Remember this song?

 

M-O-T-H-E-R
"M" is for the million things she gave me,
"O" means only that she's growing old,
"T" is for the tears she shed to save me,
"H" is for her heart of purest gold;
"E" is for her eyes, with love-light shining,
"R" means right, and right she'll always be,
Put them all together, they spell "MOTHER,"
A word that means the world to me.

- Howard Johnson

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there. Enjoy this video.

 

 

 

A Mother’s Day Proclamation

From Wikipedia

This proclamation was written by Julia Ward Howe, in 1870. She also wrote “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” in 1861, which glorified the Civil War. The feeling at the time was that war was glorious and would end in a few weeks. Four years later, after almost a million were killed in battle, Howe had a change of heart, and wrote the following proclamation. Kudos to Maine Boats, Homes and Harbors for bringing these moving words to my attention.

Arise then…women of this day!

Arise, all women who have hearts!

Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly: “We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,

Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,

For caress and applause.

Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn

All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.

We, the women of one country,

Will be too tender of those of another country

To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with Our own. It says: “Disarm! Disarm!

The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”

Blood does not wipe out dishonor,

Nor violence indicate possession

As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil

At the summons of war,

Let women not leave all that may be left of home

For a great and earnest day of counsel…

Whereby the great human family can live in peace…

Everybody brings you flowers, Mother…

Mother’s Day is this Sunday, May 12. This year I thought I’d bring you some of my mother’s past. First, though, I found this old hand-made card I must have made for my mother when I was about ten, judging by the level of artistic prowess I had at that time and my handwriting. I don’t remember where I came across it, but my mother saved such things and I suppose she put it into the “Sandra” pile when she was cleaning out stuff in the attic on Fulton Street. In any event, I’m glad she did.

I was probably ten or eleven when I made this card, which would make it around 1950 or so. I shortened the length of the front page of the card so that the border of bluebells going down the right side showed up for the cover and for the inside page. As roses were my mother’s favorite flower, I put one on the front cover.

The inside says “Everybody brings you flowers, Mother. So I’m just giving you just this card with a Rose in a vase on the cover. Your loving daughter, Sandra.”

My mother usually got shortchanged in May because both her birthday and Mother’s Day fell in that month. She never complained though. She always made as big a deal about the card you gave her as she would an expensive gift were we able to give her one.

Now for the past I promised you. This is a picture of her 1927 graduation from Rockland High School. Her name then was Evangeline Lana Winchenbaugh. I assume it was taken in a studio because of the branches behind her. That is not wallpaper because you can see a branch coming down over the wainscoting. It looks like she even has a twig in her hair. I can’t imagine what kind of bush it was. Did they have artificial flowers then?

I assume also the paper in her hand is either a fake diploma used for such pictures or she actually kept her own diploma to have her picture taken with it later. I wish the picture showed her feet. I’m sure she probably had on some kind of white nylon-type stocking and most likely white shoes with some kind of strap on them.

The other thing I wonder about is where the money came from to pay for this picture. Her family of eight children didn’t usually allow for such extravagances. She did start working at E.C. Moran early because she graduated early, although I expect she went through the graduation day proceedings. Therefore, she could have paid for it herself. It could also be that my grandfather, who was a scholarly man, albeit a self-made man, may have been very proud of his eldest daughter and insisted on having a memento of the occasion.

As graduation will soon be upon us again, I thought I’d mention the folks who graduated with my mother in 1927. I will bring you more of what is inside her Cauldron for that year at a later date. I’ve already given you a peak at the ads in that issue. Just glancing through the book I saw many last names that were familiar even in my own high school days. Names like: Merriam, Bicknell, Ames, Merrill, Crane, Flanagan, Stoddard, Small, Ladd, Bird, Cole, and Gay.

There were 77 graduating members of the 1927 Rockland High School class. How many of these names are you familiar with?

Lempi Anderson, Elizabeth Annis, Madeline Bubier, Bessie Blackwood, Leland Blackington, Bradford Burgess, Virginia Bisbee, Richard Bird, Myer Benovitch, Donald Cameron, Christine Curtis, Beulah Cole, Ruth Crouse, Catherine Critch, Albertina Creighton, Marian Clark, Raymond Cross, Arlene Chaples, Annie Dunn, William Davis, Wendell Emery, Walter Ellis, John Flanagan, Maybelle Fales, Cedric French, Kendall Greene, Marion Greene, Evelyn Green, Helen Glidden, Edna Gregory, Ida Harper, Hattie Hupper, Malcolm Hoxie, Elizabeth Hamlin, Margaret Hellier, Alice Hodgkins, Estelle Hall, Mervin Harriman, May Johnston, Ruth Koster, Frank Knight, Wilbur Kennedy, Oiva Lempi, Helen LaCrosse, Claribel Lowe, Florence Legage, Robert McCarty, Alice Merrick, Ruth Mealey, Alva Mears, Etta Mitchell, Louise McIntosh, Dorothy Maloney, Donald Merriam, Randall Marshall, Earle Moore, Kenneth Overlock, Francis Orne, Evelyn Perry, Peter Pellicane, Delia Parsons, Palmer Pease, Ethel Quinn, Ethel Rackliff, Evelyn Simmons, Ruth Stearns, Virginia Snow, Mary Sylvester, Samuel Smalley, Sydney Segal, Ethel Thomas, Luther Wotton, Robert Wallis, Frances Winchenbach, Evangeline Winchenbaugh,, Parker Young, Linola Young.

The Summer “Cottages” of

Mount Desert Island

From discover-acadia.com

In October of last year I brought you the story of the terrible fire at Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island. October 17 was the 65^th anniversary of that terrible fire which changed the face of the area and the face of our Maine economy for many years to come.

As the summer season approaches us we will again see many visitors to the popular Bar Harbor area and Acadia National Park. I would like to give a short history of that area to our summer visitors to carry with them as they visit this historical site.

The mid 1800s saw the area of Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island and what was to become Acadia National Park turn into a rustic haven for the rich. Tourism was a booming industry.

The wealthy folks from out-of-state who became our first “summer visitors” chose to spend their summers in the area. Names such as Rockefeller, Morgan, Ford, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, and Astor eventually built immense “cottages” and followed a lavish summer lifestyle. Some of these “cottages” had 100 rooms. These folks came for “the season.” In the days before income taxes and before the Great Depression, they had a lot of money to spend and our state benefitted from their summer presence.

Whole families would relocate to the Bar Harbor area for the summer. When cars began to appear they were not allowed on Mount Desert Island. Therefore for this and other reasons, the summer residents referred to themselves as “rusticators” believing they were living a rustic life. No Mainer ever lived such a lavish “rustic” life.

Today we have other summer visitors to Maine. Not only to Mount Desert Island, but to other areas all over Maine. (See list at the end of this story.)

The first hotel on the island was built by Tobias Roberts in 1855. In 1868, Alpheus Hardy was the first person to build a summer home. It was called Birch Point.

The History of Acadia National Park

The Land:

The land, of course, has been here for many eons. The pink granite cliffs called Otter Cliffs were formed 350 million years ago. Jordan Pond, Eagle Lake and other bodies of water were formed when glaciers 3000 feet thick dug its way through the area. The glaciers also left behind huge boulders like “Bubble Rock,” which are called glacial erratic.

Early Residents:

The original settlers were Native American Wabanaki Indians. When the Europeans “discovered” Mount Desert Island, including the Jesuits, they were intent on converting the natives. Early explorers were Samuel Champlain and Sieur de la Mothe Cadillac, for whom Cadillac Mountain is named. For nearly a century and a half the English and French fought for control of the area.

By the end of the Revolutionary War, The United States took control and by the 1800s there were several settlements on the island.

Establishment of Acadia National Park:

The wealthy visitors to Maine in the summer did more than take from the area, they also gave. Some of the landowners saw a need to preserve Acadia for future generations. Men like George B. Dorr and John D. Rockefeller saw to it that many lands were donated and/or set aside…6000 acres by 1913. They were directly responsible for the establishment of Acadia National Park.

The name of the park started out as Sieur de Monts National Monument but the status and name changed to Acadia National Park in 1929. Today the park consists of more than 47,000 acres.

These pictures are from the National Park Service site. The first one is of Cadillac Mountain in the fall and the second one is of Otter Cliff.

Acadia National Park contains more than 120 miles of historic hiking trails. Many of these trails were established by local village improvement societies in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Today many of the historic features, such as stonework, are still visible.

Today the park sees more and more visitors which is putting a strain on the over-burdened and underfunded national park system. Thanks to the dedication of federal employees and volunteers, Acadia continues to welcome its summer visitors.

The End of the “Cottage” Era

The Great Depression, tax problems and finally the great fire of 1947 saw the end of the “Cottage” era of the 1880s. Maine’s summer economy suffered for many years. A brick mansion called “High Seas” is one of the last remaining summer cottages in the area of the fire. It sits on a point overlooking Frenchman Bay. The mansion is surrounded by National Park land and is owned by Jackson Laboratories.

I remember when I was very little that I went on a boat trip with my parents along the area where many of the cottages were. Some abandoned cottages were pointed out along the way. It must have been just before the fire or else I wouldn’t have remembered it. Those places would have all been gone after the fire. It was a ghostly feeling to imagine how many people once called these places home in the summertime and who now were all gone.

There are still visible areas that show where the fire was in the form of barren spots and new growth along the coast—65 years later! It takes a long time to grow a new forest.

Today’s Summer Visitors

Here are just a few of our more recent famous summer residents. There are many more. If you want a complete list there are several sites on Google to go to:

John Travolta and Kelly Preston, Islesboro: They have owned a house on Isleboro for decades now. We had to ask John not to fly his big plane into Knox County Airport, however. I believe he now flys into Bangor.

Glenn Close, Scarborough: lives part of her summer in the Cumberland County town.

Willem Dafoe, Otisfield: The “Spider-Man” star owns a winter retreat on Thompson Lake in Oxford County.

Stockard Channing, Georgetown: She summers here.

Genie Francis and Jonathan Frakes, Belfast: The couple — she known for her work on “General Hospital,” he as Commander Riker on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” — own a house and business in Belfast.

Patrick Dempsey, Harpswell: is a born and bred Mainer — born in Lewiston, grew up in Buckfield — now has property in the Cumberland County town of Harpswell.

Kirstie Alley, Islesboro: Though it appears she has now sold her home, the star of “Cheers” owned a palatial estate on the Penobscot Bay island, along with her friends John Travolta and Kelly Preston.

Susan Sarandon, Bar Harbor: The Oscar winner has spent a number of summers on Mount Desert Island.

Martha Stewart, Seal Harbor: The domestic goddess’ second home is in Seal Harbor, in a beautiful, well-kept estate.

George and Barbara Bush, Kennebunkport: The 41st president of the United States has summered in Kennebunkport for decades.

Our beloved State of Maine will always draw those people who love our special natural beauty. We welcome them all.

Thanks for listening.

Note: Next month I will try to bring you more on activities and special places of interest at Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor. For an online guide to the park go to:

www.nps.gov/acad/guides-guide.htm