Eldridge Smith house [Long Point Settlement No. 9].
One of the very few floaters to make it all the way to the East End, 301 Bradford Street was built around 1820. When it was out at the edge of the sea, it belonged to Eldridge Smith, a founder of the Long Point settlement after the War of 1812. Smith’s grandson, Capt. Ed Walter Smith (1851-1944), earned his place in whaling legend by killing a 73-foot right whale in 1888. Regarded as a town treasure, Captain Smith was described on his 90th birthday by The Advocate as “the only person now living born in the old Long Point settlement.” The same article noted: “A few years ago he made a trip around town making a note of the houses houses here which were moved from Long Point, as a record for the Research Club.” I wonder whether Captain Smith’s observations made the base of the uncredited keyed map in the Scrapbooks of Althea Boxell (Book 10, Page 59) on which I’ve depended for the layout of the settlement. With Captain Smith’s death in 1944, it might truly have been said that Long Point had died as well.
¶ Last updated on 18 February 2017.