Features
D. R. Crews
The Rarest Bird 'Round Katahdin Lodge Was A Formally Dressed Finley K.
I just remember that I took the shot because it was the only time I ever saw Finley wearing a formal suit and tie. At Katahdin Lodge, we stayed well stocked with food and other supplies all the time. Fin and Marty were next door neighbors while growing up on Sparrows Point. That made it easy for any of us to get together for holidays and birthdays. But I have no idea how that 1977 birthday cake, which was homemade for me by Winnie's daughter in Maine, could have been 100% perfectly tuned to my sweet tooth.
May 17, 2008 - 4:38:08 PM
D. R. Crews
Katahdin Lodge and Camp's Dining Room
This beautiful, but serviceable, dining room table was the center of the Katahdin Lodge Universe. The most obvious thing to all who view this photo is the size and shape of the beautifully grained table. Look at all the room there is for big, deep, full bowls and wide, full plates of food. And look at all the room there is for losta' friendly folk to sit all around that table, and to enjoy each other's company. Anyone for Cribbage? How about a game of Yatzee ?
May 17, 2008 - 1:05:35 AM
D. R. Crews
Non-Service Connected Military Veterans Disability Pension
I inform everyone whom I can about the terms of my Department of Veterans Affairs pension, because there are many other American military veterans who also qualify for one, desperately need one, but who have never learned of it. About a year ago, the DVA was ordered (I Believe it was by Congress) to educate more veterans about their non-service connected pension benefits, so I know for certain that many vets don't know of these earned benefits.
May 15, 2008 - 12:56:58 AM
D. R. Crews
Guiding Bear Hunters and Driving The Backroads of Maine
The hunting business is far better for a natural environment than the likes of the Bethlehem Steel Mill near where I grew up in Maryland. During the past thirty-some years, whenever I'm telling anyone my stories about my Maine adventures, they always think that tracking wounded bears at night without taking a firearm along with me was the most dangerous part of those experiences. That is not so. The driving was absolutely the most dangerous part of the job. I have ta' warn ya', there's photos of dead bears in this article.
May 15, 2008 - 12:40:11 AM
D. R. Crews
Beautify America--Get A Haircut
When I was in Maine, during November and December of 1968, I kept my, slightly, long hair combed back behind my ears, or tucked up under my hat, so that it was not too obviously so long. I had to get a haircut in order to be able to live and work at my Aunt Martha and Uncle Finley K. Clarke's Katahdin Lodge, of Patten, Maine. In 1969, in the southern Aroostook County/northern Penobscot County area of the Great North Woods of Maine, longhaired men were not very much welcomed at all.
May 14, 2008 - 1:22:37 AM
M Stevens-David
The Indians
In nineteen fifty-three, there were still many Indians in and around our home in Ashland in Aroostook County, Maine. There were numerous small settlements of Penobscot and Maliseet around the Masardis and Fort Fairfield areas and a rather large settlement of Micmacs along the border between Maine and New Brunswick, Canada.
May 13, 2008 - 11:18:39 AM
Laura on Life
Piercing Poses a Problem
Remember that this is being written by a mother who has been through exactly 36 vaccination events with 5 children.
May 13, 2008 - 11:04:31 AM
D. R. Crews
Hip Shops In 1965-68 Baltimore, Beatniks, Mods, and The Psychedelic Propeller
After you finish reading this article, you will definitely wonder how I ever fit right in up in 1968 era Maine. This entire body of work, this series of articles, has to do with what I knew, when growing up into my teen years, then what I had discovered about myself and the people and places of Northern Maine, when I first visited that part of God's Country.
May 13, 2008 - 1:13:13 AM
Down the Road
Down the Road a Piece: A Fishing I Used to Go
I don't fish anymore. I became bored with it when we lived on the shore of Swan Lake in Swanville. I had a canoe and a lake and fished all the time. But one time it was boring, and I haven't fished since.
May 12, 2008 - 11:47:13 AM
J. G. Fabiano
"Peanuts" Pigpen Has Nothing on Me
"I am never going to buy you another piece of clothing again!"
May 11, 2008 - 12:21:35 AM
D. R. Crews
The Dundalk Maryland Neighborhood Where I Grew Up
In order for you to understand what the people and places in and around Patten, Maine mean to me, you need to know what kind of a young man I was, and where I came from just before I moved to the Katahdin Valley area of Maine. It would be one thing if I had been a country boy from northern Baltimore County, Western Maryland, or Maryland's Eastern Shore who had worked outdoors on his family's farm, and had hunted and fished his entire young life. But it was another thing for me, because I was a Mod clothes wearing Rock n' Roll minded kid from the Baltimore suburb of Dundalk, Maryland. I had quite quickly become a country kid up in Maine. And I loved it.
May 8, 2008 - 12:06:39 AM
D. R. Crews
Innards Of A 1968 Era Ski Doo Snowmobile
This article has the last of my scanned in vintage snowmobile photos. I have web searched for better photos. So far, mine are the best. Something that has shocked me though is, there are many vintage snowmobile enthusiasts out there who rebuild, ride and/or display old sleds at snowmobile shows. Links to all of that vintage sled info are on my web site that is linked to the bottom of all the articles in this series.
May 7, 2008 - 2:41:18 PM
D. R. Crews
Snowmobiling On Tillie's Back Field
When anyone from Katahdin Lodge went snowmobile riding alone, they were required to carry certain emergency items with them. In case of mechanical breakdown or the rider got stuck in deep snow. One of the coolest and most unique things that I ever experienced happened while riding a snowmobile on the old farm fields, which are seen in the two photographs in this article, which were taken in 1969 on a Katahdin Lodge neighbor's farm field in the Township of Moro Plantation, Maine.
May 7, 2008 - 1:31:23 AM
J. G. Fabiano
The Legalization of the Magical Mystery Tour
Ok, I admit it; I am working too hard. But, in today's economy with its high gas and food prices how could one not. Sitting in my doctor’s office I looked down at my fingers that were devoid of any fingernails because over the last too many years of my life they had become a major food source.
May 5, 2008 - 2:09:38 PM
Down the Road
Down the Road a Piece: Crime With or Without Punishment
It was a bright sunny day, and I could have enjoyed the green of the grass, leaves on the trees, and the view across the field on the property of the former South Paris Poor Farm.
May 5, 2008 - 11:25:49 AM
D. R. Crews
A Great Day of Snowmobiling in Moro, Maine
This article has a great set of snowmobile action, color photos. The photos could use some digital enhancements, which I have no skill at doing, but sure would like to learn. But they are still a cool part of my set of the best vintage snowmobile photos there is. One photo on here brought back memories of an old Maine man named Putt Gerow and antique bottle collecting possibilities up there. So those memories are included, as if you and I were comfortably sitting in my home, while looking at these old photographs together, and I was reminiscing about little stories that the photos remind me of.
May 4, 2008 - 7:24:46 PM
M Stevens-David
Macaroni
His given name was "Kenneth" but, everyone who knew him, always called him "Macaroni." He was what some people might call the "town" character. Folks loved to play jokes on him and he was never one to let them down. He was blessed with a cheerful nature and would submit to whatever indignity done to him without a word of complaint. When you first laid eyes on him, you got the distinct impression that he was "simple," but if you looked closer, it was easy to see that there was a keen intelligence lurking somewhere just behind his eyes.
May 3, 2008 - 9:01:17 PM
Laura on Life
Drive-Inn Disaster
One very good use for a minivan is going to a drive-in theater. There aren't very many of them around anymore, but when you find one, it's like taking a trip back in time.
May 3, 2008 - 8:49:40 PM
D. R. Crews
Snowmobile Riding At Katahdin Lodge
Here is the second article in this series that has vintage snowmobile photos from 1969 in it. These are great old black and white shots that I custom printed in 2001, from some very poorly exposed negatives. In 1969, I had a cheap 35MM camera and had done the best I could with that camera and my then undeveloped photography skills. These are some great snowmobile action photos in this article though. I have yet to see any better vintage sledding action shots any place else on the Internet.
May 3, 2008 - 4:38:48 PM
D. R. Crews
Snowmobiling The Day After A Blizzard Hit
This is the first article of this series to have a snowmobile photo in it. I believe that I have the best set of vintage 1969 snowmobile photos that there is. You will find a link to my Northern Maine Adventures Photo Album web site at the end of this article, and there are links to several snowmobile web sites on that web site. I have not found better photos on those snowmobile sites. If you possess or can locate a better set of vintage sled shots than what I have, please let me know. It's just a little friendly competition, there are no prizes, but you get to have your photos published on snowmobile web sites. The rest of my snowmobile photos will be published in other articles on here.
May 3, 2008 - 12:06:04 AM
D. R. Crews
A Very Close Family and An Idiot Stick
My family had come up to visit us at Katahdin Lodge during my sister's Easter break from high school. My mother had hoped that I was going to go back home to Dundalk, Maryland with them when they left. But the woods, the young women and the good times up in and around Patten, Maine had quite a solid grip on me. Most men who ever worked for Katahdin Lodge were highly skilled idiot stick operators. I'd be glad to stop on by over to your place to coach you on how to properly and safely use an idiot stick.
May 1, 2008 - 6:51:03 PM
M Stevens-David
The Dead Man
Us Stevens' kids were constantly on the go as far afield as our legs and curiosity took us. We really weren't the kind of kids who just sat around the house whining because we didn't have anything to do. Besides, mother had eight of us and she wasn't about to have us in her hair all the time if she didn't have to. We knew the terrain around our home as well as our father and dad, ever the hunter, had roamed those hills ever since he was a kid but on the opposite side of the Aroostook River.
May 1, 2008 - 10:34:45 AM
D. R. Crews
The Lodge Had Two Bobcats In A Large Cage
Katahdin Lodge had two Bobcats in a cage, one male and one female. The cage sat out in the Lodge's front yard--I mean dooryard. To Mainers it's called a doorya'd. I used to hand feed strips of leftover, cooked roast beef to the male Bobcat. That was just as much a treat for any onlookers as it was for Bobby. The two cats did not mate. But when Bobcat mating season came around, the male cat did make loud, scrowwing, guttural, really far-out sounding mating calls.
May 1, 2008 - 1:01:01 AM
D. R. Crews
Splittin' Wood and Workin' Hard
In November of '68, when I moved into Katahdin Lodge, wood stoves provided all our heat. I split, remember that, kids, to an old pro it is "split", not "chopped" wood, I split a lot of wood during '68-'69. In late summer of '69, I split 19 cords of firewood for the coming winter. That was just a small part of the work I did at the Lodge. It was worth it to be able to live up in the Great North Woods.
Apr 29, 2008 - 6:56:15 PM
Down the Road
Down the Road a Piece: Too Many Cops
"We've got to stop meeting this way," an Oxford, Maine police officer commented to me around 2 a.m. as we stood on a rural road and contemplated the latest Chevy Camero rollover.
Apr 29, 2008 - 1:20:49 PM
J. G. Fabiano
Why Do The Young Always Blame The Old?
It took me a long time to get this old. I've survived many challenges and opportunities to be able to wear the trophies of old age. Some of these include a balding head, bulging waistline, and wisdom that only come after years of practice. But, why do those who have not lived to achieve these awards blame us for all of their problems?
Apr 29, 2008 - 1:16:53 PM
D. R. Crews
Patten, Maine and Dundalk, Maryland--Two Small, Somewhat Similar American Towns
In order for you to understand what my Northern Maine Adventures truly meant to an eighteen-year-old, Baltimore area, suburban kid you must know a little about where I lived, and what my life was like, just before I moved to Maine. For those good reasons, I am going to show you a photo of "downtown" Patten, Maine and a photo of "downtown" Dundalk, Maryland. The photos were taken 40 years apart, but neither downtown area has changed very much during those 40 years.
Apr 28, 2008 - 11:05:21 PM
D. R. Crews
Ballard's Citco Service Station On A Saturday Night
In 1968-69, one of the best hangouts for young men in Patten, Maine was at Ballard's Citco Service Station on a Saturday night. Well it was a small country town, ya' know. I custom hand printed the three black and white photos in this article--in Maryland, under the expert tutelage of Mark Trojan, at Dundalk Community College's black and white photo "wet" lab. The prints were made from some seriously underexposed negatives. Because I only had one cheap camera in 1969, when I took the photos. And hellooow thei'ah Ahnie! (that's translated for you Mainers who drop your r's.)
Apr 26, 2008 - 7:04:11 PM
D. R. Crews
Two Legged Dear Hunting In Patten Maine
Many folks who live in the Patten area, or who once did, have read some of my stories and seen some of my photographs about my times living with and working for my Aunt Martha and Uncle Finley Clarke up at Katahdin Lodge and Camps. There are some unresolved, serious family and business issues accurately portrayed in those previously published works of mine. NONE of that seriousness is anywhere to be seen in this new series of published pages about Fin, Marty, Patten Maine, Dundalk Maryland, Rock n' Roll and me. This is all about a whole lotta' fun and good times. It is an easy and light hearted read.
Apr 25, 2008 - 7:15:50 PM
M Stevens-David
Dad and Me
Dad loved to fish and with eight kids, he usually took a couple of us with him every time he went because he knew that if he didn't, there'd be a lot of sulking at home when he returned.
Apr 25, 2008 - 8:52:05 AM
Laura on Life
Some Dirty Jobs
The other night, I was watching a show on TV called Dirty Jobs. This show was, in essence, saluting those people who work at jobs that most of us would consider pretty nasty. Sometimes the host, Mike Rowe, would interview these people and ask questions about the job they are doing. I have never once heard him ask them how they got into this line of work, though.
Apr 25, 2008 - 8:43:23 AM
D. R. Crews
The Mailman's Beautiful Daughter
This new series of articles is about my Uncle Finley Kenneth Clarke, his wife Martha, their Katahdin Lodge and Camps, Patten Maine, Dundalk Maryland, 1968 era Rock n' Roll and how I had historically, rockin' good times in both Maine and Maryland. It is an easy and lighthearted read. Therefore, I am delighted to be able present to you, the fourth installment in this series - The Mailman's Beautiful Daughter.
Apr 24, 2008 - 5:48:23 PM
M Stevens-David
The Substitute
The third grade brought a whole new dimension into my life in the form of Ethelene Munroe. Ethelene had already retired as a Latin teacher after teaching some thirty-odd years in the high school and she only occasionally accepted substitute teaching jobs. She must have been at least seventy years old by the time she taught my class and she was more than a little senile. When the principal announced that she was coming, we waited for her arrival with a mixture of fear and excitement because her reputation at the high school had extensively preceded her.
Apr 24, 2008 - 9:33:02 AM
M Stevens-David
Dad - The Final Years
The last fifteen years of Dad's working life was spent working as a janitor at Pinkham's Lumber Company, which is located just outside of Ashland on the Portage Road. Pinkham Lumber, at that time, had the distinction of being the only fully-automated lumber mill in the United States. It utilized every piece of the tree, nothing was wasted.
Apr 24, 2008 - 9:21:47 AM
Laura on Life
Mincing Muddle
Isn't it amazing how the sound of a babbling brook or waves lapping upon a sandy shore can give you such a fine sense of well-being?
Apr 22, 2008 - 9:51:05 PM
M Stevens-David
Dad - Deep Sea Fishin
Where we lived in Aroostook County, Maine, it was about the same distance to any large body of water no matter which direction you went. If you traveled west, you'd run into the Great Lakes. If you went North, it would be the mouth of the St. Lawrence that you ran into first and if we went Southeast, sooner or later, we'd finally run into the great Atlantic Ocean.
Apr 22, 2008 - 8:41:44 PM
M Stevens-David
The Lincoln
About five years ago, my husband Leo, decided that we needed to buy a newer vehicle and he set about finding one with a vengeance. He made a list of all the local used car dealerships in our immediate area and after work each day, he'd stop and check out what they had available. We had discussed our needs and wants very thoroughly prior to beginning the hunt so I was very surprised when he came flying home the second night with want burning a hole in his checkbook.
Apr 22, 2008 - 11:53:09 AM
D. R. Crews
I Once Was Wild
During the summer of '76, when much of America was having a near-continuous beer drinking and mild-mannered-Mexican-Marijuana smoking party, the photo of me in this article was taken. At the time, I was living and working in Myrtle Beach South Carolina. I was working as a Ferris Wheel Operator. Ferris Wheel Operator extraordinaire, I might add. Part of that time, I camped in the Myrtle Beach State Park Campground. The campground had a family section, and a single's section. The 1976 party favors flowed freely and openly in the singles section. Do not stop at just looking at the photo. Or it may give you an incorrect impression of my outdoorsman's safety standards. Read the one minute's worth of poetic text below it too. You'll probly get a chuckle out of it. The photo, as you will figure, was taken in the single's section.
Apr 21, 2008 - 4:07:21 PM
Down the Road
Down the Road a Piece: Miss Kitty
Every once in a while I read something so special I want to share it. My daughter and her husband, Bob, vacated Maine several years ago so she could accept a position and they could reside in the mountains of North Carolina about 20 miles from my favorite trail -- the Appalachian Trail, an extension of ours here in Maine. Lorraine recently e-mailed me the "obituary" of a kitty who lived a long, happy life in a North Carolina bookstore.
Apr 21, 2008 - 1:15:35 AM
J. G. Fabiano
Bowling is Alive, Well, and Living in America
Barak Obama put the game of bowling back on the map. Ever since he threw many consecutive gutter balls in Pennsylvania people are once again talking about the art of bowling. Of course now people are thinking about how bowling became a part of their social structure.
Apr 21, 2008 - 12:11:07 AM
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