 One of the buildings that comprised the Homewood Inn development | |
| Company type | Inn |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1912 |
| Defunct | 1992 |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Key people | Fred Webster Sr. Doris Webster [1] Fred Webster Jr. [2] Colleen Webster [3] |
Homewood Inn is a former inn that was in business in Yarmouth, Maine, from 1912 to 1992. [4] Although the buildings are still standing, they are now used as private residential units. [4] [5]
The original "Homewood" was built in the 18th century by "rugged coastmen." [6]
Prior to the construction of the buildings that made up the Homewood Inn development, Captain James Munroe Bucknam's 115-acre farm occupied the area. His home, today's 215 Drinkwater Point Road, built in 1740, is the former main building of the complex, originally known as Trimble Farm. [7] [8] Bucknam's land extended west to where Bucknam Point Road is today. [9] The inn's official address was 196 Drinkwater Point Road. [10]
In 1915, Burton Prentiss Lyman (1878–1942) was the proprietor of "The Homewood and Cottages" at "Yarmouth-by-the-Sea." [6]
Fred and Doris Webster founded the Homewood Inn in 1942. Their son, Fred Jr., took over the business and ran it with his wife, Colleen. [3]
In the 1950s, Bette Davis stayed at the inn for six months, which she mentioned in her autobiography:
When I was well enough, we said good-bye to New York, loaded the station wagon, Gary and I, a governess and the three children -- plus Tinker Belle, B.D.'s poodle and a parakeet in a cage -- and drove to Homewood Inn in Yarmouth, Maine, which Gary had found for us. We arrived there in April and stayed until September. [11]
The property is a few hundred feet from the shores of Casco Bay, which was a big draw for its guests. [12] [13]
Fred Webster Sr. died in 1974, aged 77. Doris survived him by 17 years, and is buried beside her husband in Yarmouth's Riverside Cemetery. Fred Jr. died in 2015, aged 84. [14] Colleen survived him by five years. Upon her death in 2020, aged 89, she was also buried beside her husband at Riverside Cemetery. [3]
The inn closed in 1992, a year after Doris's death at the age of 89, after fifty years in business.
Bustins Island is an island in inner Casco Bay, Maine, United States. It is part of the town of Freeport. Although physically located within Freeport, the Bustins Island Village Corporation is a self-governing entity. The island has approximately 117 summer cottages, with the earliest dating to the 18th century.
Yarmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, twelve miles north of the state's largest city, Portland. When originally settled in 1636, as North Yarmouth, it was part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and remained part of its subsequent incarnations for 213 years. In 1849, twenty-nine years after Maine's admittance to the Union as the twenty-third state, it was incorporated as the Town of Yarmouth.
The historical buildings and structures of Yarmouth, Maine, represent a variety of building styles and usages, largely based on its past as home to almost sixty mills over a period of roughly 250 years. These mills include that of grain, lumber, pulp and cotton. Additionally, almost three hundred vessels were launched by Yarmouth's shipyards in the century between 1790 and 1890, and the homes of master shipwrights and ship captains can still be found throughout the town.
Westcustogo Inn was an inn and restaurant in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. Located at 10 Princes Point Road, it was in business, albeit not continuously, for 83 years.
Forest Paper Company was a pulp and paper mill on the Royal River in Yarmouth, Maine, United States, which was in business between 1874 and 1923. It was the first of its kind in New England. In 1909, it was the largest such mill in the world, employing 275 people. It produced 80 tons of poplar pulp each day.
Main Street is a historic street in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. It is part of the 18-mile-long (29 km) State Route 115 (SR 115), the eastern terminus of which is in Yarmouth at the intersection of Marina Road and Lafayette Street (SR 88), at Yarmouth Harbor in the Lower Falls area. Its western end is a merging with Walnut Hill Road in North Yarmouth, at which point SR 115 continues west.
Ledge Cemetery, also known as the Cemetery under the Ledge, is a historic cemetery in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. Dating to 1770, it stands on Gilman Road, around 450 feet (140 m) southwest of the older and smaller Pioneer Cemetery. Some headstones bear dates earlier than 1770, for many burials—such as that of Revd. Nicholas Loring—were removed from the older cemetery
Elm Street is a prominent street in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. It runs for about 2.7 miles (4.3 km) from North Road in the north to Portland Street in the south. The street's addresses are split between "West Elm Street" and "East Elm Street", the transition occurring at Main Street in the Upper Village. Several of its buildings are homes dating to the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Portland Street is a historic street in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. It runs for about 1.25 miles (2.01 km) from the town's Main Street, State Route 115, in the north to its merge with Middle Road in the south. It is so named because it leads to Portland, the state's largest city, after linking up with State Route 9 in Falmouth, Maine.
Yarmouth Junction station was a passenger rail station in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. It stood to the west of East Elm Street at Depot Road, at the junction of the former Grand Trunk Railway and the Maine Central Railroad, around 0.9 miles (1.4 km) north of the town's Railroad Square, where today's 1906-built Grand Trunk station stands. The Amtrak Downeaster utilizes the former Maine Central Railroad line, which passes to the northwest of town. The Yarmouth Junction station building is now gone, but the junction itself is still active.
Levi Marston was an American sea captain from Maine. In 1852, he was awarded a gold medal for heroism by Queen Victoria after he saved over three hundred immigrants from a British shipwreck.
Harlan Page Prince was an American sea captain in the 19th century. He began going to sea at the age of fifteen in a career that lasted for forty years. He commanded eight ships during his career.
Gilman Road is a prominent street in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. It runs for about 1.7 miles (2.7 km) from Lafayette Street in the northwest to the Ellis C. Snodgrass Memorial Bridge at White's Cove in the southeast. At the bridge, which connects the Yarmouth mainland to Cousins Island, the road becomes Cousins Road.
The CaptainJoseph Drinkwater House is an historic home at 146 Gilman Road in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. Built in 1844, an architectural survey undertaken in 2018 found it had "important ties to Yarmouth history", for it was the home of the seafaring Drinkwater family for over a century.
Princes Point Road is a prominent street in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. It runs for about 1.93 miles (3.11 km) from Lafayette Street in the north to Sunset Point Road in the south. It was one of the first streets laid out in the town when it was centered around the Meetinghouse under the Ledge in the 18th century. Gilman Road, another of the early roads in the area, intersects Princes Point Road near its northern end.
Drinkwater Point Road is a prominent street in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. One of the first streets laid out in what was then coastal North Yarmouth, Province of Massachusetts Bay, it runs for about 0.45 miles (0.72 km) from Gilman Road in the north to Seaborne Drive in the south. Drinkwater Point faces Cousins Island, to which it is connected by the Ellis C. Snodgrass Memorial Bridge, and overlooks inner Casco Bay.
Princes Point is a promontory in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. It is located around 2.70 miles (4.35 km) south of Yarmouth Village and looks out into inner Casco Bay. Princes Point Road leads to the point, which is named for shipwright Benjamin Prince, while Princes Point Road is named for his son, Paul Prince. They were both relatives of poet Elizabeth Oakes Smith. The point was part of an estate purchased by the Prince family in 1680.
Upper Village is the colloquial name for the western end of Main Street in Yarmouth, Maine, centered around its intersection with Elm Street. It is also known as the Corner.
Lower Falls is the colloquial name for the eastern end of Main Street, and part of East Main Street, in Yarmouth, Maine, centered around the former’s intersection with Portland Street. It is also known as Falls Village or The Falls.
James Parker was an American innkeeper and figure of the American Indian Wars. He was the first inn owner in what was then North Yarmouth, Province of Massachusetts. The town's Parker Point, off Gilman Road, is now named for him.