Alexander Graham Bell In New Castle

As a “hyperlocal” historian, I remain glued to a pretty tiny and very watery chunk of the planet. Our truly local celebrities, those who were born or lived here and later obtained world fame, are scarce. And those who gained regional acclaim often fade into obscurity just beyond our borders.

John Albee (1833-1915), the topic of my lecture in New Castle earlier this week, is among the latter. Born to poverty in Bellingham, Massachusetts, he arrived in New Castle as a lapsed Unitarian minister, freelance writer, and minor poet. Albee and his wife Harriet, a Boston nurse, bought the old Jaffrey Cottage and 18 acres off Wild Rose Lane under $2,000. Real estate on the island was cheap back in 1865.The Wentworth Hotel had not been built and with few job opportunities the locals, according to Albee, had grown “insular and peculiar.”

But this story is not really about Mr. Albee. As I said, our local heroes are scarce, so historians tend to grab onto famous people who happen to pass through our turf–George Washington, Paul Revere, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump–to name a few. The Albees had a daughter named Loulie (1869-1966)who, much later in life, wrote a memoir about growing up in New Castle. A lot of famous people stopped by the Jaffrey Cottage in the 1870s and 80s, mostly poets, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, and Celia Thaxter.

But in her little book, “So Early in the Morning” (1953), Loulie Albee Matthews mentions a seacoast visitor who went on to gain world fame. If you haven’t guessed from the photo, it was the Scottish-born Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922). And I should know. My father worked for the Bell Telephone Company (aka AT&T) for over 30 years. Bell and I share a birthday.

Here’s a passage from that self-published memoir by LouLie Albee:

“Alexander Graham Bell was another friend who came often to New Castle. He was young and at that time teaching in a deaf mute institution. He was living in the throes of inventions that he had no money to further. I can see him now arriving with two tin dippers attached to a long string,” she recalled.

According to Loulie, Bell asked Albee to stand next to the well as he stepped back about 50 feet, pulled the string taut, and spoke into the metal dipper. “I hear you perfectly!” John Albee shouted, the other metal cup held to his ear.

“We did not dimly surmise,” Loulie wrote, “that in the mind of this man was hidden a miracle that one day would emerge into the world of reality, a miracle that eliminated time and space.” Bell later returned to Jaffrey Cottage, she added, so that the Albees could meet his new bride, Mabel Hubbard.

“You cannot force ideas,” Alexander Graham Bell once said. “Successful ideas are the result of slow growth.” Not to mention frequent visits to scenic and historic New Castle, New Hampshire’s oldest and smallest town.