This past Saturday was an absolutely glorious early summer day: sunny and in the 70s, birds singing, the smell of roses and hawthorn in the air. By 7:30 a.m. a small contingent of some two dozen amateur archaeologists, age 10 up to at least two in their 70s, had gathered at the corner of Tanglewood and Ducktrap Roads, equipped with bug spray, water bottles and their lunch, to walk into the woods to one of Lincolnville’s many cellar holes.

         Here’s what one participant, Corelyn Senn, had to say about the day:

“. . . it was wonderful! I shook the sifting screen for 7 hours--good exercise for sagging arm muscles!! We were working with Harbour Mitchell [the one genuine archaeologist among us] on Philip Ulmer's home site from the early 1800s. Three groups of us [were] digging in tests pits. Found were pottery, nails, bones from fish and animals used for food, lots of clam shells, a pig tusk, a couple of animal teeth, a shoe buckle, a couple of buttons, lots of brick pieces. We kept finding enough things to make it exciting. At noon about half the group left, but some of us kept on in a new test pit in which we found some more similar things. Then we moved to a completely new spot where it looked like another smaller building had been. We dug up something that looked like a filled in well, but Harbour did not think it was as the top of it was filled with all sorts of debris, particularly animal bones--like cow or pig, and there was a large pane of glass near it. Some of us still think it is a filled in well, but who knows. It was all very exciting and fun--and after 8 hours of standing and shaking the sifting screen I could hardly walk!! But I successfully walked back to the car! Actually I did not have a very auspicious beginning as walking in I got my foot caught on a looped root and fell full face on to the ground--no damage though. . . . It was a great day yesterday.” Corelyn went on to say that it was “three of the young boys who found the most amazing artifacts--big bones, big pieces of pottery, and the shoe buckle . In the afternoon they had to be reminded not to ‘mine’ – go outside the perimeter of the test pit – when they found exciting artifacts sticking out into the side of their pit about a foot down. We tried our best to be scientifically pure in our Field Class!”

         Philip Ulmer, whom I’ve mentioned in past articles, is our one ancestral townsman with a real claim to historical fame; a biography, Major Philip M. Ulmer, A Hero of the American Revolution, by Patricia Hubert was published this past year. Amazon’s description of Pat Hubert’s book says it all: “The Revolutionary War is filled with stories of bravery, but many of its heroes have remained unknown. Major Philip Ulmer, captain of the gunboat Spitfire, is one of those heroes. He first enlisted as a sergeant in the Massachusetts militia in 1775 and rose through the ranks through his exemplary leadership, courage and devotion to duty. He was involved in almost every major event in the North, including the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Siege of Boston, the Battle of Lake Champlain, the Penobscot Expedition and the battles at Trenton, Princeton and Saratoga. He served under the command of many well-known generals, including Washington, Lafayette, Arnold, Gates and Knox. After the war, Ulmer forged a business partnership with Knox in Lincolnville, Maine, and was an original founder of that town. He answered the call of duty again during the War of 1812 as an intelligence officer with the local militia defending Penobscot Bay.”

          It’s long been accepted that Philip Ulmer’s house, which was a duplicate of his brother George’s big Federal just east of the Ducktrap bridge, stood west of the bridge on the site of the present Ducktrap Motel.  But as we’ve learned over and over again this past year, history changes as new facts present themselves. We (speaking for the Lincolnville Historical Society) have long known that at some point Philip and his wife, Christiana, moved inland, up the Ducktrap, as did brother George and his wife, Polly. The two brothers, who were originally from Broad Bay, the German settlement at Waldoboro, received land grants at Ducktrap from Henry Knox after the Revolution. Each in his way, gained financial success followed by financial ruin. George ended his days in a house on North Cobbtown Road near Kendall Brook, but Philip’s last location, “a mile back from the shore”, as the old stories related, remained murky.

         Then, last fall, Randy Harvey, whose researches into the origin of the granite quarry he found on his land have led him in all sorts of directions, came upon a deed at the Waldo County Registry that cleared up the mystery. In 1803 Philip sold most of his land, including the house, buildings, and half interest in a grist mill and saw mill to Samuel Whitney, Ducktrap’s newest entrepreneur. He kept a portion of it, however, where he built a house.

         Randy mapped the lot using the deed’s coordinates, a skill, by the way, which he taught at last spring’s deed workshop that the LHS sponsored at the Library. He transferred the oddly-shaped lot to a transparent overlay and put it over the current tax map; it exactly matched the outline of part of Jim and Cindy Dunham’s land, the part containing the cellar hole. Bingo. And so two mysteries were solved: the location of Philip and Christiana’s last home, and the identity of a certain cellar hole on it.

         Enter Harbour Mitchell, LHS board member, a long-time Camden and Lincolnville resident, and a trained archaeologist who did some extensive work on a Native American site at Ducktrap twenty years ago. With enthusiastic help from the Dunhams, Harbour carefully examined the cellar hole, the way it was sited to the Whitney Road and other factors, to determine the best places to dig. Randy, Harbour, Jim, and a few others did some clearing at the site, and measured off three separate areas for the test pits.

         The dig itself was purposely kept low-key so as not to overwhelm neighbors; Cindy suggested involving interested kids as well as adults, which proved a great idea. At the end of the day, when all the pits had been dug down to the stratum that Harbour determined was “pre-occupation”, all the material, minus the artifacts that had been found, was returned to the pits and the whole tramped down. The Dunhams ask that if people are curious about the site, that they contact them for permission to go in.

Jeff Wolovitz, Lincolnville’s own and only tofu maker, will describe how his company, Heiwa Tofu is made in Belfast. Jeff started the business in Camden in September 2008 with the help of his wife, Maho Hisakawa. Since then he’s made and sold more than 300,000 pounds of tofu – almost 10 million happy bites, he says. He’ll also discuss the resources available for small Maine businesses like his, some of the lessons he’s learned in developing the business, his experiences working with New England organic farmers, and the delicate balance between running a small business and having a family life. And he will share delicious samples of Heiwa Tofu. For more information on the talk, call 763-4343 or email.

Rug Exhibit at Lincolnville Fine Art

This coming Sunday, July 5, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wally O’Brien will be displaying his handwoven rag rugs at Lincolnville Fine Art Gallery at Lincolnville Beach. Stop by and take a look at the rugs, and roam around Dwight Wass’ wonderful gallery – it’s much bigger than it looks from the outside.

         Our business, Sleepy Hollow Rag Rugs, has been in existence since 1985; our rugs are made the old way, with cloth from clothing, curtains, sheets, tablecloths, all contributed by our neighbors and friends. We often come home to a large bag full of such stuff on our doorstep. Lots of your bluejeans, t-shirts, sweaters, and sewing scraps end up in our rugs.

         Wally and I got our 200-year-old loom at an auction in 1974, me pregnant with our second son, and he concerned that I “have something to do”. So I taught myself to weave – in between babies and toddlers, organizing the L’ville food co-op, a stint on the School Committee, and more chores than I can remember – giving away and then selling rugs to friends. In 1985 we became legitimate – tax number and all that; in the following years I taught a couple of others to weave, notably Darlene Connors and Tom Flagg, who each wove in their own houses for me for several years. Then, when Wally retired from teaching in 1999, I realized he “needed something to do”, so I taught him to weave. Right from the beginning he loved it; a man who’d never done anything like it before, he began waking me up in the middle of the night, saying “do you think I should use a little yellow in that rug I’m making?” After 33 years of teaching middle schoolers, he’d found something that used a completely different kind of thinking. He’s never lost his enthusiasm for sitting down at the loom and starting another rug. Stop by and see him Sunday!

Strawberry Festival Coming Up

         It’s almost time for the annual Strawberry Festival at the United Christian Church grounds, 18 Searsmont Road. The berry-picking crew goes out tomorrow (Tuesday) morning to pick at Raven’s Berry Farm in Freedom. They’ll be back at the church by nine to turn the berries over to the “hullers and mashers”, the crew that prepares them for the shortcakes, pies, and jams that will be on sale at the Festival a week from Satruday, July 11. All the usual fun events are planned – parade, music, white elephants, children’s games and crafts – so mark your calendar for Saturday, July 11, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Looking for a metal-worker …

....with time on his or her hands. The Historical Society has a sheet metal oven that was used on top of a gas stove in a summer kitchen on Youngtown Road. When it was no longer needed, it was left in a shed for 50 or so years. You can see the gas stove in the Open Air Museum in the Center, but the oven, which is in pretty rough shape, is in a box in my cellar. All the parts are there, pretty rusty, but the front (see photo) is intact. If the oven could be restored it could be displayed, though certainly not functional. Is there any one out there who would like to tackle this project? The LHS would happily supply materials, if you're willing to volunteer your skill. I can't bring myself to throw it out...Contact me, Diane, 789-5987, and take a look at it.

An Observation

What I've learned about living in our small town is that everyone -- that's everyone! -- has something about them that drive you crazy, and then you look at them a second time and they're doing something really neat....