Baked beans on a Saturday night endures as a time-honored New England tradition. In some homes, that meal is prepared by simply opening a can of beans and heating them. In other homes, the baked bean dinner on Saturday night is the result of cooking dried beans with molasses. That takes a few hours, but […]
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Grandmother Sargent's 1893 trip to the Wild West
I will probably always think of my grandmother as a small lady with snow-white hair who led a quiet life at our family farm homestead. But there was another side to Hattie Field Sargent. I got some insight about that other woman from a 56-year-old newspaper story of her “trip to the Wild West.” It […]
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn
The river rampage of March 1936
The Androscoggin River was on an incredible rampage in late winter of 1936. A Lewiston Evening Journal headline on March 23, 1936, read “Jam Speeds By Lewiston — Bridges Are Saved.” A page one photo showed a man holding a pick pole as he stood atop a mass of floating debris and ice cakes at […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
'A man of high adventure' is remembered
It was 50 years ago on this first week of March when newspapers announced the death of Cecil “Mush” Moore. The name was well-known in the Twin Cities and Arch Soutar, Lewiston Evening Journal editor, wrote about this Lewiston native and his remarkable feats in a Journal Magazine article on March 2, 1968. Soutar […]
Posted inEncore, Lewiston-Auburn
Remembering the kicksled of winters past
Winter’s grip is broken. I can hear some people cheering; others are pleading, “Not yet!’ Either way, the cycle of seasons is moving ahead, although it’s always a risk to say that spring is just around the corner. Throughout the winter, I was hoping I would have an to opportunity to bring the old kicksled […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, sj-web
Sidetracked into the past by technology
My computer has become an invaluable tool for the research I undertake nearly every week. It’s quick and it delivers access to any edition of the Lewiston Daily Sun and Lewiston Evening Journal going back many years. However, it has a serious shortcoming. It has a tendency to sidetrack me onto the comics and entertainment […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, sj-web
When ice was big business
The frigid temperatures of recent days might have us wondering if we are are entering an Ice Age. While the weather has moderated (as it always does), the cold weather reminded me of a time in L-A’s history when ice was big business. Ice harvests on Lake Auburn and on the Androscoggin River were important […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Once again, it's earmuff season
For many generations, Mainers have been well-equipped to do battle with Old Man Winter. Here we are again with winter knocking on the door. What better way to greet the season than with a parade paying tribute to the Farmington-born inventor of earmuffs? It was a cold winter day in 1873 when 15-year-old Chester Greenwood’s […]
Posted inEncore, sj-web
Thanksgiving memories in the Twin Cities
Thanksgiving Day still ranks among the principal occasions for family gatherings, especially in New England. Memories of “Turkey Day” in the Twin Cities from the mid-1950s came back into sharp focus for me when I took a look at some pages of the Lewiston Daily Sun and Lewiston Evening Journal from that period. Advertisements had […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, sj-web
Maine dialect brings memories
Any true Mainer who claims descent through four or five generations of residence in this state is well aware of the distinctive dialect that sets us apart from outlanders. There are many words and phrases that bring instant memories of evenings in my grandmother’s kitchen or recollections of my grandfather “jawing” with a neighbor. I […]