Built by Forrest Coy

11 Field Street

These three cottages were all built by Forrest Coy, one of the Spiritualists responsible for creating and running Lyceums (Sunday School) all over the state of Maine. This large cottage on the corner is known as the Mary Drake Jenne House where she raised her grandchildren. The cottage which stands beside this one at 9 Packard Square was known as Mother's Cottage where MDJ's mother lived. Their family was instrumental in building this campground and for preserving its history.

Pictured above from left to right: Mattie Coy, Forrest Coy and Sylvia Richards

Forrest Coy and his family may be the most important Spiritualist Family in Maine. They were instrumental in the building of many cottages and main buildings on these grounds, they ran lyceums here and across the state of Maine and their family saved and stored several large boxes of documents of Spiritualist History.

The current matriarch of this important family is Sylvia Richards Dean. She came to one of the first History Walks given by Diane Jackman Skolfield, our Camp Historian since 2012. After the walk Sylvia handed Diane a photograph in a very old frame and said, “This photograph made it through the fire of 1922. I am giving this to you because you will take care of my great Aunt Mary’s historical documents. Please come to my home in Sangerville and help me go through boxes my family has saved for 120 years. We can sort through all the boxes together and I can take out the personal items I want to keep and I will give the rest to you.” Diane visited her several times over the next 15 years and returned with most of the documents and photos displayed around the rooms of the museum and in the 23 notebooks filled with newspaper articles, programs, journals etc.

We can thank Mary Drake Jenne, Forrest and Mattie’s grand-niece, for saving so much of our history. Mary lived in the large house on the corner and raised her grandchildren after her son passed to Spirit. The money for the houses came from money bequeathed to Mary by Samuel Giles in his will after his death in 1922.

In addition to creating and running Lyceum (Sunday School) at Camp Etna, she was also secretary of ESA and the Maine State Spiritualist Association. She wrote a book titled “What the World Needs Now,” lots of poems and multiple journals over the years documenting the history of Spiritualism here in Etna and across the state.

It is wonderfully ironic that a young woman who came to camp “with a Bible under her arm and a prayer in her heart that God would forgive her for coming to this camp meeting,” would fill a museum with her life at Camp. She came as a skeptic and remained at Camp working diligently for Spiritualism for 50 years leading our camp and the state of Maine. She continues to teach us Camp Etna’s History from The Great Beyond.