Maude Adams
November 11, 1872 - July 17, 1953
She was born Maude Ewing Adams Kiskadden in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her mother was a stage actress and often carried young Maude on stage as an infant. At the age of five, she starred in a San Francisco theatre as Little Schneider in Fritz, Our German Cousin. After touring in Boston and California, she made her New York City debut at age 16 as a member of E. H. Sothern's theatre company. She is best noted for her signature role, Peter Pan. A full list of her appearances on Broadway can be found by clicking here: Broadway Appearances
Author Richard Matheson saw a picture of Maude Adams at Piper's Opera House in Nevada and immediately fell in love with her, inspiring him to write the novel A Bid for Time, published in 1975. Mr. Matheson, truly wishing he could go back in time to pursue a romantic relationship with Ms. Adams, based the story and characters Elise McKenna and Richard Collier on Maude Adams and himself. The book was later made into a movie, Somewhere in Time, starring Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour. Following the movie, the book was re-released under the movie title.
Maude Adams spent a great deal of her private life pursuing rest and tranquility from the fame that followed her off stage. Much of this time was spent at her home in Lake Ronkonkoma. She purchased a farm there called Sandy Garth, which extended for several hundred acres - from where the Sachem High School now resides, all the way to the Lake Ronkonkoma Railroad. She purchased other land in the area totaling 700 acres and in her later years donated a large portion of it to the Convent of our Lady Cenacle, which is where she is buried.
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