Cape Neddick (Nubble) Lighthouse, Cliff House

One more WWI Poster:  I received more than the usual reactions to the Museum's WWI posters that so affected me.  Many thanks to Jack who sent this photo of a poster he has in his home.

WWI poster   Artist - Howard Chandler Christy

We exit the Ogunquit Museum of American Art (OMAA) to admire the waterfront just as a sailboat highlights the beauty of the ocean and sky.

Leaving the Museum behind, we stop at Cape Neddick Lighthouse, one of the most popular lighthouses in New England.  The craggy coast has been a vital but dangerous part of sea traffic since colonial days.  In 1874, the federal government commissioned a light house for this rocky ‘nub’ of land.  The Coast Guard took over the light house in 1939.  As demands grew and technology expanded,  the lighthouse function was automated (in 1987).

The Nubble Lighthouse remains functional and beautiful.  The Town of York is the guardian of record for the Nubble Lighthouse (aka Cape Neddick Light Station).  The Coast Guard maintains the light and horn--primary aids to navigation--and the National Register of Historic Places preserves its history.  

Time for lunch, but not just lunch--lunch at the famous Cliff House.
 
This beautiful hotel has passed down through four generations of the Weare family, beginning in 1872 and continuing through 2014. 
After the Civil War, when the country began to coordinate and standardize the railway system, the Weare family saw the expanding  system (with a Boston and Maine track extending to York) as an opportunity to share Maine shore’s beauty with the world.  

The Cliff House opened in 1872, and its reputation for elegance rapidly spread from New England to New York and then abroad. Indoor plumbing and electric lights were the contributions of the second Weare generation.  

Bald Head Cliff and Original Cliff House, circa 1900 (Library of Congress Photo)

Cliff House maintained its lofty reputation right up to World War II.  With national security in mind, the hotel shifted from accommodations for wealthy patrons to a radar station for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, monitoring the coast for enemy vessels.

After the war, the next Weare generation family member tackled the formidable task of rehabilitating a wracked property with the same determination he’d had when facing enemies of war.  Over time, the Weares brought the Cliff House back to tourists.  In keeping with the times (the 1960s), the hotel became a motel, catering to the many motoring tourists.  An added swimming pool made the Cliff House an ideal stop.

In 1974, the fourth Weare generation began expanding and enhancing the motel, returning the cachet of its early days.  By 2002, the Cliff House boasted a grand staircase linked to the Ocean Terrace, a luxurious dining room, conference and meeting rooms, a fitness center, and high-end guest rooms with balconies overlooking  Maine’s south coast.
 

Cliff House photo from https://www.destinationhotels.com/cliff-house/resort

We dine in a restaurant overlooking the water.  Service, food, and view were all flawless,  but my photos don't do the hotel or the view justice.  

The photo above is from the hotel web site, and I urge you to visit the site https://www.destinationhotels.com/cliff-house/resort  to learn more about this beautiful hotel, its history, and the luxuries it has to offer.
 
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Ogunquit Museum of American Art- World War I Posters, the Value of Thought

Looking back 100 years from our smartphones and laptops, from the vast array of social media, it’s hard to understand how much impact posters once had.  But in  1917, before widespread use of radio,  posters were a vital element of persuasion, information, and incentive.  For us, a century later, they offer some insight into the global conflict of World War I.

artist Henry Raleigh

Our visit to the Ogunquit Museum of American Art coincides with the 100 year anniversary of the US participation in the First World War.  The  theme of the current special exhibit is Tradition and Excellence: Art and Ogunquit 1914-1918.  I am especially drawn to these WWI posters.  Even as I photograph them, I am struggling with powerful feelings they elicit.

Artist Howard Chandler Christy

Does my response to these have to do with world tensions of today?  The photos, taken without flash,  are just reproductions for this blog.  Even as I am writing this, the images rouse feelings of patriotism and... a little anxiety.

Poster by Herbert Paus

Artist Ray Greenleaf

Only after I get home  and do some additional research do I see that these posters are meant to connect the visitor  with “... anxieties, resistance, helplessness and hopefulness of the time.” (from the museum web site: http://tinyurl.com/OMAA-WWI-postershttp://tinyurl.com/OMAA-WWI-posters).  As far as I am concerned, the posters successfully accomplish their task.

Speaking of research... the other exhibit we enjoy is the ‘Value of Thought’, a gallery of paintings depicting libraries.  As I start exploring the paintings, I remember the feeling I had in the library I used to visit as a youngster.  I recall sitting on the floor in the children’s room, poring through books planning what to borrow.  I remember when research demanded a visit to a library, maybe a request from the archives; time at a table taking notes, double-checking references....

Artist Alison Rector visited eighteen Carnegie libraries in Maine, and her works recreate those feelings for me. Because the exhibit has ended, the next best place (on a computer) to view some of Rector’s library paintings and other works is http://greenhutgalleries.me/gallery/alison-rector/ .

Like the WWI posters, this exhibit has evoked some powerful feelings for me--in this case, nostalgic, and also a little sentimental about the time when learning/investigating/researching might take me to a beautiful, book-lined room.

Ogunquit, Maine: Ogunquit Museum of American Art

Tales from the Trail has been on break at home while regrouping and exploring some new activities.  “Home” can be as interesting as travel.  Recently the Tourist at Home took a day trip to Ogunquit at the invitation of friends. This is a happy reminder of the great places to visit that are right outside my door (so to speak).

Our main focus is the Ogunquit Museum of American Art (OMAA).  I haven’t been to Ogunquit in a while, and this is my first visit to the Museum that overlooks Narrow Cove, the beautiful rocky Maine coast, and the vast Atlantic Ocean.

Henry Strater, a ‘Lost Generation’* artist, opened the museum in 1953.  While the museum is only little over sixty years old, its permanent collection of art works--from sculpture to photography--goes back to the late nineteenth century.   

The Museum's sculpture garden greets us.

This Vermont marble statue, Life Entwined,  is the 1988 work of Antoinette Schultze.

  Just beyond this couple stands  the Man of Assisi, a mixed metal sculpture/ fountain  by John Dirks, who in 1988 was also the director of the museum.  (I’m afraid the flowing water isn’t obvious in my photo.)

Man of Assisi by John Dirks

A little closer to the building, Bernard Langlais’ Lion protects the museum and his territory.    

Unfortunately, I didn't get the name of artist of this work in front of the museum,  or of the sculpture in the photo below  it.

After a visiting some of the exhibits,  we take a break on a bench to once again enjoy the garden and look at Life Entwined from yet another angle,  I can't resist taking a picture of a butterfly who seems to be enjoying the same type of moment.

Life Entwined with butterfly

Founder Henry Strater and the Lost Generation*
“The Lost Generation” comprised those who reached adulthood during World War I.  More often, the term refers to American writers and artists who were involved in the war in some way--in the service, as reporters.  After the war, Paris somehow maintained its reputation as a center of art, culture, and music (in spite of all the city had just endured). This attracted Americans like Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, E. E. Cummings, Ezra Pound and others, who had lost some faith in the ‘American Dream’ and felt disconnected from post-war USA. 


Henry Strater was often exasperated by the fame he acquired as a friend of famous writers instead an artist in his own right. When the OMAA opened, Strater specified that he intended the museum to highlight the work of the visual artists of his time. 

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 * Gertrude Stein first used the term 'Lost Generation' to Ernest Hemingway to describe the Americans who had gone to Paris after World War I.  Hemingway then used in in  The Sun Also Rises. 

For handicapped visitors: there are walkways surrounding the museum making it possible to enjoy the sculpture garden and water views.  I did not notice wheelchair ramps, but generally I never encountered more than 3 steps between rooms/galleries, so a visitor with a walker could probably find help moving the walker, and anyone who can use crutches can negotiate the entire museum.