Rockland, Maine — Our Feet were Made for Walking

( I would like to thank all of you for your great response to my recent blogs about the old stores in the business district of Rockland. I always enjoy hearing from you, so I invite you to respond, via email, to southendstories.com., with any comments you wish to add to any of my blogs.Thanks.)

I read Village Soup online and The Herald Gazette, which I subscribe to, to keep up on local events back home and as inspiration for a future blog. I was excited to read two recent stories about the new airport terminal at Knox Airport and also the announcement that Amtrak is expanding to Brunswick, which will bring more passengers our way from that depot. Along with the spectacular stop of the big cruise ship this fall, I feel very excited for our tourist industry in the near future. More on that later.

These stories brought to mind how we got around the South End, the city, and other places outside of our area, when we were kids. We in the south end, of course, did a lot of walking. Every family didn’t have two cars in those days. They were lucky to have one. If we had a car, it was used mostly on the weekends for grocery shopping and to visit the folks over Bremen way. Therefore, if I didn’t take my bike to get from point A to B, I walked, or even ran, to get where I was going.

One public motorized transportation I remember was the local bus that ran between Camden and Thomaston. My brother, Harlan, used to take it to Thomaston to visit his girlfriend, Kay, who later became his wife. I never had the occasion to ride on it. We now have a trolley on wheels that operates in the summer mostly for the tourists. It stops at many of the hotels and motels along Route 1 to take tourists into Rockland and other places. Many of these people are “boat people” who come ashore and stay at a hotel for a while. They also run special tours of the area. I saw it stopped down by Sandy Beach last summer. I had hoped to organize a guided tour, via the trolley, of the South End, while I was there last summer, but I ran out of time. If that sounds like a fun thing to you, let me know, and maybe we can organize something for next summer.

The only other motorized transportation we had was the taxi. We took a taxi very rarely in those days. Maybe we took it to get groceries on occasion, but that’s about it.

For longer trips, we often took the Greyhound bus, which stopped at State News on Main Street. The drum corps took a chartered bus on our journey to Washington, D.C., to march in Eisenhower’s second inauguration parade. We also switched to a train at some point. I remember we had a long layover in a New Jersey train station. We were scared the mob might show up and start spraying the place with tommy guns or something. We’d all seen too many mob movies I think.

I have fond memories of taking the passenger train from the station on Pleasant Street to Waldoboro. My mother and I would make a day of it. It was a big treat for me. My Aunt Freda picked us up in Waldoboro and took us over to the farm in Bremen to visit.

As for boats, there isn’t a boat I don’t love. I will take any opportunity I can to go out on the water, be it in a rowboat, an outboard boat, a canoe, a day sailer, a windjammer, a ferry, or hopefully someday, a cruise ship. The only thing that floats that I would be wary of is the raft Bobby Lord made and tried to float off Sandy Beach, or a kayak.

We used to own a rowboat we christened the Queen Mary which we used down at the cottage in Spruce Head. My father tried to use an outboard on it, but the thing was always breaking down and we ended up rowing anyway. He was a great machinist, but a mechanic he wasn’t. He was smart enough, however, to use the oar as a makeshift sail by holding it up in the middle of the boat and turning it just so to catch the wind that would move us along, albeit slowly. One rowboat we had sank on us as we were coming into shore. We sank in water about up to my chest, and cold, boy was it ever. We didn’t panic though. We could both swim, but our feet found the bottom fairly quickly and we waded in, taking the oars with us. My mother was adamant that that was the end of that boat. She couldn’t swim and I think she was a bit scared of the water. She never knew about the time my brother, Harlan, got us hung up on the rocks coming into the cove at Spruce Head. It was high tide and I was scared to death. Those rocks are unforgiving and will suck you under in a heartbeat. He got us off finally, and I don’t think we told our mother about it.

I am fortunate to have sailed on many other boats over the years. I’ve been on the Vinalhaven Ferry a few times. Once the drum corps took it over to Vinalhaven to play in their Fourth of July parade. Our families all went too and it was a fun day. I have also been on a few lobster boats including one I took to check out the puffins when they were first reintroduced to the area. Even though it was a foggy day, you sure could see those bright orange beaks bobbing in the water hunting for fish. Some people go whale watching, I go puffin watching.

I also sailed on the Victory Chimes for a week one summer. I was the only “Maineiac” on board and an unofficial guide to the tourists. Captain Guild was not happy when I asked for ketchup to put on my baked beans. The food aboard was excellent. They had an asian cook and he made the best pork chop I ever put in my mouth.

I have been on many ferries, including in the Caribbean and Costa Rico. I also went on a day sailer when I camped out on St. Johns Island years ago. We could see the fish swimming in the clear blue water. It was quite different from New England’s dark waters.

I hope to be able to take a trip on the Nathaniel Bowditch next summer. Captain Owen Dorr’s wife, Cathie, was my hand therapist this past summer. To quote from a captain who fell in love with sailing as a young man, “I’ve been windjamming since I could haul a line. I met two of the prettiest women while doing so. I married one and I’m sailing the other.” I want to sail with that man. I did get to spend a couple hours this past summer with a boatful of people on the Rekord with Captain Jim Sharp of the Sail, Power & Steam museum down on Mechanic Street. We toured a part of the harbor I had never seen before.

I guess you can see how much I love boats. Being a pisces, I guess I don’t have a choice.

Back to the train station and the airport, I remember my first airplane ride was from Knox County Airport. I believe it was an Eastern Airlines plane, perhaps a prop jet. I traveled with my Aunt Alice to Florida to be in my cousin, Babs Emery’s wedding. I remember we had to change planes in Boston and had to run to make the connection. I had on flats and they kept slipping off as I ran, but we made it.

I was very excited to read the stories about our train and airport projects. The FAA is paying 90% of the $3.2 million terminal building project at Knox County Airport. Congresswoman Chellie Pingree announced that $35 million will be invested to improve rail service between Brunswick and Portland, which is a big boon to rail travel on the midcoast.

In the days before automobiles, when the steamers brought rich folks up to the Atlantic Street wharf in the South End so they could catch the train along the waterfront over to the Samoset, or get on a ferry to Bar Harbor, the waterfront was a very busy place in the summer, as it is today with all the yachts and sailboats that use our harbor. With all the latest developments in the transportation industry in the area, I would like to make a prediction. I predict that, barring bad weather, the midcoast area, and especially Rockland, will soon enjoy a renewed boom in the tourist industry. I can’t wait.

Thanks for listening.

READER COMMENTS:

Niece Brenda wrote about the store blogs and reminded me that they sold Girl Scout uniforms in Senters. I do remember that, however, I got most of my uniforms from Judy Harriman’s mother, who was the keeper of used uniforms to be passed down to the next group of girls to come along. My mother may have bought me a badge sash, a new Girl Scout blouse, or one of those necktie things we wore, I’m not sure. I’m also not sure where they sold cub and Boy Scout uniforms. It may have been Senters or one of the men’s stores. Any of you guys who were in scouts at that time remember? Brenda also remembers the squeaky floors in Newberry’s and the fact that we bought “gymp” in Crie’s Hardware for all those lanyards we made in scouts. They had many different colors on big rolls in the store. Anyone remember that? She also remembers being fascinated by the see-through washing machines in the Sears window. She spent hours in the Farnsworth too, when there was no entrance fee.

ADDITION TO MUSIC BLOG:

After I had written the blog about 50s Rock ‘n Roll, I remembered something I should have included. Does anyone remember that dreadful show, “Your Hit Parade,” which was on television on Sunday nights I think? Any teenager I knew then would laugh at the show’s attempt to keep up with what was really happening in Rock ‘n Roll in those days. They claimed to know the top ten hits of the week. They included “This Old House,” and What’s behind the Green Door?” so many times that they about ran out of ways to present them yet again. Some of our parents enjoyed the show because of its mostly big band feel. I always groaned through most of the show.