Sun, 09/28/2025 - 7:31pm

Ed O’Brien

Stacking wood on a Sunday Morning. (Photo by Ed O’Brien)

Along with the crisp air and the yellowish glow of the leaves shining in my bedroom window, there is another sense indicator of autumn in Lincolnville — the smell of woodsmoke.

The fire kindled to push away to chill of the early morning, and generally left to die down before the sun fully rises, bringing warmth to a land settling toward winter. The gardens have settled down from the riot of late summer, with just some root vegetables still in the earth, cabbages waiting to be harvested, a few late tomatoes surviving until that first frost.

Many old places in this town of ours continue to rely on the wood stoves. Once the only reliable source of warmth against the cold, even the oldest farmhouses now usually have an oil furnace down cellar, but the wood stoves remain.

Ma’s kitchen, in the downstairs part of this old place, still has the old Glenwood range. Glenwood kitchen stoves, manufactured in Taunton, Massachusetts, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, are still a fixture in many farmhouse kitchens.

As a child, our battered Glenwood was not only a source of heat, but also the primary cooking appliance. It wasn’t until later that my parents bought an electric oven, relying instead on the oven in the Glenwood, with its broken temperature gauge and uneven baking. At some point, they found a small gas stove that connected to the side of the Glenwood, providing three temperamental burners.

There can be a bit of pride among some about how long they can hold out before lighting that first fire of the autumn (or, for those more fully in the 21st century, the first time they crank the thermostat). Ma, into her eighth decade, cannot be bothered with such, and as soon as she is chilly in the morning, that first fire is lit in the kitchen stove.

As the nights and days get ever cooler, the living room stove is cleaned and lit, and days are punctuated by requests from the lady downstairs for the wood box to be filled, that brick box which sets against the central chimney between the kitchen and living room stoves. By the time you hit 81, and you have five living upstairs between the ages of 14 and 50, you should not have to get your own wood.

Of course, those of us living upstairs benefit from the fires Ma kindles downstairs. The warmth flows up the central stairwell and through the floorboards. Delaying how long before we start cranking our own thermostats.

As a child, this house was warmed almost exclusively by wood. There was even a brief time when the hot water was dependent on a year round fire in the Glenwood. In the spring, sometimes when ice still gathered on the driveway, the logging truck would show up, depositing a massive pile of four foot logs. My dad, on the weekends, would tackle the pile with his unreliable old chainsaw, converting the lengths into four foot logs, and splitting them by hand.

My brothers and I would stack these into the lean-to style woodshed, with the slightly slanted roof next to the forsythia bush in the dooryard, to dry in the summer heat. I spent many hours sitting atop that woodshed, with a litter of barn kittens. It was the perfect place to help kittens acclimate to people so they could be adopted out — the skittish critters could not escape from the top of the roof.

Later, a more solid woodshed was built directly in front of the doorstep, greatly reducing the distance between shed and woodbox and stove. Though at the price of obscuring the front of the house.

An early project after the great renovation of 2018 that led to my family moving to Sleepy Hollow, was the tear down of that woodshed, and the construction of a new shed off to the west side of the home, build largely by my wife and father-in-law with boards he had put through his sawmill.

Ma was doubtful about the distance from the front door, but now she had grandchildren who could bring in the firewood.

The wood is no longer delivered in four foot lengths, but dumped off pre-split. The pile off to the side of the house, has been drying all summer, and whatever else can be said about the summer of 2025, it has indeed been a good year for seasoning firewood.

So today, my brothers have agreed to come by, and my wife will blast inappropriate music on her portable speaker, and the shed will be filled for the winter. Hopefully before football starts at one.

The old man with his frequently malfunctioning chainsaw and splitting maul is gone, but his spirit lives on, maybe more so on wood stacking day. I would not be surprised if we catch a whiff of his pipe smoke on the air.

Fabric Art at the Community Building

From Sunday September 28 to Sunday October 12, the Community Building at 18 Searsmont Road will host a retrospective of 50 years creating fabric art by Barbara Bentley. There will be viewing times from 2 to 5 p.m. on October 1, 4, 6, 8, and 11, with a closing reception on October 12.

As a member of the Lincolnville UCC, I have seen the beautiful pieces that hang in the sanctuary. Barbara is as talented as an artist with fabric and a sewing machine as she was in her previous career as one of my high school teachers.

Library Happenings

This week at the Lincolnville Community Library will be the Senior Planet Program “Everyday Uses of AI” from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 30. Also on Tuesday, the needleworkers will meet from 3 to 5. All are welcome.

Wednesday the Library will host LCS grades K-2, who will walk the path from the school to the Library. Preschoolers and their parents are welcome for story time on Friday, October 3 at 10 a.m. The youngest Lincolnville residents are welcome back on Saturday for Music Together at 10 a.m.

Town Meeting

Once again, do not forget the special town meeting Monday, at 6 p.m. at Walsh Common at LCS, to determine whether we support using funds from the Harbor Reserve Account to purchase land at the beach boat landing. Ask questions, and make your voice heard.

Have a wonderful week, Lincolnville. Enjoy the autumn glow, the cool nights, the late afternoon sunshine. Take care of yourselves, show your welcome to our leaf peeping visitors. Reach out to me at ceobrien246@gmail.com.

Municipal Calendar

Monday, September 29

Historical Society Museum Open, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., 33 Beach Road

Special Town Meeting, 6 p.m., LCS

Selectboard Meeting, immediately following Town Meeting, Town Offce

Tuesday, September 30

Library open 3-6 p.m. 208 Main Street

AA Meeting 12:15 p.m., Community Building, 18 Searsmont Road

Wednesday, October 1

Library Open, 2-5 p.m., 208 Main Street

Historical Society Museum Open, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., 33 Beach Road

Comprehensive Plan Review, 6 p.m., Town Office