Historian Recalls Rock Rest Guest House in Kittery

SEACOAST BLACK HISTORY

Hazel Sinclair could never have imagined that the simple act of hiring Valerie Cunningham, her friend's teenage daughter, would secure a place in history for her home and business. Rock Rest, a home near the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, was purchased by Hazel and her husband Clayton, in 1938 and turned into a guest house for African American travelers. (Click title for more) 

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Valerie Cunningham is the founder of the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail and the winner of numerous preservation awards.  She will share her story and more as the Trail celebrates Juneteenth at Rock Rest, June 19, 2014 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. For ticket sales and more information go to: http://portsmouthhistory.org/celebrate-juneteenth-a-return-to-rock-rest-june-19th/#more-2739

 THE ROCK REST STORY 

Although there were no formal Jim Crow laws on the books, like any other Black person living in New Hampshire or Maine before 1964, Valerie too had experienced de facto segregation.  For some people, it would take many years to understand how the subtleties of racial discrimination shaped their lives. 

Valerie had not been encouraged by her white guidance counselor or teachers to prepare for college.  In her hometown of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, there were no African American women teachers, nurses, office receptionists, or telephone operators. In fact, Elizabeth Virgil, the first African American to earn a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Hampshire, could only find work as a maid or housekeeper following her graduation. Valerie’s mother and “Aunt Hazel” had also been maids and housekeepers.  “Maybe that’s why my teachers didn’t encourage me to be anything else.”

 

The purchase of Rock Rest, however, gave Hazel the opportunity to use her experience as a maid and off-season caterer, to transform what she called “a rundown shack” into a beautifully landscaped and comfortable home.  For more than two decades, Rock Rest was one of the designated places across America where African American travelers could safely stop, rest, and be served in style.  And much like the Underground Railroad, word about Hazel’s “Haute Cuisine” and impeccable service traveled across the states.

There was no need for the Sinclairs to advertise Rock Rest.  Word-of-mouth kept their small guesthouse filled and humming with activity, providing few days off for them.  From Memorial Day until Labor Day the driveway was filled with luxury cars “from away.”  Overnight vacationers had to book reservations weeks or months in advance of their planned arrival to ensure getting one of the seven bedrooms at Rock Rest.  Most guests stayed for at least one week, some for two weeks.

Attorney Abrams and his wife Louise were among the returning guests every year; so were the Glovers and Archers and Johnsons; and Robert and Ruth Benson brought their son Bobby from New Jersey and little Reggie Wells came with his parents; the widow, Mrs. Valentine, always brought her zither to play during quiet times on the porch. 

Although these travelers were not welcomed as “over night” guests in other hotels or upscale restaurants, their patronage was tolerated, usually without incident, at local tourist sites like historic house museums and retail shops, and outdoor amusement parks, even the beaches.  So during the daytime, after a hearty breakfast at Rock Rest, guests could tour the Seacoast freely knowing that they had a secure place to eat and sleep. 

Dinner reservations could be made in advance for special groups like Boston’s Aristo Club – these women made an annual pilgrimage to Rock Rest for Hazel’s exquisite Maine-coast cuisine. Hazel’s daily prix-fixe menu always featured lobster thermidor on Sundays.  

For many African Americans, the Civil Rights Movement had not begun with Martin Luther King, Jr. or with Rosa Parks. In southern Maine and New Hampshire, Valerie’s own parents and her friends’ parents had been struggling for more than a decade against segregated housing and access to such basic employment opportunities as hiring a Black bag boy at the local grocery store.  Those who had been successful in pursuing a college education had relocated to urban centers, usually in the South, where African Americans would be hired by other Blacks. 

Rock Rest would provide Valerie and the local communities an opportunity to come face-to-face with African American doctors and teachers and professors and lawyers and secretaries and accountants, regular folk back home where they lived in places like Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York.  “These summer people were our celebrities,” Valerie said.  “They were the people we were reading about in the Black Press … people who were breaking down barriers and opening our minds to what was possible.” For Valerie Cunningham, Rock Rest was a place to find mentorship, hope and a sense of how bright her future could be.