Landscape Information
This 60-acre nine-hole golf course is on the Penobscot Bay shore. It was initially laid out in 1898 by summer residents as a six-hole course on borrowed land. The course became permanent when Philadelphian Charles Henry donated nearby woodland and pastureland. The club was organized specifically for golf in 1899 and opened in 1902, with a layout by groundskeeper Thomas Grant.
The golf course setting overlooks the bay, juxtaposing manicured greens with natural features such as steep hills, ledge outcroppings, and trails through native woodland. In 1912 landscape architect Warren H. Manning prepared a detailed plan of the course and at least one drainage plan. A.D. Taylor, Manning’s associate who began his own practice in 1914, designed the northern part of the course on land donated by A.H. Chatfield. The clubhouse, surrounded on four sides by a sixteen-foot-wide veranda overlooking the grounds, was designed by Boston architect Charles Brigham and is the oldest golf building in Maine.
The landscape is protected through a conservation easement that prevents development or subdivision. The site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.
