The Frost Garrisons

 

1738 Frost Garrison 

When learning about Eliot history we hear a lot about "The Frost Garrisons".  Not to be confused with "The Frost Garrison".  How many can locate it or really know what it is?  What is the difference between "The Frost Garrisons" and "The Frost Garrison"?  There are currently three locations in Eliot that are on the National Register of Historic Places.  The William Fogg Library, the Paul Family Farm, and the Frost Garrison and House.  

2014 Clean Up

I will admit that for a long time after I started researching Eliot history I still did not know much about the Frost Garrisons.  I had never even seen the site until I volunteered on a work crew in 2014 to provide much needed clean-up and brush clearing around the old structures.

What and Where is it?

The Frost Garrisons are three structures all built within a few years of each other starting in 1733 by Colonel John Frost (b. 1709)  The three structures are located at 23 Garrison Drive in Eliot.  The original land on which the garrisons stand encompassed about 140 acres and was known as Stony Brook Farm.  The Town of Kittery granted this land to Charles Frost in 1660.  Stony Brook was one of the ancient names for the York River.

Frost Hill today

  The Stony Brook land was given to Charles's second son John Frost (b. 1681) in his will after he died at Ambush Rock in 1697.  John Frost was residing at Newcastle, NH and had no immediate need for the land, but did apparently build a house and barn here in which a tenant lived.  In 1730 (York Deeds Book 14 Folio 59) he sold this Stony Brook property to his son Colonel John Frost for 1,000 pounds.

1736 Powder House

Colonel John Frost quickly set to work building his homestead upon Frost Hill.  The main house was constructed about 1735 and finished in 1736.  The smaller garrison structure which became known as the "Powder house" was probably constructed next, followed by the larger garrison house constructed in 1738.  Why were these garrison structures built at this time?  Colonel John Frost was building his homestead in a fairly isolated part of Kittery.  And his family was very familiar with the dangers posed by the historically bad relations with the Native populations.  By 1730, most of the Wabenaki Confederacy had abandoned their coastal settlements and pulled back further inland and north to Canada, but there were still skirmishes related to the ongoing wars on the frontiers.  Colonel John Frost had lost his grandfather Charles to an Indian attack 33 years earlier.  Building garrisons as a precaution was still a prudent measure in 1730.  

1736 Frost House

 

The application for acceptance of the Frost Garrison property into the National Register of Historic Places mentions that the original Frost house was destroyed in 1760 and rebuilt in 1778,  I have not found any evidence of this.  In fact a descendant of Colonel John Frost who was living in the house in 1836, Joseph W. Frost provided a written certification that he discovered a record of the building of his house that stated the chimneys were finished in 1736.  I believe at the time of this application to the NRHP there was confusion between the Colonel John Frost Garrison and the Major Charles Frost Garrison which actually was destroyed in 1760.  The Charles Frost Garrison stood just south of the sharp bend on Goodwin Road and will be the subject of a future blog article.

The description as part of the NRHP application mentions there was once a tunnel that led from the main house to the smaller garrison house as a means to evacuate the house for the safety of the garrison in the event of an attack.  It would be interesting to find evidence of this tunnel.

Were there Indian attacks?

Joseph W. Frost cites 1736 document

It is also mentioned in the history of the Frost Garrison site submitted to the NRHP that there is evidence of arrow and bullet attacks upon the garrison.  I have not found any evidence that any Indian attacks occurred within the boundaries of the Town of Kittery after 1730.  Most of the ongoing battles at this time occurred much further inland.  The most known battle was the 1725 Battle of Pequawket fought at the site of present-day Fryeburg, Maine as part of the end of "Dummer's War".

20th Century

1984 Subdivision

The Frost Garrisons known for many years as the Frost Farm at Frost Hill remained in the Frost Family for 287 years until 1947.  The property was eventually sold in 1969 to Joseph Parsons who was the owner when the application was approved for the National Register of Historic Places.

By 1984 the 100 acre property went through a subdivision.  So today the Frost Garrisons lie on a 4.7 acre lot surrounded by a modern residential development.

I have mentioned a couple of examples of how the John Frost Garrisons is often confused with the original Frost Garrison of Charles Frost.  If you look up the Frost Garrisons on the Internet you will see the repeated mistake that it is the ancestral home of the poet Robert Frost.  The Charles Frost Garrison is the ancestral home of Robert Frost, not the Colonel John Frost Garrisons.  

Today 

Author & Son 2014

People sometimes ask the Eliot Historical Society if the Frost Garrisons is a publicly accessible site and can it be visited freely.  The answer right now is no.  The property has always been privately owned.  So any visit should be with the property-owner's permission.  There is an easement with the property that any work proposed on either of the three buildings requires an opinion from the Maine Historical Preservation Commission.  It would be a tragedy to lose such a historical treasure which is why a number of us gathered in a cold steady rain in 2014 to cut away vegetation that was overtaking the structures.  The nature of the property as a private residence means future generations rely on owners who have a passion for preserving the history of their property.