One cold evening in early December, perhaps 40 years ago, a small group gathered at Lincolnville Beach to sing Christmas carols. I can’t remember if there was a lighted tree involved, though there might have been a small fire to warm us. Before long, Ann Mills, who still lives in the house on the corner of Beach Road and Atlantic Highway, came across the road, along with her husband Leo, carrying a thermos of hot chocolate for the singers. Ann, a voice teacher, has always had a soft spot for the sound of the human voice in song, and I like to think she heard us, struggling against the cold wind to get through our favorite carols.

The germ of a good idea was born that night. MaryLou Overcash was an enthusiastic early supporter. By the next Christmas we (whoever we were; I honestly can’t remember who else was involved at that point – if you were there, please let me know!) had opened up the Lincolnville Improvement Association building, the old schoolhouse that stands halfway up Beach Hill, and brought in food. All Lincolnville events involve food, of course, and we put out the word that cookies would be welcome. Throughout the designated Saturday of the celebration women brought plates of their favorite sweets to the unlocked L.I.A.; contributions came in all day. After a few years we realized we were hopping up most of the town’s children on candy canes and sugar cookies, so more nutritious food was added to the menu. So the sandwich makers formed, a team that came together only once a year, perfecting cream-cheese-and-olive, pb and j, ham and cheese, deli turkey and mayo, cut into triangles and piled on plates; it took them barely an hour to make enough food for a small army of hungry children. Rob or Dorothee Newcombe began bringing over a couple of platters of chicken wings from the Whales Tooth every year, which are eagerly gobbled up. The tag-line “call it supper” was added to the event’s publicity, alerting parents that was one night they didn’t have to worry about feeding their kids.

In the years that followed, we found a Santa suit and various fellows wore it. Leo Mills, who occasionally sported a white beard, played Santa; Stanley Moore put on the suit for another few years. Edgar Allen enjoyed the role as well. All have since passed away. By the time the Camden-Rockport-Lincolnville Chamber of Commerce realized what we were up to and added us to their “Christmas By the Sea” events, we’d run out of willing and/or believeable Santas. ( And the suit was getting a bit threadbare.) They saved us by sending up “their” Santa and his Elf; our 4:00 start time came, conveniently enough, after the Camden and Rockport events, so Santa started arriving by fire engine, Mike Eugley at the wheel, coming with sirens sounding down Atlantic Highway, to the Beach parking lot at 4:30.

Originally a tree was cut and set up at the Beach; Jud Butterman coerced my husband, Wally, to cut down a tree on Bill Munroe’s land on South Cobbtown Road, load it on Bill  flatbed truck and haul it to the Beach. After a few years of that, a tree was planted on the spot; eventually that tree died and another was planted. For quite a few years we had a fairly small tree to celebrate, but now it’s suitably tall and hard to string lights on. Hanging those lights gets harder every year as the tree grows taller – Albert Mathieson, Robie Ames, later Andy Andrews, Bob Heald, Brian Cronin, Bob Plausse and David Kinney have done the deed at various times with the help of bucket truck owners such as Paul Crowley and most recently, Richard Lermond.

Carol singing, possibly around a little fire, was the germ of the community celebration. Early on the Cub Scouts and their dads took on the task of building an ever bigger and better fire. I’m afraid I don’t have any names that come to mind – please let me know if you were involved. Boys and fire seemed like a natural mating, especially if you put the fire on a beach and have some dads to oversee the mayhem. Though I’ll go so far as to say that the adults enjoyed it as much as the boys. Today’s bonfire, organized by Andy Young for several years now, is an example of what grown-up boys can do with fire. A stupendous pile of old lumber, broken pallets, tree limbs, and other flotsam and jetsam is lit between 3:30 and 4, resulting in an exciting and warm centerpiece for the carolers.

Christmas songs were always a big part of the celebration; Wally remembers Bernice Collemer, at the time quite an old lady, playing the piano during the party up at the L.I.A. It had become the practice for the Beach carolers to abandon the dying fire after about an hour and straggle up the hill to the warm and lighted schoolhouse. There, with cups of hot coffee or cocoa and a cookie or two, the singing could continue. Somewhere along the years Tom Shandera became the song leader at the bonfire, passing out song sheets, then picking them up and carefully storing them. Tom led the singing for a long time; I can still see hear his lovely tenor, leading us on each song. He turned over both his pitch pipe and his duties to Richard Grant nearly 20 years ago. Richard says he’s lost the pitch pipe along the way and it’s a problem, as he’s never sure he’s starting on the right note. Nevertheless, he enthusiastically keeps the crowd singing on the coldest night.

Some years Barbara Gould took dozens of children upstairs in the Schoolhouse Museum and read them a story. For a while we bought and wrapped a small present for each child, handing them out as they left along with a candy cane. For a couple of years John Cookson brought his work horses and wagon to the Beach and gave rides down the Ferry Road under the cold, starry sky. Liz Hand, new to town and with two tiny toddlers in tow, remembers standing in line for a ride and meeting Cindy Dunham, Lynn Tauss and Dave McLain all with a passel of rambunctious little boys. Those friendships have endured, even as those little ones are all grown up.

An after school project for children to make ornaments to decorate for the party has survived for more than 30 years. Penny Rae, a dedicated collector of craft materials and project ideas, used to do it, then Marian Swanson took it over, and so it’s passed down through the years. Each year when the boxes of decorations are taken down from the shelves in the L.I.A. storage closet those ancient ornaments – Styrofoam balls engraved with the names of children now 40 years old, a tablecloth signed a couple of decades ago by every child in attendance, crumbling paper chains -- they all spill out. While the moms (Jean English, the late Jane Heald, Nancy Carroll, Jane Cummons, Betcie Silverio, Polly Ryel and so many others) made sandwiches, their offspring decorated the artificial tree, festooned the walls and posts and light fixtures with handmade chains. Those children came back as high schoolers; for some, the only Santa Claus they ever knew was the C of C Santa who came every year.

The Beach Tree Lighting and Community Christmas Party, as the event came to be called, always had an unofficial chairman, always (so far) a woman, who generally held the “honor” for several years. As Liz Hand puts it, “as soon as you take it on, you plot your exit strategy!” I was “it” in the earliest years, passing it on to Penny Rae, thence to Marian Swanson, to Liz, who gave it to Cindy Dunham, and now to Christine Buckley. Fingers crossed here that I haven’t left anyone out. As I’ve said, many others carried on their parts, but that one person made the phone calls – is Santa on board? how about the fire department? Song leader? Bonfire builder? Sandwich makers? Each person left their mark: me; the sandwiches, Penny and Marian; the ornament making, Liz; gingerbread-men-decorating in the kitchen during the party, Christine; her delicious chicken tortilla soup served up with the sandwiches. And then there are the, generally, men pushing the broom at the end of the party: Bo Rae, Wally, John Clute, Jim Dunham, and often the older children of the organizers. 

“Hello Lincolnville Families! Please plan to attend this wonderful tradition – Bonfire, Santa, Caroling, Party -- down at the beach and spread the word to new Lincolnville Families you may know!  Let them know that SANTA will be there to hear of their children's Christmas wishes!  If you can bring a dish or a snack to share, that would be wonderful! It’s all free! See you there!!!”

Town Giving Tree

Elizabeth Garber, whose great-grandparents, Elbert and Alice Hubbard, were passengers on the Lusitania, the ocean liner that was sunk by a German submarine in the Irish Sea in 1915, which ultimately led to the U.S. entering World War I. Nearly 1200 civilians were lost, including the Hubbards. Elizabeth will tell about Elbert Hubbard, founder of the New York arts and crafts community Roycroft, and his wife, Alice, a writer and suffragette. Elbert is described as “one of the most famous men in America” in Erik Larson’s bestseller Dead Wake: the last crossing of the Lusitania, which the library book group recently finished reading. The talk will be Wednesday, December 2 at 7 p.m. at the Lincolnville Library. All Library-sponsored talks are free. Contact Sheila by email or call 763-4343.

Wreaths Across America

Kevin Johnson, photo archivist for the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, Maine will present Lincolnville: The Postcard View; Selections from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company” at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 9 at the Lincolnville Library, 209 Main Street.  The free slide show and talk will consist of the story of the postcard company as well as the historical views of Lincolnville and surrounding towns. The Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company was founded in 1909 in Belfast, Maine by Rudolph Herman Cassens producing over 50,000 glass plate negatives of New England and Upstate New York between 1909 and 1947. The collection is full of historic businesses, family homes and local landmarks. The images are fascinating on many levels. They take viewers back in time to when the roads were still dirt, horse drawn carriages outnumbered cars, coastlines were undeveloped, and elms lined the streets. The collection is now part of the archives of the Penobscot Marine Museum and continues to grow as more negatives that "escaped" from the collection are located and acquired. The collection is being digitized and more than 60,0000 thousand images can now be viewed on the museum's website in their online database.

Wreaths Around Town

Wally came out of the woods the other day, the last dry day of hunting season, and pronounced the season over. Though he didn’t bring home a deer, he says he’s now on a first name basis with most of the red squirrels on Frohock Mountain.