Memories

Sturgis Haskins, a resident so local that others remember calling him “Sturgie” as a child, did his part 30 years ago to bring Sorrento’s history to life: He was the founding president of the Sullivan-Sorrento Historical Society.

Last year, Haskins managed to provide even more insights for others into Sorrento’s grandest days: He organized a “Snoops” walking tour of the town, covering both public places (the library and Episcopal church) and private cottages.

“Snoops” tours are a project of the fledgling Downeast Senior College, which offers courses and lectures open to the public.

Haskins’ role last spring was to develop walking tours of the four summer colonies on Frenchman Bay: Bar Harbor, Grindstone Neck (Winter Harbor), Hancock Point and Sorrento.

“The summer people of Sorrento had a world unto themselves,” he said.

“Sorrento is not unique at all in that respect, but it has an interesting past. We were able to walk through the summer institutions that made Sorrento a summer colony.

“We were able to look at the social and architectural history of Sorrento. It has a very beautiful setting, and we were able to peek, or snoop, into that lifestyle.”

Haskins knows the town’s history because he is part of it: His mother’s family settled the area in the 1760s, and was among the original grant landholders.

His great-grandfather, Fred Noyes, was the town clerk more than 100 years ago (1886). He was also the clerk of record for the Frenchman Bay Land and Water Co., the land company that developed Sorrento.

Haskins was one of the locals who mingled with Sorrento’s summer people. Back in 1958, the year he graduated from Sumner Memorial High School, he became at age 18 the youngest commodore for the Sorrento Yacht Club.

A lifelong resident, Haskins lives in the house next door to the one where he was born, the large, pine green house that faces the town’s pier.

His parents bought it in 1940 for $250, he said, then added: “Nobody else wanted it.”