Edith Ames first became known to the Lincolnville Historical Society as a name on a tag attached to a sample lobster bait bag. The tag, from a Portland company instructed her how to make the bait bags to their specifications. Next we spotted her in a photo album of Beach people. The caption indicated she rented rooms to summer visitors.

Eventually we figured out, through census records, that she lived at 2537 Atlantic Highway (next door to today’s Whales Tooth Pub) and was married to Orren Ames, boat builder and operator of a boat that regularly delivered goods and passengers to Islesboro. Their son, Russell, carried on his father’s trade, building boats at his place next door to his parents.

Russell, an only child, had no children, so it’s a good bet this woman who was born in 1858 would be all but forgotten, except for that one photo of her sitting on the porch on a summer day, and the instructions she received in bait-bag manufacture.

But Edith kept a diary, at least for the year 1880 she kept a diary, the year she turned 22. It must have been among the things her son saved, because Alice Carver, who lived in Russell’s house many years after he died, found it and gave it to the LHS; Alice, or her husband Mac, probably gave us the sample bait bag, as well. That slim book of 365 entries, no more than two or three sentences each, tells us more about life at Lincolnville Beach in that year than any other resource we have.

That’s what diaries do.

Before she was Edith Ames she was Edith Philbrook, daughter to Capt. Ambrose Philbrook and granddaughter to Ambrose Sr. and Lydia Philbrook. Her mother died when Edith was an infant. That much we learned after we got the diary and looked her up in the notebook of local obituaries that Connie Parker maintains. Until the diary, written in her own hand, surfaced her obituary was just one of dozens we’ve saved just because the people lived in Lincolnville.

A word about these old obituaries: remember when people used to rely on newspaper obituaries to find out who had died? Pre-internet that would be. And they often saved them. It’s not unusual for the LHS to receive a box or folder or paper bag full of clippings, a collection that may have been found in a drawer or closet. We go through those carefully, for often an old newspaper article reveals a local story lost to history. Obituaries are like that.

This past week the LHS posted their new website https://sites.google.com/view/lincolnvillehistory/home. Take a look at it; click through the menu bar at the top and all the drop-down items. For instance, under “People” there are two sections: “In Their Own Words” and “Profiles”. Edith Philbrook’s diary can be found under that first section. Many of the other diaries/journals/letters haven’t been uploaded yet, but I plan to keep adding them during the next few months.

Here are just a few of the things revealed in Edith Philbrook’s daily life:

The family must have had a cow as “Gram churned today” is a regular entry.

Edith’s father, a mariner, was often out to sea. His ship during this period was the brig Cora Green; he may have been the captain.

Edith mentions that Gram went to a neighbor’s house to “spin”, apparently spinning wool for yarn. That surprises me because in 1880 commercially spun yarn was available; perhaps it was something the older women still did.

She often mentions going “downstreet” to shop. That would be the village of Lincolnville Beach where there were at least two and possibly three stores at that time. The list of her purchases for the year as well any income she earns is fascinating; it comes at the end of the year. Edith buys writing paper, yardage of all kinds – calico, Cambry, lace, sheeting, oilcloth, and hemp. She gets picture frames, a mirror, boots, a hat, a corset, buttons, a gold ring.

She attacks her house in a frenzy of spring cleaning in April, walking to Ducktrap for lime to make whitewash. Imagine what a year’s worth of burning kerosene lamps would do to the walls. She tackles one room at a time, washing the walls and ceiling, then whitewashing them.

She earns money selling blueberries which she’s picked, getting between $.07 and $.10 a quart, depending on the day. She does some sewing for other people, e.g. $.21 for making buttonholes. In March she’s paid $27 for teaching a term at the Cobbtown school.

But the most striking thing in the diary happens every single day; she calls on her neighbors, and they call on her. The names – Mrs. French, Mrs. Chandler, Mrs. Drinkwater, Mr. Mathews, Aunt Lucy Bullock – the list is long and because the cenus taker went from one house to the next, all these names should be found together on the same page or two. Census data gives ages, occupation, spouses, children – a wealth of information.

Her grandfather dies during this year, and Edith records all the people – many are men – who come in to sit with him in his last days, apparently staying all night. And this visiting continues after his death, only now the neighbors are coming to sit with his widow.

Were people fundamentally different in 1880 compared to the way we are with each other today? Though we do rally around the sick and the bereaved, first the telephone and now the cell phone/messenger/facebook, etc. seem to have eliminated the face to face, sit-down-and-have-a-cup-of-tea kind of visit, at least at the daily pace of Edith’s 1880 neighborhood.

This one little diary potentially tells a story about a whole neighborhood, Lincolnville Beach at that time. The diary, along with census records and other papers archived at the Schoolhouse Museum, are primary sources, the kind of information researchers relish. Any writers out there looking for primary source material? Help yourself!

This is the week that the Schoolhouse Museum opens for the season. We have some new exhibits and a 15’ timeline that we installed last year. Portions of it can be seen on the website under “History.”

We’ll be open Mondays-Wednesdays-Fridays, 1-4 p.m. The Museum is upstairs in the old Beach School, 33 Beach Road. If stairs are a problem you can ride up on our chair thing. Stop by and see us: Jane Hardy is there Mondays, I’m there Wednesdays, and Connie takes Fridays.

Anyone Have Brown Tail Moths?

A better heading would be does anyone not have BTMs? I imagine everyone in town is itching these days, between the moths, black flies, mosquitoes and ticks, my skin is a road map of pests. But I’ve long since given up on bug nets, long sleeves and pants tucked into socks. I spray myself with DEET, on hot days strip down to the essentials, and head out into the garden.

This morning’s Bangor Daily News has an article on the invasion of the BTM in the Midcoast, specifically mentioning Lincolnville and interviewing some of those affected.

However, these BTMs are a problem this year, in fact, some are calling it a public nuisance that’s going to be discussed at the Selectmen’s meeting Monday, June 24. With the Youngtown neighborhood particularly hard hit, some residents have asked the Selectmen to consider “filing a Public Nuisance complaint with the Maine DHHS …. with the goal of obtaining assistance from the State for remediation of the browntail moths and caterpillars in Lincolnville.” The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the Town Office.

Lincolnville Does the Fourth

Last year’s Fourth of July fireworks at the Beach were such a success that Don Heald and friends are putting on a bigger and better show this year.

The Beach parking lot will be cordoned off for the Midnight Riders, a local band, and for spectators, the fireworks will be staged offshore, and a bonfire on the Beach will cap off the celebration. Donnie has arranged for Waldo County deputies and our own firemen to handle traffic and parking.

Entertainment will start at 7, the fireworks go off at 9:15, and the bonfire at 9:30. Donations are welcome; all funds collected will go towards the celebration: fireworks, buses, band, etc.

Here’s the plan. Five free shuttle buses will be running continuously that evening, starting at 7:00 through about 10:30, from the Center to the Beach. They’ll pick up passengers at the school, at Western Auto, and at Stevens Corner/Bald Rock trailhead and drop them off right at the Beach parking lot. With so many shuttles there shouldn’t be more than a few minutes before one comes along.

There will be parking at the Beach post office, and along Atlantic Highway, but obviously those spots will fill up. The easiest way to get to the Beach is to park at the school or Western Auto (which has a good deal of space behind the building) and get on a shuttle.

Lincolnville Band at Breezemere

This Tuesday evening, June 25, the Lincolnville Band will be playing at Breezemere. Grab your lawn chair, bug spray and a sweater (the evenings are still chilly!) and enjoy music on a summer evening.

Red Cross Blood Drive

Next Monday, July 1, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. the Red Cross will be at the Community Building, 18 Searsmont Road, for a blood drive. You can schedule an appointment by calling 1-800-733-2767 or online.   Walk-ins are welcome as well.

Summer Reading with Liz

From the Library: “[We] will host a free public discussion on Wednesday, July 10, “Fiction from the Maine Perspective,” with award-winning author Elizabeth Hand.  A resident of Lincolnville, Liz has used Maine as the backdrop in several of her books, particularly "Generation Loss”.  This event highlights the library’s recent receipt of a generous grant from the Maine Community Foundation’s Rose and Samuel Rudman Library Trust with which we were able to purchase over forty books by Maine authors.  To highlight this expanded collection, six fiction books with Maine as the setting have been selected for the discussion.  Participants may choose to read one or more of the books in preparation for the event though we encourage anyone to attend regardless of having read any of the books.”

"Generation Loss" (2007) by Elizabeth Hand

"Rabble in Arms" (1933) by Kenneth Roberts

"Spoonhandle" (1946) by Ruth Moore

"The One-Way Bridge" (2013) by Cathie Pelletier

"Once Burned" (2015) by Gerry Boyle

"Dolores Claiborne" (1992) by Stephen King

Next Up: Strawberry Festival

Saturday, July 13 is the big day in Lincolnville Center: United Christian Church’s annual Strawberry Festival, held at the Community Building, church and grounds. There’ll be a parade, shortcake, hot dogs, pie, music, kids’ crafts and games, always a great day to mingle with neighbors and visitors, under, we hope, blue skies!