I often recall going to the local barbershop with my father as a young boy just starting grammar school. I found it a very interesting place to hear the local news and events that were taking place here in town.
I enjoyed hearing many of the old-timers talking about events that took place when they were young boys and how the town had changed as they grew up.
These old men with long, white beards that were well-groomed and trimmed would often speak of their fathers working in the local shipyards and of their uncles going to sea on local boats or vessels built right here in the Twin Villages.
I found all this information and local history very interesting as a young boy. I often wished I had written down some of the stories and asked them more questions on this subject. They often talked about their horses, wagons, and sleighs, which they used for transportation back and forth to town.
When the subject of the Lincoln County Fair came up, I loved to hear them tell about taking their cattle and horses to the fair. Often they would say that the week of the fair was a real social event here in Lincoln County. Their wives belonged to local granges and would put their handmade goods on display at the exposition hall.
I found it very interesting when they talked about going to the one-room schoolhouses here in the area and how they would walk or take a horse to school for transportation, how each school was heated by a wood stove, how they would often help the teacher keep the stove full of wood, and how the stove pipe from the stove went the whole length of the schoolroom.
They would often tell how the roads were not plowed but were packed down by a large snow roller pulled by a team of horses or oxen.
There was a man by the name of Mr. Foss Etheridge who came into the barbershop quite often and I found him a very interesting person to listen to when he was talking to the other men in the barbershop.
He seemed to have a great knowledge of the local area and the past history around it. My father often said that Foss Etheridge was always considered a good businessman from a young age.
Mr. Foss Etheridge seemed to be well-versed on any subject he talked about. I always loved to hear him talk about the Damariscotta steamboat fleet he operated that ran from the village of Damariscotta down the river to Bristol, South Bristol, and East Boothbay.
He had so many wonderful stories of events that happened on board his steamboats, and how he would laugh when he told these old-time stories. The other men in the barbershop would ask questions about them and ask the names of men who worked on his three steamboats, which ran from May to the middle of October.
He loved to tell the story of when he hauled the mail and passengers from Round Pond to Damariscotta. In the winter months, he had a boxed-in coach with a stove in it to keep the passengers warm.
In the winter months, when there was snow on the ground, this coach sat on two pairs of large sled runners and was pulled by a team of workhorses. We have a great old photo of this team of horses and Mr. Foss Etheridge and the mail and passenger stage.
He also loved to talk about his first cars when he was a young man here in Damariscotta. Here again we have a real nice old photo of Mr. Foss Etheridge sitting at the wheel of his car on Main Street in Damariscotta.
This old photo is truly worth a thousand words. This photo is taken in front of the F.L. Smithwick & Horace T. Poland Apothecary and Pharmacy. You can see the old metal sign advertising Coca-Cola under the front store window just ahead of the car.
Note the old wooden spoke tire rims and a double set of rubber tires by the driver’s seat and a toolbox just behind the spare tires on the so-called running boards. Note the two very large headlights and the two so-called running lights just ahead of the driver.
Also note the heavy metal fender located over each tire. You can also note the Western Union telegraph sign in the pharmacy window.
In later years, Mr. Etheridge owned a fuel and oil business and his oil storage tanks were located at Damariscotta Mills. I can still remember seeing his oil truck parked on Main Street and seeing him pulling a rubber hose fill line up to an outside storage tank.
After the end of World War II, Mr. Etheridge sold the oil business and his truck and storage oil farm to Colby & Gale.
Mr. Etheridge and his wife lived on the Mills Road. Their house was located next to Franklin Grammar School when I was going to grammar school as a young boy. Mr. Earl Farnsworth now lives in their old home.
I recall the first time my mother and father took me to Carter’s Barbershop. Mr. Carter took a small stool seat off the wall and placed it over the arms of the large barber chair. He then reached down and picked me up and placed me on top of the chair stool and placed a barber’s cloth robe around my neck and over my clothes. I heard the hum of the clippers for the first time and saw my long brown hair fall to the barbershop floor. For being a good boy, he gave me a large lollipop.
When he lifted me off the stool chair and passed me to my father, he laughed and said, “I wish all children would sit still when they are having their hair cut for the first time; it makes the job so much easier for all of us.” So I always went to Nick Carter’s barbershop till he closed his shop and left town.
I often think of all those men I used to see in that barbershop and often think that these men were living a much slower pace of life and seemed to enjoy every moment and no one seemed to be in a rush to leave the barbershop and all seemed to enjoy talking over old times with one another.
We both look back at our childhood days and often say to each other that life was so much less stressful and everyone had time to talk to their neighbors and had time to stop and check on some of their elder neighbors and see if they needed any help.
We both say our generation was brought up by our parents to do a good deed each day of our life. This is truly good medicine for our mind and body.
Referring back to L.F. Etheridge, we have a great old 1941 calendar of his business. The calendar starts off by saying tel. 52-14 or tel. 58, L.F. Etheridge, Pennsylvania Oils, Kerosene, Range and Fuel Oils, Newcastle, Maine.