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08/09/2016 02:00 PMFor those who don’t know about Deep River’s storied past at sea, the Marine Room at the Deep River Historical Society’s Stone House is the place to start. Even if you are familiar with the town’s maritime history, there are a few items that will be new to you, too.
At the end of June, the Deep River Historical Society reopened an old exhibit that tells the story of the town’s shipyards and sea captains. The newly refurbished Marine Room is the culmination of several years of work, and the fulfillment of a vision held by the former Thomas A. Stevens, past president of the Deep River Historical Society and past town historian.
“Tom Stevens started putting it together during his tenure as president,” said Curator Rhonda Forristall. “Some of the artifacts are part of his family legacy—I think that’s how it all got started.”
Of the maritime oil paintings in the collection, one in particular stands out: a painting by Kate Loomis Post, wife of the sea captain David Post and a relative of Stevens.
“We’ve got a collection of four oil paintings that were done by an artist that dealt specifically with maritime work, and one very precious one to us that was done by the wife of a sea captain that lived in Deep River,” said Forristall. “It’s one of those rare things; she was not a famous artist, but to us this is a special thing.”
David and Kate Post traveled the world together with their children. The exhibit includes pictures of them on board their ship, which was the subject of Kate Post’s painting.
Through specifics such as the story of the Posts, the Marine Room provides a look back into Deep River’s relationship with the sea. The town’s best-known shipyard, the Denison Shipyards, was started by a Revolutionary War veteran, Job Southworth, in the late 1700s. Thomas and Eli Denison took over the business when Southworth retired. The father and son duo continued building wooden sailing ships at Deep River Landing until around 1870, when steam ships began to take precedence. Their ship-building tools are on display in the Marine Room.
Perhaps foremost in its importance to town history was the schooner William A. Vail. Completed in 1866, it was one of the last schooners built at Deep River Landing. It became an emblem of the town’s shipbuilding legacy and is immortalized in the town seal.
“The Town of Deep River has taken this ship as a symbol of its maritime history,” said Forristall, who noted that students on a 4th grade trip to the Marine Room enjoyed making the connection between the Vail and the town seal, which is displayed at the entrance way of their school.
“Deep River is such a sleepy little town these days, it’s hard to realize we were an international port. They were not only bringing in ivory from Africa, but all kinds of things from all over the world, and our products were going out,” she said. “Quarrying was a big business early on, then once the Industrial Revolution hit we were a hub—Deep River was the queen of the industry.”
Finally, the Marine Room provides homage to Deep River’s sea captains, such as George Morrison, who had Morrison Bay in the Straits of Magellan named after him.
“The second part of our story is the sea captains from Deep River who went out and were so familiar with foreign ports all over the world, people like Captain Samuel Mather who set speed records in these wooden sailing ships from here to the goldfields in Australia and back. No one has broken that record in a wooden sailing vessel—even today,” Forristall said.
From the refurbished room itself to the spruced-up artifacts and paintings on display, the Marine Room is a tribute to town history that any resident should be proud of—including Stevens.
“For anyone who knew Tom and his connection to the Post family and his passion for maritime history, they just feel he’d be very pleased with the way this new room has turned out,” Forristall said.
The Stone House Museum, 245 Main Street, Deep River, is open Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, call 860-526-5086.