Nov. 20, 1920. (Postcard from the Calvin Dodge collection)
The week of Thanksgiving is here and all of us should take the time and look back over the events of the past months.
First we should thank the “Lord” that we live in America, the home of the brave and the free. We all face challenges but with firm determination and a strong will of ambition to succeed, we will all meet our challenges and goals.
We have come through two years of COVID-19, but with the help of modern medicine and flu shots of different types we are winning the battle. Many parts of the world still struggle. The same is true with food shortages in other parts of the world. Here in the United States, our farmers have battled drought and weather conditions and high costs of fuel and trucking fees.
When we enter our supermarket, the shelves are full of fresh vegetables, produce, meat, poultry, and fish. The price depends on the ample supply of these goods as well as the shortage of some of them. We again must give thanks we are Americans and live in a great country with a free enterprise system.
We see our town growing and also see many people and families moving to the state of Maine and bringing their skills and talents into the workforce here. We truly need a young, talented and ambitious workforce.
Our local school system is doing very well. There are still all kinds of help wanted signs out as well as help wanted ads in our local newspaper. Houses are still selling in our town; two homes near me have sold this year and are bringing young families to the area.
Then another great event happened this year. After 25 years, the Damariscotta Historical Society was able to buy an eight-room house here in Damariscotta which is located at the intersection of Chapman and Church streets. This building has eight well-lighted rooms and a kitchen.
One large room with a large picture window lets the rays of the sun shine brightly into the room. This room provides us a large space where we can present programs, movies, and slide shows. It can easily hold 50 people. We have already given and presented programs this year.
Mac Ray has done a lot of carpenter work and has built us a fireproof room where we can store valuable paper items. We have also laid a hardwood floor in the large presentation room and hallway and all the rooms have been repainted. We have removed all our items from the Damariscotta town office to our location on the second floor.
Sally Beaudette was in charge of the move and had the help of the rotary club members and Damariscotta Police. Valerie Seibel is our president and she has a well dedicated group of officers under her command. We have over 80 members in our historical society now. Ann Pinkham is in charge of our website.
The members of the Damariscotta Historical Society and all the people of Damariscotta can be very proud of the fine and dedicated work that has been done by Patti Whitten in our local cemeteries this year. She has taken a number of broken gravestones and put them back together again with the help of epoxy glue and had them reset on the leveled up base stones. She has also put the right flag holders on each veteran’s grave for the war they served in. She has also put the Chapman-McAllister and Knowlton-Russ cemeteries under the care of the town of Damariscotta.
We have a fundraising each year for all the cemetery work she has to complete in all 31 cemeteries.
Please feel free to come to any of our historical society meetings and see what we are planning and working on for our town.
The Pumpkinfest was a great success and drew a large crowd and was enjoyed by all. On Saturday, Nov. 12, Channel 6 had a half hour show on the Pumpkinfest and showed photos of both Damariscotta and Newcastle. Thanks again for all the men and women who helped put the Pumpkinfest show on: a job well done.
The early bird special was another success and Main Street was full of early shoppers looking for a good deal.
One thing we all can be very proud of is that our community is full of small organizations that are always ready to support our community and give a helping hand to anyone in need.
I leave you with all these thoughts why we all should be grateful and offer our prayers at Thanksgiving.
Have a safe week and enjoy all your friends around your Thanksgiving dinner table.
