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Uncle Broad

Camp Christian’s First Postmaster

Luther “Uncle” Broad was one of the village’s early “characters.”

A tall, personable, large fellow with a long white beard, he was our first postmaster. Quiet and of a friendly nature, he loved this place, as many have loved it since, for its trees, its birds, flowers, and the sea and all its natural beauties. He was fascinating to Craigville’s children for his false teeth that wiggled when he talked. Eva Chase wrote that while he was not a hermit by nature or habit…he looked the part.

Once a day (later, twice a day) the mail would arrive first in Centerville, then carried to Craigville by the “pullover”. At the shore of the creek, Chiquaquet River on the other side of what was then  the woods called Bennet’s Point, was a boat with a rope and pulley attached to each shore. By that rope a person could pull him or her-self across the creek. The carrier then followed the trail through the woods over Christian hill to the campground. At the post-office the mail was dumped from the bag on a shelf by a window on a shelf.

A crowd would gather, and Uncle Broad would call out the names of persons with mail. “ B.S. Batchelder,” he would call, and Mr. Batchelder stepped to the window and received his mail.

Broad  often spent winters in Craigville l in  a log cabin north of  the Tabernacle back of the water-tower. He hewed the logs and built  “The Hermitage,  accessible by bridge over the sluiceway. His cabin, known as “The Hermitage,” was furnished with a split bottomed chair, a 186-year-old small rocker, a 150-year-old Santo Domingo mahogany table and a narrow bed on a frame of old rails.  He stayed here because he was happy here with the birds and the trees and sometimes a friendly deer.

Uncle Broad had traveled extensively, crossing the Rockies four times. He was also an accomplished violinist who would entertain summer residents in the parlor of the Captain Sturgis hotel, later known as Sabens, Ye Olde Annex and Harvard House. He was remembered for old-fashioned songs and stories as well.

In 1881, the CCMA sponsored a “lawn fete” that generated $140. There were five booths, each with a 10-cent entry fee.  One of the attractions was the log cabin, for which an additional 10-cents was the fee. Roman candles and rickets were set off and lanterns illuminated the ground.

After his death he was succeeded by his niece, Suzie Aldrich. His cabin was later used to house young men working on the summer staff.

Sources: James Buffington Papers and The Craigville Visitor, August 28, 1926