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Lake Home in Gray a Gathering Place Steeped in History

May 21, 2008 - GRAY -- If you were traveling on Route 26 in Gray in the 1920s -- perhaps on your way to the Poland Spring House -- you would have passed the Rowenda Tearoom where you could enjoy the respite of a Victorian-style tea.

Fanny Woodbury decided to name her tearoom after the first syllables of her three children: Roliston, Wendell and Dorothea. Today, the Woodbury House sits in Gray across from the wardens' service and state police barracks on Route 26. Alice Welch purchased the property in the 1970s and currently operates Rowenda Farm, a horse-boarding facility, as well as an antique shop named The Barn on 26.

"Apparently the whole house was part of the tearoom in some manner," says Welch. "There were seasonal sections of the house as well as those used year-round." Built 100 years prior to its days as a tearoom, the house dates to circa 1820. There is a screened porch on one end of the house where guests were served, as well as a more formal interior section known as the "Rest Room."

A women's association met at the tearoom during the early 20th century. Frances Woodbury was the honorary president of the Optomystic Club. Other members included Julia Flye, Mabel Verrill, Jessie Barrows and Kay Willard. Apparently singing was a central practice of the club. Welch has a small booklet from the organization that looks like an invitation of sorts that reads, "Come join in our songs as we gather once more. Let our hearts and voices unite in notes of thanksgiving and hearty good cheer, blending ever in harmony bright. Then proudly the name Optomystic we'll claim as the cause of the right we uphold. And together we'll labor, together we'll cling with a friendship that never grows old."

Upon Frances Woodbury's passing in 1932, her son Roliston who lived in New York at the time inherited the property and returned to summer here with his family for many years. The Woodbury House originally sat on 25 acres and included some camps along the beachfront on Crystal Lake. Part of Fanny Woodbury's little tearoom venture included camping for $2 a night. An account by one of Roliston Woodbury's daughters, Suzanne, recalls three camps by the lake. Suzanne writes that the family often slept in the camps because they were cooler on hot days. The woods were very deep and they never heard any traffic noise. Blueberries were abundant. "We could pick enough blueberries for a pie in very short order," she writes.

The restored English barn, where Welch's antique business is today, had an icehouse on the north side. Ice cut from Crystal Lake was stored here and covered with sawdust. Suzanne goes on to write that milk was delivered fresh and the "fish man" came out on Friday mornings with fresh fish packed in ice in the back of his truck.

Today, the lake frontage has been sold and Welch retains about 10 acres for her horse farm.

According to the Gray Historical Society, other tearooms operated in town at similar periods: One was at nearby Dry Mills corner, and another was at the Route 100 end of Weymouth Road.

Don Perkins is a freelance writer who lives in Raymond next to Sebago Lake with his wife, Sonya. He can be reached at: presswriter@gmail.com


Lakes: Crystal Lake
Regions: Sebago


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