creek farm and the carey family
Newspaper accounts of the peace conference proceedings include multiple efforts by local residents to engage the diplomats in social gatherings designed to put them at ease. This approach to mediation is now known as multi-track diplomacy.
Among the citizens so engaged were Arthur Astor Carey and his wife, Agnes. In particular, the Portsmouth Herald reported that Agnes Carey assisted Mrs. Herbert Pierce (Helen Pierce, who had grown up in Portsmouth) with official entertaining by her husband Third Assistant Secretary of State, Herbert H.H. Pierce, President Roosevelt’s representative on site. After assisting Mrs. Pierce, Mrs. Carey took up the cause of providing hospitality by inviting the Russian and Japanese delegations to her home for dinners and garden parties. One garden party in particular took place on Sunday, August 27th, at the height of tensions over the final terms of the negotiations. The delegations arrived and departed separately and the Careys young daughter Alida (left) remembered, decades later in an oral history interview, that the garden was decorated with a large Russian flag and a large paper Japanese carp hung so that they could be seen from the Wentworth across Little Harbor.
Alida Carey (above) remembered other dinners where the Russians were quite noisy guests while the “victorious Japanese” who had won all the battles in the War, were more reserved. That these social events, this citizen diplomacy provided by the summer residents of Little Harbor was considered valuable at the highest level of the negotiations is evidenced by another details Alida Carey recalled. After the Treaty was signed and the diplomats departed, Roosevelt arranged that his Presidential yacht, the Mayflower (below) provide a private harbor cruise for the family.
While the hospitality of the Careys was matched by other prominent citizens, church congregations, onlookers at Wentworth By the Sea Hotel and ordinary residents who filled the sidewalks to welcome the delegates in a Welcoming Parade, only the Careys are known to have received an official Presidential acknowledgement of their efforts. And only the Carey Cottage at Creek Farm remains of the private homes where the Russian and Japanese delegates who ended “World War Zero” walked. Statewide designation of Portsmouth Peace Treaty Day made this citizen diplomacy central to the state's definition of itself.
After lengthy discussion with the Society for the Protection of NH Forests, Creek Farm was saved and is now operated by GoodWorks as a center for nonprofits.
Among the citizens so engaged were Arthur Astor Carey and his wife, Agnes. In particular, the Portsmouth Herald reported that Agnes Carey assisted Mrs. Herbert Pierce (Helen Pierce, who had grown up in Portsmouth) with official entertaining by her husband Third Assistant Secretary of State, Herbert H.H. Pierce, President Roosevelt’s representative on site. After assisting Mrs. Pierce, Mrs. Carey took up the cause of providing hospitality by inviting the Russian and Japanese delegations to her home for dinners and garden parties. One garden party in particular took place on Sunday, August 27th, at the height of tensions over the final terms of the negotiations. The delegations arrived and departed separately and the Careys young daughter Alida (left) remembered, decades later in an oral history interview, that the garden was decorated with a large Russian flag and a large paper Japanese carp hung so that they could be seen from the Wentworth across Little Harbor.
Alida Carey (above) remembered other dinners where the Russians were quite noisy guests while the “victorious Japanese” who had won all the battles in the War, were more reserved. That these social events, this citizen diplomacy provided by the summer residents of Little Harbor was considered valuable at the highest level of the negotiations is evidenced by another details Alida Carey recalled. After the Treaty was signed and the diplomats departed, Roosevelt arranged that his Presidential yacht, the Mayflower (below) provide a private harbor cruise for the family.
While the hospitality of the Careys was matched by other prominent citizens, church congregations, onlookers at Wentworth By the Sea Hotel and ordinary residents who filled the sidewalks to welcome the delegates in a Welcoming Parade, only the Careys are known to have received an official Presidential acknowledgement of their efforts. And only the Carey Cottage at Creek Farm remains of the private homes where the Russian and Japanese delegates who ended “World War Zero” walked. Statewide designation of Portsmouth Peace Treaty Day made this citizen diplomacy central to the state's definition of itself.
After lengthy discussion with the Society for the Protection of NH Forests, Creek Farm was saved and is now operated by GoodWorks as a center for nonprofits.