Byard Home by Sylvia Wardwell (HOM.15)
Sylvia Wardwell’s Memoir about the Byard House
SYLVIA WARDWELL WRITES ABOUT BYARD POINT AND THE BYARD HOME
THE BYARD FAMILY SETTLED ON A VERY DESIRABLE PIECE OF LAND IN SARGENTVILLE NOW CALLED BYARD’S POINT. ROBERT & ABIGIAL BYARD SETTLED THERE VERY EARLY AND WERE FRIENDS WITH THE JOHN AND HANNAH FARRAR BILLINGS FAMILY WHO WENT TO LITTLE DEER ISLE FIRST AND THEN MOVED OVER TO WHERE THE OAKLAND HOUSE IS NOW. HANNAH HAD A PIANO, THE FIRST IN THIS AREA, AND ABIGIAL WAS THE ONLY WHITE WOMEN TO VISIT WITH. IT MUST HAVE BEEN VERY LONESOME FOR THEM AS THEY STARTED NEW LIVES ALONG EGGEMOGGIN REACH, A PENOBSCOT INDIAN NAME THAT MEANS FISHING NETS.
THE BYARD POINT LAND WENT DOWN FROM ONE GENERATION TO ANOTHER UNTIL IT WAS SOLD TO AND SUBDIVIDED BY THE HON. HENRY W. SARGENT AND DR. RUFUS E. HAGERTHY IN THE EARLY 1900’S. PAM SIMMONS FOUND THIS CLIPPING ABOUT THE PURCHASE IN A VERY OLD NEWS PAPER: “IT IS ONLY OF RECENT DATE THAT SARGENTVILLE HAS TAKEN ON A NEW LIFE THRU THE ENERGY OF HON. HENRY W. SARGENT AND DR. RUFUS E. HAGERTHY. THESE GENTLEMEN HAVE PURCHASED THE HISTORIC PLACE KNOWN AS BYARD’S POINT, CONSISTING OF 150 ACRES, AND THIS HAS BEEN LAID OUT INTO THREE ACRE LOTS. SO BEAUTIFUL AND SIGHTLY IS THE LOCATION THAT THIS WAS DONE TO ATTRACT THE ATTENTION OF THE RICH. ESTATES OF LARGE DIMENSIONS WILL BE BUILT UP, AND ALREADY JOHN H. GAY, A WEALTHY CARPET MANUFACTURER OF PHILADELPHIA, HAS SECURED 12 ACRES IN THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY AND WILL BUILD A $6000.00 COTTAGE THIS SEASON. HIS ESTATE WILL BE LAID OUT ONTO BEAUTIFUL GROUNDS AND WELL SHADED.”
SANDRA BYARD, A FRIEND I GREW UP AND WENT TO SCHOOL WITH, MARRIED RICHARD HILL, A MEMBER OF THE HILL FAMILY. SANDRA’S FAMILY SETTLED IN THE AREA IN THE 1700S JUST AS THE BILLINGS SIDE OF MY FAMILY DID. LIKE SANDRA AND ME THERE ARE MANY DESCENDENTS OF THE EARLY SETTLERS WHO HAVE MARRIED INTO NEWER FAMILIES AND CONTINUE THEIR LINE IN OUR TOWN.
AS A CHILD I HAD ALWAYS HEARD OF MISS BETTY GRAY WHO BOUGHT THE OLD BYARD HOUSE AND FIXED UP THE BARN LIKE A HOUSE. IT HAD A HARD WOOD FLOOR BIG ENOUGH TO DANCE ON, CURTAINS ON THE WINDOWS AND PICTURES ON THE WALL. IT WAS A VERY NICE PLACE FOR PUBLIC EVENTS AND ONCE SHE INVITED THE SARGENTVILLE COMMUNITY CLUB TO COME FOR A FUND RAISER. THEY HAD AN OLD FASHION SQUARE DANCE WITH LIVE MUSIC AND REFRESHMENTS AND IT WAS THE EVENT OF THE SEASON. MISS GRAY WAS A VERY NICE LADY INDEED.
AFTER A WHILE MISS GRAY BECAME ILL AND DIED AND LEFT THE HOUSE TO HER NIECE, JANE HARWOOD WHO CAME HERE WITH HER HUSBAND ROB AND CHILDREN DAVID, MARCIA AND MICHAEL. DAVID NOW LIVES IN THAILAND AND MARCIA LIVES IN MASS. MICHEAL WAS A VERY FINE FRIEND OF OUR SON BLAINE. THEY PLAYED TOGETHER A LOT AND AS CHILDREN, WALKED ON THE BARN ROOF UNTIL IT WAS SHINGLED AND THAT GAME HAD TO STOP. THE HOUSE HAS BEEN USED A LOT BY THE PEOPLE WHO PAINTED AND REPAIRED THE BRIDGE BUT IT IS IN NEED OF REPAIRS AND MICHAEL HAS PUT THE PLACE UP FOR SALE.
JANE AND ROB WERE RETIRED FROM THE U.S. ARMY AND WERE FINE ARTISTS. THEY GAVE ART CLASSES AND MANY OF THE LOCAL PEOPLE SAT FOR THEM, INCLUDING MY MOTHER LOUISE BILLINGS WEBB. I STILL HAVE THE PAINTING THEY DID OF HER.
THE HARWOOD PROPERTY IS CLOSE TO THE BRIDGE AND IT CAN BE NOISY WHEN THE TRAFFIC IS HEAVY IN THE SUMMER. THE OTHER PROBLEM WAS THAT THE PROPERTY WAS CUT IN HALF WHEN THE STATE OF MAINE TOOK PART OF THE PROPERTY FOR THE DEER ISLE BRIDGE. THE SUB-DIVISION OF BYARD POINT WAS DONE AROUND 1909, LONG BEFORE THE SEDGWICK- DEER ILSE BRIDGE (1939) WAS EVEN THERE SO THERE WAS NO WAY TO KNOW THAT ABOUT 40 FEET OR SO WOULD BE LOST FOR THE BRIDGE. OF COURSE THE STATE PAID FOR THE LAND, BUT ONLY A SET AMOUNT. BECAUSE OF THE BRIDGE THERE WAS A PIECE OF HARWOOD PROPERTY ON ONE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND A PIECE ON THE OTHER SIDE. THAT SECOND PIECE WAS SOLD TO THOMAS AND OLIVE TAYLOR WHO BUILT A VERY NICE HOUSE AND GARAGE WITH A LOVELY VIEW OF THE REACH AND BILLINGS COVE. THE TAYLORS, WHO HAD BEEN IN THE ARMY AND MAY HAVE BEEN FRIENDS THERE WITH THE HARWOODS, WERE VERY NICE PEOPLE TO HAVE IN THE COMMUNITY. THE TAYLORS ARE BURIED IN FOREST HOME CEMETERY AND THEIR DAUGHTER HAS THE HOUSE UP FOR SALE.
SYLVIA CONNOR WARDWELL
SARGENTVILLE, MAINE
JANUARY 2014
Robert Byard’s home on Byard’s Point
This was the original Byard homestead, one of the oldest frame homes in Sedgwick.
Over the years the house was restructured to accommodate the changing needs of the family.
This photo, taken around 1938, shows the Byard house, now white and with dormers, as it appeared when bridge building activity changed the property lines. Note the large barn just to the right of the home and the house to the right of that, which became the home of Jane Harwood. By this time both houses were owned by Miss Betty Gray. Fred Marston told me that Miss Gray was very upset when the state took part of her land as eminent domain for the new bridge and, as a result, she stayed away for at least ten years.[1]
This photo, taken by Catharine Sargent Marston in the 1960s, shows the changes made to the original structure.
Another photo taken in the 1960s.
By 2014 other changes had been made to the Byard home. This home was owned by the Harwood family. They were talented artists who gave classes and created paintings of many town-folks.
This is the barn on the Byard property. When Miss Betty Gray was the owner she refinished the barn and used it for community events.