These archival articles are presented “as is.” Except for minor corrections or clarifications, most have not been updated since they appeared in print. Thus, some details may be out of date, and some hyperlinks may no longer work.
Now You See Them, Now You Don’t!
The barn at Winterberry Farm on Route 27 in Belgrade.
by Esther J. Perne
They are grand, elegant, awe-inspiring, a feat of architectural art. They are solid, purposeful, once the most important and prized structures on a property. They were designed from ingenuity and memory passed from generation to generation and raised by entire communities. They are why the region was settled, survived, grew, prospered. They are our barns.
Barns are the most rapidly-disappearing buildings in the United States. In Maine, with its changing agricultural industry, a familiar sight is barns being torn down, picked for salvage, falling into disrepair. A few are recycled. Some give way to other buildings. Most sink to the ground. According to old farmer lore, the easiest way to get rid of a barn is to chop a hole in the roof and wait.
Yet, it is a rare visitor to a barn who fails to pause in admiration of the history and of the work ethic barns represent. Looking up, there is usually an immense sensation of space. There may be hand-hewn beams with bark still stuck to them from decades ago. There may be a hay hook on a runner at the peak of the ceiling which grasped piles of loose hay that were stacked 3 or 4 stories high. There may be thick wooden pegs holding the posts and beams together. There will be memories of happy visits to farms through the years.
Looking around, there may be rough boards, exceptionally wide and uneven in size but straight and true and well fit together. Under foot, the floor planks are thick and may be buckled from holding heavy loads where immense doorways could accommodate a loaded hay wagon pulled by a team of horses or oxen. If the barn sheltered cows, old wooden stanchions may still be standing. There is a wish to share this nostalgia with the next generations.
Barns are this region’s heritage. Yes, they are disappearing, but there are opportunities still to see them — to drive by and to stop.
In my 60+ years of fiddling with boats on Great Pond, a few come to mind that might be considered odd, weird, silly, stupid — whatever. Of these odd balls, so to speak, one in particular comes to mind.
Once again, my friend Ralph Pope is not only involved, but he built the darn thing at the age of 12, after having seen some version of it in Popular Mechanics magazine. Theoretically it was a father-son winter project that took place in the basement of his parents' home back in Braintree, Mass. The boat arrived in Belgrade Lakes at the family camp known as Loon Lodge, on camp opening weekend in May of 1960. Dad Everett and Ralph had managed to keep the craft tied onto the roof of a 1959 T-bird hardtop all the way up the Maine Pike.
Let me tell you about this boat, though none of the old timer guides that were still around gave it much credence as such. The craft was essentially made from two sheets of 4' x 8' x ½" marine plywood that sandwiched a perimeter of 2" x 6" framing. Ralph had made it such that the front end turned up slightly and a piece of 2" x 12" framing stuck up in the rear and acted as an outboard motor bracket. After much ado the new craft got slid off the dock. It did actually float and would hold at least two teenage boys.
Grampa Pope’s 7.5 horsepower Johnson outboard was "borrowed" from the Old Town lapstrake and placed on the motor bracket. Low and behold, the craft would actually get up and plane out, giving a fun but scary ride across the cove. As the summer went on there were additions of accessories such as a steering wheel from an old guide boat, some lines from the bow so we boys could stand up, hold on and ride the thing like an old tow-behind surf board. Screwed to the bow like a hood ornament was a small marble bust of Lord Byron, which may have been liberated from the old town library.
One day the plot thickened: when Dave Webster asked Ralph if he wanted a larger motor. Dave offered us an old 16-horsepower Johnson that was stored in the Mahaffey boathouse down on Point Road. Well, of course he (we) wanted it. Faster was better. After a couple of days of tinkering with the points and cleaning the old gas out of the carb and installing some new spark plugs, it was placed upon the tipsy craft. The stern sat very low in the water and required one boy to stand on the front when the motor was started.
By now, the craft had been seen all around the lake and became known as The Kitchen Table. It was indeed quite a sight for everyone to see and also every teenager to get a ride on. The speed was well into the 20s and required much vigilance to not hit waves directly on. If the driver misjudged an oncoming wave, the craft would dive under the waves and completely submerge leaving its occupants afloat. After a few seconds the boat would see-saw itself out of the wave’s leftover wash, motor stalled. We would climb aboard again, fire up the old behemoth outboard and take off. The motor got submerged so many times it finally gave up the ghost and became part of our History — along with the old Chris Craft, Champion, Johnson and Evinrude motors that met similar fates.
THE END
Author’s Note: See the sketch above, if you’d care to make a craft just like The Kitchen Table, you’ll never regret it! Stay tuned, more stories in the offing about other boats and the characters that ran them over 50 years ago.
On top of French Mountain, Mel Croft (left) explains ice ages and glaciers.
by Pete Kallin
The week began with a little much needed rain and ended hot and humid. I got some fishing in, a little sailing, a couple of hikes, and got to watch a couple of new loon chicks that were born in a nest I helped build, learning to swim.
On one of my fishing trips I met a man named Stuart from Durham, NH. He was renting a camp on Long Pond for the week with his family. When I met him, he was on his standup paddleboard with two fishing poles casting to the shoreline. To top it off, he had his two preteen kids snorkeling nearby, scouting for fish to cast to. Everyone was having a good time and he told me they had enjoyed the whole week and would likely be back next year.
I also met a young man named Sam, from Davis, CA, who was visiting friends in ME. He was fishing with his dad from a canoe near my dock and caught a chain pickerel about a foot long, his first Maine fish. As the picture proves, it’s not the size of the fish that counts but the size of the grin on the kid that caught it.
Sam with a chain pickerel.
I also spent a fair amount of time hiking, especially on French Mountain. On Wednesday, Mel Croft and I led a combined geology/successional ecology hike sponsored by the Belgrade Lakes Association. We had about ten people, including Steve and Ann Smith (and dog) from Great Pond, Evelyn Fowler from Tracy Cove, Zach Smith from the Boston Latin School, Andy Cook, a couple of grandmothers and at least one grandson, who learned how the glaciers sculpted the landscape over the past two million years, and how the bare granite and melted ice water evolved over the past 15,000 years to become the lakes and forest we have today.
On Friday morning the BRCA* Stewardship committee held a trail work day under the direction of Toni Pied, Stewardship Director. I was on the crew at French Mountain repairing some of the damage from the fire we had in May and subsequent firefighting efforts that brought heavy machinery and pumps up trails meant for hikers on foot. That crew included Toni, Chip Ridsky, Dave Turcotte, and myself. We repaired some of the steps, cleaned water bars and reblazed the trail. These trails don’t take care of themselves and a lot of people put in a lot of time trying to make the trails safe and enjoyable for everyone. If you would like to help out with this effort, please call Toni Pied at the BRCA 495‑6039) and get on the list to be notified of the next work day. It is a lot of fun and you will meet some interesting people and make new friends.
Sam with a chain pickerel.
While we were working on the trail, my friend, Ed Charles of Rome showed up with his extended family, including a sister from PA, a brother from MD, and assorted in-laws, nieces, and nephews. They had a great hike on a beautiful day.
This is a perfect time to enjoy the outdoors in this area. Now that school’s out, it’s easy to take a kid fishing or on a hike or paddling in a canoe. French Mountain is a great place to introduce kids to hiking. It’s an easy hike (about a mile) with spectacular views of Long Pond, Great Pond, Whittier Pond, Mt. Philip, and North Pond from the top. You won’t be sorry.
*In December 2017, the Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance (BRCA) and the Maine Lakes Resource Center (MLRC) merged, forming the 7 Lakes Alliance. Now retired, Pete Kallin is a past director of the BRCA.
Phragmites australis, or common reed, like those seen in front of 99 Restaurant on Route 27 in Augusta.
by Catherine Perham
Maine is host to many "bad", that is to say invasive, plants. These plants displace native flora, thus eliminating the natural food and cover for our wildlife and ultimately threatening rare species of both animals and plants.
The State of Maine has an excellent program to deal with aquatic invasives, and has successfully removed several bodies of water from its list of those contaminated with invasive plants. We are a little behind in recognizing, removing, and preventing the spread and introduction of terrestrial invasive plants, but that is being remedied by folks like Nancy Olmstead, Invasive Plant Biologist with the Maine Natural Areas Program of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. We can all help Nancy and eradicate bad plants, especially on our own property.
There are several steps to this plan, the first of which is to identify the plants that you have. Many are easy to spot once your eye has learned the characteristics of the plants. Nancy has identified thirteen plants that are especially problematic in Maine; these include Norway maple, yellow iris, shrubby honeysuckle, burning bush, purple loosestrife, and ornamental jewelweed. Common reed, or Phragmites australis, is becoming a problem in wetland areas. Unlike the native Phragmites americanus, this reed forms dense stands that do not allow nesting. Become familiar with some of these plants, and walk your property with an eye towards identifying unwanted invaders.
Many "bad plants," such as garlic mustard and Japanese honeysuckle, were deliberately introduced to our state when they were planted in gardens or used for landscaping. Unfortunately, some of the traits that made these plants popular, such as ease of propagation or attraction to birds, also allows them to naturalize easily and invade our unwary soil.
There is work afoot (thanks to Nancy and others) to establish a "Do Not Sell" list for Maine nurseries, in order to halt the introduction of noxious species by unwary consumers. Most of us just assume that exotic invasives are not for sale in the local garden center, but to date this is not true. Ask for native species when you buy.
You don’t have to eradicate your invasive plants alone! Both the NRCS & Kennebec SWCD are concerned about invasive plants and animals that are threatening to overrun our state’s natural ecosystems and they can help you. The NRCS just sponsored an Invasive Terrestrial Plants seminar with Nancy Olmstead. Check the NRCS website to learn more. The NRCS has helped treat 20 million acres since 2008. If you have questions, contact the Augusta Service Center and we may be able to provide assistance.
How can you get rid of an invasive plant infestation? There are a lot of answers to this, depending on what you find. Now is a good time to walk your property, preferably with a plant expert, as plants are in full growth and perhaps even in flower or fruit, both of which make the plant easier to identify for the amateur. Wear gloves if you want to pull the plants as you find them. Some of them, like Rosa multiflora, are armed!
If you throw the plants into a black plastic garbage bag, you can place the whole mess in the sun and the heat or solarization will cook the plants and their seeds until they are no longer viable. The more woody the plants, the longer this process takes. The resulting gunk can theoretically be used as compost but you may be happier disposing of it.
For most invasive plants, burning is also an acceptable non-chemical method of destruction. If you do this make sure to get a burn permit. No marshmallows if you are burning a toxic plant such as woody nightshade!
You can find rental goats who willingly eat many invasives, including Japanese knotweed. If you decide to use chemicals, please consult an expert and mind that nothing runs or drifts into our lakes and streams!
Remember, there is a lot to do in order to protect water quality. Managing invasive plants is part of that effort.
