One of the most popular pictures this newspaper has ever printed is a shot taken near the Lincoln Home looking out over the river as the moon rises over Damariscotta.
The most prominent landmark in the picture, the feature that makes the photograph, and the view, special really is the steeple of the Damariscotta Baptist Church. It is a view that has been sadly lacking ever since the spire first came down in 2007 and we are looking forward to its return to its rightful place.
Lincoln County is acclaimed, and rightfully, for its small town character. Our villages remind our summer guests of an earlier time, even as satellite dishes and cell towers increasingly dot the landscape.
The landscape feature that makes our villages so comfortably nostalgic is the gleaming church spire, be it in Whitefield, Wiscasset, Bristol Mills, Round Pond, Jefferson, Round Pond, Waldoboro, and on and on and on. There are many churches in Lincoln County and not all of them are gleaming white landmarks, of course, but the ones that are capture our imagination of the colonial era.
We encourage the Landmark Steeple Fundraising Committee as they make their final push for the last few dollars in their half million-dollar effort to put their landmark up in Damariscotta. For far too long it has been absent from the local skyline.
We are looking forward to once again hearing the chimes of the town clock, marking the hours. More than likely, people will remember how much they missed it when they hear it again.
Simply as observers, we thank all those who have donated time and energy and effort to the cause to date. We hope for a successful fundraising drive in the next few days, not simply to get a fundraising drive over the top, but to put the steeple back on top.
