A love story, Blueberries, Radio Play

Diane O’Brien: This week in Lincolnville

Mon, 07/28/2014 - 12:00pm

    On January 1, 1908, exactly six weeks before my mother would be born half a continent away, Ralph Richards, one of Lincolnville’s rural mail carriers, started a five-year diary....  07/26/08 Sunday: Hot oh so hot just cussed. Sammy and I, Herb, Sarah and Nora Duncan went blueberrying and fishing down to the Coleman Pond. We got no fish but lots of berries and had some fine swimming.

    7/27/08 Monday: Still awfull hot and I am so tired but what of it. I must enjoy my Sundays even if I die Monday. Poor Sammy I know she must be about all in my small girl is tired. Awfull tired.

    7/29/08 Wednesday: Another fine day, just great, but oh what is the use to admire butifull mornings when the morning of our life is passed and one is alone. I am so lonely and today they finished painting the house, out Home. Hom, Hell, I have no home and never shall.

    Ralph, a 30-year-old Spanish American War veteran and a bachelor, nominally lived with his parents and sister at 2685 Belfast Road, but actually spent most week nights at Eunice French’s boarding house at the Beach to be near the Post Office. Here he set off every day but Sunday on his 25-mile route through Lincolnville and Searsmont, traveling over the rough dirt roads in a horse-drawn wagon, or, if the roads were snow covered, on “runners” — a sleigh.

    08/01/08 Saturday: Fair and just a little bit cooler. Went to the Ctr tonight for Sammy, she is sick poor little woman. She has nearly worked and worried herself to death. It’s a G-D shame the way her folks use her. My Sammy.

    08/02/08 Sunday: Fine day great. Got up at 2:30 this morning and went over to Pitcher Pond. Fishing but could get no boat so got no fish. Sammy was over a while today and tonight we went up to Fred “Hump” Leadbetter’s listening to his fony.graf. Awfull cold tonight.

    08/04/08 Tuesday: Fair but some cooler. Big mascarad dance on the Beach tonight. Sammy and I went but did not mask. Big time and a bum one. Carl Rankin came home today from Portland hospital. Had Dandy shod tonight. Paid Miss Hentz $6.50 in full for one half ton hay.

    In nearly every entry Ralph mentions Vesta McKinney, the young woman he was courting. He usually calls her “Sammy”. This “man’s man” — war veteran, hunter, trapper, builder of boats and every other useful thing — longed for his “little Sammy”, his “Snowball”. He was depressed when they had a disagreement, exhilarated when he saw her; he saved his money for years toward the distant day when they could marry.

    That day finally came in 1911, but it would be months before they could at last go to housekeeping; i.e., living together. They bought the house at 18 Beach Road where they lived their until their deaths, his in 1966, hers in 1971. They had no children.

    You can read this first diary (the Historical Society has several more of Ralph’s diaries) all five years of it. The others, which he kept meticulously until the day of his death, almost never mention Sammy, and when they do, he calls her Vesta.

    The late Jackie Watts discovered the Ralph Richards diaries on eBay, which she checked almost every day for Lincolnville-related items. The Historical Society was able to buy several of them; the missing years — several more volumes — were already sold. Although we know who bought them, efforts to buy them, copy them or even to see them have been fruitless.

    See all the diaries, including this first one which is illustrated throughout with Ralph’s drawings, at the Schoolhouse Museum, located on the second floor of the Lincolnville Improvement Association (LIA) building.

    A new feature this summer are a grouping of three historic maps displayed together. One, which was discovered just this past spring, shows most of the early land owners, many going back to Henry Knox in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The map was photographed by John Williams, of Camden, who then donated a mounted copy some four-feet-square.

    The second is the more familiar 1859 map of Lincolnville showing all the houses and who lived in them at that time; this copy is in color, as was the original Waldo County map it came from. The third map is the one developed for the Open Air Museum in the Center, a map showing all the 100-plus year old houses, cellar holes, dams, bridges, lime kilns, quarries and other features still visible in our woods and along our roads and streams.

    Museum curator Connie Parker will help you find material relating to your own family (if local!) and to your house/property, as well as showing you Ralph’s diaries, and the LHS’ extensive collection of old photos. It’s a great place to spend an afternoon looking through old documents, ledgers, and files. The Schoolhouse Museum is open Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays 1-4 p.m. and is handicapped accessible.

    Last week Walt Simmons, Ducktrap boatbuilder, gave an entertaining talk at the Library on wherries, their history, their uses, their connection to Lincolnville. Walt doesn’t lecture, but rather uses a more informal method, asking the audience to ask him what they want to know. Since he was speaking to a roomful of boat people, the questions came fast. If you missed the talk, or want to listen to it again, it’s here

    Blueberry season is open as of some time last week as blueberry crews take to the fields of the Midcoast. While our fields tend to be hilly, rocky, and weedy around the stonewalls that crisscross them, the fields of Lincolnville, Hope, Appleton, Rockport, Union, etc. produce a fair share of Maine’s blueberry crop. The nature of the fields makes harvesting more labor intensive; mechanical harvesters are less useful than on the wide-open Washington County blueberry barrens. Most of the larger producers, even here in the Midcoast, sell their crop to the processors to be frozen or otherwise processed. Fresh-pack, selling the cleaned berries in quarts or 10# boxes is growing in popularity around here, and this year I know of three Lincolnville fresh-pack sellers:

    Hannah Burke sells from home (352 Hope Road) or at Drake’s Corner Store. Find her at hannahscool@yahoo.com, or 322-0517.

    Briar Lyons and Jon Fishman’s Elderflower Farm has MOFGA certified organic berries; order at elderflowerfarm@gmail.com

    Blueberries are also available for pick-up at Nicole Maynard and Doug Mott’s Continuous Harmony Farm, 534 Youngtown Road.

    Please let me know of any other fresh-pack blueberry operations in Lincolnville.

    Bayleaf Cottages’, 2372 Atlantic Highway, monthly L’ville Neighborhood potluck is on for tonight, Monday, 6-8 p.m., rain or shine. Bring a dish to share; Bayleaf provides the meat/beans. Last month some 40 people came!

    On Saturday, August 2, Crossroads Community Baptist Church will host another of their popular free Block Parties; some 100 people from all over the Midcoast have attended these family friendly events in the past. The place is Breezemere Park in Lincolnville Center, and the time is 5-7 p.m. There’ll be two bounce houses, animal balloons, a dunk house, sno-cones, a BBQ picnic and lots more.

    Also Saturday, 7 p.m. at the Community Building, Rosey Gerry and his troupe of players will present “The Betrail”, a murder mystery set in the churchyard. Rosey, well-known auctioneer, car guy, woodsman, selectman, singer, (have I left anything out?) oh yes, playwright, has re-worked the original play he wrote and produced some ten years ago at the Grange, into a radio play. Admission is $10 and includes homemade pie at intermission. I hear there’ll be fresh raspberry, peach, and blueberry for sure. Contact Lois Lyman, 763-4170, to reserve tickets or get them at the door. All proceeds benefit the Community Building’s kitchen/bathroom project.

     Calendar

    Monday, July 28
    Community Potluck,
    6-8 p.m., Bayleaf Cottages

    Selectmen meet, 6 p.m., Town Office


    Wednesday, July 30
    Board of Assessors,
    6 p.m., Town Office

    Planning Board, 7 p.m., Town Office


    Friday, July 25
    Beyond the Sea Book Festival, Beyond the Sea Book Festival,
    July 25-27, Lincolnville Beach

    Saturday, August 2
    Community Crossroads Baptist Church Block Party,
    5-7 p.m., Breezemere Park

    “The Betrail”, radio play, 7 p.m., Community Building


    Sunday, August 3
    North Cobbtown Road Historic Walk,
    1 p.m., 10th Avenue off North Cobbtown road

     


    Every week

    AA meetings, Tuesdays & Fridays at 12:15 p.m., Wednesdays & Sundays at 6 p.m., United Christian Church

    Beach Farmers’ Market, Fridays, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m., Dot’s

    Ducktrap Valley Farm Maple Products, Saturdays, 9 – noon, 6 Heal Road

    Lincolnville Community Library Open Hours: Tuesdays, 5-8 p.m., Wednesdays, 2-7 p.m., Fridays & Saturdays 9 a.m.-noon.

    Schoolhouse Museum Open Hours: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, 1-4 p.m., L.I.A. Building, 2nd floor

    Soup Café, Thursdays, noon-1 p.m., Community Building, free (donations appreciated)


    COMING UP

    August 9
    Blueberry Wingding, McLaughlin’s Restaurant

    August 16
    Grange supper, Tranquility Grange

    August 20
    Lincolnville Historical Society program: Skip Brack, Library

    September 20
    Grange supper, Tranquility Grange

     

    Attention, all those who live or summer on Pitcher Pond: this Sunday at 1 p.m. Corelyn Senn, intrepid explorer of Lincolnville woods and streams, will be leading a walk on North Cobbtown Road, starting at 10th Avenue, pointing out the cellar holes and cemeteries along the way. Corelyn not only finds these things, but then puts in hours at the Waldo County Registry of Deeds and the Schoolhouse Museum researching who might have lived on each parcel of land. She’s learned who the families were, who lived in what are now just rock-lined holes in the ground, and what happened to them and their descendents. All are welcome to join the walk. The rain date is August 10. Contact Corelyn or 789-5139.

     Next weekend yet another local institution holds its annual fundraiser: the Lincolnville Imnprovement Associaton’s Blueberry WingDing includes a Blueberry Pancake Breakfast at McLaughlin’s Restaurant from 7-10:30 with blueberry treats and crafts on sale outside, and a drawing for seven gift certificates to Beach restaurants and businesses. Raffle tickets are $5 each or $25 for 6. Contact Lee Cronin or 236-0028 for tickets.

    Vivia Andrews’ photo of hollyhocks comes with a story. They’re growing in Ruth Felton’s garden, which is next to the house that Ruth was born in. Literally everywhere she looks, she sees the hands of her parents, Joe and Elsie Nickerson. The hollyhocks were Elsie’s, only hers were pale pink and grew under the picture window. These are vibrant pinks and burgundies and popped up, unbidden and not planted, smack in the middle of Ruth’s (and Joe’s) vegetable garden this year. Elsie’s hollyhocks disappeared years ago, but isn’t it funny how these appeared out of nowhere?

    Has anyone seen a moose in Lincolnville lately? I don’t think I’ve heard of a moose spotting in at least a year, and it’s been several years since I’ve seen one. We used to see them fairly often. We came upon a handsome buck the other day at the Tanglewood-Ducktrap corner, standing near the road, his summer coat all golden, and his large rack covered in velvet.

    Other wildlife here at Sleepy Hollow and the Beach include the morning loon fly-over, as one or two loons call loudly all the way from Coleman Pond to the shore where they have breakfast every day. Joining them when the tide’s out are a pair of herons, perusing the flats and shallows for goodies. The turkey hens are out and about with their chicks and snakes sun themselves on rock walls, but the most unusual animal I’ve seen was hiding on top of our rug rack out in the front yard. I felt it when I was taking down our “Open” signs, something sort of slimy up there. It was a quite small frog, with grayish brownish coloring and suckers on its toes – Google told me it was a Gray Tree Frog. Hard to figure out how/why it got on top of our rug rack, but most likely it hopped or fell out of the tree that hangs over.

    The Garden Pest of the Week, winning hands down, is the Japanese beetle. They love to eat almost anything that grows, but especially favor grape leaves, roses, and beans. We don’t have raspberries, but I hear they’re hell on those. We’ve found them on the peas, the asparagus, the hollyhocks; they’re like certain young men for whom anything female will do. Fortunately, I’m married to a hunter-gatherer man who, depending on the season, will bring home mushrooms, blueberries, raspberries, trout – whatever he finds. At the moment, he’s focused on Japanese beetles.

    Twice a day, he patrols all the likely feeding spots with a container of water, scoops ‘em in, sometimes six or seven at a time, as they like to eat in a crowd. Then he calls out to Chico Garcia, our rooster (and who now answers to his name), and puts the container of frantically-swimming beetles into the henyard. Chico calls his hens, and everybody flocks around the Sleepy Hollow Beetle Bar, snapping up the whole mess in less than 30 seconds.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    To be included in This Week in Lincolnville, contact Diane, ragrugs@midcoast.com with events, family milestones, wildlife sightings, anything to do with our town.

     

     

    Lincolnville Resources

    Town Office: 493 Hope Road, 763-3555

    Lincolnville Fire Department: 470 Camden Road, non-emergency 542-8585, 763-3898, 763-3320

    Fire Permits: 763-4001 or 789-5999

    Lincolnville Community Library: 208 Main Street, 763-4343

    Lincolnville Historical Society: LHS, 33 Beach Road, 789-5445

    Lincolnville Central School: LCS, 523 Hope Road, 763-3366

    Lincolnville Boat Club, 207 Main Street, 975-4916

    Bayshore Baptist Church, 2636 Atlantic Highway, 789-5859, 9:30 Sunday School, 11 Worship

    Crossroads Community Baptist Church, meets at LCS, 763-3551, 11:00 Worship

    United Christian Church, 763-4526, 18 Searsmont Road, 9:30 Worship

    Contact person to rent for private occasions:

    Community Building: 18 Searsmont Road, Diane O’Brien, 789-5987

    Lincolnville Improvement Association: LIA, 33 Beach Road, Bob Plausse, 789-5811

    Tranquility Grange: 2171 Belfast Road, Rosemary Winslow, 763-3343