LYNAM HOMESTEAD - HOME TO FAMOUS ARTISTS

OLD LYNAM HOMESTEAD HOUSED MANY FAMOUS ARTISTS
Bar Harbor Times
August 19, 1931

It is not generally known, but the old Lynam Homestead at Schooner Head, has an artistic heritage and background that he equaled by few private homes in this country.  It is indeed a shame that the many famous artists who have lived in the little white farmhouse in the past century did not leave more tangible evidence of their visits than their bare memory.  If these men had been moved to autograph the walls of the house, it would show us celebrated a collection of names as Millet's famous cottage at Barbizon, in the forest of Fontainepleau, whose walls have been made priceless by the sketches and studies which have been painted upon them by the greatest names in French art history, such as Decamps, Delacroix, Delaroche, Rosa Bonheur, Troyon, and many others.
It was only by a good piece fortune that the writer discovered that the homestead was so closely connected with the artistically great in America.  A copy of Harper's Monthly Magazine published in 1872, and carefully preserved by Mr. Richard W. Hale, devotes eighteen pages, now yellow with age, upon the beauty and advertisements to be found upon Mt. Desert Island.  The article is not signed, so we do not know who wrote it, but it is illustrated by Parsons, wittingly so, because this renowned artist has lived at the Lynam Homestead and was familiar with the beauty of Schooner Head, Bar Harbor, Somes Sound, Seal Harbor, Northeast Harbor  and the like.

To quote Harper's in part;  "An object in this vicinity to which is attracted more human interest is the old Lynam Homestead".  The house itself is not specially picturesque, and the surrounding country is bleak and bare, while an old well-sweep and a withered tree in the yard give the place a look of loneliness and neglect.  But it is the artistic associations of the old house which will make it celebrated, for within the walls have been pattered many of the names most celebrated in American art - Cole, Church, Gifford, Hart, Parsons, Warren, Bierstadt, Brown, Colmar, the pupils of the great William Morris Hunt, and others.  But where no sketches enrich the walls about the humble domicile at Schooner Head, there are stories and memories of artists and artistic adventure which will make it interesting for a long while to come.
It is to be regretted that none of the artistic adventures referred to were related to the article.  It is interesting to point out the difference of opinion concerning the word "picturesque".  The bygone writer in Harper's declares that the place is "not specially picturesque."  Ideas certainly change, for today the Lynam Homestead is considered one of the most attractive spots on Mt. Desert Island.  The house faces a mountain, covered with pines, while almost at the back door step the restless Atlantic beats on the rocks of Schooner Head.
The withered tree in the yard, referred to, still stands.  It is a gnarled and hoary apple tree, but it is still barely putting out green leaves and shoots, and there is still enough life in its riven trunk to produce an apple or two.  The o'd well-sweep no longer exists.  its tomb is marked by a large grindstone, salvaged some years ago from a wrecked vessel.
This year ushered in the one hundredth of the Lyman Homestead.  The house was built in 1833, which is a tribute to the stauneia construction in those times.  It was originally painted red, a somewhat universal color for farms and barns in New England, but its present owner, Mr. Hakle, has voted in favor of white, while the barns and outhouses still are dressed in their red garh.
William van Dresser, while he sketches basically in the garage, which has been made over into his studio, was given bits of history about the famous artists who have preceded him in the Lynam Homestead.  He says that Bierstadt was probably the biggest of them all.  He was America's earliest landscape painter that became famous, and was the first artist to record on canvas the grandeur of our scenic west.  His paintings of the Grand Canyon and the rocky Mountains, done in heroic size, today hang in the Metropolitan Museum of art.
The Cole, referred to in this fifty nine year old article, was probably Timothy Cole, who died recently.  He was one of the most celebrated wood engravers in the world, as well as painter of note.
F.S. Church, who spent several summers at Schooner Head during the past century, was one of America's earliest poet-artists.  His work, both paintings and drawings, was fanciful and delightful.
Browrn was one of the most popular artist of his time.  "Brown's Newsboys,"  that he painted in the slums of New York City, have made him a reputation that is known wherever artists and things artistic are discussed.
Gifford was a landscape man.  the Parsons referred to was undoubtedly C. Parsons who illustrated in woodcuts the Harper story of Mt. Desert Island.  Pupils of the great William Morris Hunt made their summer headquarters at the Lynam Homestead.
With a heritage like this, Mr. van Dresser feels as if he were treading on holy ground.  Such a background is inspiring, and he attacks etching plate and drawing board with solemn vigor.  The portrait artist intends to do what, unhappily, none of his predecessors have done to leave a tangible momento of his visit.  He probably will leave a sketch or an etching or two on the walls and will most certainly inscribe the names of the famous artists who have visited the old homestead in the past.
So, in the future, if the artists come to the Lynam Homestead as they have done in the past, the little white house at Schooner Head can point with pride and say to the chance visitor, "See, I have sheltered within my walls such and one, and such an one....."