Hancock Point history slice of coastal life

THE SUN NEVER SETS ON HANCOCK POINT: VOLUME I-II AN INFORMAL HISTORY, by Sanford Phippen, the Historical Society of the Town of Hancock, 2000, 378 pages, $35.

No matter how many books you have, the old yearbooks hold an honored place on our shelves – full of the personalities and doings we enjoy recalling from schools or clubs.

It’s easiest, of course, to create such a tome in its time, but the Historical Society of the Town of Hancock has done an amazing job of reaching back more than two centuries to compile “The Sun Never Sets on Hancock Point,” a two-volume “informal history.”

Tucked between Lamoine and Franklin, Hancock is actually an island posing as a peninsula. The southern portion, known originally as Crabtree Neck for its founding family, is Hancock Point.

At 700 pages, the book is not for the faint of heart. But it is also the kind of history that readers may want to dip into, tasting Jackson Turner Main’s history of the Hancock Point Village Improvement Society, or perhaps William Churchill Hammond Jr.’s chapter on social life, sports and guests.

Henrietta Thompson, Daphne Crocker, Oliver Crosby, Charlotte Hazlewood, and a host of other writers contribute their memories and research to fill out the picture of a beautiful spot on the coast.

Ambassadors, authors, business people, presidential candidates, musicians such as Pierre Monteux, professors, sports coaches, admirals, a college president and a governor are among the seasonal and year-round inhabitants of the little colony.

Residents have included many Mainers, and a goodly portion of 19th century families from Bangor, with names such as Walton, Wing, Boardman, Doane, Crosby, Mason, Thatcher, Bartlett, Stetson and Bragg.

A partial list of Hancock Point weddings is given, and an account of the 1899 dedication of the chapel notes the congregation sang the familiar “The Church’s One Foundation.” As for the library, there’s a witty poem on the book-weeding committee.

Any history of Hancock Point would have to remember the family of Capt. Agreen Crabtree, who came to the area around 1764 or so.

Lois Johnson Crabtree covers this territory, pointing out that Agreen was a fifth-generation descendant of John and Alice Crabtree who lived in the Boston area in the 1630s. Agreen served in the Revolution – a patriot to the colonists, a pirate in the eyes of the British.

Shippen Swift offers the fascinating story of the World War I German ghost ship, the Kronprinzessi Cecilie, which stopped at Hancock to offload 1,556 passengers and crew and $10 million of gold and silver. The United States eventually took over the ship and converted it to a troop transport.

And Horst Haslau follows up with the World War II landing of German spies who came to Hancock Point in a Nazi submarine.

The editor of “The Sun Never Sets on Hancock Point” is Sanford Phippen – author, teacher at Orono High School, one-time librarian at Hancock Point, host of “A Good Read” on Maine PBS and promoter of Maine treasures.

Phippen also contributed to this book – the introduction and afterword, as well as chapters on the 1978 Hancock Sesquicentennial and on “working at the Point.” Included are material from the “Agreen and Us” program during the sesquicentennial.

Historical figures, families, pictures of houses and information on who lived in them, boats and who owned them – it’s all here.

It’s a mind-boggling project, but one that will be treasured by anyone who cares about this neck of the world. The book is dedicated to three special Hancock Pointers – the late Harriet Adams Gunderson, Elizabeth Clarke Phippen and the late Robin Crabtree.

Sandy Phippen will discuss “The Sun Never Sets at Hancock Point” at 7 p.m. today in the lecture hall at Bangor Public Library.

“The Sun Never Sets at Hancock Point” is available for $35 plus $5 postage and handling from the Hancock Historical Society, P.O. Box 212, Hancock, ME 04640.