Charles Edgar Littlefield was born in 1851, at very near the same moment that Rockland was being incorporated.
His father, William Littlefield, was an ordained Free Will Baptist Minister and a skilled carpenter. He believed in intellectual rigor, moral discipline, and manual labor. “Charley” was similarly inspired. As a young man living on Vinalhaven, he became a millwright to earn money to study law. He became a lawyer in 1876, with “the best examination of any candidate who had ever applied for admission to the county bar” according to a member of the Knox County exam board.
In 1885, Littlefield was elected to the State Legislature and two years later was elevated to Speaker of the House. In 1889, he became Maine’s youngest Attorney General.
Teddy Roosevelt took a keen interest in Littlefield, who was described by Maine Governor Cobb as “the firm friend of the President.” He appreciated Charles’ strong independent streak. Afterall, the capitalist class supported TR only because they preferred to empower an "unpredictable head of a predictable party", rather than the "predictable head of an unpredictable party."
From 1899 to 1908, he represented Maine’s 2nd District in the U.S. House of Representatives, where the “The Man from Maine” established a reputation as a shrewd politician. The new Republican congressman was very critical of organized labor and had epic battles with Sam Gompers, the Founder and President of the American Federation of Labor (AFL).
“Of all the members of Congress, no one stood more conspicuous as an antagonist to the interests of Labor and the people than Charles E. Littlefield of Maine.”
– Samuel Gompers
In a letter from Speaker of the House “Uncle Joe” Cannon to Roosevelt, Cannon writes, “I want to say one word about Littlefield. He is a strong, forceful man, but got started off on the wrong foot, having in his make-up a good deal of independence (which, by the by, is very good stuff when it is tempered by experience, and the horizon of the man who has it takes in the whole country). When I became Speaker, knowing the good stuff that was in him, I cultivated him, and found with him, as with most members of the human family, that attention and consultation pay well. He has constantly improved, and while there is yet room for improvement, with further service, I believe he is to become of great use to the party and the country.”
But Teddy vowed not to run for re-election in 1908 and in March of that year, Charley also retired from politics to practice law in New York City with his son. He still spent time in Rockland, however, hiking Mount Battie and tending to his beloved horses and gardens. In 1915 at age 64, Littlefield developed a blood clot after a surgery and died of an embolism. His wife Clara died 4 years later, leaving 96 Limerock Street to their two children, Charles W. and Caroline.
Charles W. graduated from Philips Andover, Yale, and Harvard Law School. He practiced law in NYC and settled in Montclair, NJ becoming a successful lawyer and president of the U. S. Golf Association. Caroline graduated from Wheaton (then Female Seminary) in 1904, with her father as Commencement speaker. She came home to live at Limerock Street for 35 more years. She never married but had relatives and servants as companions in the great house. She passed in 1955 and was buried with her parents in the family plot in Rockland.
Purchased from the Littlefield family in 1950, the property then housed the medical practice of Dr. Oram Lawry Jr. for almost 45 years. To many Rockland old-timers the place is still, and always will be, known as Dr. Lawry’s house.
The gentle and thoughtful treatment of the property by the Littlefield and Lawry families for over 100 years is evident in the condition of the original artful details. When it became Rockland’s first B&B, more than 30 years ago in 1994, that stewardship continued. LimeRock Inn has welcomed guests to relax in quiet comfort ever since.
Over the years, there have been reports of doors left open, lights turned on, and knocking sounds in the night. Are these innkeeper machinations or visits from the kindly souls of Clara or Caroline or, perhaps, a grateful patient of Doctor Lawry? Whatever you believe, the spirit of mid-coast Maine lives on at LimeRock Inn.