The Smiley Twins
From Vassalboro’s Quaker roots to shaping communities across America — for better and for worse.
By Cara Kent · Vassalboro, Maine · ironfistinavelvetglove.com
Wander around in the Quaker cemetery at Oak Grove in Vassalboro, and you’ll find two small gravestones marking where Daniel and Phebe Smiley rest. Daniel was born in 1796 in Sidney, Maine, just four years after Sidney split from Vassalborough, Maine. Vassalborough was the spelling when the town was incorporated in 1771. The shortened use of Vassalboro was adopted in 1818.
Daniel married Phebe Howland, in 1822 and together they made their home near Getchell Corner as part of Vassalboro's tight-knit Quaker community. They attended the Oak Grove Chapel, historically known as the River Meetinghouse, a simple structure built in 1786 when the first Quakers settled this area in the 1770s.
The year 1828 was packed with significance. Andrew Jackson was president. Joshua Chamberlain was born. Noah Webster published his American Dictionary of the English Language, declaring American English distinct from British.
Coverture-the legal doctrine that suspended a married woman's independent existence under her husband's control-was still the law of the land. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s book, Frankenstein, had been published a few years earlier. The Democratic Party was organized, and Isabella Bomfree (later known as Sojourner Truth) had successfully sued the State of New York to free her five-year-old son, Peter.
It was into this world that Daniel and Phebe Smiley welcomed their twin sons who arrived on March 17, 1828-eight years after Maine became the 23rd state through the Missouri Compromise.
The twins, Albert Keith and Alfred Homans, came into a community still recovering from hard times. Just twelve years before their birth, the entire New England region had suffered through "The Year Without a Summer" which had been caused by the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia the year before. Those brutal months had sparked "Ohio Fever” and a wave of emigration west as families sought better opportunities. Market Square in Augusta became the rallying point for emigrants heading out, hoping to leave the hardship behind. Yet the Smileys stayed.
The twins were so identical that Phebe tied ribbons to their limbs as infants just to tell them apart. As they grew, they delighted in their resemblance, confusing teachers, friends, and later, prominent guests at their hotels. But beyond their playful nature lay something their Quaker upbringing had instilled deeply: a serious commitment to education, peace, and community building that would eventually touch lives from New England to Southern California.
Growing up in Vassalboro, the twins attended Oak Grove Seminary before heading to Haverford College, where they graduated in 1849. Both became educators, dedicating years to teaching at their alma mater, at an English and Classical Academy they established in Philadelphia, and eventually at schools across the Northeast.
For a brief time in the 1850s, their paths diverged. Alfred headed west to become superintendent of schools in Oskaloosa, Iowa, while Albert returned home to Maine to lead Oak Grove Seminary. But the separation didn't last long. By 1860, they'd reunited at the Friend's School in Providence, Rhode Island which is now known as the Moses Brown School founded in 1784 and where Albert served as headmaster for nearly two decades, building it into one of New England's most respected preparatory institutions.
Then in 1869, something unexpected happened. Alfred, who had a farm in Poughkeepsie, wanted to go out on an outing. His friend, Jacob Haviland, suggested two destinations: West Point or Paltz Point. They drew lots and chose Paltz Point. Alfred brought his wife, their two children, and Alfred’s two sisters, Rebecca and Sarah, and their friends including Haviland’s, Underhill’s and Ferrises. When they arrived, Alfred and a few others climbed the hillside and discovered a breathtaking vista. There before them lay a lake- Mohonk-with views in all four directions. You could see five states from that spot. They decided to spend the night at a nearby tavern, where Alfred learned the owner was thinking of selling the property, including the lake.
Alfred immediately sent a telegram to Albert at the Friend’s School in Rhode Island: ‘Await a letter and come on immediately.’ Albert initially refused-it was the busiest time of the school year, with over two hundred pupils and eighteen teachers counting on him. Alfred sent another plea, and Albert came.
Albert, who had been searching for a summer retreat, bought Lake Mohonk in New York's Shawangunk Mountains for $28,000. What started as plans for a simple getaway turned into the Mohonk Mountain House, a resort that became something far more interesting than just another vacation spot. The twins ran it according to their Quaker principles no alcohol, no card playing, no dancing but plenty of nature walks, concerts, and thoughtful conversation.
The Mountain House became a gathering place for reformers and thinkers. In 1883, Albert started hosting annual conferences on what people then called the "Indian problem," bringing together government officials and reformers to discuss federal policy toward Native peoples. The Smileys meant well, their intentions came from their Quaker beliefs, but these conferences ended up promoting assimilation policies that historians now recognize did real harm, contributing to cultural erasure and the loss of Native lands.
In 1890, using the same blueprint as he had with the “Indian problem” he held the first Mohonk Conference on the “Negro Question.” Albert asked his sister, Sarah-a fervent activist and human rights advocate-to be one of the featured speakers. This gathering was to be highly criticized by Albion W. Tourgée for having an “all-white” conference. In 1891 the criticism continued when A.L. Phillips pled for a formal observance of the race separation issue and was met with hostility from the angered conferees.
Albert stopped the yearly conferences and instead invited Booker T. Washington and Harry Burleigh to address the guests.
But in 1895, Albert launched something that had more lasting positive impact, the Lake Mohonk Conferences on International Arbitration. These gatherings helped lay the groundwork for the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague and influenced the creation of the American Society of International Law. Presidents, secretaries of state, and international leaders showed up to discuss alternatives to war in an era full of imperial conflicts. The conferences ran through 1916, and their emphasis on peaceful conflict resolution was ahead of its time, foreshadowing institutions like the United Nations.
Alfred and Albert’s final chapter played out in California. In 1887, Alfred's son Frederick discovered Redlands, and soon both brothers were spending winters there to help with Alfred's rheumatism. They put together Canyon Crest Park (later called Smiley Heights), creating spectacular gardens that were open to the public and attracted thousands of visitors every year.
In Redlands, their generosity flourished. Albert donated the building for what became the A.K. Smiley Public Library in 1898, and they poured money into beautification projects, helped found the Family Service Association, and contributed to Redlands High School and the Congregational Church. When Alfred died on January 25,1903 at age 74, and Albert followed in 1912 at the age of 83, the city had already started celebrating their shared birthday, March 17, as "Smiley Day."
The Contemporary Club of Redlands, a women's organization, made it official in 1910, handing out pansies the brothers' favorite flower to citizens each year. After Albert's death, the day became known as "Patron Saints' Day," and that's still what they call it in Redlands, where you can see their legacy in the library that bears Albert's name and the parks they created.
Their half-brother Daniel, 27 years younger, carried on their work in Redlands until his death in 1930, donating the children's wing to Smiley Library and serving as a trustee of the University of Redlands.
Alfred and Albert are buried in the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery, NY, alongside several family members including their sisters, Sarah and Rebecca and half-brother, Daniel.
Looking back at the Smiley twins' story, you see both the possibilities and contradictions of 19th-century reform movements. Their genuine commitment to peace and education lived right alongside their participation in policies that harmed Native communities. Their Quaker values-the same ones they learned in River Meetinghouse in Vassalboro drove them to create institutions and spaces meant to improve society, yet some of those efforts caused lasting damage.
Today, Mohonk Mountain House is still running, still owned by the Smiley family five generations later. The Victorian castle resort welcomes guests to the same mountain setting that captured Albert's heart more than 157 years ago. And every March 17 in Redlands, pansies bloom in memory of two identical twins from a small Maine town who built hotels, established schools, advocated for peace, and left their mark on every community they touched-for better and for worse.
When you visit that Quaker cemetery at Oak Grove in Vassalboro where Daniel and Phebe rest, it's worth remembering that even accomplished lives are complicated. The Smiley twins' contributions to education and international arbitration deserve recognition. So does an honest look at their role in promoting assimilation policies that harmed Indigenous peoples. Their legacy, like the brothers themselves, can't be separated it has to be understood as a whole, rooted in the Quaker community of 1820s Vassalboro and stretching all the way to the California coast.
References
Primary Sources on the Smiley Twins:
A.K. Smiley Public Library, Redlands, California - Official history and archives
Mohonk Mountain House historical records and family archives
Lake Mohonk Conference proceedings (1883-1916)
Secondary Sources:
Burgess, Larry E. "The Lake Mohonk Conference of Friends of the Indian: Guide to the Annual Reports." Clearwater Publishing Company, 1975.
Hoxie, Frederick E. "A Final Promise: The Campaign to Assimilate the Indians, 1880-1920." University of Nebraska Press, 1984.
Patterson, David S. "Toward a Warless World: The Travail of the American Peace Movement, 1887-1914." Indiana University Press, 1976.
Redlands Area Historical Society archives and publications
Burgess, Larry E. “Mohonk and the Smileys: A National Historic Landmark and the Family That Created It” Published in cooperation with Mohonk Mountain House by Black Dome Press Corp; 2019
"The Smiley Brothers: Quaker Reformers and Hoteliers." Various biographical materials from University of Redlands Special Collections
Historical Context Sources:
Maine Historical Society records on Sidney and Vassalboro
Oak Grove-Coburn School archives (successor to Oak Grove Seminary)
Post, John D. "The Last Great Subsistence Crisis in the Western World." Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977. (On the 1816 "Year Without a Summer")
Stommel, Henry and Elizabeth. "Volcano Weather: The Story of 1816, the Year without a Summer." Seven Seas Press, 1983.
Alma Pierce Robbins, History of Vassalborough Maine 1771-1971
Web Resources:
Mohonk Mountain House official website and historical materials
A.K. Smiley Public Library digital collections
Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College - Quaker records
Maine Memory Network - Maine Historical Society
Redlands Conservancy historical materials
Note: Historical details about Daniel Smiley (son of Hugh and Mary Park of Sidney, Maine), Phebe Howland Smiley, and local Vassalboro context including Oak Grove Chapel/River Meetinghouse, Getchell Corner, and the early Quaker settlement were provided by local historical research completed at the Vassalboro Historical Society and the Vassalboro Public Library.