The Emilie Loring Collection

I have another mystery to solve. Can you help?

Among the Loring photos is this snapshot of “Baker Cottage, Chester, 1916.”

Clue: Baker Cottage

Who are the man and woman in the photo? Did Emilie and Victor visit a Baker Cottage in Chester? If not they, then who?

Emilie Loring was born a Baker, but I don’t know of Bakers in a Chester of any state. Could I have missed a family cottage and Emilie’s connection to it? Does “Baker Cottage” mean that a Baker family owned it, or could it be a temporary rental, in the way that I refer to “my” cottage in Blue Hill?

There is mention of a “Baker Cottage” in Milton, New Hampshire, which caught my eye because of the Milton in Emilie’s novels, usually a place where the girl’s father had spent time as a youth. A quick search for “Baker Cottage” in Maine and Massachusetts yielded several results, including one in Bangor, but none that held up against further clues.

Clue: Chester

Which Chester is this? Whoever labeled the photo thought “Chester” was sufficient, that viewers of the photo would know which Chester it was. Why?

What are the possibilities?

So many Chesters! I’m going to take a leap and assume that we’re talking about a Chester in New England or thereabouts. That gives us Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey–and Nova Scotia, too.

Clue: 1916

These photos were also labeled 1916, and they were taken in the Lorings’ usual places–Blue Hill and Boston. How far afield did they stray to find Chester?

Clue: Navigable Water

An intriguing clue is this romantic image of a sailing craft in moonlight, labeled in the same handwriting with the same information as the Baker Cottage: “Chester 1916.” We are now looking for a Chester with navigable waters of considerable size. Perusing online images and maps, this narrows our search to the Connecticut and Nova Scotia Chesters.

Either of these locations might provide the background of our moonlight photo. The Nova Scotia photo could almost have been taken from the same spot, and the Chester yacht races are famous enough to require no further explanation. “We’re going to Chester this year” could be like “We’re going to Wimbledon.”

Clue: “Moonlight”

What if “Moonlight” were more than a description? What if it were the name of this craft in particular? I’m far from an expert on sailing craft, but this boat has two masts, which I think qualifies it as a schooner.

I search for “Schooner Moonlight” in 1916 newspapers.

“The longest passage of the winter from Calais, ME ended yesterday when the schooner Moonlight, Captain Martin, was towed in by the tug Sadie Ross. The vessel was a month on the passage, having been obliged to seek refuge in several harbors along the Maine coast.” [Boston Globe, 25 January 1916]

“Schooner Moonlight from New Bedford to New York is weatherbound in the lower harbor, having arrived Wednesday.” [The Day (New London, CT), 18 May 1916]

“Shipping News: Calais, ME, July 14–SAILED Schooner Moonlight, New York. [Morning Sentinel (Waterville, ME), 15 July 1916.]

Schooner Moonlight put into port and anchored in the lower harbor Wednesday awaiting weather to continue her trip from Elizabethport, N.J. to St. Stephen, N. B. [The Day (New London, CT), 19 October 1916.]

These articles place the Moonlight all along the New England coast, from New Brunswick to Connecticut, which does nothing to help us narrow down our choice between Chester, Nova Scotia and Chester, Connecticut.

I queried a woman in Chester, Nova Scotia who was connected to a cottage that I thought was a possibility. Her reply:

Thank you for your interesting inquiry on Baker Cottage. From the photograph you sent, I can say for certain that unfortunately our house is not the Baker Cottage you are seeking. Apparently there were three Baker brothers here in Chester, sons of Cornelius Baker and his wife, Jenny Corkum. While one of the sons moved south to the United States, the other two remained here in the village. I am presently trying to track down a wonderful local historian who I’m certain will be able to shed some light on Emilie Baker Loring’s photograph of Baker Cottage, 1916.

That was thirteen years ago. I laid the mystery aside then, and needless to say, no Baker Cottage or Moonlight schooner appears in Happy Landings. But now, maybe we can use social media to crowd source an answer. Any takers?

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Happy Landings!