Landmark ‘The Venice’ was a sightseer’s dream at Jordan’s Bay

By Ernest H. Knight

In any community there may be places of interest, significant sites and examples of outstanding architecture, but none of these qualities guarantee that they be considered landmarks. However, there is a spot in Raymond that has little to recommend except that it is a landmark.

The now-demolished landmark 'The Venice" sat on Jordan
Bay on Sebago Lake in Raymond and was created in the 
late 1800s by Sumner Plummer. COURTESY PHOTO 

Long known as “The Venice” on Sebago Lake in Jordan’s Bay, people passing through Raymond Village have for more than a century, looked across the waters of the bay and thought or spoken of the building that once perched on the bar rocks that themselves have never had a name. It’s enough that what is there above and below the water is just called “The Venice.”

Before the level of Sebago Lake was raised by 11 feet in the mid-1880s, the ground on which the building rests would have been of sufficient height, area, and soil to support trees and other vegetation. At that time there was dense forest growing along Route 302 where now only cattails flourish.

But in the late 1800s, the building was erected by Sumner Plummer of Raymond Village as a summer school for girls. Plummer was an ingenious individual of many talents. He was a craftsman, artist, inventor, undertaker, carriage and sign painter, temperance worker and practitioner of the “laying on of hands” to soothe illness.

“The Venice” reflects his handiwork in substantial construction, small stateroom-like rooms with hidden drawers and fold-away conveniences, kitchens with many utilitarian gadgets and bins, a massive stone fireplace with colorful mineral inserts spelling VENICE and wide porches around the outside for those who might imagine a nautical situation while “walking on deck.”

On the outside of the building at second floor level facing the village was a large “VENICE” name board. Attached to the building by a wooden gangway was a square-ended flat-bottomed barge on which there was an auxiliary building for needed activity or dormitory space, and the bottom of this barge may still be seen on the lake bottom on the shore side of the present building.

For their shore-based activities there was a two-story building on the point of land at the entrance to Deep Cove, now a garage apartment that had originally been a dwelling in the village, and then moved to its present location over the ice. This is an example of the passion of Raymond residents in the last century to move buildings from one part of town to another.

While Sumner Plummer was the proprietor and guiding light of the enterprise, he had an educator to supervise the activities of this school for girls. Little or nothing is known of the curriculum or activities but it was advertised in at least one national magazine of the day and brochures stressed the scenic aspects of the area, the healthful activity and the companionable advantages of the school population.

As this setting was in the heyday of steamboat travel on Sebago Lake and Long Lake, there was substantial landing of cribbed logs for the docking of large watercraft nearby. Much of the passenger travel as well as freight to local resorts and towns around the lakes was by steamboat from Sebago Lake Station, which operated on schedules that included rendezvous in mid-lake between the small local steamboats and the larger vessels operating express service between Sebago Lake Station and the end of the route in Harrison.

But with the changing pattern of summer visitors and the ecological limitations on accommodations without adequate septic waste disposal, the school ceased operations by the start of World War I. Use as a private summer residence became impossible due to regulations of the Portland Water District.

“The Venice” continued, however, to be referred to as a landmark by both residents and vacationers. Denied use by its various owners in the 20th century, it fell into disrepair, followed by assaults by vandals until it is now, little more than a pile of rocks after being burned as an eyesore after being acquired by the town for back taxes. <

This article was written by the late Ernest H. Knight, one of the founders of the Raymond-Casco Historical Society and contained in his book “Historical Gems of Raymond and Casco.” It was submitted by the Raymond-Casco Historical Society and articles about Raymond history from the historical society will appear regularly in The Windham Eagle newspaper. To find out more about the Raymond-Casco Historical Society, call Frank McDermott at 207-655-4646.