The archives of the Lincolnville Historical Society are full of pictures of townspeople long gone. And names, some similarly long gone, and some which remain in town. Youngs, Knights, Healds, and many, many more.

In the archives, there are photos of people in front of their homes, the family gathered before their farmstead, multiple generations sometimes. They were here, they existed, they are gone now.

The LHS wants to be more than just the repository for Lincolnville folk that came before — history is still being written, and if you live here, you are part of our story.

I have been talking to Ma — Diane O’Brien — president of the LHS. A midwestern girl, she came here for college at Colby and ended up staying to put her philosophy major to use as a middle school English teacher in Rockland. There, she met the teaching principal of Owls Head, the son of Augusta who’d used the GI Bill to get a college education.

After they bought this old farmhouse together, Ma fully embraced her new hometown, which was so different from the well manicured lawns of the North Shore Chicago suburb of her youth.

In between raising three boys, she got to know her neighbors, the old timers who remembered how things used to be. Connecting with long time resident Jackie Young Watts, the first iteration of the LHS was formed.

This column got its start with Ma writing the Lincolnville Town News column in the Camden Herald, somewhere around 1980.

In those days of print journalism, Ma covered a heck of a lot more town business than I do in 2025. Every Monday she would meet with Ken Bailey, then editor of the Camden Herald, at the offices on the second floor of the old mill on Washington Street. Incidentally, this was also the address of my first private practice office, my windows looking over the Megunticook River.

I spent more than a few hours in the waiting room of the Camden Herald, after school, having already hit the library for books, and Candy Harbor for sugar, whilst Ma and Ken went over her town news for the week. 

This little town has changed a bit. It is still a very small place, but we are far more connected to the wider world. While many can still trace their roots to early settlers, many more have come here “from away”, in the common, if somewhat pejorative, Maine parlance.

These people serve on our town boards, attend our churches, volunteer their time in all manner. They are the people of Lincolnville. 

If you settle in Lincolnville, you are choosing a different kind of life. Of power killing autumn storms, long cold winters, a damp and chilly mud season that lasts most of the spring of southern climates. You are accepting a degree of isolation, far from the urban centers. You are accepting a high cost of living with low local wages. There is a reason so many of us maintain “side hustles”, those things we take on to pay the property taxes, to help pay for the extras for our children- camps, sporting gear, lift tickets at the Snow Bowl.

In 2025, the Lincolnville Historical Society is undertaking a new project. They will be seeking townspeople willing to be photographed in front of their homes, documenting for future generations who lived here. With technology what it is, I wonder about the physical evidence that will be left for the curators of our history in 2125.

It seems unlikely that the trove of information currently held in the LHS archives — diaries, ledgers, family photos- will be as accessible, but who knows? By that time, we will all be gone, but we were here, and we loved this little town, and maybe someone will look upon our photos, and wonder about what our lives must have been like.

I am picturing an iPhone behind a glass case in the Schoolhouse Museum. Maybe a pizza menu from the Beach Store?

As the Historical Society finalizes this initiative, I will let you know.

PTO Clothing Swap

According to PTO organizer, Lauren Beveridge, the clothing swap was a massive success. While all the clothes were free, the PTO also collected a substantial amount of monetary donations to assist with further projects.

They will begin collecting donations in September for an autumn swap. Which is great for those like me, who just realized how much outgrown clothing and footwear is stuffing the closets and corners of this old farmhouse.

People helping people. Love it.

It is a foggy Sunday morning here at Sleepy Hollow. The back field remains snow covered, but it is fading fast. Today was one of the first mornings where it was actually above freezing before the sun came up. I’m not putting the snowblower away, though, that is just asking for trouble.

Have a wonderful week. Try to limit your intake of negativity without shutting yourself off completely. It is all about balance. Spring is inevitable.

CALENDAR

Monday, March 17

Select Board Workshop, 6 p.m. Town Office

Tuesday, March 18

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

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

Wednesday, March 19, Budget Committee, Town Office

Friday, March 21

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

Library open 9-12, 208 Main Street

Saturday, March 22

Library open 9-12, 208 Main Street

Sunday, March 23

United Christian Church, 9:30 a.m. Worship and Children’s Church, 18 Searsmont Road

Bayshore Baptist Church, 9:30 a.m. Sunday School, 11:00 worship, 2648 Atlantic Highway