Meeting Dates
Oct 27 '05
Minutes for Oct 27, 2005
Since President Sue Carlson was not present, the meeting was opened by Vice President Ros Strong. The minutes of Sept. 22 were approved as read. Treasurer Ruth Bryant reported income of 16 memberships totaling $80 and two donations totaling $10, plus $2.41 in interest, and the payment of $1,776.00, half of Rosemarie Ballard Boak's fee, for a current balance of $2,680.73.
Jo Cameron reported on Fort Edgecomb Bicentennial progress: Molly Carlson of Head Tide, a wood conservator hired by the Bureau of Parks and Lands, has been assessing the overall condition of the blockhouse. Jo suggested Ms. Carlson might make a good speaker for a future EHS meeting. An invitation has been sent to the Maine Windjammers' Association to participate in a Tall Ships Event during the 2008 Bicentennial year. Jo speculated on the possibility of including in the celebration Fort Edgecomb's sister fort, McDonough, on Westport Island, across Decker's Channel. The 1812 game plan was for the two forts to set up a crossfire preventing the entrance of any enemy ships into Wiscasset's harbor.
Ros remarked on missing items from the Ballard Boak historical architecture inventory. One of the rules of such surveys is that one cannot go down any private roads or driveways. We spent some time identifying structures Rosemarie may have missed: She has a standing invitation to visit Madine Nichols on Nichols Road off the Mill Road. The home of William and Natalie Lawrence may be hidden. Michael and Roxanne Zak's home on Salt Marsh Cove Road off the River Road, the former home of Charles and Connie Schmid. Rob and Blythe Edwards' home off the Mill Road. The Eddy's house at Poole's Landing, for which the drive opens in Boothbay. There may be a structure on Merry Island; it was recommended Rosemarie consult Rick and Mimi Steadman about this. There may be other hidden properties along Dodge Road near the Newcastle line, and some off Parsons Point Road near the Boothbay line.
Ros summed up hers and Sue Carlson's location of the Bronson Cottage! She showed pictures taken on the day of the discovery. It dominates the end of Sunset Vista Road off Route 27, and the fresh 2005 colored photographs look identical to those appearing in the Ivan Flye Collection on the website.
Concerning our on-going search for the Rosicrucian Spring, Gertrude Allen said that Eddie Onorato apparently knows its location, and said the sad end of the ambitious resort was due to discovering the developers had run out of spring water and were filling their bottles with tap water!
Ros and Jo reported considerable activity from the internet, including one query about Bill Clisby, formerly the Edgecomb Wood Carver, whose shop still stands on Clifford Road. David Cole said there is a spring on that property, shared by the two or three residents who do not yet have their own wells. It has a cement crib, and a steel cap replacing a former wooden cover.
Another inquiry, from R. Bruce Johnson, archivist of the Seeing Eye guide dog training school in Morristown NJ, concerns Edward C. Rowe, who lived in Edgecomb in the 1950s–1970s, a sculptor in bronze, who made a statue of one of its original instructors, accompanied by a handsome German Shepherd. June Finnegan, the school's nurse, is his granddaughter; she and her mother, Rowe's daughter, would be able to help the inquirer. Jo will alert June.
Another query concerned the location of mineral mines in Edgecomb. There are at least two "mica mines," actually intended to quarry feldspar, one on Mount Hunger in the Schmid Preserve, another south along the ridge on the Camerons' land. Quarry Point was an important source of granite, and there is another granite quarry on the hill above Chase Associates on Route 27. Jo recollected that the Old Jail in Wiscasset is built from Edgecomb granite.
Jo and Amanda discussed the current up-dating of Edgecomb's Comprehensive Plan, particularly of its section on historic and archaeological sites, for which the Ballard Boak inventory will be a most valuable resource.
The next meeting of the Edgecomb Historical Society will be on Thursday, November 17, at 2:00 p.m., in the Edgecomb Eddy School conference room and/or cafeteria. Plans for this meeting include the presentation by Rosemarie Ballard Boak of her discoveries about Edgecomb's historic homes and other buildings.
Before adjourning, it was noted that the Society needs a genealogist! Someone with that expertise to go through EHS holdings, and to handle genealogical inquiries.
Respectfully submitted,
Jo Cameron
Secretary