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Lemuel Ells was a builder and soon started subdividing the property into "camp lots" to attract people from the suburbs of Boston to Sunset Lake. Lemuel and Ethel lived in a tent on the property until the first cottage was completed. Cottages were built for rent or purchase; it is unknown if one could "rent to own". As can be seen in the plans below, in 1928, they planned for 77 camp lots, most of which were 100'x50' in size. An additional plan from 1947 reconfigures the lots on the east side of the development and increases the lot number to close to 100. Over time, and even in the early days of development, many of these lots were combined to result in 68 properties in the Ells neighborhood today. If these original plans were implemented with 100'x50' lots, there would have been a minimum of 108 lots and likely many more since the plans do not cover the entire area, especially east of Grove Drive.
Original Ells Plans
1927: Original plan for 77 camp lots, mostly of size 100'x50'.
1947: Additional camp lot plan adding today's Grove Drive and additional lots.
Mrs. or "Grammy" Ells
While Lemuel was busily building cottages for sale and rent, Ethel, also known as "Mrs. Ells" and later "Grammy Ells" was busy running the rest of the family business. Today's Hampstead Town Beach was once a bustling business with a building housing a store, restaurant, and dance hall. They also charged for parking, swimming, fishing, and boat rentals. They operated an ice harvesting business in the winter and the buildings to the right of this image likely acted as the ice house. As There was originally a wall along the shorefront of the town beach as can also be seen in the image. Mrs. Ells also resided in the buildings on the beach.
Today's town beach was once a store, dance hall, and home to Ethel Ells.
Post Card advertising the Pavilion at Sunset Lake and all it had to offer.
The "Sunset Lake" Name
Common folklore is that the Ells family first coined the Sunset Lake name to attract people from the Boston suburbs to rent or buy their "Sunset Lake Cottages". Supporting this story is the first known deed reference to Sunset Lake which was by Ells in June 1928 for today's 57 Ells Road, while all of their previous deeds from 1926-1928 referenced Wash Pond.
However, earlier references to Sunset Lake have been found in in this 1889 advertisement and articles from 1902 and 1915. While the Sunset Lake name was certainly in use before the Ells moved to Hampstead, the Ells family likely popularized the name with their very popular Sunset Lake Cottages and Pavilion.
Cottages and Houses
Some of the first cottages that Lemuel built were on the lake just to the south and next to the store as this postcard shows, which were eventually to become 2 & 4 Edgewater Lane. In 2020, the 2 properties were combined, the cottage at 2 Edgewater was torn down and an addition with a 2 car garage was add to the original 4 Edgewater cottage.
The first lot in the neighborhood was sold by Ells in August 1926 and is today's 20 Thomas Drive, but a house might not have been built until 1942 (according to the tax card). In September 1926, Ells sold the first waterfront lot, today's 49 Ells Road, and the cottage on that lot which still stands today was built in that same year.
Early cottages built in 1926.
A New Pavilion
In 1928, Ells acquired the 3 acre property next to the cemetery from Mary Lake and this property became a baseball field and had a long pavilion building with cooking facilities and it is believed that at some point, the dance hall was moved from the beachfront building to this new pavilion, allowing expansion of the store/restaurant at the beach. Local organizations would rent out the pavilion facility and baseball field for summer outings and other gatherings.
This 3 acre parcel was sold by the Ells in 1968 and today this property has been split into 89 Kent Farm Road and 10 Ells Road. You can see a portion of the old pavilion if you look through the woods from Ells Road to the 10 Ells Road property, but the winter of 2022-23 with it's heavy snow was not kind to the building, collapsing the roof.
Early admission ticket to the Sunset Lake Pavilion
After Everett Mills passed away in 1939, Ethel Ells acquired the 8 acres on Kent Farm Road (today's 2, 5, and 9 Ells Road) from the Everett Mills estate in 1940. In 1948 Ethel deeded the 2 Ells property to her son Warren. Warren, who was also a carpenter and builder, built the home that is on 2 Ells Road as a residence for himself and his wife Alice. This photo is taken from the 200th Anniversary of Hampstead (1749-1949) Souvenir Booklet, a copy of which is available at the Hampstead Public Library.
Lemuel Ells passed away in May of 1950 and Ethel Ells continued running the business along with her son Warren.
Warren Ells house (2 Ells Road) under construction
1959: Plan when East Shore Drive was deeded to the Town of Hampstead.