1 of 15

Windswept

Mary Ellen Chase

2 of 15

Mary Ellen Chase,

Born Feb. 24, 1887 in Blue Hill, died July 28, 1973 in MA

3 of 15

4 of 15

Edward had attended Hallowell Classical Institute and Bowdoin College graduating to act as an attorney for many towns in Hancock County. Edward went on to marry Edith Label Lord and the couple lived there with his mother and had eight children between 1885 and 1912. The evolving landscape of the property around the house included the orchard of a dozen trees behind the house, a lavish flower garden and a large barn that housed the family cow, horses, pony and a donkey.

Mary Ellen wrote about much of her childhood growing up in this house in her 1954 novel, “The White Gate” and detailed her grandparents’ journeys in many of her other books including, “A Walk on An Iceberg”. This house remained in the Chase family for three generations until 1968.

She attended school in Blue Hill, learning Latin and Greek, and her father encouraged her to attend college to pursue her teaching degree.

5 of 15

Mary Ellen Chase (Photo courtesy of the Mary Ellen Chase Papers, Maine Women Writers Collection, University of New England, Portland, Maine)

6 of 15

Mary Ellen Chase (Photo courtesy of Sigma Kappa Triangle)

7 of 15

Mary Ellen Chase giving the 1958 Commencement Address at Colby College

She spent the majority of her career teaching English and writing at Smith College. Her work as a teacher, lecturer, and author earned her an honorary degree from Northeastern, first woman to be awarded an honorary degree from that school in Oct. 14 1948.

She was awarded honorary degrees at the University of Maine, Bowdoin College, Colby College, Smith College. In 1956 the Women’s National Book Association awarded her the Constance Lindsay Skinner Award.

But all during her life, she was identified with the rural Maine seacoast and the seafaring life she had known there as a child. She spent summers in Maine, on the property that inspired Windswept, and came to MDI many times to give lectures. Whereas Ruth Moore felt discouraged and diminished by being referred to as a “regional” author, Chase took pride in Windswept being a “novel of place” like so many of her novels which took place in Maine where she commonly captured rural life.

8 of 15

Mary Ellen Chase and Eleanor Duckett, undated. Courtesy of the Maine Women Writers Collaborative

9 of 15

Windswept

Windswept was published in 1941, hit the New York Times best-seller list within six weeks and was in its fifteenth printing by 1952.

She purchased Windswept, located near the end of the world between wild blueberry barrens and the ocean on Petit Manan Point at Steuben, Maine in 1940, and there wrote nine of her books. Built in the 1920's, the simple cottage is classic Maine, low, shingled, with simple shutters, and many small paned windows to let in the light from the sea. A big living room with fieldstone fireplace anchors two wings, one with kitchen, the other with bedrooms, forming a sheltered courtyard at the entrance.

When Windswept was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, the nomination read:

She is considered by many literary critiques to be second only to Sarah Orne Jewett in her ability to capture the history and particular atmosphere of the coast of Maine and its people. The isolated cottage provided Ms. Chase with the tranquility and isolation she needed to write, and in turn it also provided the inspiration for the setting of ‘Windswept’ (1941), her best-selling novel about immigration and integration in old settled Maine communities.”

10 of 15

Windswept: Themes from the book

Immigration
Summer resident vs. year-round

Development on the coast of Maine, and the choice to stay away from the business of Bar Harbor and MDI in the 1880s at the start of the novel

War and its impact on family and broader politics
Political change
Family
Connection to place

11 of 15

Immigration: Know-nothing to KKK in Maine

Burning of the Old South Church, Bath 1854. Maine Historical Society

Anonymous Klan member, Southwest Harbor ca. 1920

Windswept chronicles a time in Maine between anti-Catholic and immigration extremism, starting with the two examples in the 1850s, and culminating in the rapid rise of the Klan in the 1920s. In 1920 almost 4,000 immigrants arrived in Portland from a long list of European countries, and membership in the KKK in Maine began to skyrocket. That same year Klan membership in Maine was almost 0, it reached its peak in 1925 at over 150,000 members, but by 1930 it only had 225 members. At its peak 23% of Mainers belonged to the Klan.

Know-Nothing party- 1850s called such because if anyone asked about their activities they would answer “I know nothing” Formed to protect Protestants from the threat of Catholics who they believed were threatening religious liberty in the US Efforts in the northeast focused against Irish and German Catholics who they argued could not be loyal to the US because they were controlled by the Pope in Rome. National immigration trends were seen to a lesser degree in Maine, but because of the relatively small population here the effects were noticeable. Catholic immigrants built churches and schools hoping to maintain ties to cultural and linguistic traditions that defined their community and identity.

The party claimed responsibility for two violent acts in Maine in the 1850s, one in Ellsworth when a priest was tarred and feathered and chased from town because he denounced public schools for forcing students to use the Protestant bible. The second, when a Mob attached and burned a Catholic church in Bath in 1854, and the congregations was chased away and beaten.

Why this sudden rise and fall of the Klan? this phase of the Klan was less openly violent and was more policy-focused- often said the Klan is not against Catholics, but for Protestants, etc. Acted more like a fraternal organization, of which Maine had many, so it was a comfortable and known format. Succeeded in getting Gov. Brewster elected in 1924.

Chase sets her novel in the midst of this turmoil, electing to humanize two Catholic immigrants from Eastern Europe, the very demographic being targeted in Maine. She divides them into two stereotypes- the good, hard working immigrant who is accepted at a distance, and the untrustworthy who gets swept up in criminal activity and goes to jail. Interestingly, and in keeping with her avoidance of conflict in the book, we never confront Anton for his crimes, Jan quietly accepts them, and Anton himself declines into mental illness and never takes responsibility for his crimes with Jan.

Windswept has a somewhat romantic view of how well immigrants integrated into rural Maine life, with brief references to Catholicism and prejudice, but overall through hard work and upstanding morals, they are accepted. But, Chase also values them and their contributions to American life. Apart from Anton, all reference to immigrant contributions and communities are positive, especially when Jan visits the Polish farm in CT to see Anton.

12 of 15

Summer resident vs. year-round

Town pier, Bar Harbor, 1882.

Bar Harbor Historical Society

Swimming Club, Bar Harbor, 1903

Jesup Library

Chase notes in the beginning of her book that the location could be any coastal property along the downeast region, but specifically says east of Acadia and Bar Harbor. She mentions important distinctions in both the natural landscape, and the cultural.

Cultural: In addition to the reference in the author’s note, Chase also includes observations from her characters as to why they selected such an isolated location, away from the busy and more socially stratified glitz of Bar Harbor. The characters chose to be on the fringes of Boston society, and are seeking to isolate themselves from it even more in their summer estate. From the choice of landscape, to the design and construction of the house, each decision made is in direct contrast to the cultural realities of Bar Harbor at the time. John and Julian exchange a little criticism about the culture of garden clubs and fooling women into thinking they’re getting back to nature. John sums up his feelings for MDI “I’m not strong for garden clubs myself, but we’re not bothered with them much away down here. They flourish in Bar Harbor and places like it. There are too many such places on this coast to suit me. Mt. Desert Island from the headland here is the way it ought to be.”

The location of Windswept puts them in regular contact with year-round residents, allowing Chase to explore those connections, similarities, and differences. Apart from Mrs. Haskell and Caleb Perkins the rest of the locals are like a homogenous single entity, there for a little color, but no real contribution. But, Caleb and Mrs. Haskell capture the charm and native intelligence born of the land and from rural living, which Chase clearly values in this book and her others. Mrs. Haskell’s turns of phrase offer humor and insight, but also show her intelligence. Her wisdom, humor, strict sense of order and cleanliness might also be a way of countering stereotypes about locals held by some summer residents at the time.

While the Marston family are mostly summer residents Chase allows them to establish their connection to place as though they were there year-round, which may have something to do with her summers spent on Windswept. Ultimatly, the allure of place grounds the family to the house year-round.

13 of 15

Sense of Place

Ariel view of Windswept, and view of the grounds from the house. Downeast Dilettante

Her second reason for setting the book east of MDI; the landscape. Chase spends extensive time poetically extolling the virtues of the downeast coast, from it’s more open terrain, to the wilds of its weather, she clearly loved this place and wanted her readers to know it as she did.

Place as she describes it requires an intimate relationship to sea and land. Her characters farm, harvest, hunt, explore, swim, sail, and cherish all aspects of the property. The construction of the church seems less to do with the need for religious services, and more as another way to capture the sacred nature of this place. While on MDI rusticators prided themselves on a lifestyle that rejected many modern inventions- for a time electricity, cars, and trollies were banned – and claimed they were seeking a simple and direct relationship with the natural environment, the reality was that wealthy summer residents built an extension of their social and recreation structures here. Chase seems to want her characters to reject any boundary between people and place.

14 of 15

War and political change

Windswept covers over 40 years of political change, including World War I and ending as World War II begins.

John summarizes recent changes: stock market crash, war debt, unemployment, communism, political party’s fracturing, and war about to break out again in Europe. While not specifically using the terms, Julian and John reflect on the Progressive movement toward the end of the book, with Julian resenting more liberal ideas and John agreeing with those “half-baked liberals down on capitalism.” Cites Al Smith- the first Catholic to run for president. Advocated to join the League of Nations, canceling war debts.

Chase leaves us at a time of transition, out of necessity because the books publication in 1941 takes place as the nation and the world are paused, about to tip into another world war, and the social and economic upheaval it will bring. But she doesn’t keep Maine and our characters apart, instead she throws them into war and loss, further connecting Maine and Windswept to the greater world. Popping the bubble the Marston’s so carefully tried to create.