$ 5 2 , 0 0 0 n o v e m b e r 2 0 1 8 9 7 House of the Month courtesy jim leclaire Wild Olive Lakewood Theater Colony: a secret history. By Colin w. Sargent I f Lakewood Theater colony is the bathtub-gin martini, this rustic Victo- rian bungalow is the olive. If you love theater, parties, and lakeside living, 4 Olive Street is priced to get your heart pumping. The 1,192-square-foot mini-resort on .27 acres features a three-storey Italianate tower, two bedrooms, a full bath, a sin- gle-car garage, and views of Lake Wesse- runsett. Also conveying is a legend best told over cocktails. “When I bought 4 Olive, it had been owned by Louise Magoon’s family since 1945,” says seller Eric Pierce, who fell for this cottage after visiting Maine for his 50th high school reunion. He sensed magic the moment he stepped inside—the fragrance of the past. With- out delay he contacted Jenny Oby, author of Lakewood Theatre (Arcadia Publishing, 2017), about the structure also known as “The Dance Hall.” “The Theater is on the north side of Hayden Brook,” she says. “On the south side of the stream are more cottages, in- cluding 4 Olive Street. Prior to the Lake- wood Theater colony, this birch grove was owned by Jedediah Hayden in the late 1700s. His son William was a devout spir- itualist. In the late 1800s, William built a spiritualist hall. The ghost of this hall is now Lakewood Theater,” she says. “Around 1895, General R.B. Shepherd bought the hall and lake land for the Somerset Trac- tion Company, with [trolley] service from Skowhegan to Lakewood. But there was a condition. For all perpetuity, the spiritual- ists must be able to have a meeting here one week a year. This meeting continues today.” As for how Olive Street got its name, “William Hayden’s daughter was named Olive. She was a very devout spiritualist. Olive Street was named for Olive Hayden. “Four Olive Street was likely built by one of the Haydens in the late 1800s. I’ve been inside. If you look at the back of the house, you’ll see what looks like old stagecoach doors facing the lake, not the road. You’d have had to drive your horse or car around back to use them. Just above those three doors is just this gigantic open room. It’s