So anyone who follows me on social media knows I love a silly little movie about a doll. Yeah, I have seen the Barbie Movie. Twice. First with my daughter and my middle boy, and again last weekend with my wife. My wife was not overly impressed. She liked it OK, but I am not sure it resonated with her.

See my wife is a girl from Maine. She is already independent and strong; the lady who built our new chicken house a couple years ago with her dad, the two of them barely talking, just putting the boards and beams where they belonged. My role was to bring them each a cold beer at the end of the day.

The Barbie Movie is about women’s strength, and how men tend to fail to recognize that strength. This is not a lesson my wife needed to learn. I should not be surprised, because, well, like many men, I married a woman a lot like my dear old mom.

Ma. Diane O’Brien to you, is an extraordinary woman. She arrived here in Lincolnville in 1970, having fallen in love with a crumbling farmhouse at the top of Sleepy Hollow. Thanks to her new husband’s access to veteran’s benefits, they were able to buy this place for the grand sum of $15,000.

And so my family got its start in Lincolnville. Hmm. What would $15k get you now, in this little place on the coast?

Ma got busy. Through the 70s, she bore three boys, who all went on to do awesome things, but her real work was this town. She’d fallen in love this place, and she wanted to know all about it. She arrived at a time when Lincolnville’s agrarian past was fading. So she sought out those who still remembered. She preserved their stories. I often think of her, a young mother, sitting at kitchen tables, recording the memories of other women… it was mostly women. Women remember.

It was probably her relationship with Jackie Young Watts that was the most influential. Jackie, a local girl, remembered. Jackie got Ma involved with the Lincolnville Historical Society. Today, this is an organization on the rise, having recently purchased the Beach Schoolhouse from the town, where our history is held.

Which brings me to my story. The second floor of the Beach Schoolhouse has long been the repository for town artifacts. But space is limited. And it is on the second story of an old building. I still remember when Ma convinced me and my brother to drag up a Glenwood stove to be part of an exhibit on 19th century kitchens or some such nonsense. Ouch.If you are going to present the history of a small town on the coast of Maine, there are certain artifacts that will not fit in the second story of an old schoolhouse. 

As I have written about before, in 2012 the townspeople dragged another old schoolhouse across Main Street to create the Lincolnville Library on the former site of Dean and Eugley’s Garage. Seeing the extra space this plot of land provided, Ma got it in her head that this would be the perfect spot to place a Lincolnville Historical Society Museum extension. A place to put the artifacts that her sons could not or would not drag into the second story of the Beach Schoolhouse. An open-air museum. Which, of course, would be named for her friend Jackie. 

In the summer of 2013, Jackie was battling cancer, as was Ma’s grandson, my middle boy Andy. In times of trouble, women get to work.

The summer of 2013 is, of course, a bit of a blur for me. Between working, trying to look out for the 1 and 5 year olds at home, and visiting my wife and 3-year-old cancer warrior in Portland, I only remember bits and pieces of the creation of an open air museum at the Lincolnville Library.

I remember a sign that said “Women Working”. I remember connecting with the older sister of a high school friend — Hannah Burke (aka “Blueberry Hannah” from last week’s column), who had just moved to town. I suggested she could help the ladies on their project, and she became the youngest member of the crew — mostly over 60 — forever cementing her bonds to this town, in spite of her Appleton Ridge roots.

I want to say the women built it without help from men, but as Ma pointed out, that is not fair or true. Men did assist, but the primary guidance came from a woman named Sandy Schute, who taught the crew the mortise and tenon jointing that holds the structures together. Ma tells me “the first power tool most women learn to use is a sewing machine.” Well, the ladies on that job site learned how to use different power tools.

So with limited helpful advice from men, somehow the Jackie Young Watts Open Air Museum at the Lincolnville Library came into being. Check it out, the two structures display both sides of this town’s European history- the land and the sea. And check out the Historical Society Museum at Lincolnville Beach, open Monday, Wednesday, Friday 1-4, where you can see that friggin’ Glenwood stove, as well as other artifacts, including those from our original native inhabitants.

Sadly, Jackie Watts passed in September of 2013, just after the ladies completed the open air museum named in her honor. She is remembered and loved, and her progeny carry on in this little town.

My middle boy, alongside his incredibly strong mom, made it through his cancer journey, and will start his final year at LCS in a few short weeks.

But, back to that movie! Like everything these days, people were offended — a story about female empowerment starring a doll which represents anything but — whatever. Don’t care, I liked the movie and I saw it twice.

As a man, it can be easy to ignore the women in our lives. To take for granted the clean laundry, the hot meal, the kid’s orthodontist appointment you didn’t know about… The history of your town. Women remember. And ten years ago, this summer, they built it.

Lincolnville’s Jewel and the Arts Festival

Diane O’Brien writes:

It’s not an exaggeration to refer to Tranquility Grange as the jewel of our town. Its simple exterior belies the feeling that you’ve stepped back in time when you come through the door. Pressed tin ceiling and walls, hand-painted stage curtain, and wooden benches all speak of earlier days.

And its here that this Saturday, as part of the First Annual Lincolnville Arts Festival, singer and musician Katherine Rhoda will present a program of Grange songs, accompanied by “the whimsical world of vintage fretless instruments” as one admirer wrote. I think we’re all wondering what they sound like!

The doors at the Grange (2117 Belfast Road) open at 6 p.m., August 19, for an hour of socializing and nibbling at a smorgasbord of sweet and savory finger foods, accompanied by a glass or two of wine. Katherine Rhoda will begin playing at 7. Admission is $15, $5 for twelve and under, with four and under and over ninety free. Proceeds will be split between the Lincolnville Historical Society and Tranquility Grange.”

Flea Market at the Community Building

This Saturday, August 18, the monthly flea market will be held at the Community Building, 18 Searsmont Road. From 8 to 12 local vendors will be selling their wares. Support small business people and the Lincolnville UCC- an Open and Affirming congregation. Funds raised will support the upkeep of the 200 year old meeting house and the Good Neighbor Fund, which provides support to Lincolnville residents in need.

And that’s all I have for today. Have wonderful week and reach out at ceobrien246@gmail.com