Surry by the Bay

Border Dispute

Originally, Surry extended to the Union River and north to Ellsworth Falls. On an early settler map of the area, this section was called Surry Gore.

Surry's 1803 corporation included a portion of Ellsworth known as Ward Five. In 1807, a large petition of inhabitants of Ellsworth and Surry was sent to the General Court asking for annexation to Ellsworth of a part of Surry and Trenton. Ellsworth selectmen strongly opposed their petition, but in 1809, the petition succeeded and parts of Surry and Trenton were annexed to Ellsworth. In 1821, all parts of the original township of Surry lying west of the Union River in Ellsworth were set back to Surry through the influence of Leonard Jarvis. This included the section between Bridge Hill and the Ellsworth post office. Ellsworth resisted the change because ”while they were a part of Surry, they were not connected by the tie of friendship, consequently they could not, in the transaction of their public business, express feelings of cordiality.” With this change, the Ellsworth post office was in Surry and the Surry post office was six miles away.

Finally in 1829, through the influence of Colonel John Black, who had been the leader in the 1809 changes, the Surry territory was re-annexed where it remains to this date.

Jarvis, who felt most of the river had been unfairly annexed, would go on to represent the Eastern District in Congress from 1831 to 1837.

Early Settlers

Many of the early settlers came from Cheshire, New Hampshire, Newbury, Massachusetts, and Berwick, Maine, and they scoped out the area on fishing and trading expeditions, as was true for Matthew Patten. Generally agreed to be Surry's first settler, in 1767 Patten purchased his first 100 acres in the town, and he later purchased 100 acres at Newbury Neck and other proprietor's rights in Ward 6. Patten's Bay, Patten's Pond and Patten's Pond Stream were named after him.

In Samuel Wasson's Journal of East Surry, he attributes Jonathan Flye, an Englishman, as the first settler in the Mouth of the River.

In 1765, Donnivan Flood, then three years of age, came with his father (Andrew) from Cheshire, N.H. to Pattten's Bay. Subsequently, Andrew moved his family to the town of Otis. In about eight years the family returned to Patten's Bay where Donnivan settled on Lot # 26. In March 1791, Andrew was chosen first juror from Surry to serve at court in Castine.

Moses Hammond, Surry's first Trial Justice, who received his appointment from Governor King, settled near the Floods in 1784 at "No Man's Cape" as Newbury Neck was called.

Although nearby Castine was occupied by the British in June 1779, Surry was not prominently involved in the Revolutionary War. Benjamin Milliken was the only Loyalist on record from Surry. Moses Hammond, Andrew Flood and Sterling Hopkins fought against the British. The British finally left Castine in 1783 and Loyalists were ordered out of the area in 1784.

Life in Surry in these early years, specifically Newbury Neck, was very primitive with few comforts. The people were coarsely fed and poorly clad. Their houses were rough hewn from pine with no adequate provision for proper sanitation or ventilation. They grew crops of potatoes, rye, beans and pumpkins on burned over land. Bears and raccoons ate their corn so that was not a successful crop. Meat victuals were woodchuck, bear, deer and raccoons. Clams, flounders, salmon, shad, cod and haddock were plentiful, and succotash and pemmican (no hide) were popular Indian dishes.

After construction of crude log shacks, the people soon built good frame houses. Plenty of trees and finished lumber were available. The first sawmill was built on Union River in 1768, and soon after, sawmills appeared on Patten Stream and on Toddy Pond. Before the 1800s, a salt works and two brickyards were built in East Surry. There was also a brickyard in Surry Village on Patten Bay, plus Newbury Neck housed yet another brickyard, all setting the stage for a bustling economy at the turn of the century.

Early Schooling

In 1795, an East Surry schoolmaster went from log house to log house teaching the pupils one-on-one to know the letters and to say the catechism. The catechism, which contained 100 questions and answers, focused on the principles then fostered on the younger generation. A few years later, in 1800, Surry's first private tuitioned school was established and twenty-six students worked under teacher Francis Simonds' tutelage.

When Surry was organized in 1803, there were four school districts (later expanded to nine). In 1808, on petition of Philip Jarvis, John Farnsworth and Elisha Austin, the selectmen, Leonard Jarvis, Jessie Dunton and Moses Hammond called a meeting of the Middle District in East Surry where members voted to start a three month school, then best known as the "Red Schoolhouse." Falling victim to the whims of spirited townspeople, the nomadic little schoolhouse changed location three times, finally burning. In 1861, a "bad blood" land deal led to the fiery end of another Surry school. More than a third of voters opposed the chosen location of a new school, forcing the municipal officers to designate a lot for the Surry Village School, which opened in 1872.