The Sea Shell - 1894 

The Gunn Era (1894-1897)

Levi Gunn

  Levi Gunn was the head of the Millers Falls Company, the second largest employer in Greenfield, Massachusetts.   He was also the President of the New England Land Company and then Heron Island Companies, and arranged for many cottages to be built on the island.  In 1894 he built 'The Sea Shell' as a present for his wife, Esther.  It is not clear if either Gunn ever occupied the cottage, but they did rent it out to fellow greenfield residents. When Esther died in 1897, he sold the Cottage to Gaius Glenn Atkins, a young preacher who was pastor at Gunn's church in Greenfield.    

July 10, 1897-- Greenfield Recorder 

The Atkins Era (1897-1900)

Gaius Glenn Atkins

G. Glenn Atkins and his wife Adelina were relative newcomers to Greenfield when they bought the Sea Shell in 1897 from Levi Gunn.   Atkins had been pastor at the Second Congregational Church in Greenfield since 1894, and had quickly built up a reputation as a writer and orator and was well-liked in the community.  During their years at Heron Island, Glenn served an island chaplain of sorts, performing Sunday services and giving lectures on various topics.  The Atkins had several small children during this time-- one may be the young child pictured with a wagon on the Sea Shell porch (right).  In 1900, the Atkins moved to Vermont where Glenn became pastor at the Burlington Congregational Church.  No longer able to easily reach the island, the Atkins sold the cottage to the Kaulbacks of Greenfield.

July 24, 1897-- Greenfield Recorder 

Photo of The Sea Shell taken from the Annex porch, around 1900.

The Kaulback Era (1901-1912)

Martha Kaulback

The Kaulbacks were parishioners of Rev. Atkins. Harry Kaulback was Sunday School Superintendant at the Second Congregational Church of Springfield, and was active in local and county government alongside Charles H. Keith, original owner of The Lodge. He held a variety of jobs in finance, including mortgage broker and insurance. His wife Martha (Arms) Kaulback was related through marriage to the Thompsons, Nims, Snows and Roberts-- her grandfather, Amariah Chandler, was the second husband of Mary Nims Roberts, grandmother of Charlotte and Mary Roberts, and aunt of Mary Nims Thompson.

The Kaulbacks sold the cottage in the spring of 1913 to Lucius Nims, brother of Mary Nims Thompson, of Alpha Cottage.

Aug 8, 1900 clipping-- Greenfield Recorder 

1907 view of The Sea Shell from the Barnacle.  Annex can be seen on the left. 

The Nims Era (1913-1923)

Lucius Nims

Lucius Nims was the brother of Mary Nims Thompson, great-grandmother of Kris Eschauzier, Fran Tadeschi and Blake Alexander. 

 

May 5, 1913 clipping-- Greenfield Recorder 

Lucius and ?? Nims on the Sea Shell porch.

The Bingham Era (1924-1940)

William, Margaret and Ada Bingham

Ada Clark grew as a young girl up in Massachusetts, not far from her cousin George E. Rogers of Greenfield and Uncle Edwin Rogers of North Adams.  When she was in grade school, her family moved to Dubuque Iowa, where she met and married William Bingham.  William soon became vice-president at a large textile mill and they became quite well-off.  Their first daughter, Doris, born in 1887, suffered from asthma, and Uncle Edwin Rogers invited them to come stay at the Hotel Madockawando on Heron Island, where he was the manager.  Their first trip was in 1892 and they came to Heron every few years to stay in the Hotel or Annex until the Hotel burned down in 1917.    In 1924, they purchased the Sea Shell from the Nims family and began to visit regularly with their daughters Doris and Margaret, and grandchildren Bill Bingham, and Robert, Liz and Sara Morris.   

Doris Bingham was an avid tennis player and served as the  head of the tennis court committee from 1925-1940.    Ada Clark Bingham died in 1933 followed by William (1837) and Doris (1945), leaving the cottage to Margaret Morris and husband Carlyle.      

Doris Bingham and her son Bill, 1923.