Pretty Marsh House

Next to the stairs in our Pretty Marsh home there’s an old photo showing the construction of a wing off the main house sometime around 1900. At the right of the picture you can see a white pine that’s already the tallest thing around – taller than the barn behind it, taller than the chimney rising from the house roof.

That tree is still there.

It’s quite impressive. The barn was bulldozed decades ago and there aren’t any other trees around it so it has grown thicker and taller still without competition for water and light. Mainers of a certain disposition, when they come to our house for the first time, shake hands, look at the property, and then invariably turn away to look at the yard. “Nice tree,” they say.

We try to take care of it. A tree like that is a civic responsibility. A few years ago we had a crew to trim off some lower branches and wire the trunks together to guard against splitting. Worry rippled through some folks in the neighborhood, apparently. Worry dissipated when the crew left and the pine was tall as ever.

We hope Lillie Stalnacke would approve of the care the tree’s getting. She owned the house in the 1920s and ‘30s. She’s standing in front of the porch, surrounded by friends, in another of the old photos on our stairs. Ms. Stalnacke ran the place as a business, serving tea on the lawn in good weather and boarding tourists in the addition. The Henry Ford family were said to be customers. She was reportedly noted for her gingerbread and whipped cream.

In the photo there’s a sign on the porch roof advertising the “Pretty Marsh House” in plain white letters on a black board. It’s weathered now but it has pride of place in the kitchen. My son measured it and traced it and made an exact replica of the sign for my wife for her birthday. It’s on the front porch. Halt at the stop sign going north on Indian Point Road and look in – if the light’s right you can see it. In the photo Ms. Stalnacke and her friends are in front of a profusion of flowers behind granite pavers. Yes, those same pavers – and possibly the same day lilies – are still there today. And at the photo’s right, behind the porch’s corner, reaching in, you can see something else. The tips of branches from a white pine, waving hello, as if the tree wants to join the party.

- Peter & Andrew Grier

Photos courtesy of Mount Desert Historical Society