History
Going Strong After 106 Years!


Historical Timeline
1882 - First Universalist Summer Meeting held under leadership of Dr. Quillen Hamilton Shinn at Methodist summer quarters at The Weirs in New Hampshire.

1897 - Summer Meeting site moved to Saratoga Springs, NY and Dr. Shinn begins his search for a permanent site.

1901 - Dr. Shinn located Ferry Beach site. The twentieth annual meeting held here as guests of the Boston and Maine Railroad, owners of the property. Fundraising efforts begun to make purchase of the property possible.

1904 - Ferry Beach House purchased from the railroad and renamed the Quillen.

1909 - Summer Meeting Association incorporated and renamed the Ferry Beach Park Association of Universalists.

1911 - Underwood House built and named in honor of Carrie P. Underwood, a benefactor of the Beach.

1916 - The Grove purchased from the railroad.

1920 - Quillen Annex built.

1927 - Rowland Hall built and named in honor of Dr. William R. Rowland, president of the Association from 1919 until his death in 1925.

1945 - Claflin Cottage purchased and named in honor of Edward P. Claflin, a former board member and a benefactor of the Beach.

1946 - Gardiner Cottage purchased and named in honor of Marion L. Gardiner who bequeathed funds for its purchase.

1975 - Rose Pavilion built in the Grove and named in honor of William Wallace Rose, minister of the Lynn (MA) Universalist church for 30 years.

1976 - Quillen Lobby remodeled and dedicated to Edward Hempel, longtime treasurer and Executive Secretary of the Association.

1979 - Sand dune restoration project begun.

1986-2001 - Capital Fund Drive held; Manning Cottage purchased and named for Robert Manning. Cottage has since been sold.

1990 - Dining Room built and named in honor of the Rev. Earle Dolphin, longtime Ferry Beacher and resident musician. Health Center and Childrens’ Room relocated and renovated; sewer connections completed for all buildings and Grove sites; the Stone Environmental School begins renting the property in the off-season.

1995-2003 - Rowland Hall remodeled and other major improvements undertaken to meet fire codes. Construction continues to date as we continue to meet fire codes and safety requirements.

1998 - Ferry Beach Ecology School begins in 1998.

2004 - Kelly Cottage built at 8 Morris Avenue Site.

2004 - Memorial Garden built in the Grove.

Ferry Beach History by Glenn Hersey
The history of Ferry Beach begins with the character of a remarkable person – Dr. Quillen Hamilton Shinn (1845-1906). His biography is aptly titled Faith With Power. Power indeed! Dr. Shinn traveled the country preaching the doctrine of Universal Salvation. And, he built churches! He had a deliberate system: he arrived in town, hired a hall, put up signs on street corners, placed ads in local papers, distributed circulars, posted a notice of his hotel room with the hours he was available for interviews, preached a sermon on the Universal Faith, kept a registry of attendance and, following the final service, held a meeting at which he asked those present to sign a membership book, and organize a building fund with a minimum goal of $1,000.

In one two-year period he received over 10,000 members, organized more than 50 churches, started 60 Sunday Schools, formed 100 Ladies Societies, built 35 new church buildings and enlisted 29 theological students. Each year, he averaged over 30,000 miles, mostly on horseback.

Throughout this period of intense missionary work, Dr. Shinn established “Summer Meetings.” From 1882 to 1897 they were held at the Weirs, Lake Winnipesauke, New Hampshire. In 1898, the Methodists, who owned the land, realized his success in winning converts and refused permission for him to continue meeting there. After two years at Sarasota Springs, NY, Dr. Shinn’s people met at Ocean Park, Maine; but, in 1900 the Baptists, noting his success, stopped his meetings there. Dr. Shinn went two miles down the road, found a grove and the Ferry Park Hotel, both for sale by the Boston and Maine Railroad. He quickly borrowed $5,000 from his life insurance policy as a down payment, raised the rest, and bought a permanent home for his popular “Summer Meetings.” After his death, the hotel was renamed “The Quillen” and Ferry Beach Park Association became the lengthened shadow of this faithful and powerful man.

The “Dummy Train”
The age of the automobile was not yet upon us and the early patrons would arrive on the “dummy train.” The train would start in Old Orchard, travel through Ocean Park, cross Goose Faire Brook – the pilings are still visible at low tide as you look from the bridge across the brook – and continue in the lee of the dunes to ferry Park, then onward to Camp Ellis. The original station sign hangs above the office counter in the Quillen Lobby. At camp Ellis, folks could board the ferry to cross the river to Biddeford Pool or travel up the river to Saco. The train’s locomotion was very simple. It went forward to the Saco River and backward to Old Orchard Beach. The train made its last run in 1923. (Ferry Beach lore has it that one night our mischievous crew threw a few logs in the boiler and ran the train part way back to Old Orchard.)

Gradually, the Association purchased more land until 25 acres were acquired. More buildings were needed for housing and classroom space. “Underwood,” named in honor of Carrie Underwood, was built in 1911. Edward P. Claflin, a director of the Beach, deeded his cottage across the street from the Quillen to the association. In the 1920’s, the old railroad bowling alley was converted to a boy’s dormitory, and named Belmont. Sadly, this building burned in the 1980’s. In 1927, an audience-classroom-dormitory was dedicated to Dr. William Rowland, president of the beach from 1919 until his death in 1925. In 1941, Miss Marion Gardiner gave money to buy the Woodland Cottage, and it was renamed in her honor.

The cottages behind Gardiner were given in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Milo Folsom, of Pittsfield, Maine, Dr. Josephine Chapin of Saco, Maine, and the Universalist Church of Waltham, Massachusetts. The house at 5 Morris Avenue was given to the Beach by Dr. Chapin, and the house at 8 Morris Avenue is deeded to the Beach. The house next to Belmont was purchased in 1986 and named in honor of the Manning Family. It has since been sold to a private party.

A Time for Change
Early programs were short and largely devoted to preaching the gospel of Universalism. Other lectures and musical programs were soon added. The year 1919 saw the beginning of the present format of week-long institutes. There was a “Minister’s Institute,” a “Sunday School Institute,” and a “Women’s National Missionary Association Institute.” Later, the first two were combined to become the “Institute of Churchmanship,” including lay people. This institute became the present “Religious Education Week.” In 1935, the “Institute of World Affairs” was added and renamed in 1941 as the “Institute of International Relations.” The “Institute of Nature and Religion,” established in 1938, evolved to the popular family conferences of recent years.

Just as the original programming expanded to include lay people, later institutes included youth. The “Young People’s Christian Union Institute,” Universalist Youth Fellowship,” then “Youth Lab,” finally “Expanding Awareness.” Begun during the 1940’s, the junior high “Camp Seabreeze,” became, in the 1980’s, “Different Drummers.” “Camp Discovery,” founded in 1965 for 5th and 6th graders, became “Good Connections,” and is now “Kids for the Earth.”

The nearly forty programs offered today reflect a mixture of the traditional and the contemporary. Ferry Beach remains a place to promote a rational concern for the community, and encourage self-awareness, spiritual growth and responsibility in communal relationships, to the end that all can realize their unique contribution to humankind.

The evolution of Ferry Beach from Dr. Shinn’s dream to one of the foremost conference centers in America was almost halted by two crises. During the 1930s there was a long and costly battle over the tax status of Ferry Beach Park Association. Some unfortunate wording in the original incorporation allowed property to be taxed at a commercial rate. After reincorporating and appealing to the Maine Supreme Court, the property was reclassified as a charitable and benevolent association. Then, in the early 1970s, Edward Hempel, who had served ably as director on a part-time basis, died. There were a number of problems facing the Board. The buildings were in decay, services were declining, and program was not attracting a clientele that could sustain the Beach.

Ray Hopkins Took Charge
The Board took firm action. It hired Dr. Raymond C. Hopkins, formerly the executive vice president of the UUA, as the Beach’s first full-time director. During his six-year administration, using a combination of fundraising, matching grants, loans, and a large measure of commitment, he led the restoration of the physical plant. Under his guidance, programs were newly staffed and expanded, drawing people from all over the country.

This renaissance has continued uninterrupted, from his arrival in the mid-1970s until today. We continue to have full-time directors and a winter staff.

But the history of Ferry Beach is not told in buildings and tax battles. It is told through thousands of people, young and old, over five generations. People have given time, property and an abundance of spirit to Ferry Beach because the Beach has given freely of itself to them. These people have brought their Spirit to the Sea and the Sea has given its spirit freely to them.

- -Glen A Hersey

I am gratefully indebted to the following sources for the above narrative:
-Faith with Power - A Life Story of Quillen Hamilton Shinn,– by William H. McGlauflin, DD. (Universalist Publishing House, 1912)
-Universalists at Ferry Beach - A History, by Katherine Augusta Sutton and Robert Francis Needham (Universalist Publishing House, 1948)
-A Short History of Ferry Beach, by Donald Manning
A sermon on Quillen Shinn delivered by Dr. Raymond C. Hopkins, 1981
Interviews with and proofreading by veteran Ferry Beachers