Cormorants (reviled birds) and Rusticators
History lesson for the day - of rusticators and cormorants.
The docent at Christina's House (she of Andrew Wyeth's Christina's World, his crippled muse actually played by his wife Betsy), planted the word.
Out of earshot, Sarah and I leaned into one another for the debrief.
“Rustic-what?”, I asked.
Sarah wasn't sure either. We let it rest.
Reading Downeast the next morning (A magazine that anticpates and answers all Maine questions not-yet formed: what's a cormorant and do we/mainer's like them (we do, they don't), who cares for Acadia's paths? how much was that house we drove by in Rockport? if I were to want to retire here...) With Maine gone gray outside, and us happily gathered around the fire, I stumbled on what could only be the very word.
“Rusticator”.
As in: in the 1800's Maine, and Mt. Desert island in particular, began drawing rusticators of the Hudson River School to the north. I imagine them as foppish Thoreau-types. Seduced, as any would be, to the dramatic ruggedness of Maine's shoreline but, doing their drawing en masse (I see a troop in berets with canvases tucked under arms, brushes spiking from luggage), not quite up to the task of capturing the Maine wilderness actually solo.
And the title itself: rusticator - what exactly did that mean?
Were they taking something not quite rustic – say the “cottages”, really sprawling mansions of the already arrived Rockefellers and blue bloods of the Northeast and, by dwelling in those cottage's gatehouses or groundkeeper's quarters, living it somehow “in the rustic”? Did they pitch tents outside of established towns – annoying locals with pompous chatter, introducing fancy liquors into the mix and setting up their easels in the way of the working lobster men?
Did they sketch the lady hanging laundry, squat by the clam digger, circling him to achieve the right angle?
Anyway – to me they sounded rather gruesome but at the same time charming in their impulse.
Turns out, I was kind of right but not entirely. They were all rusticators - the rich as well as the artists. They were all making the migration (back) to nature, finding themselves deep-breathing pine and marveling at tide pools.
A better, and I assume truer, explanation from Christine Wynne
Maine was home to fishermen and shipbuilders for several centuries before tourists traveled to this vacation paradise. It wasn't until the mid 1800's when artist Thomas Cole discovered the splendor of the Bar Harbor area that people from all over the country were soon flocking to Maine. Cole and other New York artists traveled to Bar Harbor to paint seascapes and landscapes. Once their paintings were taken back to cities across the country, they were so well received that people wanted to see the places depicted in the paintings for themselves. These first visitors, known as "rusticators" were city people in search of a wilderness experience. They would take nature walks, collect flowers, pick berries and chop wood, all to become one with nature. Wealthy summer visitors, including the Astors, Carnegies, Morgans, Vanderbilts and Rockefellers built homes. Keeping in line with the rusticator ethic, these homes featured wood, stone and other materials from the land nearby. These cottages, however, were anything but primitive. Although they exuded earthiness, most homes had as many as 30 rooms. Before too long, Bar Harbor soon rivaled Newport, Rhode Island as the summer resort capital of the East.
So there it is - everyone was playing Thoreau. And I suppose that's what my Clermont move is a little of too...
C
The docent at Christina's House (she of Andrew Wyeth's Christina's World, his crippled muse actually played by his wife Betsy), planted the word.
Out of earshot, Sarah and I leaned into one another for the debrief.
“Rustic-what?”, I asked.
Sarah wasn't sure either. We let it rest.
Reading Downeast the next morning (A magazine that anticpates and answers all Maine questions not-yet formed: what's a cormorant and do we/mainer's like them (we do, they don't), who cares for Acadia's paths? how much was that house we drove by in Rockport? if I were to want to retire here...) With Maine gone gray outside, and us happily gathered around the fire, I stumbled on what could only be the very word.
“Rusticator”.
As in: in the 1800's Maine, and Mt. Desert island in particular, began drawing rusticators of the Hudson River School to the north. I imagine them as foppish Thoreau-types. Seduced, as any would be, to the dramatic ruggedness of Maine's shoreline but, doing their drawing en masse (I see a troop in berets with canvases tucked under arms, brushes spiking from luggage), not quite up to the task of capturing the Maine wilderness actually solo.
And the title itself: rusticator - what exactly did that mean?
Were they taking something not quite rustic – say the “cottages”, really sprawling mansions of the already arrived Rockefellers and blue bloods of the Northeast and, by dwelling in those cottage's gatehouses or groundkeeper's quarters, living it somehow “in the rustic”? Did they pitch tents outside of established towns – annoying locals with pompous chatter, introducing fancy liquors into the mix and setting up their easels in the way of the working lobster men?
Did they sketch the lady hanging laundry, squat by the clam digger, circling him to achieve the right angle?
Anyway – to me they sounded rather gruesome but at the same time charming in their impulse.
Turns out, I was kind of right but not entirely. They were all rusticators - the rich as well as the artists. They were all making the migration (back) to nature, finding themselves deep-breathing pine and marveling at tide pools.
A better, and I assume truer, explanation from Christine Wynne
Maine was home to fishermen and shipbuilders for several centuries before tourists traveled to this vacation paradise. It wasn't until the mid 1800's when artist Thomas Cole discovered the splendor of the Bar Harbor area that people from all over the country were soon flocking to Maine. Cole and other New York artists traveled to Bar Harbor to paint seascapes and landscapes. Once their paintings were taken back to cities across the country, they were so well received that people wanted to see the places depicted in the paintings for themselves. These first visitors, known as "rusticators" were city people in search of a wilderness experience. They would take nature walks, collect flowers, pick berries and chop wood, all to become one with nature. Wealthy summer visitors, including the Astors, Carnegies, Morgans, Vanderbilts and Rockefellers built homes. Keeping in line with the rusticator ethic, these homes featured wood, stone and other materials from the land nearby. These cottages, however, were anything but primitive. Although they exuded earthiness, most homes had as many as 30 rooms. Before too long, Bar Harbor soon rivaled Newport, Rhode Island as the summer resort capital of the East.
So there it is - everyone was playing Thoreau. And I suppose that's what my Clermont move is a little of too...
C
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