Kitty and Fred Lipp stand in two separate towns while holding hands in the dining room of their Head Tide Road home. Kitty stands in Whitefield while her husband Fred stands in Alna. (Kathy Onorato photo) |
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By Kathy Onorato
When Kitty and Fred Lipp sit down to dinner at the dining room table in their home, they actually sit in different towns, Kitty sits in Whitefield and Fred sits in Alna.
Their home, circa 1846, actually straddles the Whitfield/Alna town line. Half of the house is located in Alna and the other half in Whitefield.
The residence was the one time home to former Surgeon General of the U.S. Navy Percival S. Rossiter, and his wife Ernestine. According to Lipp, the Rossiters lived in the house for nearly 20 years beginning in the late 1920s.
“It’s an interesting situation,” Fred said.
The Lipps pay taxes to both Alna and Whitefield. Every time the towns of Whitefield and Alna do assessments they have to meet with assessors to go over documents verifying the unique situation and remind assessors to only assess half the house, Fred said.
Fred said an acquaintance once called him after seeing the amount of taxes he paid listed in Alna’s town report and told him he was not being taxed enough.
“I told him the amount was only half of what I was paying,” Fred said.
The couple declares a Whitefield address, registers their vehicles and votes in Whitefield as well. Because they are also Alna taxpayers, they use the Wiscasset Transfer Station and Wiscasset Public Library.
At the time the family purchased the house in the early 1970s, Alna was not providing rural mail delivery, Fred said, so the family decided to declare the Whitefield address.
The couple admitted they had not given much thought to which town might respond to their home in the event of a fire or emergency call.
“You raise a good point,” Fred said. “I guess both towns would respond.”
The Towns of Alna and Whitefield also benefit from the townline property. The Lipps say the two towns’ snow plows and school buses use their property as a turnaround.
The Lipps say they enjoy both towns and respect the decisions of both towns.
“We don’t play favorites. We have friends in both towns,” Fred said.
Although there is a lot of talk about half and half, Fred likes to think of his home as a whole and said he has never felt a division there.
“We feel peaceful and content here,” Kitty said.
“We’ve never been happier,” Fred added.
“Our words say 50 percent Alna/Whitefield, but our heart is family and that is complete,” said Fred. “It’s basically a dance between two townships.”
The Lipps once hosted their daughter’s wedding reception in the back yard. A large tent was erected, which also straddled the two towns. The caterer was licensed to sell alcohol only in Whitefield and had to be sure it was served only on the Whitefield side of the tent. Fred said the situation generated some laughter at the wedding, with guests bringing their drinks across town lines and joked about what could be done to them.
Fred recalled calling a friend to tell him tell he had moved. When his friend inquired as to where he moved. Fred replied “I moved from Alna to Whitefield.” Fred told his friend he simply moved from one bedroom to another, which was just seven steps but a different town.
Now framed and hanging in the Lipp home are letters written by Ernestine Rossiter, the wife of the Surgeon General of the U.S. Navy to the new owners of the house in 1950, which offered some insight on what determined the responsible town.
“They probably told you the township line goes right through the middle of the front door. You are half in Alna and half in Whitefield. There was a question at one time when a poor family lived there as to which town should pay for the schooling of the children. What governed the house: It was decided the kitchen rules the house, therefore Alna had to support the children,” Rossiter writes.
Another letter from Rossiter described the condition of the houses when they bought it in the late 1920s.
“When we bought the place, it had been used by a county-supported family and very badly treated. There were 100 panes of glass out, and a hole in the roof big enough for a man to jump through. If we had not bought the house in that year, it would not exist today.” she writes.
Fred said he doesn’t know whether he or his wife will pass on first, but he has instructed his wife, when he passes from this life, he would like his ashes spread in both towns because he has lived on the towns’ boundaries and has enjoyed both towns.
“Boundaries are where learning happens,” Fred said.