The Copper Enameling of a House Wife

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This is a follow-up blog explaining why I, Sandra Thurlow, have been so interested in Serge Nekrassoff and his metal craft.

After returning from Travis Air Force Base in California in 1965, we built a house on Edgewood Drive in Stuart.

These jars of the powdered glass used for copper enameling were purchased from an estate. I am holding a little sifter used for dusting the power onto copper that has sprayed with a solution of gum arabic.

Knowing that I did not think caring for one little girl was enough to occupy my days, Tom purchased a kiln and many enameling supplies that were in a Rio estate liquidation.

This shows an upturn piece being counter enameled, meaning that the underside is ready to be fired. Without counter enameling the enamel on the face of a bowl will pop off.

Although, I knew nothing about copper enameling I thought I could learn. I bought “how-to” books and purchased additional supplies from art supply catalogues.

This stylized mosaic was make in 1967.

My earliest creation was prompted by a call of the Episcopal Church Women of St. Mary’s Church for “religious art.” I enlisted my friend Robby Robinson to cut a piece of Masonite in the shape of a stained glass window. I painted it black and glued enameled copper pieces on it.

Another mosaic was done to enter the Arts and Crafts exhibit at the Martin County Fair.
The mosaic, although a bit garish, sits above eye-level on our family room book shelves. It is a reminder of what I did before I appointed myself “History Lady.”

After cleaning the copper, it is sprayed with gum arabic and dusted with enamel (that is really powered glass.)  To fire your item, you open a roaring hot kiln and place your piece or in the case of mosaics—pieces inside. You wear an asbestos glove and use a special long forked instrument with a heat shield on its handle. You close the kiln door and use your judgement about the time you leave your piece or pieces in side. It is a dangerous balancing act. It is easy to over-fire and lose your work. You have to have fire-proof ceramic slabs where you can place your red hot items when you remove them from the kiln.

I longed to learn enameling from Serge Nekrassoff. One day when I ran into Serge and Mary Nekrassoff in a grocery store, I blurted out something about wanting to “apprentice.”  I think that was the wrong word to use. Serge seemed horrified.

I was on my own with copper enameling. I experimented and played around. I used a mallet to shape shallow bowls but flat pieces were much easier. Bowls had to be “counter enameled” meaning that the bottom as well as the top had to be enameled. This was very tricky.

Through the years I made dozens of bridge prizes and gifts of copper enamel, I made Christmas tree ornaments for my Sunday school children .

Presented to Carol Newman as a thank you for teaching gymnastics.
Given to Bryna Potsdam for her 40th Birthday.
A typical bridge prize.
After Tom’s parents died we reclaimed the dish we had given them for their 40th Anniversary and the little trays enameled with their prize winning sailboats from their Liverpool, N. Y. days.

On a trip abroad we met a man who owned a manufacturing plant in Findlay Ohio. After we got home he sent me a packet of large copper sheets. It was right after the Earth had been photographed from Apollo 17. I had one of the big sheets cut into pieces that would fit into my kiln and made a large plaque and called it “Earth Colors From Space.” It hung in our living room for a few years.

When I was checking on daughter, Jacqui, and Ed Lippisch’s home I discovered it hanging on their large screened porch.

Recently, I was in the home of Chuck Schad who was Tom Thurlow’s friend from Liverpool, NY. He and his wife, Audrey, moved to Stuart, after he was an usher in our wedding and met Tom’s brother-in-law, Dale Hudson, who asked if he wanted to work for what is now Seacoast Bank. I happened to look on the wall and saw a plate I gave when they repeated their wedding vows on their 25th Anniversary.

Chuck Schad poses next to the copper enameled plate given 41 years ago.

SO THIS EXPLAINS THE THURLOW INTEREST IN COPPER ENAMELING.

Mary and Serge Nekrassoff’s Willoughby Creek Property

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It was in a bright blue sky but this is the cloud I saw as I drove toward Boris and Lois Nekrassoff’s home on January 28, 1986.

After our children were more or less grown in the 1980s, my husband, Tom Thurlow, Jr., and I became collectors of all things connected to the history of Martin County. Our joint recreation involved going to museums, antique stores, lectures and collecting postcards, books, and various ephemera. Because we had a keen interest in copper enameling (to be explained in the next blog) we also collected Nekrassoff pieces when we found them in antique shops.

We knew Boris and Lois Nekrassoff because Lois founded Stuart’s first privately owned pharmacy, “The Prescription Shop,” and the two were well known in the community.  

After the death of Boris’s parents he and Lois had the responsibility of disposing of their possessions. I called them to see if there were some enameled items for sale. They said, “yes” and invited me to their home to see what they had. It was a bright cold January morning and I will always remember what I saw in the sky as I passed the Martin County Golf Course. The day of the Challenger tragedy is etched in memories.

We bought the Senior Nekrassoff’s two acre property in 1986.

The rest of the morning is a blur but I do remember I purchased all of the two dozen or so enameled copper pieces the Nekrassoffs wanted to sell and this ultimately led to us also buying Boris’s parents two-acre property on Willoughby Creek. It was where Serge Nekrassoff built a concrete block house in 1951.

This is our best snapshot of the Nekrassoff house. Our daughter, Jacqui is posing astride a very unusual curving sabal palm.

The Nekrassoff property was a jungle. A pond, near St. Lucie Boulevard, that seemed to be spring-fed, had been enlarged by the Nekrassoffs. One of two enormous ficus trees on the property was taking over the pond. We loved the many fruit trees: lychee nuts, rose-apples, and several varieties of mango. Coconut trees abounded and so did decades of fallen nuts. Although there were many native pine trees, there were also invasive Melaleuca and Australian pines. The elderly Nekrassoffs probably enjoyed watching their property return to nature. They fed the birds and hosted a population of about 40 raccoons.

Ficus trees on the Nekrassoff property had grown to enormous proportions. One had taken over the pond near St. Lucie Boulevard.

The house had been neglected and wasn’t in a condition to rent it. What were we going to do with such a property? We slaved on it and communed with nature and the spirits of the Nekrassoffs.

Here son, Todd, and daughter, Jenny, pose in a bed of Aloe. Many varieties of plants had multiplied to “their heart’s content.”

In those days you could get permits to burn trash. We did this and learned that lighter pine fires grow so hot you can burn milk-filled coconuts. 

Somehow, we managed to enjoy the hard work of cleaning up the overgrown Nekrassoff property but my husband, Tom , didn’t look too happy when I took this photo.

We had a lot of work to do if we wanted our investment to pay for itself. The kitchen wall had an underwater scene made with enameled fish and plants embedded in the plaster. There were enameled copper coverings on window sills.

Serge Nekrassoff had built a curving concrete wall for a terraced garden. Copper enameled fish were pressed into the concrete. There was a enameled copper covering on a grave marker for their beloved boxer.

Todd and his teenage friends cleared the pond of paper reed plants (papyrus) that choked it. They also had a lot of fun.

After we had a dock built, receiving an education doing so, and upgraded the kitchen, we had two different renters who liked features of the property. One had a small Whiticar boat he could keep at the dock.

Realizing that we were too interested in other things to hold on to the property, we sold it in 1989.

The former Nekrassoff property was divided into lovely residential properties with the owners sharing the pond.

Serge Nekrassoff Shared His Skills with the Hutchinsons

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In the early 1960s Jim and Joan Hutchinson lived among the Seminole Indians on the Brighton Reservation near Lake Okeechobee.

Jim and Joan Hutchinson built a home in Golden Gate not far from the Nekrassoff home on Willoughby Creek. As kindred artists they became friends and Serge taught both Jim and Joan the basics of copper enameling.

Jim Hutchinson gained fame as a fine artist and was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.

https://dos.fl.gov/cultural/programs/florida-artists-hall-of-fame/james-f-hutchinson//

Joan and Jim built their rustic home on Delmar Street in Golden Gate in stages.

I think I first heard about Joan and Jim from “Babe” Hudson, the mother of my brother-in-law, Dale Hudson. Mrs. Hudson was very worried about the “starving artists” who had been living on the Seminole Reservation at Brighton and now had a baby boy.

After Serge Nekrassoff taught Joan enameling skills, and allowed her to use his kiln,  she began taking commissions to paint people’s homes on copper trays. Mrs. Hudson became a patron, commissioning Joan’s pieces for gifts for friends and relatives. Two of Joan’s trays have remained in our family. One is of the Thurlow home on Riverside Drive and one was of Dale and Mary Hudson’s home Krueger Parkway.

Joan Hutchinson painted the home of Jane and Tom Thurlow . The house, though much modified, still stands on Riverside Drive at the end of Hibiscus Avenue.
This was Mary and Dales first home on Krueger Parkway. It has been demolished. Dale Hudson’s mother, Mrs. Dennis S. Hudson, Sr., commissioned the enameled tray .

I was able to photograph examples of Joan Hutchinson’s enameling but I did not know where I could find an example of Jim’s.

As is often the case, serendipity rules my life. Right after I visited Mary and Dale Hudson to photograph Joan’s enameled pieces, I drove to Florida Classics Library in Hobe Sound to buy books. When I stood at the counter to pay for my books, I glanced down and saw a copper enameled dish. It was Jim’s work! Val Martin, who founded Florida Classics Library was a close friend of the Hutchinsons. Jim had given the dish to Val Martin when his book store was across from Memorial Park in Stuart.

There is one other local person who learned copper enameling under Serge Nekrassoff, Jane Morrison, the granddaughter of George W. Parks who founded the merchandise store that is now Stuart Heritage Museum. Even though Jane lived all over the world after her marriage to Ray Fentriss, her experience with Serge Nekrassoff was mentioned in her obituary. The obituary, published in The Stuart News on August 24, 2017 stated “She also assisted and trained in copper enamel art under Serge Nekrassoff.”

Jane Morrison Fentriss stands in the Washington Square Gallery in New York City where a Nekrassoff exhibit was featured.

Today, an Internet search of “Serge Necrassoff” bring up many things. There are items for sale on eBay. My interest is primarily his copper enameling but the pewter pieces that cannot be replicated today are of interest to collectors and authorities on metalcraft.

https://www.kellscraft.com/Nekrassoff/nekrassoff.html

Serge Nekrassoff’s son, Boris and his wife, Lois, presented a program for Stuart Heritage Inc. in April 2000.. To complete this blog I am featuring the Nekrassoff display that is there for all to see at the Stuart Heritage Museum, located in the commercial building constructed for Jane Fentriss’ grandfather, George Washington Parks, in 1901.

https://www.stuartheritagemuseum.com

Excellence of Nekrassoff Craftsmanship Now Lost

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Salvatore Mete, Serge and Boris Nekrassoff stand by their crafted items in 1952. Although I owned this Art Ruhnke negative for many years, I did not know it until it was scanned recently by Martin Digital History. http://martindigitalhistory.com

Metal crafting entails the mastery of science. This article by Lionel Crawford, published in Science Illustrated in January, 1949 captures this truth.

The fluted dish belongs to my daughter, Jacqui Thurlow Lippisch. It shows a finished piece similar to the one illustrated in the article. It is hard for the uninitiated to comprehend the mastery of metallurgy required to produce such a piece. It also requires precision and artistic design. The enameling on Jacqui’s dish combines transparent and opaque enamel so the beauty of the copper shows through.

The use of enamels on the 11 inch copper plate is masterful. Serge Nekrassoff’s skill was unique and perhaps no one else will ever rival his artistic accomplishments with enamel on copper.
This small dish with an enameled Florida Scrub Jay is one of my favorite Nekrassoff pieces. I admire it daily with much pleasure.

This enameled hot sauce ladle shows Nekrassoff craftmanship.

This pedestal bowl was given to Mary and Dale Hudson as a wedding gift.

In 1962, my husband and I were also given a Nekrassoff piece for a wedding gift. It was given by Harold and Voncile Zercher whose home was very close to the Nekrassoff home on Willoughby Creek. It was my introduction to Nekrassoff enameling.

My understanding of Serge Nekrassoff’s evolving career has become clearer since I have been revisiting my files and adding to my knowledge through newspaperrs.com.newspapers.com

In interviews, Serge remarked that the tastes of customers in New York were different from those of his clients in South America. It shows how he changed his products to suit the market.

I now understand that Serge Nekrassoff’s copper enameling flourished after he opened his workshop in Stuart. The enameling he did before he moved to Florida was plain or textured but there is no evidence that he painted wildlife scenes or “trees of life” on his copper pieces.

In Martin County nature lovers abounded. Serge changed his merchandise to meet the demand. He was more than a craftsman. He was a fine artist who perfected painting with enamel in his 50s. When he embellished copper enameled pieces with birds and marine life, they sold quickly.

Nekrassoff creations were so much in demand, locally and with New York City’s high-end retailers like Abercrombie and Fitch, it was almost impossible to fill orders and still have enough pieces to display in the S. Nekrassoff & Son showroom on S. U.S. 1 in Stuart.

AT LEAST TWO MORE BLOGS ON THE NEKRASSOFFS AND COPPER ENAMELING WILL FOLLOW.

Serge S. Nekrassoff, Metalsmith and Artist

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A large plate with an American eagle created by Serge Nekrassoff hangs in the Thurlow living room.
This Stuart News article published on May 4, 1969 is an excellent summary.

Starting this blog with the lovely enameled American eagle that hangs on my living room wall and a May 4, 1969 Stuart News article that shows Serge Nekrassoff holding what seems to be an identical plate lets readers know immediately a great deal about the subject of this and future blogs.

The Elliott Museum is showing 50 stunning replica Faberge’ Imperial Eggs. https://hsmc-fl.com/exibits/ When I attended the preview reception in September, I couldn’t help but think of our own Serge Nekrassoff, from Imperial Russia, who lived among us and produced beautiful copper enameled pieces.

As this tag states, Serge became a metalsmith in Paris in 1920 and moved to the USA in 1925.

Serge Nekrassoff was born February 10, 1895 into a family of landed gentry living near St. Petersburg, Russia. He was an officer in the Imperial Guard in 1917. During the Russian revolution, he fled across Europe, working in coal mines in Germany and as a taxi driver in Paris before finding employment with a metalsmith. In Paris, he learned to make everyday objects of copper and brought his skills to the United States where he ultimately set up a workshop in New York City.

He met and married another Russian émigré, Mary Leslie, who had a young son, Boris, who Serge adopted. The family moved to Darien, Connecticut where Serge expanded his metal crafting business, employing as many as 18 assistants. His pieces were sold to high-end stores like Abercrombie and Fitch Co. 

With articles on newspaper.com much can be learned. This article published in the Stuart News on November 23 1950 supplied information new to me even though I started collecting material on Nekrassoff more than 50 years ago.

During WW II, when metals were unavailable, Serge turned to photography. In 1943, the Nekrassoffs purchased waterfront property in Port Sewall next to Sandspit Park and for a short time Serge had a photography shop in Stuart. After the war, when metals again became available, the Florida property was sold and the Nekrassoffs returned to Darien.

Boris who entered the U.S. Army and became a paratrooper, participated in the “battle of the bulge.” After the war he rejoined his parents and began working with his father. The firm then became S. Nekrassoff & Son.

This photograph of Serge and Boris Nekrassoff, taken by Art Ruhnke, appeared in the Stuart News on January 29, 1953.

After experiencing life in Martin County the Nekrassoff family wanted to return, In 1946 they once again bought waterfront property in Port Sewall, this time on Willoughby Creek across from Whiticar Boat Works.

In 1950 Serge and Boris Nekrassoff  built a workshop and sales office on U.S. 1, across from today’s Martin Square Shopping Center where Home Depot is located.

This sign, with a display of Nekrassoff ware, stood on U.S. 1 across from where Home Depot stands today.

MORE NEKRASSOFF BLOGS TO FOLLOW.

Maloney’s Cashel Endures

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From Cashel there is an unparalleled view of St. Lucie River and Indian River as they flow toward the St. Lucie Inlet.

Alison Azar Beckmeyer who, with her husband, purchased Cashel in 2016, is proud to own the mansion and has lovingly restored it. She recounts how, at the closing, realtor Kim Spears, emotionally expressed the community’s gratefulness that Cashel was being preserved.

When news of the impending purchase got around, one of Alison’s Cleveland colleagues and Martin County history buffs inundated her with the historic background of Cashel and Martin Maloney. Later, Alison visited Moloney-built, St. Catherine’s Catholic Church in Spring Lake, New Jersey.  She was surprised when the church docent did not know Martin Maloney had a winter home in Florida.

Beautiful St. Catherine’s Catholic Church stands near Spring Lake and close to the Atlantic Ocean.

Alison purchased a book about St. Catherine’s Church and, returning to her car, flipped through it. An image of a greeting card that featured, among other buildings, “Cashel in Port Sewall, Florida,” caught her eye. She went back into the church to show it to the docent.

This plaque in on the wall in St. Catherine’s Church.

This got the attention of a priest who was interested to know Alison and Tom Beckmeyer were the proud owners of the Maloney winter home. After learning its name, he pointed a religious mural high above them. One of the figures was Ireland’s “King of Cashel” featuring Martin Maloney’s face!

This 1926 Greeting shows three of buildings funded by Martin Maloney as well as his homes in Spring Lake and Port Sewall.

Alison Beckmeyer snapped this photo of the “King of Cashel” with Martin Maloney’s features.

The wrought iron fence that once surrounded Maloney’s Ballingarry now surrounds a half dozen fine homes. This photograph was taken Allison Beckmeyer when she visited Spring Lake, New Jersey.
Even though Martin Maloney’s daughter, Margaret razed Ballingarry, her parents’ huge Spring Lake mansion in 1953 because no one was willing to buy it, Alison discovered that the estate’s wrought Iron fence still encircles the former Maloney property where several fine homes now stand.

I will conclude my Cashel blogs with photos of scenes of the estate when it was used for television commercials and for Burt Reynolds’ B. L. Stryker, supplied by fellow history buff Brandon Weston but first I want to point out that Cashel continues to be used for charity.

Each year the Beckmeyers host a lavish fundraiser for “Folds of Honor” to provide scholarships from members of injured servicemen. This is a link to the 501c3 organization.

http://Folds of Honor

These scenes of large animals on the Cashel estate are fun to see. Some were taken by Brandon Weston and some are from the Internet. Brandon supplied the link to the actual commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7OfD_D5-pY

I am sure you will enjoy watching the commercial. It’s a hoot!

Burt Reynolds stands in Cashel’s entryway.

To finish off, if anyone wants to watch the B.L. Stryker King of Jazz episode that features Cashel. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MsAzsIKwMU

We will end with this tall Cashel visitor. Brandon said after the giraffe’s arrival the filming of the commercial could not be kept secret and scores of cars stopped because people wanted to know what was going on.

Martin Maloney and his Daughter Margaret :  Catholic Nobility

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Martin Maloney, a “rags to riches” Irish Catholic immigrant, supported the Roman Catholic Church so lavishly that he was named a Papal Marquis by Leo XIII and a Papal Chamberlain by Pius X. He built not only the beautiful St. Catherine’s in Spring Hill, New Jersey, near his mansion Ballingarry, he financed chapels in South Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania. He built the Maloney Memorial Home for the Aged in Scranton, Pennsylvania and the elaborate Maloney Chemical Laboratory at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D. C.

After Martin Maloney’s died in 1929. his daughter, Margaret, and her husband, Louis Ritchie, had to deal with his estate that included mortgages on much of downtown Stuart.
This photograph, taken by Arthur Ruhnke, shows some of the property on which Martin Maloney held mortgages, including the Lyric Theatre. Taken the year after a church was moved from Camp Murphy and placed on what was then 4th Street, the “new” St. Joseph Catholic Church can be seen in the middle of this photograph.

Margaret, following in her father’s footsteps, was made a Catholic Marchioness in 1930.

Although I had photographs of Martin Maloney, I could not find a photograph of Margaret Maloney Ritchie. Since I know photographs are needed to draw interest, I kept looking. When I read that 400 people attended Margaret’s wedding at Ballingarry, the family’s palatial estate, I fired off an email to the Spring Lake Historical Society to complain that I could not find a photograph of her.

Nancy Smith, who manages the Spring Lake Historical Society, sent me images on her cell phone of two easily accessible photographs. More digging will be required to find others.

Four hundred guests attended the wedding of Margaret Maloney and Louis Carbery Ritchie at the grand mansion Ballingarry in Spring Lake. New. Jersey.
So for now this is the best photograph we have of Margaret Maloney Ritchie.

Since Martin Maloney was the largest mortgage holder on Stuart property when he died in 1930, Margaret and her husband Louis Carbery Ritchie, as trustees of his estate, had to decide what to do. In addition to the Martin Maloney huge interests, Louis purchased even more property between the St. Lucie River and 4th Street (now East Ocean Boulevard) that went from Florida Avenue to Georgia Avenue. From this, land was given to the Catholic Church for a new St. Joseph Church—really, a hand-me-down church from Camp Murphy, as well as for a rectory overlooking the St. Lucie River.

St Joseph Catholic Church, being moved to Stuart, 1947. The interior of the church was destroyed by fire in 1961 (Elliott Museum Collection)
This served as St. Joseph Church from 1947 until it was damaged by fire in 1961. The Pelican Hotel can be seen in the background.
This photos shows Wilma Glass and Konrad Bobinski leaving the St. Joseph Rectory in 1957, The rectory was built on riverfront land purchased by the Ritchies .

The Ritchies and Margaret’s younger sister, Helen Maloney Osborn and their families enjoyed winters and vacations at Cashel until it was sold in 1952

https://archive.tcpalm.com/yournews/martin-county/historical-vignettes-cashel-martin-maloneys-palatial-estate-ep-382068872-343035652.html

The above link connects to “Cashel, Martin Maloney’s Palatial Estate” a Vignette by Greg and Alice Luckhardt published by Treasure Coast News on September 5, 2012. It includes some of this blog’s information and much more.

February 17, 1992

The outdoor shrine built by Martin Maloney still stands on the grounds of his beautifully preserved mansion, Cashel in Port Sewall.

Cashel—Beyond the Gate

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This photograph and the two below were taken in 1992 to fulfil a request from Nancy M. Parker who was gathering information about the architect, Horace Trumbauer, who designed Cashel.

Martin Maloney’s Cashel completed in 1917 endures.  Its many owners have made modifications through the years but its original design has been maintained.

Through the years Cashel has been the scene for community events and charity fundraisers. The estate has provided the backdrop for Burt Renolds’ B. L. Stryker episodes and high- end television commercials.

In 1992, I was contacting by Nancy M. Parker of Ridgewood, N. J. who was compiling the works of architect Horace Trumbauer who designed Cashel. She requested photographs and Chuck and Joan MacGillvary, who owned the former Maloney estate at the time, gave me permission to take photographs.

This aerial photograph taken by Arthur Ruhnke, shows the Sunrise Inn as well as Cashel to the left of the hotel. Only a few other buildings existed in Port Sewall on January 6, 1949.

In 2010, an elaborate Designer Showcase sponsored by the Children’s Home Society took place at Cashel. Anxious for the significant history of the Maloneys and Cashel to be shared, I did my best to impress the organizers with its importance.

Martin Maloney was incredibly important in Spring Lake , NJ where he built a mansion dwarfing Cashel as well as a splendid Catholic Church. This appeared in the newsletter of the Spring Lake Historical Society. Unfortunately, the Designer Showcase shared practically none of Cashel’s history.


Brandon Weston has become an expert on the history of Cashel ever since he lived on the property and was bitten by the history bug. He has added Martin Maloney and Horace Trumbauer to his area of expertise and is allowing me to use some of his on-sight photos and as well as photographs he has found in his research to illustrate this and future blogs.

Courtesy Brandon Weston
Courtesy Brandon Weston
Courtesy Brandon Weston

Future blogs will feature Martin Maloney’s connection to the Sunrise Inn, Maloney’s ownership of much of Stuart, Maloney’s prominence as a Catholic and his estate’s generosity to local Catholics. Other subjects will be the architect of Cashel, Horace Trumbauer’s importance. and photographs of an elephant, giraffe and a tigers at Cashel as well and Burt Renolds at Cashel as B. L. Stryker.

Martin Maloney, a Winter Resident We Must Know

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THE NEXT SEVERAL BLOGS WILL BE RELATED TO HIS IMPACT ON MARTIN COUNTY

The Lyric Theatre, in the center of Historic Downtown Stuart, is our community’s pride and joy. Next year will mark its centennial. Kia LaFontaine, the Lyric’s CEO, asked me to serve on a committee to flesh out more of its history.

Stuart’s third Lyric Theatre, built with funds supplied by multi-millionaire Martin Maloney, opened its doors on
March 15, 1926.

Since, in my mind, the Hancock family was always responsible for building what is actually Stuart’s third Lyric Theatre, imagine my surprise to find newspaper articles referring to the 1926 theater as Maloney’s.

Martin Maloney. 1848-1929

I have discovered that Martin Maloney, who built the lovely Cashel in in Port Sewall, financed a good deal of Stuart’s boom time construction. Money from his deep pockets not only paid for the “new” Lyric, it financed the 55-acre EDG-RIVA subdivision that stretched from what is now East Ocean Boulevard to the St. Lucie River from the vicinity of the Stuart School almost to Palm Beach Road. This area would later include St. Mary’s Church, the Martin County Library, the Woman’s Club and Martin Memorial Hospital.

Maloney’s story is really one of rags to riches. He became one of our country’s early multi-millionaires when there were only a few.

Born in Ireland in 1848, Martin came to America in 1854, as a six-year- old when his family fled the Irish potato famine and settled in Scranton, PA. As a hardscrabble youth, Martin worked in coal mines and then learned to smith tin and copper, becoming a plumber and gas fitter. By 1974 his owned the Hyde Park Gas Plant and the Maloney Oil, Gas and Manufacturing Co. His fortune ballooned from his patented naphtha gas lighting system for street lamps. Practically every city that installed street lights paid a fee for his patent. Soon he invested in American Light, Standard Oil and the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Even though Warner Tilton, George Browning and John Taylor are listed, the money behind the development was Martin Maloney’s.
Martin Maloney’s grand mansion Ballingarry in Spring Lake NJ was designed by renowned architect, Horace Trumbauer, who also designed Cashel. Ballingarry was demolished but Cashel still stands.

Martin Maloney and his wife Margaret had seven children but only three daughters survived infancy. Catherine, the middle daughter, died of tuberculosis in in 1900, shortly after the Maloney mansion “Ballingarry” was constructed in Spring Lake, NJ. Martin Maloney built a magnificent church in her memory.

After their young daughter, Catherine, died of tuberculosis in 1901, the Maloneys, built this beautiful Romanesque style Catholic Church. Daughter, Catherine, as well Martin and his wife Margaret Maloney are interred in the family crypt within St. Catherine’s Church.

The mansion Cashel Martin Maloney built in Port Sewall was designed by famed architect Horace Trumbauer, who also designed Ballingamy, was completed in 1917.

This ca. 1925 photograph shows Cashel with its garage apartment The original Sunrise Inn is in the center with the boathouses of Sewall’s Point in view across the St. Lucie River.
Everyone who heads to U. S. one via SE St. Lucie Boulevard has to stop when it intersects with SE Old St. Lucie Boulevard. The entrance gate to Cashel, built by Martin Maloney in 1917, is in view to the right.

We see the entrance to the mansion every time we stop where SE St. Lucie Boulevard intersects with SE Old St. Lucie Boulevard. Maloney, his daughter and son-in-law, Margaret and L. C. Ritchie and the mansion Cashel will require several future blogs.

Alyce Edgell and Mosquito Switches

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After I began actively collecting and sharing local history in 1987, my husband, Tom, and I attended a function of the St. Lucie History Museum located on the causeway to Ft. Pierce’s South Beach. When we walked in, one of the ladies say “Well, hello Ms. Thurlow.”

I wondered how she knew me but soon learned that she had been the school secretary for Lawnwood Elementary when I taught there shortly after Tom and I were married in 1962. I was amazed she remembered me because I only taught at Lawnwood for a short time before joining Tom at Travis Air Force Base in California. The lady’s name was Alyce Edgell.

Alyce Edgell. a devoted member of the St. Lucie Historical Society, was the editor of its Historical Quarterly for many years. She prided herself on its content and often including early pioneer accounts that otherwise might be lost. The fact that copies of the Historical Quarterly were preserved in the P. K. Yonge Library at the University of Florida gave her much pleasure.

When I noticed a mosquito switch on display at the St. Lucie History Museum, I remarked that I wondered how they were made. Alyce told me how this was done. She said to clip off a new shoot from the center of a sabal palm (also known as a cabbage palm). While it is still green, shred it with a pin or needle, then make a handle with twine, leaving a loop to use for hanging it up or wearing it on a wrist.

Find a small palm with a new frond that can be cut. If you are unable to get its base you will have to tie it.
Chessy Ricca, former curator at the Elliott Museum, demonstrates How to shred the palm frond.

It is amazing how quickly you can shred the palm. It is actually fun. In no time at all you have something that looks like a horse’s tail.

This is a newly made mosquito switch. It looks very much like a horses tail and will last for a hundred years if kept out of the elements.
Boo Lowery a member of a prominent Stuart family whose father rode a pony at the front of the 1926 Martin County Birthday Parade, bound the handle of this switch and added a loop for hanging or carrying it.

One of the reasons I wanted to feature mosquito switches was to honor Alyce Edgell who taught us how to make them. She died tragically.

ALYCE EDGELL AND HER HUSBAND, ROBERT, WERE KILLED AT THE FLORIDA EAST COAST RAILWAY CROSSING ON SEAWAY DRIVE IN FORT PIERCE ON DECEMBER 14, 1994. ALYCE WAS PRESIDENT OF THE ST. LUCIE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AT THE TIME AND SHE AND HER HUSBAND WERE CROSSING THE TRACKS AFTER ATTENDING A HISTORICAL SOCIIETY MEETING.