I recall that Dr. Stillman bought the property from Charles Eliot, president of Harvard, in 1917. So the building would have been after that time. I will ask my mother if she knows. She may not have been born by then. My mother bought the house in the mid-1960s as we lived on the property next door and she wanted to buy the old family property back. It was sold to a family soon after Ernest's death. Because we already had a home and because the property tax valuations were largely based on the building value, we tore the house down about 1968. We still have pictures of the original house. It was a very plain design with 13 bedrooms upstairs. Basically a shingled rectangle with two stories. There was a magnificent stone-walled patio with big red tiles in front of the house which we preserved. In 1984, my mother built a much smaller house on one end of the foundation with a small bridge to the patio. I bought the place in 1989 and sold it in 1999. Unfortunately, the new owners chose to demolish both the home and the gorgeous patio. My mother says that the summer home, Berry Cliff, was built in 1930, shortly after her birth.

Creator

• Ernest G. Stillman

• Ernest G. Stillman