Out on Salem Sound the other day, sailing in a beautiful boat, I looked over at one of the several islands that mark the entrance to Salem Harbor and tried to imagine what once was. Off Great Misery Island there is a calm maritime meeting place referred to as “Cocktail Cove”: while one imbibes off-island now a century ago drinks were served on the island, first at the Misery Island Club, which became the Casino Hotel in 1904, and also in private cottages: 26 in all. Most of the structures on Great Misery were swept away by a fire in May of 1926 (just before the season), and both it and its adjacent island, Little Misery, reverted to nature under the stewardship of the Trustees of Reservations. But for a quarter of a century or so, Great Misery was quite a happening place, and its cottages attracted the attention of contemporary shelter magazines. House & Garden and The House Beautiful featured several Misery Island summer houses on their pages in their “aughts” heyday, all bungalows, and all the work of Salem architect Ernest M.A. Machado, an extremely enterprising young architect who died far too soon.
Sailing to the Misery Islands, passing the Fame along the way–off Great Misery.
Ernest Machado’s buildings on Great Misery: the Clubhouse/Casino (MIT Archives); the bungalow of Mrs. Charles Steadman Hanks (Mary Harrod Northend, “Some Seacoast Bungalows”, House and Garden, June 1905), “Ye Court of Hearts” (The House Beautiful, June 1905), the bungalow of Mr. George Lee, “The Anchorage” of Mr. George Towle (The House Beautiful, June 1909) , and “The Bunker” of Mr. Jacob C. Rogers (The House Beautiful, June 1906).
All of these Misery Island bungalow-owners lived on the mainland, either down in Boston or somewhere on the North Shore (Rogers was the last private owner of Samuel McIntire’s majestic Oak Hill, where the Northshore Mall now stands, or should I say sprawls), but they also owned summer houses along the Gold Coast: these cottages were for the weekend! The magazine articles accompanying these images emphasize the simplicity of the island bungalows, but it was a very deliberate, and very occasional, ethic. For about a quarter century, Misery was a Gilded Age playground, complete with shooting range and golf course, perfect for Harvard senior “Robinson Crusoe” picnics and reunions. Its moment might have been even shorter: social register references seem to appear with much less frequency in the teens and twenties, and then this very social chapter in the island’s history closes much more abruptly with the 1926 fire.
Newspaper reports of the 1902 Harvard reunions (Boston Post, June 22-25, 1902 ) and 1926 fire (Boston Daily Globe, May 8-10, 1926); Great Misery today, and home in Salem Harbor on a glorious early evening!
June 27th, 2017 at 10:01 am
What an interesting post! Thanks for sharing.
June 27th, 2017 at 11:23 am
And then there was this bright idea… https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202030791872652&set=gm.763540200345891&type=3&theater
June 27th, 2017 at 11:31 am
Oh my word! That is really interesting. What a (possible) transition!
June 27th, 2017 at 11:28 am
The marketing wizards back in 1907 went to work, and got the map makers in 1907 to flag Misery Island, as “Mystery Island” After all who would want to go to a place called Misery? Fortunately the new name didn’t catch on.
June 27th, 2017 at 3:43 pm
Excellent article, Donna. I’ve been to Misery Island, but never saw this variety of pictures of the buildings.
June 27th, 2017 at 8:24 pm
Thank you so much–just lucky–I was looking for a very specific Salem house in older periodicals, and just happened upon all these bungalows and that was that!
August 2nd, 2017 at 8:28 pm
Some place in my files, is the information on the move of a house off he island by barge. I believe that the clipping might be found in the Harbor album,along with a photo.
January 28th, 2020 at 11:34 pm
Would like info on obtaining books pics. Before fire. Friend of Dave Ryan
January 28th, 2020 at 11:37 pm
Looking for old pic of the isl,books etc before the great Fire tks
January 29th, 2020 at 8:18 am
Well I went through architectural magazines for these, Machado’s papers are at MIT, and then I would try the Beverly Historical Society. All the photos I use in my posts are sourced, so just read the captions.
March 18th, 2022 at 9:07 pm
I grew up on the Great Misery Island. Little Misery was “Off limits” since it was controlled by the “Boy Scouts”. Now, at 72, I Remember exploring the entire island when the houses were still standing. A Grand Piano in one house that may have been too expensive to transport to the mainland. Each year there was less and less history to explore. I would catch spider crabs from the circular iron piece from the leeward harbor side pool facing Manchester Harbor. My plans are that my ashes be spread at the Geodesic marker on the island between Great and Little Misery Islands.
Here is the marker: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a-/AOh14GhY9fJWAynKyG-5890oSQulYIuRnICUgFDsc9qe=s288-p-rw-no
I will forever watch over Great and Little Misery and Bakers Island. Much better than a view from a box in the ground.
March 19th, 2022 at 1:20 pm
Thanks for your memories, Peter!