History of Little Neck

In 1639, two wealthy brothers William and Robert Paine (aka Payne) procured a grant of land in the town of Ipswich from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In about 1649 Robert offered to “erect an edifice for the purpose of a grammar school, provided the town or any particular inhabitant of the town would devote, set apart or give any land or other annuity for the yearly maintenance of a schoolmaster. Within one year the town granted to Robert Paine, William Paine, Major Daniel Denison, and William Bartholomew “in trust for the use of schools” certain lands and appointed eight trustees to manage and regulate “the schools and the affairs thereof.”

Upon his death in 1660 William Paine bequeathed the 27 acres of land on Little Neck to be held in trust forever for the benefit of the Ipswich Public Schools and specified that the land should “be and remain to the benefit of said school of Ipswich forever … said land not to be sold nor wasted.” The trust leased grazing rights to the land to farmers and turned all the proceeds over to the schools. The trustees became known as the Feoffees (pronounced “feffees”) of the Ipswich Grammar School.

By the 21st Century, the Trust was leasing cottages that had been built on the land but was contributing nothing to the schools. By a vote of the 2011 fall Town Meeting, Little Neck was sold to the 166 cottage owners for $31 million. The net gain of $25 million became a new Trust to benefit the Ipswich schools.

The History of Little Neck, Ipswich, Massachusetts was written by the late Richard B. Betts in 1998. Betts was a lifelong resident of Belmont, MA where he was the Town Historian, among many other positions he held. As a child, his family summered on the Neck, and he eventually owned his own cottage at 9 Baycrest Rd. A copy of the book is available in the Archives room at the Ipswich Public Library. Excerpts of the book, which was not copyrighted, are presented here.

INTRODUCTION

The annual Directory published by the Little Neck Association usually includes the following brief history of Little Neck.

“Over 300 years ago (1647), this property was given by Robert Payne (sic) and others, in trust, the income to be used to help maintain a free grammar school in Ipswich. The provisions of this trust are still being carried out. The trustees of this property are known as the ‘Feoffees of the Grammar School of Ipswich.’ Interestingly, the term ‘Feoffees’ is a centuries-old English legal term to describe trustees of real estate. We know of no other place in the United States where this term ‘Feoffees’ is in use.

(*After much debate, the 2011 Ipswich Town Meeting voted to approve a home-rule petition to abolish the Feoffees of the Grammar School and replace them with a publicly appointed board of trustees. Under the terms of the settlement, the Feoffees sold the 36-acre Little Neck peninsula to Little Neck homeowners for $29.15 million, which provided a permanent endowment for the Ipswich schools.)

For over 250 years, except for a few tents and cottages along the Ipswich River shore which were used by fishermen and campers, the land was used as a pasturage. In the early 1900s, the building of a few modest cottages began. In the 1920s, this building was greatly accelerated until now the ‘Little Neck Estates’ comprise nearly 200 modern cottages.”

While the above is a thumbnail sketch of Little Neck, there is so much more interesting history about the Neck and the adjacent areas. This book seeks to fill that void. The above brief history states that Little Neck was given in trust by Robert Payne and others. While Robert Payne did give land and a school to Ipswich, records show that Little Neck was given in trust to the Feoffees by his brother William Payne. Also, the name is originally spelled Payne in early documents, then in later histories as Paine. Both spellings will appear in this history depending as to how it was spelled in the particular document being quoted.

“IN THE BEGINNING…”

“Surprising as it may seem, there was a time when many of our beautiful beaches, the Castle Neck area included, were far inland from the edge of the sea. This was about a million and a half years ago, when the sea was at a lower level than it is today.” Thus begins the book Life in the Shifting Dunes, a field guide to the natural history of Castle Neck and the general area written in 1960 by Laurence B. White.

It was the Ice Age that was most influential in forming the Neck area we all enjoy today. Some 30,000 to 40,000 years ago, New England was overwhelmed by the final advance of a great continental ice sheet. As it inched its way from the northwest toward the ocean, it pushed chunks of rock and great quantities of soil along with it.

The last glacier covered New England for thousands of years. When it melted, the debris was left deposited irregularly over the land. The water from the melting ice swept finer sands and gravels along, depositing them over the land and in lakes and bays. In some areas, streamlined hills of debris had been built up under the ice, becoming exposed as the ice melted. They were shaped like the bowl of an inverted spoon, and today we call them “drumlins.” Hog Island in Essex is a perfectly preserved example. The steeply sloping end of its long axis is toward the northwest, the direction from which the last ice sheet came.

Along the coast, as the sea level rose, the drumlins there were surrounded by water and became islands. The glacial debris and outwash sands that had been deposited in New Hampshire were picked up and carried southward by prevailing currents. It was this material that created the beach at Castle Neck and other areas. Thus at that time, Little Neck, one of the local drumlins, was created.

INDIANS

The early Indians in the Ipswich area have been identified as the Agawams. Early maps show an “Indian Spring” at the northerly end of Jeffrey’s Neck.

Eagle Hill must have been a favorite residence of the Agawams for many generations, as clam shells, fragments of pottery, and an extraordinary number of arrowheads and stone implements found there attest to large companies of Indians. One fluted arrowhead has been dated to about 7,000 B.C. Other similar remains have been found in the fields skirting the Ipswich River, along the beaches, at Jeffrey’s Neck, and on Treadwell Island.

In 1617, about the time of the arrival of the white man, a pestilence swept away nine-tenths of the Agawams so there was ample room for both and the weakened Indians did not molest them.

An Ipswich Sea Captain, Ebenezer Sutton, kept a journal from 1830 to 1837 describing the activities around the wharf. His very first entry on September 4, 1830, stated that “several canoes with 29 Indians landed in Ipswich from Penobscot. Men, women, and children. The first that’s ever been for over 100 years. Went away the 14th.”

EARLY HISTORY

Some historians claim that Little Neck was discovered by Norsemen Bjarne in 985, Lief Ericsson in 1000, Thorwald in 1002, and Thorfinn in 1007. It is also claimed that Captain John Smith landed here in 1614.

For the early history of Little Neck itself, one can turn to two publications prepared for the Ipswich Historical Society by Thomas Franklin Waters. From his Volume II, excerpts of interest about Little Neck we learn:

“The fisheries were the most important industry of old Ipswich. Encouraged by the Statute of 1639, which enacted that all vessels and other property employed in ‘taking, making and transporting of fish be exempt from duties and public taxes for seven years, and that all fishermen during the season of business be exempt from military duty,’ the men of The Town turned vigorously to this promising employment.

“The year 1641 found a fishing settlement already established at Little Neck and fishing stages set up for the drying of fish. The Town voted in that year that the whole of this Neck should be set apart for the advancement of fishing. Every boat’s crew that came to fish there was allowed room for their stages and an acre of ground for a garden, with the privilege of building houses for their convenience while engaged in fishing. A Committee was appointed by the Town in the same year to set buoys and beacons for the safe navigation of the river and bay, to provide salt and further trade in every way. William Paine also received liberty to build a wharf and warehouses.”

Waters’ 1912 Publication XVIII, Jeffreys Neck and the Way Leading Thereto with notes on Little Neck continues the early history. While most of this 85-page publication is about Jeffrey’s Neck, there are five pages on Little Neck which will be summarized here:

“Fishing was the great business of the early settlers and Little Neck, conveniently near the fishing grounds and affording a safe and commodious landing on its sheltered beach, became a busy center for this industry at a very early period.”

In the January 11, 1640-41 Town Record it states: “Agreed that the little Neck of Land where the fishing stage is, shall be sequestred and set apart for the advancement of fishing and that the fishermen shall there shall have liberty to enclose it from the other Neck where the cattell goes…” That must have been the start of the gate at Little Neck, later manned by the young boys of the Neck, that kept out the cows that pastured on Great Neck for the summer.

That Record continues “… Also it is agreed that the fisherman shall have the liberty to build them such houses as they will be willing to resign to the Towne whenever they desert the place and they are to have the places assigned them for building their houses by some that the Towne shall appoint.”
Later in those same 1640-41 records, it shows that the Town voted that Mr. William Payne was to be paid 30 pounds for his farm “lying beyond Gravely Brook” and in exchange, he was given Little Neck.

In 1651, Robert Roberts was appointed Shepherd on Jeffrey’s Neck, and at that time he was living on Little Neck as Mr. Payne’s tenant. In 1661, Roberts was allowed to keep a flock of 400 sheep on the Neck from April 8 to the end of October. That was probably on Great Neck, not Little Neck. When he died in 1660, Payne gave it back – sort of. He willed Little Neck for the maintenance of the public grammar school. The town entrusted the Feoffees with administering the property for the school’s support.

Under the terms of Payne’s will, it appears the land cannot be sold. It reads, in part, “The which is to bee and remaine to the benifitt of the said scoole of Ipswich forever as I have formerly Intended and therefore the sayd land not to be sould nor wasted.”

Over the years, Little Neck was leased by the Feoffees to various people. In 1680, it was leased for 60 years to John Pengry with an annual rent of “seven pounds in Pork, Wheat, Barley or Indian corn.”
That same year, Pengry conveyed his lease to Robert Cross, Jr. Later it was held by Ralph Cross and his son Nathaniel. In 1707, during their tenure, and as the result of a controversy with the Proprietors of Great Neck, the division fence was taken down and the cattle roamed over Little Neck as well.

The fencing between the two Necks seemed to continue to be a major problem. In 1731, “A fence between Jeffrey’s Neck and Manning’s Neck about 120 rods was ordered and another between Jeffrey’s and Cross’s Neck, as Little Neck was then called.” Seven years later, payment was made to Nathaniel Cross “on settlement for throwing open the whole of Little Neck for pasturage.” The 1776 records state, “Every person bringing a load of hay or gravel from the Neck should be obliged to bring a load of gravel to the causeway to make it passable.” In 1839, it was “ordered that a sufficient fence and gate shall be made in the way to Jeffrey’s Neck with charges of it bee layd upon the owners of the cattell that go in the Neck.”

Water’s history continues, “As the summer settlement of Little Neck increased in size and attraction, there was a corresponding increase in the volume of travel by cottagers and others over Jeffrey’s Neck. The Proprietors of Jeffrey’s obstructed this approach to Little Neck by creating a fence and digging a ditch across the narrow isthmus near Little Neck, making it impossible for any wheeled vehicle to pass.” A court case that went all the way up to the Supreme Court ruled in 1899 that there was a right of way across Jeffrey’s Neck to Little Neck. Unfortunately, the judgment did not determine where the way was.

In the spring of 1903, Alexander B. Clark, who at that time had obtained the whole of Great Neck, laid out a road that skirted the shore at the base of the hills rather than continue the old way that ran over the top of Great Neck. Based on the records, it appears that this is present-day Little Neck Road. In 1904, the Town accepted that road from the Neck gate to Eagle Hill landing as a public road. Mr. Clark’s former summer home is now the Ipswich Bay Yacht Club.

In 1750, a wharf on the westerly corner of Little Neck and a warehouse on the uplands was constructed which “suggests that the trade in fish must have been large and important.” Waters concluded his 1912 history with the following: “All business of this kind ceased many years ago. Fifty years ago, a solitary building used for the storage of porgies was the only frame structure on the Neck. The white tents of occasional camping parties skirted the slope of the hill near Stony Point and about the well, and as the great natural beauty of the spot and its easy access by the river came to be appreciated, a few cheap houses were built near the rocky beach at the foot of the Hill.

Larger and more convenient cottages began to be erected. The Feoffees granted the lease of lots at moderate rates and the popularity of the spot grew rapidly. Within a few years, the Town water has been introduced, permitting and encouraging the building of summer homes, with all modern conveniences, and the village has now covered the sightly slope to the very summit and is rapidly occupying every available spot. William Paine’s generous gift to the free school of ancient Ipswich has already netted results far beyond what that shrewd merchant ever dreamed, and the prospect of greatly increased financial return is sure and gratifying.”

FEOFFEES

*Town historian’s note: In 2011, the Ipswich Town Meeting voted to sell Little Neck to the tenants for $29.1 million. The proceeds of this sale were placed in Trust under the oversight of seven “New Feoffees” appointed by the School Committee, Finance Committee, and Select Board. The new Feoffees Trust is a source of funds to enhance and enrich the educational offerings in Ipswich schools.

The word “feoffee” comes from “fief,” and means the trustee of land set aside for public use. It is pronounced, “feff-eeze.” In 1962, Professor Cornelius J. Moynihan of Boston College Law School said, “That the Feoffees of the Ipswich Grammar School, as they are dubbed in the records of the Ipswich town meeting in September 1642, are the only survival in America of an ancient English institution, complete even to the name.”

Only 12 years after the town was carved from the wilderness, Ipswich citizens voted that “there shall be a free Schole” with an annual budget of 11 pounds, and “that there shall be Seven free Scholars or so many as the Feoffees from tyme to tyme shall order.”

The money was to be raised by the Feoffees from lands assigned by the town for grazing and farm rental. Originally, this land included parts of “Chebacco Parish” (Essex), as well as that barren bump of land used to dry fish which was known as Little Neck.

In 1844, there was a judgment in which the court reaffirmed that the trustees have the authority to collect rents from the tenants for use of the land owned by the Feoffees at Little Neck. The Feoffees by tradition are limited to four men. For three centuries, members who have died or moved away have been replaced by others elected by the remaining Feoffees. In addition, the charter called for the three “eldest” town Selectmen to vote at the Feoffee’s annual meeting. Whether “eldest” means the three oldest, or those with the most seniority in office, has never been settled. So each of the five is given three-fifths of a vote.

“During 130 years of colonial rule and the 185 years since it ended, the Feoffees have never missed a payment or departed from their original purpose,” said Feoffee Charles E. Goodhue, Jr. in a 1962 interview.

Once-barren Little Neck has grown into a flourishing summer community with cottages, based on the Town’s assessment, worth collectively about $9 million in 1998. The 20 acres of land is valued at $13 million. All homeowners are tenants-at-will on their mostly 50 by 60 foot lots which are rented annually from the Feoffees. Commanding a spectacular view of Plum Island Sound at the mouth of the Ipswich River, Little Neck has a summer population of about 1000 persons. But on the Fourth of July weekend, this writer always feels that the Neck will sink into the sea due to the many visitors and their automobiles.

For their tenants, the Feoffees provide a ball field (laid out by Charlie Goodhue), a small playground, a community house, and a wharf, and also maintain the roads, the riprap on the banks, and the sea walls. They collect the rents which go toward the maintenance of the Neck as well as an annual contribution to the school system of Ipswich as per the original trust. They also collect the annual taxes on the cottages as assessed by the Town, then pay one total tax bill. In 1998, that bill amounted to $304,780.
In return, the Feoffees expect their tenants to maintain peace and order. Too many disturbances can result in the tenant’s land lease being canceled, and his being ordered to sell his house or carry it away.

One such case, back when Judge Charles M. Sayward was Feoffee Chairman two generations ago, is still remembered. Some fast-living young men from Salem opened the season on Little Neck with an all-night party featuring liquid refreshments and ladies. The morning after, Judge Sayward rode up from town on his white mare, twisting his large handlebar mustache in indignation. Greeting him on the porch of a house was an inebriated young man with a girl on his lap and a glass in his hand. “Wake up fellows,” the young man shouted, “Here’s Santa Claus come to see us!” At three o’clock of the same day, Little Neck was quiet again. The Feoffees had sent the whole party packing back to Salem.

In 1967, the Feoffees, concerned by the number of cottages being converted into year-round homes, issued new regulations to control such conversions. They noted that, in the past, the cottages were closed during the winter and the land had an opportunity to “rest” for almost nine months, giving the waste products a chance to dissipate naturally.

They voted that no new resident would be allowed on Little Neck from October 15 to April 19 unless the Board of Health issued a certificate for an adequate disposal system and unless the Feoffees approve the system. Also, permits for alterations or additions to cottages would have to be obtained from the Feoffees and approved by the building inspector. Those dates coincided with the approximate dates when the water to the summer cottages was turned off and on. With the installation of deep water, the new dates for seasonal occupancy were changed to a period from April 1 to November 30.

For years, cows grazed on Little Neck. In the early days. it was also the hub of the fishing industry. As the rentals for farms declined, the Feoffees, with the exception of Little Neck, sold the farmlands and deposited the money.

In the late 1800s, a few cottages had been built. The Ipswich Chronicle stated that in 1888, there were 22 cottages on the Neck. At the turn of the century, several more were added.

In 1902, John W. Nourse drew up a plan of Little Neck for the Feoffees. That plan showed a total of 161 lots and 72 cottages mostly along the river and on the lower part of Middle Road. There were also five facing the cove. In June of 1915, the Nourse plan was redrawn and updated by Charles F. Goodhue, Jr. who at that time was a college student. Extra 50 by 60 foot lots were added by extending Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth streets from Hilltop Road down the hill to Bay Road for a total of 204 lots and another 38 cottages were added making a total of 110. Both plans showed the former hotel where the community center is today and the old firehouse at the top of Hilltop Road. None of the streets were named on either plan.

Because none of the various plans were ever recorded, the Feoffees claim there are no proper lines, and the Neck is treated as one large lot with all the cottages on it. Today, according to Donald Whiston, Chairman of the Feoffees and a former Little Necker, there are 143 seasonal cottages and 24 grandfathered year-round houses for a total of 167 dwellings at the Neck. Along with Chairman Whiston, the present-day Feoffees are Peter A. Foote, James \ Foley and Alexander C. Mulholland.

NEW STREET NAMES

From this point on in this history, the streets of Little Neck will be identified by their more recent names. When the emergency number 911 came to Ipswich, a problem arose because Ipswich has a First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth street uptown. One group had to go and Little Neck lost out.

The streets were renamed by Donald Whiston, Chairman of the Feoffees. So now First Street is Gala Way; Second Street is Cove Road; Third Street is Baycrest Road; Fourth Street is Kings Way and Fifth Street is Plum Sound Road. Because there were no duplications uptown, Bay, Middle, Hilltop, Cliff and River Roads kept their original names.

Mr. Whiston said Gala Way was a play on words for the annual Gala Day that takes place on the adjacent ball field. Cove, Baycrest, and Plum Sound fit in with the surroundings of the Neck. Kings Way came from a street in London, England, where at one time he had an office.

Of interest is the location of the original streets shown on a 1929 map of “Little Neck Estates” prepared by the Sanborn Map Company. They specialized in preparing maps for fire insurance purposes showing dwellings, hydrants, and water main sizes. Now hanging in the Cutler cottage at 32 Hilltop Road, this map was in the Ipswich Fire Department for many years. When they tossed it out, Bruce Cutler “rescued” it.

The map shows the cottages on the Neck in 1929 but has updates to about the 1940s pasted over the earlier empty lots. This map shows Bay Road running from the gates to Cove Road where it turns and runs between the remaining cottages and the Cove coming out at the wharf! There was no connection to Hilltop by the ball field as it is today. River Road shows as running from Hilltop along the rear of the cottages facing present-day River Road. It ended at the rear of number 53, then turned sharply to the right passing between that cottage and number 49 out to present-day River Road. Today, part of that old location is the driveway at the rear of those seven cottages. River Road is identified as “Lower or River Road.” A road between Hilltop and River is shown as 6th Street. This is presently the extension of River Road up to Hilltop Road.

Adding to the confusion is this early postcard showing a row of cottages on Middle Road but calling the street “South Shore Drive.”

Another early map of the Neck, circa 1900, found by Michael Garvey formerly of 9 Hilltop Road when he purchased that cottage from long-time resident Carl Sederquist shows 156 lots. Forty-five are cross-hatched probably indicating they were either spoken for or built upon. They were all on River Road, Middle Road from the wharf up to Baycrest Road with five on the cove. This map also shows the early wells.

Also shown is that Middle Road ended at Baycrest Road and what is today the rest of that road contained lots. That is no doubt why later maps show Middle Road up to Baycrest Road as 40 feet in width and the remainder to beyond Plum Sound Road as 50 feet wide created when those 50 foot lots were abandoned for the continuation of Middle Road. That original map presently hangs in the den of Michael Garvey s home in West Newbury, a copy of which appears on the following page.

EARLY DAYS

Early summer residents at Little Neck came to Ipswich by streetcar or by train, walked to the town wharf, then climbed aboard the Carlotta for the final lap of their journey. That steamboat operated for more than a quarter of a century from May until September. Each day it left the wharf at 9:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., went to the Neck, Ipswich Bluffs, Grape Island, and Old Town near the Parker River bridge, and returned.

Before water was brought to the Neck, in about 1920, residents had to rely on wells, the one most mentioned being on River Road at the driveway to the Porgy House at 46 River Road. An article in an 1887 Ipswich Chronicle states that “Both the wells at the Neck have proven a decided success. The water is clear, of good taste, and decidedly cold. This is a great blessing to us for most of the houses were dependent on the old well, and that was getting very low and muddy. Now all fears of a water famine are clearly dispelled.”

However, according to an early map hanging in the Cutler cottage at 32 Hilltop Road, there were a few others. This map shows, along with the one near the Porgy House, two wells at the rear of the former hotel, one in the middle of the road about opposite 7 Middle Road, and one in a vacant lot next to 35 River Road.

A long narrow pier running from Sandy Beach contained a row of outhouses which was the only “plumbing” available. They, and the wells, were abandoned about 1920 when a water line was laid across the cove to serve the Little Neck residents. Although now replaced with a different line, that original water service can still be seen at low tide.

The original water lines were very shallow, and in some cases, such as near the top of Hilltop Road, were actually laying on top of the ground. Therefore, the water was turned on on Patriots Day and off on Columbus Day. The first deepwater line on the Neck was laid up Plum Sound Road to the former Zurback year-round home at 43 Hilltop Road about 1940 when that house was built. In the 1960s additional deep water lines were laid in some of the streets and the Neck finally had hydrants. Deep water for the entire Neck came in 1985.

The days of kerosene lamps came to an end in 1932 when electricity came to the Neck. Florence Parker of 3 Cove Road in a 1997 interview, credits William Doe, a Neck resident, with being responsible for getting the wires underground, thus creating the unobstructed views the Neck residents enjoy today.

Virginia Doe Brown, now living on Labor In Vain Road in Ipswich, whose family bought Island View at 11 Hilltop Road in 1928, confirmed in a 1998 interview that it was her father, William who, as President of the Little Neck Association in 1931, was responsible for getting the new electric light wires placed underground. She said the actual work was done under a W.P. A. project.

At one time there were more cows than houses on Great Neck. They came from various farms in Ipswich and they spent the summer leisurely roaming the hills of the Neck area, and they occasionally wandered over to Little Neck. An article in the Ipswich Chronicle by Susan Boice states that around October 12 there would be 2 roundups, where the cows would be herded into a big pen on the causeway and each farmer would pick out his cows, for they all had tags in their ears, then drive them back to the various farms.

Summering at Little Neck is a tradition with many of the residents. Their grandparents summered there and so did their parents. Many would not think of going anywhere else. Today, there are several cottages being occupied by the fourth generation of the same family and even a few with five generations. While lots are small, in summer Little Neck has a particular beauty. Bright flowers are in bloom; cottages sparkle with fresh paint; lawns are neat and boats and bathing suits abound.

RUM RUNNERS

On January 17, 1920, the Ipswich Chronicle published a small notice on the front page. A new law would be enforced by the Chief of Police. Prohibition had started. That new law, known as the Volstead Act, was promoted largely by the temperance leagues in an effort to stop the marketing of liquor from saloon trade and other public consumption. Ipswich, with its beaches, wharves, and hidden creeks, was a paradise for the rum runners and bootleggers.

In 1972, Mrs. George E. Hodgkins of East Street, Ipswich, whose family were longtime residents of Little Neck, gave a talk on that subject before the Ipswich Historical Society. Highlights from that talk follow:

“Rum runners used to pick up their contraband from the many alcohol-laden steamers and schooners anchored on Rum Row. This was an area that stretched from a point of 12 miles south of Thatcher’s Light to 12 miles north of Cape Cod, always anchoring beyond this country’s jurisdiction. “They consisted of about 17 large vessels, mostly of British registry, sailing out of Lunenburg or Halifax, Nova Scotia, bringing in the illegal liquor. Smaller boats would come out, load the liquor and then attempt to take it ashore without the law catching them. Departments were set up by the U.S. Government to enforce the Volstead Act. Revenue agents were sent out to combat this situation, supported by the local police and Coast Guard. It is claimed that an Ipswich river man knew a fellow from town who built boats for the rum runners. Few caught on to him because he also built party and fishing boats.
“The boats built for the rum runners were very special. They may have had 300-gallon tanks, with big engines, probably 100 horsepower. The Coast Guard couldn’t catch those fast boats, but liked to seize one whenever possible and convert it into one of their own.”

Mrs. Hodgkins recalled that her father, who was then an assistant District Attorney for Suffolk County, was buttonholed by a man who wanted to rent the Hodgkins cottage on Little Neck for the winter to store contraband. The offer was turned down. The man was told the plan had little merit since the cottage had only one dirt road leading to the town and authorities could easily spot trucks on the move. The rum runner replied: “On the contrary. It’s the best place on the coast. You only have to pay one man.”

“All the contraband coming into Ipswich was not landed in the summer. Once in the midst of winter, Mrs. Hodgkin’s husband and brother went to their cottage on Eagle Hill and found the place packed with cases of Belgian alcohol. The boys returned to tell their father of their discovery. By the time the trio got back, the cottage was empty. The rum runners’ trucks had called in the meantime.

“A mysterious character in Ipswich in Prohibition days was a contractor who spent his summers vacationing while other contractors were working. That man had the largest boat at the Little Neck moorings – and it was painted black!

“Little Neck, however, was not the only place to unload contraband. The finest spot was Gould’s Bridge up river where rum runners coming in on the right tide, could unload directly into the waiting trucks.
“Labor-in-Vain Road residents were awakened many a time by the sound of 12-wheel trucks going down the road at night. One resident was aroused at 3 a.m. one night by the now familiar sound. After dressing, he went down the road and found the truck and also found a man with a large and mean face. Wisely, he turned and returned home. The next morning, he awoke to find a case of Dewer’s Scotch in his driveway.

“Another story tells of the firebox at the Ipswich wharf being rung at 11:30 one night. Firemen rushing to the scene found nothing – and then the sky lit up as a blaze consumed the ice house on Cavelly’s lane. The firemen and the police rushed to the new outbreak. Meanwhile, back at the wharf, a rum runner came in and unloaded his cargo.”

Mrs. Hodgkins also told of the June 25, 1930 “Burning of the Rum Runner,” an episode well known by local residents.

“A rum runner with a $175,000 cargo ran aground on Treadwell Island. Unloading the vessel, the rum runners hid its contents in a nearby shack in the marshes and even buried bottles neck down in the sand. The contrabanders then set the ship afire. The blaze attracted clammers and townspeople who busied themselves digging up the hidden booze. Out of the entire ship’s cargo, Ipswich police recovered only 87 cases of scotch and 290 quarts of champagne.

“In the days that followed, digging on the flats became a leading town occupation. Some people used clammers forks—others used plumbers’ plungers. The story is still told of two soused clammers sitting on Crane Beach, each with a quart of champagne. One clammer said to the other, ‘God, this beer is flat.'” Those must have been exciting days in the Little Neck area.

EARLY RIVER DAYS

Residents of Little Neck certainly had a great view of the many ships that traveled “upriver” to unload their cargo at the Ipswich Wharf. In the 1800s, schooners plied the river with cargos of lumber, coal, lime, and other material for building heating plants, homes, and schools in Ipswich.

Susan Boice, in an article in the Ipswich Chronicle, tells of an old log book (1882-1887) written by William Randall, Master of the vessel Mark Gray of Ipswich. The Mark Gray traveled along the eastern seaboards: Boston to New York, Booth Bay to Virginia, Bermuda to Lynn, and Baltimore to Plymouth. She carried just about anything a vessel could carry, for the log mentions lumber, coal, sand, and at one time, steel and arms. One entry states that they paid $45 to be towed up the Ipswich River and another $10 to be piloted by the Carlotta. The unloading of the cargo of coal and port charges were $118.75.

As early as 1873, advertising slanted to “Pleasure Parties and Excursionists” filled the local papers. William Stone advertised that his boat The Transit was ready to carry parties to the Neck, Plurr Island, The Isle of Shoals, and Lanesville. Similar ads were placed by Ed and Lewis Grant with their boat The Agawam that carried parties of thirty or more.

An article in an 1874 Daily Journal of Newbury, N.Y. carried a most interesting letter from a lady visiting Ipswich in which she describes a downriver excursion on the Desdemona. As the boat glided down the river and passed Great and Little Necks she noted, “Their summer cottages inhabited by parties of pleasure seekers, whose earthy paradise is clam chowder, and who are investing all their energies in piling on the edge of the beach, are a monument to their idol.”

There are several mentions of the old steamer Carlotta in this history. She was built in Ipswich in 1878 and used as an excursion boat for thirty-five years. Early summer residents came to the Neck on the Carlotta as well as to Ipswich Bluffs, Grape Island, and Old Town near the Parker River Bridge. She sailed twice a day making those various stops, the largest crowds being on weekends when they went to the former hotels at the Bluffs and Grape Island for weekends or just for a good old Ipswich clam dinner.

According to Ipswich historians Nancy Weare and Ellie Coryell, who gave a lecture on that old steamboat in July of 1998, “She held 125 passengers, but when necessary towed a ‘gondola’ behind with the overflow. She was originally 48 feet long but during the heyday of excursions, she was cut in half and then enlarged to 60 feet! She had a draft of only 3 l/2 feet which was a great advantage when navigating the river at low tide.”

She certainly played a major part in the early history of Little Neck. The Carlotta was sold in 1914 to a party in Salem, thus bringing to an end thirty-five years of service to the Neck and other locations. She later sank in Salem Harbor.

There is a story about Captain Nathaniel Burnham, the skipper of the Carlotta. He was not exactly a shy character and one day when expounding on his prowess as a navigator to his round-eyed passengers, he made the statement that he knew the exact location of every bar in the bay. No sooner had he said it than he ran aground. Without taking a breath he exclaimed, “And there’s one of them right there.”

In 1904, Lew Peabody, who at the time was the proprietor of the Little Neck Hotel and Store, bought a motorboat and named it Louella. With it, he took passengers on regular trips to town and chartered the boat for all types of excursions and fishing trips. Starting about 1908, Herbert Mackinney in his motor dory Skidoo delivered mail to Little Neck, Treadwell Island, and Ipswich Bluffs.

An article in the former Ipswich Today, written about 1988, tells of some of the early party boats that plied the Ipswich River and Bay. One of those longtime Captains was Ralph Gilmore.

“When Ralph Gilmore hauled the anchor on his boat the Nancy II for the last time in 1950, he ended more than just his half-century as a sailor. He also closed out an era in Ipswich’s history – the era of commerce on the Ipswich River.

Excursions over to the long-gone hotels and restaurants on The Bluffs and Grape Island; fishing parties and commuter rides were popular forms of entertainment and travel for 50 years starting in 1916. “But by 1950 the silt-clogged river had become too shallow for the fifty-foot boats that had been such common sights at the Town Wharf and off Crane Beach. And by then roads had made travel to the beach, Little Neck, and Plum Island more practical by car. So Gilmore, the last of the Ipswich party boat owners, sold his last boat and retired from the sea.”

Gilmore recalled that “Starting about 1916, boats daily made trips in and out of the Town Wharf -boats carrying loads of coal and lumber.” Neck residents of the 30s certainly will remember the lumber boats that passed the Neck on their way up town. The last lumber boat was in 1938, and that probably was because it became cheaper to transport by railroad and over the road as well as the problem of the silting in of the river. Captain Gilmore also recalled the passenger boats that carried beach-bound residents. In June, the boats lined up to ferry hundreds of Ipswich school children over to Crane Beach for the annual picnic.

Later he started running three boats. On the days he had a fishing party, he hired two other Ipswich men to run his other two boats. “They would take people over to the beach or to Sandy Point while I was fishing,” he said. “In those days Crane didn’t want people on the beach, but he couldn’t stop people from landing on the high water mark, so that’s where we’d drop them off.”

Al Ring, who owned and rented about seven cottages on the Neck, had a party boat named the Osprey. He, too, took Neck residents on fishing trips, moonlight rides, and on occasion to Gloucester, where some of the Neck residents did their shopping.

The PAVILION

One of the more popular spots for many Little Neckers was the former Pavilion on the causeway to the Neck. It started in the early 1900s as a tea room and gift shop run by Fred and Helen Byron. About 1923 the tea house was remodeled into the Pavilion, and was greatly enlarged over the years with even a dance hall added. Later, they ran the store at the Little Neck Hotel. Pictures of Helen’s Gift Shop and beach, circa 1920, appear on the following page.

Upon that couple’s death, the popular and successful business was operated for many years by Arthur “Art” Warner, known to Little Neckers as “Pop.” The Pavilion was a nice meeting place and dances were held on the summer weekends. Those were the happy days of jazz, swing, and summer romances that passed all too quickly.

Most of the music was supplied by a jukebox, and Pop Warner would put in a nickel for the first song to get the night going. Live music was supplied by the Clam Flat Five, a group of Little Neckers. The Little Neck Association put on various affairs over the years, including the annual talent night where this writer and Art Veno, of 40 Middle Road, got to try out their fledgling magic acts.

Small supplies of groceries were also stocked, which in later years were greatly expanded. At one time fried clams were available and a miniature golf course was set up in the dance hall. On Sundays in later years, the dance hall was used for church services for the Catholic residents of Little Neck and Great Neck.

Early trips to the Pavilion by this writer were not made by going down Plum Sound Road but by a narrow dirt path about 18 inches wide at the edge of the cliff in front of the cottages on Cliff Road. That was always called the “cow path” as old-timers of that period said it was how the cows in earlier days got to the top of the hill.

It started at the stone pillars at the foot of the hill and ran up to about 8 Cliff Road where the steep climb leveled off. In any event, it eventually disappeared as the bank slowly eroded toward the cottages.

In February of 1978, the Neck was hit with a major storm with exceptionally high tides. With waves actually going over the top of the Pavilion, it finally collapsed under the tons and tons of water smashing against it. By the time the tide receded, most of the building had broken up and was pushed up onto the causeway, thus ending some 70 years of memories for many Little Neckers.

LITTLE NECK HOTEL

“The feoffees of the Grammar School have voted to grant a five-year lease on the Little Neck hotel and farm to Henry L. Cook. Mr. Cook, who recently lost an eye, is about once more, and determined to work with a will to make Little Neck House an even greater success than he did last year. He deserves success and will get it.”

This short article in a 1993 Ipswich Chronicle entitled “Ipswich – 100 Years Ago” sets the stage for the history of that longtime landmark, the Little Neck Hotel – part of which is still standing.

The 1891 Agawam Manual and Directory mentions that at the Little Neck Hotel, William F. Brocklebank was renting cottages including the Bay View, Bella-Vista, Crows’ Nest, Grand Arm Key Note, Massasoit, No Name, Porgy, and Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Based on these two articles, the Hotel dates back to at least 1891, so it was one of the earliest buildings on the Neck. One wonders what, and where, the farm was?

The early postcard shown above is the Little Neck Hotel circa 1915. The sign on the back wall c the open porch reads “Welcome Hotel – 11888 Greenheads.” Some things never change! The other sign over the one-story building to the right reads “Little Neck Hotel.” There is no mention of a store on either of those signs.

The “Welcome” on the sign is of interest because two other different postcards in this writer’s collection show towels hanging over the hotel porch railings with individual letters on each one spelling out “Welcome.” Could the early hotel have been called the “Welcome Hotel?”

Another old postcard of the hotel, circa 1909, entitled “Motor Boat Club House and Little Neck Store” does not show the one-story section of the hotel/store as shown above. A sign over the front door of the section of the building next to the hotel reads “Little Neck Store.” The sign adjacent to the door of the hotel is difficult to make out, except for part of it which reads “… and member of A.M.B.A. – M. M. Burnham.”

In the 1890s and early 1900s, Lew Peabody was the proprietor of the Hotel and store. He was succeeded by Fred and Helen Byron who ran several stores in Ipswich and at one time operated the Pavilion.

This writer’s first memory of the Hotel and store would be about 1935 when his family first came to the Neck. At that time I do not believe the hotel was still in operation, and the store was run by Ed Marcorelle, who also operated a grocery store uptown. Little Neck resident Mary “Mae” Kinsman was the postmistress. At some point, about the late 1940s, the store was torn down and replaced with the existing building, now the Community Center. For several years more it was operated as a general store and post office until it eventually closed, and the Feoffees allowed it to be turned into the present-day Community Center.

The old hotel, with its former open porches enclosed, was converted into a cottage now 35 Bay Road. It was bought in 1963 by its present owner, the Cliff Bouvier family, and is now named Dockside.

While not as well known, Little Neck had another hotel, The Shelburne, now the Seaholm cottage at 2 Cliff Road. During an interview with the present owners, Mark and Francine Koris, this writer was shown the original hotel register which had been passed down from previous owners. Based on that register, The Shelburne was in operation from June to October in the years 1909 to 1930, with E. N. Spinney as Proprietor. Mr. Spinney was from Shelburne Falls, Vermont, thus the name of the hotel. Longtime Little Neck resident Lillian Spiller was registered as a guest in 1910, the year before her uncle built their cottage at 18 Hilltop Road.

According to Mr. and Mrs. Koris, they were told by former longtime Neck resident and next-door neighbor Harold Proctor that the cottage was later purchased by a New York hotel chain where wealthy clients were entertained at “wild parties.” During an interview with Virginia Doe Brown, another longtime Little Necker, her husband William said that chauffeured cars and limousines used to arrive for the weekend, and Virginia said her parents never allowed her to go near that building. I also understand that the Feoffees got involved and eventually “asked” the owners to leave the Neck. In any event, this writer remembers it being owned by the Dancause family by 1938, and living directly behind, it was a “quiet and stately mansion” in a young boy’s eyes.

EARLY COTTAGES AND RESIDENTS

T. Franklin Waters in his 1912 history of Jeffrey’s Neck and The Way Leading Thereto – with notes Little Neck, as previously covered in this history, wrote of the early fishing days on the Neck. As early as 1650 “ye Beach upon Little Neck … has been improved as Towne privilege & common land for curing & drying fish …” His article on early fishing concludes with, “All business of this kind ceased many years since. Fifty years ago (1862) a solitary building used for the storage of porgies was the only frame structure on the Neck.” It was to that building that the porgy fishermen came for shelter and to dry the oil out of their catches.

Today the porgies have long since gone, but the little fishing shack now greatly enlarged and remodeled is the Porgy House at 46 River Rd. and the first recorded dwelling on Little Neck. Two early photographs of the Porgy House, circa 1860-1870 are shown above.

An interview in September of 1998 with Phyllis Cronin, who with her husband, Joseph, is the present owner of Porgy House, adds to the story. The center room of that greatly expanded cottage is the original (Circa 1850-60) “fishing shack.” Among the mementos in the cottage are three sections of one-inch thick boards, seven inches wide and 18 inches long, complete with nails from the original structure. Also, a piece of the Boston Journal, dated July 15, 1873, was found behind a wall during one of the renovations. She also collects bits and pieces of old pottery that continue to wash up on the beach in front of the cottage.

What is probably the second building and perhaps the first actually built as a cottage was on the river side of River Road directly adjacent to the Porgy House and called The Grand Army House. Based on an early photograph, it appears to be the cottage at 44 River Road.

A leading citizen in Ipswich was General William Sutton. In 1874, at the age of 74, he invited 25 men of Ipswich “70 years of age or older” to a clam feed at Little Neck. The initial party was so successful that the following year he invited all Ipswich men over 70 to a grand outing at Little Neck at The Grand Army House. This was the cottage then owned by Col. Nathaniel Shatswell and later by the Woodbury family that stood in rather dismal isolation at the foot of the hill at Little Neck next to the well.

One of the earliest interviews with a Neck resident appeared in the July 9, 1937 edition of the Ipswich News and Chronicle. It was with Mrs. Henry Downes, then 82 years of age. She was the grandmother of Robert Watson, the present owner of the Hillside cottage at 6 Baycrest Road. In the interview, she recalled the days when the only way to reach Little Neck was by boat and the colony then consisted of but twelve houses without lights or water.

LITTLE NECK ASSOCIATION

In 1925, a number of community-spirited residents of Little Neck formed the Little Neck Improvement Association “for the purpose of improving Little Neck.” Signing the petition to the State for incorporation were William H. Jones, Charles E. Boyd, William E. Gould, George L. Stone, Frederick F. Abbott, A. Knipe, P. Russell Bosworth, and John Burke.

Under the provisions of Chapter 180, the petition was approved and the Certificate of Incorporation was signed by the Secretary of the Commonwealth on October 14, 1925. On December 3, 1935, with the word “Improvement” dropped, the name of the corporation was changed to “Little Neck Association, Inc.” Framed copies of both the 1925 and 1931 Certificates of Incorporation hang in the Cutler cottage at 32 Hilltop Road.

The objectives of the association were to maintain and improve Little Neck so families could enjoy the many recreational opportunities the Neck has to offer. In past years, events have included the annual talent night, bingo games, the annual Gala Day movies, etc. Today they include junior and adult dances, a golf tournament, a fishing derby, a pancake breakfast, an annual Bazaar/fair on the ball field, a dinner cruise, the 4th of July Horribles Parade followed by a cookout on Sandy Beach, as well as other programs planned for the summer. The ladies have a weekly coffee hour at various cottages and an out-to-dinner mystery ride. A playground instructor and swimming and diving lessons are also a major part of the summer activities.

Jack Reardon of 11 Hilltop Road remembers that in the 1950s there would be a ham and bean supper on the ball field followed by apple pie with cheese baked by the ladies on the Neck. There was always a crowd, and the proceeds went to the Little Neck Association.

Two meetings of the Association are held during the season. In the early days, oldtimers say that everyone dressed up for the meetings as they were one of the social events of the year. At the final meeting of the year, a slate of officers including the Governor, Second Governor, Secretary, and Treasurer are elected for the following ensuing season.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

One of the charms of Little Neck is the names of the cottages. While some residents no longer hang up signs, many of the cottages still carry on the early names. Many identify the location on the Neck, the city or town of the owner, and sometimes a contraction of the owner’s name. Some of those early names follow.

Cottages named for the winter home of the resident included the Andover, Salem, Belmont, Natick, Maiden, Meredith, Dorchester, Woburn, Auburndale, Everett, and Cambridge.
Then there were the “views.” – Harbor View, Full-vue, Fairview, All View, Sea View, Bar View, No View, Island View, and Ocean View.

Owner’s names came into play in several instances such as the Berry Pail (Berry), later The Hitching Post (Hitchborn), The Bowery (Bower), Lucky Buck (Buckley), Janrene (Irene and Janet DeLorme), Dugout (Duggan), Siwel (Lewis spelled backward), A’Bee (Beatrice Mann) Santa M. (Melino), Tool Shed (O’Toole), Hill-Gra (Hill-Attridge), The Lillian (Lillian Spiller), Westhaven (West), C-C/j^CCutcliffe), Silva Billet (Silva), and Winecoette (Winn).

Then others based their names on their location on the Neck: Sea Cliff, Sunny Side, Riv-or-Bae Gate Lodge, Sumac Lodge, Overlook, Hillcrest, Riverside, By The Sea, Ski-Hi, Sea Wind, North Star Brae Top, Tide Rips, Edge Cliff, Highland, Windy Hill, Snug Harbor, Hilltop, Hillside, Dockside, Sunny Days, Skunk Hollow, Eastover, Windswept, Swingside, Bayside, Wayside, Tower Hill, Shore Acres, Set Winds, Baycrest, Edgemere and Fair Winds.

Then there were the names implying comfort and size, such as Cozy Nook, Playhouse, Take-It-Easy Here-We-Are, Love Nest, Little Nook, Halcyon, Rest-A-While, Rest Haven, Happy Landings Dunrovin, High Hopes, Sea Shell, Trade Winds, Wee Too (later We Too +3), L’Ete Maison, Weezie Seaholm, Adrift, Crow’s Nest, The Ark, Rest-A-Bit and Bonnie Banks.

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There is more to the story in Richard Betts’ “The History of Little Neck“, available through the Blurb Bookstore