#12 Welcome to Maine
How Luther and Augustus "Gus" Phillips turned their artistic talent and love for the state into a vocation
Cathy Jewitt, Author and Editor
John Meader, Photo and Content Editor
A Map of the State of Maine, originally published by Luther Phillips in 1946, updated by Gus Phillips in 1963.
“Tell me the landscape in which you live, and I will tell you who you are.” ^1
Luther and Gus both created postcards for businesses such as restaurants. Luther’s early postcards were mostly printed in black and white, while Gus printed most of his in color.
Luther’s postcard of Rockland’s “Oak Wood Inn” predates Gus’s postcard #207 of Bar Harbor’s “Young’s Lobster Pot Restaurant” by nearly 20 years.
Luther Phillips.
One of the prime destinations for millions of vacationers who travel annually to Maine is Mount Desert Island’s Acadia National Park. Everyone who arrives by vehicle crosses onto the island at the Trenton Bridge. MDI offers a landscape of glacially eroded granite mountain peaks, crashing ocean surf, cobblestone and sand beaches, and vibrant evergreen forests sharing space with mossy, lichen-covered ledges. Over ten thousand years ago, the island was home to indigenous people who planted and harvested, fished, and hunted. By the mid-eighteenth century, European visitors began to establish permanent homes on the island’s shores. Luther and Gus Phillips were youngsters when much of the island was undeveloped and wild during the last decade of the nineteenth century.
As young men, Luther and his younger brother Gus combined their desire to make art with their need to make a living. Drawing, painting, and photographing Maine, the Phillips brothers created and sold maps and postcards of the state. The story of their success is interwoven with the development of Maine’s tourist industry during the first three quarters of the twentieth century.
Augustus “Gus” Phillips.
Luther (b.1891) and Gus (b.1898) were born at a transitional time for Mount Desert Island’s year round residents. The traditional ways to make a living - primarily seafaring, lumbering, and farming - were giving way to an increasingly lucrative seasonal economy. Summer visitors discovered the island’s clean air and grand scenery. Through conversation and letters and postcards sent to friends and relatives, exhibits of artwork depicting the island's varied landscapes, and printed advertisements, the seasonal population of Mount Desert grew annually. Housing for visitors became essential. Luther and Gus’s grandparents, Augustus Savage and his wife Emily Manchester Savage, welcomed rusticators to board at their home at the head of Northeast Harbor in the part of the village known as Asticou. His guests sought a simplified stay, spending hours sketching, painting, exploring, and studying the biological and geological variety the island offered. As more visitors followed, seeking leisure and lodging with more luxurious amenities, Savage built the Asticou Inn across the road from his house to accommodate his guests.^2
Two postcard views of Northeast Harbor, Maine, Luther circa 1950s on the left, Gus circa 1960s on the right.
Coastal Steamer “Mount Desert” leaving Southwest Harbor circa 1900. Photo courtesy of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society.^4
Island visitors first traveled overland by rail to coastal towns such as Rockland, where they boarded steamships which took them to wharves in Southwest Harbor, Northeast Harbor, Seal Harbor, and Bar Harbor. Travel by auto onto the island would come later. Although a toll bridge at Trenton was completed as early as 1837, the contentious question of whether to allow automobiles on the island during the early years of the twentieth century proved difficult to answer. Local newspapers kept up with the sometimes vitriolic back and forth debates. Between 1903 and 1915 no motor vehicle traffic was allowed on Mount Desert Island. Finally, in 1915 the Maine Supreme Court decreed that people had the right to drive their automobiles on the island.^3
The individual who taught Luther and Gus inherent values by example and mentoring was their father, Frederick Phillips, who was born in 1852 in Orland, Maine. After attending college at the State Normal School in Castine, where Maine Maritime Academy is today, Fred taught for several years on nearby islands and towns on Penobscot Bay. Upon moving to Northeast Harbor to teach, he met and married Cora Justina Savage in 1888. The newlyweds continued to reside in Northeast Harbor after Cora’s brother Fred, an architect, designed a shingled cottage for them as a wedding gift, which was built next to her parents’ home. Both Fred and Cora had ambitions for their children which included a respect for education, a commitment to hard work, and a responsibility to community involvement. One story illustrates Fred’s belief that learning is set by example. In 1918, during the Spanish influenza epidemic, Fred was serving as Northeast Harbor’s town health officer. That not one death occurred in Northeast Harbor from the flu was not by chance or luck. In Mount Desert An Informal History, author Robert Pyle states, “The avoidance of lost lives is due directly to two local officials, town health officer Fred I. Phillips and the village’s general practitioner, Dr. Jay Grindle.
Frederick and Cora Phillips, circa 1900.
Mr. Phillips, an Asticou resident, a school teacher and administrator by profession, quietly assumed the near dictatorial authority of his position in epidemics. Before a serious outbreak he closed the schools, banned planned public gatherings of five or more people (including church services), and quarantined serious victims in the town “pest house” at the Sound. He made house calls with Dr. Grindle at all hours of the day and night in all parts of the town.”^5 Although his stated profession was teaching and administrative duties, it was Fred’s entrepreneurial spirit, and his concern for meeting the family’s financial needs, that provided Luther and Gus with an education in self-employment. In the colder months of the year, the boys worked alongside their relatives, harvesting and sluicing ice, and cutting and hauling wood. As the island’s population increased during the busy summer season, Fred turned to enterprises that catered to the needs of both locals and seasonal visitors.
While Cora had charge of the dining room at the Asticou Inn and offered seamstress services for guests, Fred kept himself and his children busy running two summer businesses. He developed a market garden, raising and delivering vegetables, fruit, flowers, butter, and eggs to both local and summer residents. Garden orders were supplemented with ice that he and the boys had harvested and stored in the family ice house.
The second enterprise was located at the family dock on Northeast Harbor. Fred offered rowboats, sailboats, and birch bark canoes for rent or hire. The 26 rowing skiffs were each named for a letter of the alphabet. As teenagers, Luther and Gus ferried guests by rowing them across the harbor to the village and various destinations. Such interactions with guests, summer folk, and locals gave the brothers confidence in later years when they personally marketed and sold their maps and postcards.^6
Growing up as curious explorers of their island’s varied landscape, Luther and Gus were encouraged by their father–a Maine Guide who taught the boys how to hunt, fish, and camp–to head out on their own adventures. Climb Katahdin, explore the North Woods, paddle the Allagash, and wander eastern Maine’s lakes and forests. Years later Gus chose to become a Maine Guide himself, setting up a business in Penobscot County where he took sports on camping and hunting trips; he taught his own children camping and wilderness skills.
Opeechee sailing off Northeast Harbor.
When they were older, Luther and Gus favored different means of navigating the seas off Mount Desert Island. Reputedly, Luther owned “the fastest naphtha boat in Northeast Harbor.”^7 Gus would teach his children how to sail their 32 foot gaff-rigged sloop Opeechee. Luther’s and Gus’s personal choices reveal their individuality. Their cartographical and postcard success is testament to the traits they shared.
Further life choices offer insights into both Luther and Gus. Luther married twice, but had no children. When Luther lived next door to his brother in a house at Asticou in later years, he is remembered for making fabulous fudge and ice cream that he shared with his nieces and nephews. Sometimes when he visited, Luther wished to discuss business with Gus, and then the children were expected “to be seen and not heard.” Gus’s five children acted accordingly.^8
Both Luther and Gus chose to use their artistic talent to earn a living. However, each took a different path to hone his skill. Luther studied drafting and graduated from MIT with a degree in architecture. He served in the U.S. Navy, then worked as a draftsman for both the Alaska Highway (AlCan) project and for the Maine Department of Transportation before establishing his map and postcard business. Gus, on the other hand, was inspired to paint by early exposure to the work and precepts of artists summering on the island, most notably Carroll Tyson, the Phillips family’s seasonal neighbor. During the years that he worked at the South Portland shipyards as a draftsman, he participated in the employee art exhibits, winning prizes for his Mount Desert miniatures.^9
On the left, Luther’s architectural drawing for a public library which he designed when he was a student at MIT. Courtesy MIT Museum.^10
On the right, Gus’s plein air painting of the islands off Mount Desert.
Gus apprenticed with Luther by hand coloring early maps that Luther created. As he and Luther continued to work together, Gus learned not only what Luther brought to the artistry of making the maps but also the myriad details of owning, sustaining, and growing one’s own business during an expanding market. Although Gus did produce early maps himself, Luther was the primary cartographer for the business in the 1930s and 40s. Gus took on more work in the late 1950s, as his brother’s health failed, and became proprietor in 1960 when his brother died that December.
The brothers’ postcard branch of the business was also begun by Luther in 1939, when he made a postcard that featured “a map containing scenes of Maine.” Luther began making photographic postcards in 1947.^11 The majority of Gus’s postcards were created between 1960 and 1975. The story of the development of Maine’s tourist industry during the mid-twentieth century is integral to the Phillips brothers’ success.
Luther’s postcards left to right, above: Bigelow Range from Eustis Ridge; Cathedral Pines in Eustis; Postcard map of Camden to Bar Harbor; and a color image of a lobster boat.
Luther’s postcards featuring businesses below: Bob-o-link Cabins, Belfast; The Great Northern Hotel, Millinocket; Record’s Camps, Carrabassett Valley; and Pilots Grill, Bangor.
Luther’s customized Maine map postcard with business name and location in red.
As the market for maps and postcards expanded in the 1930s, Luther understood that sales of Phillips work required meeting the needs of the businesses that would benefit from their selling Maine maps and postcards. Customers’ postcard orders served different purposes.
As the variety of sleeping accommodations expanded to meet growing demands, new guest houses, inns, motels, and cabin colonies sought advertisement for their availability and location. Upon request, Luther accepted orders for his customized black and white Maine map postcard to feature a business’s name and location in red. A photo postcard enticed travelers to stay, play, or eat at a lakeside or oceanfront lodging. Postcards, conveniently placed on racks within a customer’s easy reach while motel or diner customers checked out or paid their bill, advertised a variety of must-see local attractions and activities. And as tourism grew, so did the number of gift shops, restaurants, tourist information centers, and other businesses selling— first Luther’s and then Gus’s—postcards that featured iconic Maine images, among them: a cooked lobster, Katahdin, a moose, Moosehead Lake, a lighthouse, or Thunder Hole in Acadia National Park.
Gus’s postcards: Cherryfield from the air; Lobster; Mattawamkeag Lake from the air; Black Mansion, Ellsworth;
Moose; Greenwood Cabins, Locke Mills; Katahdin from Abol Bridge; Thunder Hole, Acadia National Park.
As travelers discovered more rural areas like Meddybemps, Princeton, and Attean Lake, Luther and Gus put them on the map with postcards that attracted visitors to stay and explore. Cultural, historic, and academic locations ordered postcards for visitors to send to friends and relatives—or to take home as souvenirs: Hebron Academy, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Ruggles House, the Farnsworth Museum, and many other Maine landmarks, sold the brothers’ work.
Luther’s business postcards of “The Farmers Wife” in Weld, and the “Elegant Pack Rat” in South Paris.
Phillips postcards often provide a glimpse of Maine places off the beaten path. To spend time at The Farmer’s Wife in Weld and The Elegant Pack Rat gift shops in South Paris, one needed to deviate from driving along the coast and head inland. “All other roadside stands seemed unimaginative,” proclaimed an article in a 1937 issue of Life magazine, describing The Farmer’s Wife.^12 The Lees, who owned the business, operated it seasonally as a restaurant in the summer and as a hunting lodge in the fall. The back of the building was rented out to woodworker Seaverns Hilton, who made American Folk Art figures out of wood. Hilton was born in Rhode Island the same year as Gus, and for a long time divided his time between jobs in advertising and illustration art in New York City, and in woodcrafting in the western Maine town of Weld. When he enlarged his woodcrafting business in Weld and hired local workers, they turned out up to 60,000 figurines a month which were sent to markets in many east coast cities.^13
Seaverns Hilton.^15
Hilton’s architectural skills were put to good use as well, as he had designed not only The Farmer’s Wife building in Weld but also drafted plans for a gift shop in the village of South Paris, Maine. When built, the somewhat eccentric building (perhaps adding to Hilton’s reputation as quite a character) was named The Elegant Pack Rat Gift Center. Very popular in the 1950s, the shop’s exterior “featured several rats around the top of it, and a big rat in a top hat above each of the large signs that boast the name.”^14 Inside, small wooden items and furniture made by the Hamilton O. Cornwall Company, a wood turning mill in town, were for sale.
It is not uncommon in Maine for families to operate a business for several generations. The Oakland House on Eggemoggin Reach in Sargentville, Maine, is one example. Many such enterprises bought Phillips maps and postcards to both promote their own establishments and area points of interest. Luther created postcards specifically for Oakland House, which promoted the fact that it’s located “between the lake and the sea”—Walker Pond and the Reach. Another Luther card features Ethelsa the Oakland House’s excursion boat which took guests out on Penobscot Bay.
Luther’s postcards of The Oakland House and Family Cottages in Sargentville, Maine, and their excursion boat “Ethelsa.”
After Luther’s death in 1960, Gus became the sole proprietor of the map and postcard business. The records of Gus’s orders indicate a steady growth in sales. Gus initially filled Luther’s outstanding orders for maps and postcards. As new orders came in, he began to update Luther’s maps and to create maps and postcards of his own. During the 1960s, orders from the Oakland House continued. Interest from shops and lodgings in nearby Blue Hill, Brooklin, Castine, Deer Isle, and Stonington kept Gus returning to the area. This is not to suggest that Gus’s travels were limited to the Blue Hill peninsula. Large businesses, such as L.L. Bean in Freeport and Acadia National Park were regular customers, as were many small businesses statewide, some with only one or two employees. Maine memorabilia was in demand.^16
Three aerial postcards of the Oakland House Resort grounds between Eggemoggin Reach in the foreground and Walker Pond in the background. From left to right, Luther’s postcard circa 1950s; Gus’s postcard circa 1960s; and the final postcard, shot by James Littlefield, was published by Gus’s son Donald circa 1970s.
Another location that connects the brothers through time is the Pemaquid Peninsula in Midcoast Maine. Lighthouses fascinated both brothers; they photographed them from the air, land, and water, creating and selling several dozen different lighthouse postcards. Gus photographed the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, revisiting the peninsula which Luther mapped in 1941. Luther had walked the Peninsula with local resident Walker Gilbert to locate the area’s homes to be featured on his map. Perhaps Luther and Walker stopped for refreshments on the porch at The Seagull Tea Room, open for business since 1937.^17 Later the Seagull Shop would carry both Luther’s map and Gus’s postcard of Pemaquid Light.
Luther’s 1941 map of Pemaquid and Gus’s 1960’s postcard #322 of the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, featuring the iconic reflection of the tower in a tidal pool on the ledges.
Luther’s and Gus’s early exploration of Mount Desert Island’s varied landscape, and their subsequent hiking, camping, and canoe trips to the less populated parts of the state remained integral to their portrayal of Maine in maps and postcards. The twentieth century’s improvements in travel, to and from, and within the state, made possible an influx of people eager to stay, play, and eat in Maine. As tourism grew in Maine, so did the sales of Luther and Gus’s maps and postcards. As artists and Mainers, Luther and Gus chose to use their talents in a practical way. They earned a living and left a visual portfolio and legacy for others to enjoy.
Authors’ note:
In this post, we chose to focus on the Phillips brothers’ work that features locations beyond Mount Desert Island. In our next post, #13, we will focus on the artwork that Luther and Gus created between the 1930s and the 1970s, specifically on Mount Desert Island. Because Gus’s wood carving and woodworking artistry in Asticou locations have delighted visitors for over sixty years, we look forward to sharing that facet of his artistry with you as well. Stay tuned! If this post intrigued you, and you’d like to read more about Luther and Gus then we invite you to read our article in the May/June 2025 issue of Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors, which explores Luther’s and Gus’s maps and postcards of Maine’s inland lakes and waters. Best, Cathy and John
Special thanks:
To the Penobscot Marine Museum and Photo Archivist Kevin Johnson for image use, preserving the Phillips Collection, and continued support; Mount Desert Island Historical Society for image use; MIT Museum for image use; Ben Meader for technical support and hosting; John Meader for photography; the late Mary Jane Phillips Smith, Gus’s daughter, for years of protecting and sharing Gus’s legacy; the late Frederick A. Phillips, Gus’s son and Cathy’s father, for preserving family stories and memories in his journals.
Notes:
1. Paul Graves, referencing Ortega Y Gasset’s quote “Tell me the landscape in which you live, and I will tell you who you are.” Our landscape affects us more than we may realize, The Spokesman Review, August 11, 2007.
2. Augustus Chase Savage, “Memories of a Lifetime,” (unpublished manuscript, 1902), collection of the author.
3. Emily Cough, “The Car Wars of MDI Was it Ever About the Cars?” (Bar Harbor Historical Society, December 13, 2023).
4. Photo of Steamer Mount Desert off Southwest Harbor, Maine, courtesy of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society.
5. Robert R. Pyle, “Northeast Harbor,” in Mount Desert An Informal History, ed. Gunnar Hansen (Mount Desert, Maine: Town of Mount Desert, 1989), p. 86.
6. Phillips family memoirs, (unpublished papers), collection of the author.
7. Frederick Andrew Phillips, (unpublished journal, August 1995).
8. Frederick A. Phillips, (unpublished journal, August 1995), and Mary Jane Phillips Smith, (stories told to the author, July 2021).
9. South Portland Shipyard employees’ art exhibit catalog, (one page), collection of the author.
10. Architectural Drawing of “A Public Library,” 1917.T.035, Luther S. Phillips, 1917, courtesy of the MIT Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
11. “AERIAL POST CARDS World War I Idea Becomes a Business,” Bangor Evening Commercial (Bangor, Maine), Wednesday, Jan. 31, 1951), Northeast Harbor Library Digital Archive.
12. Raymond E. Welts, “The Farmer’s Wife,” Life, August 15, 1938, 66.
13. Sylvie Haslam, “The Shopland, Part III,” Silver Spin, owned by Luann Yetter, accessed April 2, 2025.
14. Sylvie Haslam, “The Shopland, Part II,” Silver Spin, owned by Luann Yetter, accessed April 2, 2025.
15. Photo of Seaverns Hilton, Sylvie Haslam, “The Shopland, Part II,” Silver Spin, owned by Luann Yetter, accessed April 2, 2025.
16. Augustus Phillips, (order and sales notebooks, 1960s), collection of the author.
17. “The Seagull Shop,” MidCoast Buy Local, Midcoast Federal Credit Union, accessed March 5, 2025.
