Mon, 01/22/2024 - 11:15am

Ed O’Brien

The Bernard Young Salt Shed (Photo by Mikey Eugley)

In June 1993, I graduated from Camden Rockport High School. After one more summer breading clams and murdering lobsters, I was bound for college out of state, and a whole heck of a lot of student loans.

Having spent my life in a very small place, with only occasional visits to Washington, D.C., to see my aunt and uncle and cousins, even a sleepy little town in southern Massachusetts was a bit of a culture shock. Somehow cities were easier to wrap my head around than suburbs- so many people, but without the allure of an actual city.

Fortunately, the systems in place to match roommates in those days set me up with a young man from an equally small town on the opposite coast, in the redwood forests of Northern California. Beyond sharing eclectic interests, we both found ourselves not really understanding many of our peers, who trended affluent and private school educated. We bonded on day one, and still talk often. Though more about the aches and pains of middle age and parenthood than obscure punk bands these days.

And I immediately discovered a new found appreciation for my small town on the coast.

Maine has an odd pattern of settlement by Europeans. A number of nations laid claim, but rarely lasted long, while the native Wabanaki’s must have just thought “there goes the neighborhood.”

It’s been a bit of a backwater since early on, and was, of course, initially claimed as part of Massachusetts. The resentment of Mainers toward those folks down south is a real, and long standing thing, fair or unfair.

Maine had lumber and fisheries, and we quickly burned through those resources. 100-plus years ago Maine was pretty much clear-cut; check out old photos if you don’t believe me. Probably could have seen the sea from Sleepy Hollow. Folks turned to farming, but our post-ice age soil really isn’t wonderfully suited to it, though it does grow fantastic potatoes, and of course our wild blueberries are justifiably renowned.

It was the Civil War that left a significant mark on Maine’s demographics. Already a hotbed of abolitionist sentiments — Maine’s existence as a state was part of the Missouri Compromise — the free state admitted to the Union alongside the slave state of Missouri. So when the call came up, Mainers answered enthusiastically, sending a greater number by population than any other state.

Anti-slavery attitudes aside and laudable, I assume many young men also may have sought a way off the farms. Any long-standing Lincolnville family can point to ancestors who fought in that terrible conflict.

It was after the war that Maine saw its first decline in population, anecdotally in search of better land out west. This also appears in the historical record — family members set out to find their fortune somewhere beyond this little town.

And so it goes, as young people raised in this little town seek their future elsewhere. This upbringing, however never leaves them. I had lunch with my niece the other day, who is studying in New York City. She talked about how leaving Lincolnville helped her to recognize what a special place it is. Whether or not she will ever return to live in Maine, it will always be a part of who she is, of her identity.

My parents used to talk about all the people my brothers and I would bring to Sleepy Hollow during our college years. All three of us felt the need to share this place. I have old friends who have never forgotten the time they spent on the Midcoast, and the unique characteristic of Lincolnville.

Many of us who leave do come back, or dream of doing so. And thus make it a better place. There has been a significant influx of new people since the pandemic, and while housing remains a massive issue, I am heartened to see a number of families, often with Maine roots, who are coming here to raise their children. Children who will grow up attending local schools, and who will bring their upbringing wherever they go in the world.

There is an often shared meme which references the fear that people who come here will try to change what here is. I don’t like it, and can’t help to think of the reaction the Native tribes must have of it. This is a wonderful place, but it is not a static place. This is where community comes in, to work together to help shape the our future, where there will be room for all.

A place where our children will want to come home to.

Remembering Bernard

Local character Mikey Eugley recently wrote on social media about visiting the town salt shed, dedicated to our late long time road commissioner Bernard Young. Bernard was in charge of plowing and sanding the roads of this town for 35 years.

I have a lot of sympathy for the company that has received that contract now, as after every storm someone can be heard grumbling “they’re not as good as Bernard”, or “Bernard never took out my mailbox.”

Mikey’s post was followed by a number of remembrances of this man, a true great man of Lincolnville, how he loved and served the town of his birth for 87 years.

He’s been gone for over a year, and I still expect to see him, usually with his wife, Rachel, at the table with the other guys when I stop at Drake’s to get a caffeinated beverage on my way to work.

So a colder week, but at least the sea stayed where it belonged. The days are definitely getting brighter, so bundle up and try to get a little sunshine. We are all deficient vitamin D, so be aware that you might be a little bit grumpier than usual. Pet a dog, enjoy a beverage in front of the fire, bake chocolate chip cookies. Offer some cookies to your neighbor. Reach out at ceobrien246@gmail.com and be well Lincolnville.

CALENDAR

Monday, January 22

Select Board, 6 p.m. Town Office

Tuesday, January 23

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

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

Financial Advisory Committee, 10 a.m. Town Office

Lakes and Ponds Committee 7 p.m. Town Office

Wednesday, January 24

Library open 2-5 p.m.

Board of Appeals, 6 p.m Town Office

MCSWC Board of Directors, 6:30 p.m. Camden Town Office