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The World of Names in Maine
Shown here in a vintage postcard, this signpost, errected ca. 1930 at the junction of Routes 5 & 35 in Lynchville, in western Maine, shows the distances to nine Maine towns with foreign names. Although the sign has been replaced several times over the years, it looks the same today as it did then.
by Esther J. Perne
Maine is in France, right? It was a hereditary countship in the 10th century. But who thinks of that? Maine is here and it's a great place to be. So, what are some other location names and what do they bring to mind?
Take Belgrade, for starters. Like its ancestor on the Balkan Peninsula, it has watery surroundings far and wide and there's a river (a stream) not exactly the Danube and a village not exactly a bustling commercial center, but it's a legendary summer vacation center.
A short drive north from Belgrade the road leads to Rome, westward it leads to Vienna, both quiet villages compared to their Italian and Austrian counterparts, but popular destinations today for their extensive mountain trails.
Beyond Rome are the towns of Norridgewock and Skowhegan on the Kennebec River. Like many names of area lakes, mountains and parks, these town names come from the native Indians.
Southward from Belgrade and to the west is picturesque Mount Vernon, which conjures up references to the country's first President. To the east is Sidney, which even without the same spelling, brings to mind Australia.
North of Sidney lie the "ville," the "land" and the "fields," Waterville, Oakland, Smithfield and Fairfield. These are the towns — and there are many more like them — whose names typically are basic descriptions of what transpired historically, who figured prominently or what characteristic predominated (water, oak trees).
Too practical? Too basic? Then it's time to explore Maine's world of names some more. There are countries to visit: Sweden, Denmark, Norway, China — and cities, too, like Paris, Madrid and Athens….
A Republic RC-3 Seabee, like Junior's. The craft is often referred to as "a flying boat."
by Rod Johnson
Here we go with another Great Pond adventure from a long time ago. I must admit being a spectator only, as this happened when I was 7 or 8 years old.
"Boys will be boys" as one old adage says, and they seem to want to press the limits in attempting various feats that might cause their demise. Having a brother ten years older allowed me to get a front row seat on some of the antics that he and the other local boys that age were up to during the summers of 1954 and '55.
One antic/feat that I was able to watch, was bro and his friends water skiing behind an airplane over in Sahagian Cove, between Woodland Camps and Abena Peninsula. One young man, who was a little older and was named Junior Sahagian, was fortunate enough to own, and probably with his father's help, a Republic Seabee RC-3 airplane. These planes were built during the mid 1940s under contract from the Army and Navy. After WWII it was the hope that returning war flyers would want them for recreation. The planes were well made, powered by 210 horsepower Franklin engines, but demand was spotty and the last Seabee was sold in 1948 for $6,000.
Junior's Seabee was often kept down in the end of the cove where his dad owned what we now call Sahagian's beach. Several of the local boys asked Junior if he would tow them on water skis. I remember they did it several times one summer with varying results. The idea was for the plane to pull them up one at a time, which was agonizingly slow. Once the skier was up Junior would increase the flying boat's speed to above 50 miles per hour and lift the plane barely off the water. By then the skiers had either fallen or were so tired and scared as to not let go.
Of course there were bets and counter bets as to who could stay on for the longest time. The older boys were as red as a cooked lobster when they finished their turn, and every one complained that the water spray behind the plane felt like BBs hitting them. No one got hurt badly that I know of, but let's tip one to the boys who gave it a ruddy go — Beaver Pray, Karl Johnson, Dick Johnson, Mel Pray, Puggy Damren, and probably others, too.
If you ever see a Seabee at some little airport or a museum, you'll appreciate it. Google says there are about 250 Seabees in the world that are still flying. Some were altered over the years with the addition of a second engine, which made a huge difference in the plane's performance.
THE END
Author's Note: Hang in there, we got a few more for ya! There's only a few folks left that remember this, but special thanks to Bill Pulsifer on Main Street, who told me that he remembers taking some five gallon cans of gas in his little boat out to Junior when the airplane ran out of gas!
Over two thousand years ago, the Roman poet, Virgil, wrote of the rapid (and irretrievable) passage of time, usually expressed by the Latin phrase, "Tempus fugit." According to physicists (at least prior to Einstein) and clockmakers, time passes at a constant rate but the human brain processes time at different rates depending on your age and what you are doing. I know that some things, such as waiting for this Presidential election to be over, seem to take forever, whereas a day on the water catching lots of fish seems to pass in the blink of an eye.
There is an old expression that says, "Time flies when you're having fun." I must be having a lot of fun because I am completely amazed at how quickly this summer has flown by. This is already my 11th weekly "Take it Outside" column this summer and every week seems to go by more quickly than the last.
A bit of tendinitis in one of my knees kept me off the steeper trails this week but I spent a lot of time wandering the woods and fields picking blueberries and blackberries. At one point I was picking highbush blueberries along the shoreline and was pressed up against a bush a couple of feet taller than I while reaching into the center of the bush to pick a particularly large, ripe berry.
Suddenly a flock of about six tufted titmice landed on the other side of the bush and one bird landed right next to the berry I was reaching for and plucked it as I tried to remain motionless. Time seemed to stand still as the bird suddenly spotted my hand about 6 inches in front of its beak and slowly turned his head to follow my arm until he spotted me staring at him. He cocked his head, stared back for several seconds and then suddenly flew off to the next bush along with the rest of the birds.
I also spent a fair amount of time on the water, fishing, swimming, and sailing. The bass fishing has been excellent in the deep parts of the lake. Schools of big smallmouth bass and rafts of loons are gorging themselves on the landlocked alewives.
White zonker flies with an alewife.
One day last week I did my biweekly measurements of the Secchi depth and temperature-oxygen profiles in the lake for the Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program. I was watching my fish finder as I was making my measurements and noticed a large school of alewives about 40 feet down and another school of much larger fish directly over them at 20 feet. According to my profile, the big fish were in the surface mixed layer (epilimnion) just above the thermocline in well-oxygenated (8 PPM), warm (22°C/72°F) water and the baitfish were in the low oxygen (2.6 PPM), colder (12.9°C/55.2°F) hypolimnion. Periodically a couple of the big fish would drop down deep to grab a few alewives.
When I finished my readings, I grabbed my flyrod and let my trusty white zonker fly sink to about 20 feet before twitching it and instantly tied into a nice bass (19 in., 4 lbs.). In the next hour or so I got about a dozen nice smallies, the smallest of which was about 16 inches, using my flyrod and my ultralight spinning rod with a silver, jigging Rapala I normally use for ice fishing. I was having so much fun, I lost track of time and was almost late for a meeting.
The next day, I returned with my friend Paul Feinberg who has been complaining about how slow the fishing has been on Great Pond. Despite a brisk wind, we managed to find the fish in the same general area and caught several nice ones on streamer flies. But summer is passing quickly. Tempus fugit! Time to carpe diem and get outside. And don't forget to take a kid or grandkid.
Kennebec County still has a great deal of farming and forestry within its territory. As you travel around the most frequent examples may be the farm stands and farmers' markets along the roadways, but there is much more going on behind the scenes.
The farmers' markets represent acres of cultivated ground used to produce vegetables and small fruits. Many of those markets and farmstands will begin offering the local fruit which will become available in the coming months. Kennebec still has a number of active orchards in addition to small orchards used by market gardeners. In addition to fresh food, many of the markets also provide processed fruits and vegetables, dairy products and even local meat.
If you know where to look, the options may be right in your own neighborhood. Search them out … and give them a try. Check www.GetRealGetMaine.com and search for sites in your area where you can buy from a local farmer. You can certainly take advantage of the many farmers' markets and farm stands scattered around Kennebec County.
If most of your food shopping is only in the larger grocery store, check out which products are actually produced right here in Maine. Many stores now identify "locally grown" products from fruits and vegetables to local preserves, baked goods, meat and seafood, craft beers and wines. There are many enjoyable ways to support the effort to "eat local."
The primary arguments made in favor of eating locally are fresher food and knowing where your food comes from. Depending upon how that food is produced and transported, it may also have a smaller carbon footprint. Perhaps the best reason is that you can actually talk to the person who had a hand — literally — in the production of that food you purchase and consume. When was the last time you had a chance to talk to the person who picked or produced that chicken nugget you had for lunch? I suppose you may know the person who drove the delivery truck….
A local orchard operator refers to how many gallons of gasoline it takes to get a bushel of California apples to your store instead of the ones from her orchard. Food on our dinner plate has traveled thousands of miles on average in order to finally get to our plate. That's a lot of hydrocarbons and a lot of time that could be spent ripening in the field rather than traveling on the road.
It seems inconsistent that our food must travel such a distance to get to us when we may be able to purchase it from our neighbor and know exactly how it got to our plate. It may have traveled less than ten miles.
While local "winter products" are more limited, many local farmers are extending their seasons. In addition, we have local areas working to become "local food hubs" by supporting local processing plants. Gardiner now has a local slaughter house for locally produced meats. You may need to plan your menus around what is available not what you may be craving at the moment. Having watermelon for New Year's is not usually a realistic option.
It doesn't mean a total ban on your favorites. Even the Romans were willing to pay the price for something they called "ice cream." Just rethink some of your choices and give preference to foods that were grown or produced within 100 miles. There are far more choices than you may realize. Use the Internet and look for "local foods in Maine." Keep your eyes open as you drive around. There are lots of options.
The Great Pond Yacht Club is wrapping up a third successful season of youth sailing classes on Great Pond at the Belgrade Center for all Seasons. The Great Pond Yacht Club has partnered with SailMaine, the premier sailing organization in Portland, to offer classes for 8to 17-year-olds. From beginners to intermediate sailors, the program provides a solid foundation of sailing skills that will hopefully instill a lifelong passion for sailing and greater appreciation of our beautiful lakes.
The morning program for young sailors introduces the basics of sailing and focuses on improving a child's comfort and confidence in small sailboats. Beginner classes for 8to 12-year-olds use Optimist dinghies, small, single-handed sailboats. The afternoon program classes for 12to 17-year-olds offers instruction for both beginner and intermediate sailors and features 420 double-handed dinghies.
The Great Pond Yacht Club and all the families who have participated in the program would like to give a special shout out to Barb and Ben Ford who have so graciously and generously hosted the SailMaine instructors for a month each of the past three summers at their home on Great Pond. This is on top of much additional work they do on behalf of the program. Many thanks!!!
The Great Pond Yacht Club welcomes both avid and novice sailors. We have scheduled monthly races on Great Pond, followed by informal and festive get-togethers. Membership is NOT required for participation in the youth sailing program.
For additional information, refer to greatpondyachtclub.com or sailmaine.org or call SailMaine at (207) 772‑7245. We look forward to seeing everyone in the summer of 2017!
