Nearly a year ago, on July 20, 2010, Bristol voters authorized the purchase of a Bristol Mills property at a special town meeting. The vote was overshadowed at the time by a referendum on wolf hybrid facilities.
Beginning shortly after the vote, however, and continuing to the present day, Bristol Parks, under the direction of Commissioner Gordon Benner and with the help of contractors, has quietly completed a massive retooling of the approximately two-acre parcel.
This Saturday, July 9, the property, known as Ellingwood Park, will open as a visitor center and picnic area, a sort of gateway to Bristol.
The town envisions the visitors’ center as a place where the 100,000-plus annual visitors to the Pemaquid Point can find “anything you might want to know as you come down that hill” into the village of Bristol Mills, Bristol Parks spokesman Jon LeVeen said.
“It’s a perfect location,” LeVeen said. “Most of those people come down Rt. 130 and they’re coming just to see the lighthouse.”
Bristol officials hope visitors will stop at Ellingwood Park, pick up maps and brochures and learn about the peninsula’s less famous attractions, like Colonial Pemaquid, the town’s network of eight parks and nature preserves like La Verna and the Rachel Carson Salt Pond.
“Instead of going to Boothbay or Camden, maybe they’ll stay a couple more hours [or] decide to make this a day trip or a weekend or come back next year for a week or two,” LeVeen said.
“It’s also a great service for the town, because the town will end up being more visible,” LeVeen said. “People will discover the hidden gems of this peninsula and in the process, Shaw’s will sell a few more lobsters.”
“It’s an investment in the town,” LeVeen said. “At a time when tourism is not growing in the state it’s important for us to have our best face forward.”
The park also provides a flagship of sorts for Bristol Mills and points north. The majority of Bristol’s parks, including the marquee attractions, Pemaquid Point Lighthouse Park and Pemaquid Beach, “are all in the south of the peninsula,” LeVeen said.
Ellingwood Park “provides a nice recreational venue for people who want to have something in their neighborhood,” LeVeen said. “It’s not just for tourists.”
Volunteers will staff the center, although firm hours of operation haven’t been established yet. The town will invite Bristol businesses and area non-profits to place brochures or other information and the park will promote special events on an outdoor marquee.
Ellingwood Park isn’t just a visitor center. It also offers its gently rolling, landscaped grounds as a picnic area, complete with shaded tables and a view of the gentle upstream waters of Pemaquid River.
Ellingwood Park borders the town’s canoe and kayak launch and is just a short walk from the Bristol Mills swimming hole, but neither of the older parks offer enough space for a comfortable picnic.
At Ellingwood, “You could have a family Fourth of July thing here if you wanted to,” LeVeen said.
The park, with the launch next door, also helps preserve a rare slice of public access to the Pemaquid River. LeVeen encourages visitors to paddle the short distance up the river to Biscay Pond in Damariscotta, taking time to notice the abundant wildlife along the way.
LeVeen promises “egrets and herons and mermaids” to the watchful boater. “It’s bird habitat beyond belief,” he said.
Following the town’s purchase of the land, contractors spent months “carefully dismantling the barns and the house,” finishing in late spring, Hanna said.
The barns have been reassembled on private property elsewhere in Bristol, while timbers from the home now reside in The Washington School, a historic, recently restored building in Round Pond.
The town itself reused all the stones from the buildings’ foundations to construct a parking lot, build a sign (supported by granite pillars) and landscape.
The town bought the property from Jean Thistle, the daughter of Gary and Dot Ellingwood. Thistle passed away on Dec. 30, 2010.
“We were hoping she could come to the dedication,” Poland said. Thistle’s relatives will instead represent the family at the ceremony.
The visitor center, too, boasts a history as “Gary’s,” a small gas and service station.
Improvements to Ellingwood Park are ongoing. Russ Guibord, a Bristol resident and engineer who once ran a kayak shop out of the visitor center, is, along with members of his family, volunteering his time to build a 48-foot wood footbridge to Gary’s Island.
The dedication ceremony will begin Sat., July 9 at 11 a.m. and will feature speakers, light refreshments, music by Castlebay, and the unveiling of the park’s sign.
