Earl Brechlin - Bygone Coastal Maine

EARL BRECHLIN is a Registered Maine Guide and the author of several Maine guidebooks and two other volumes featuring selections of antique postcards: Bygone Bar Harbor and Bygone Boston. He is also the editor of the Mount Desert Islander newspaper and former editor of the Bar Harbor Times. An adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, he was named Maine Journalist of the Year in 1997 and has served as president of the Maine Press Association and New England Press Association.

Acknowledgments The cards in this book come from a variety of sources, including my own extensive collection. Most I found in antique shops and at antique shows, and they cost only a few dollars. The best source was the massive show and sale held several times annually in Brimfield, Massachusetts. Other cards needed to round out the book I purchased on eBay.

Thanks are due to Earle Shettleworth, of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, who generously offered to help find cards on my wish list. Others who helped by rounding up cards were Jim Garner, of Ellsworth, Bruce Jalbert, of Bar Harbor, Celestria Rice, of Wiscasset, Carl Brechlin, of Meriden, Connecticut, Dale Brechlin, of Belfast, Patricia Lane, of Damariscotta, and Barbara Saunders, of Rockland. Credit for helping research background information goes to Deborah McDermott, of York, and Lorie Costigan, of Lincolnville, as well as Peter Moore, of York, Kate Rowe, of Ogunquit, Christopher Gutscher, of Brunswick, Barbara Rumsey, of Boothbay, Sa ndy Armentrout, of Kennebunk, Norman Hamlin, of Bristol, and Dan Blaney, of Old Orchard Beach.

No amount of thanks can properly credit all the love and support and inspiration Ive received from my wife, Roxie.

And, of course, special thanks to Karin Womer, Terry Brgy, Linda Callahan, Bob Russell, and all the good folks at Down East Books.

BATH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
33 Summer Street
Bath, ME 04530

BERWICK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
P.O. Box 904
Berwick, ME 03901-0904

BIDDEFORD HISTORICAL SOCIETY
P. O. Box 200
Biddeford, ME 04005
2072844690

BOOTHBAY RAILWAY VILLAGE
Route 27
Boothbay, ME 04537
2076334727

BOOTHBAY REGION HISTORICAL SOCIETY
70 Oak Street
P. O. Box 272
Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538

BOWDOIN COLLEGE LIBRARY
Brunswick, ME 04011
2077253288

BRICK STORE MUSEUM
117 Main Street
Kennebunk, ME 04043
2079854802

CAMDEN PUBLIC LIBRARY
55 Main Street
Camden, ME 04843
2072363440

CAMDEN-ROCKPORT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Conway Road
Camden, ME 04843
2072362257

CAPE ELIZABETH HISTORICAL PRESERVATION SOCIETY
Thomas Memorial Library
6 Scott Dyer Road
Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107
2077991720

CUSHING HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Hathorn Point Road
P.O. Box 110 Cushing, ME 04563
2073548262

FALMOUTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
61 Lunt Road
Falmouth, ME 04105-1837
2077812351

FARNSWORTH ART MUSEUM
352 Main Street
P.O. Box 466
Rockland, ME 04841
2075966457

FREEPORT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
45 Main Street
Freeport, ME 04032
2078653170

FRIENDSHIP MUSEUM
Martin Point Road
P.O. Box 321
Friendship, ME 04547
2078324221

GREATER PORTLAND LANDMARKS, INC.
165 State Street
Portland, ME 04101
2077745561

HARPSWELL HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Route 1
South Harpswell, ME 04079

KENNEBUNKPORT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
P. O. Box 1173
Kennebunkport, ME 04046
2079672751

KITTERY HISTORICAL AND NAVAL MUSEUM
Rogers Road Extension
P.O. Box 453
Kittery, ME 03904

KITTERY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
48 Betty Welch Road
York, ME 03939

KNOX MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION
33 Knox Street
Thomaston, ME 04861

LINCOLN COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
133 Federal Street
P.O. Box 61
Wiscasset, ME 04578
2078826871

MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
485 Congress Street
Portland, ME 04101
2077741822

MAINE NARROW-GAUGE RAILROAD COMPANY AND MUSEUM
58 Fore Street
Portland, ME 04101
2078280814

MONHEGAN MUSEUM
Monhegan, ME 04852
2075967003

OCEAN PARK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
P.O. Box 7308
Ocean Park, ME 04063

OLD BERWICK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
P.O. Box 296
South Berwick, ME 03908
2073845162

OLD ORCHARD BEACH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
4 Portland Avenue
P. O. Box 464
Old Orchard Beach, ME 04064
2079345330

OLD YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
207 York Street
P.O. Box 312
York, ME 03939
2073634974

OWLS HEAD TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM
P.O. Box 277
Owls Head, ME 04854
2075944418

PEJEPSCOT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
159 Park Row
Brunswick, ME 04011
2077296606

PEMAQUID HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
Route 2
Box 4000-314
Damariscotta, ME 04543-9766

PORTLAND HARBOR MUSEUM SOUTHERN MAINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Fort Road South Portland, M E 04106
2077996337

SACO MUSEUM
371 Main Street
Saco, ME 04072
2072830684

SANFORD HISTORICAL COMMITIEE
267 Main Street
Sanford, ME 04073

SCARBOROUGH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
100 Libby Road
P.O. Box 156
Scarborough, ME 04074
2078833539

SEASHORE TROLLEY MUSEUM
P.O. Box A
Kennebunkport, ME 04046
2079672712

SHORE VILLAGE MUSEUM
104 Limerock Street
Rockland, ME 04841 2075940311

SOUTH PORTLAND-CAPE ELIZABETH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
P. O. Box 2623
South Portland, ME 04106
2077991977

THOMASTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND HISTORICAL MUSEUM
P.O. Box 384
Thomaston, ME 04861

WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW HOUSE
487 Congress Street
Portland, ME 04101
2077721807

WALDOBORO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
P.O. Box 110
Waldoboro, ME 04572

WARREN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
37 Stirling Road
Warren, ME 04864
2072732726

HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WELLS AND OGUNQUIT
P.O. Box 801
938 Post Road
Wells, ME 04090
2076464775

WISCASSET PUBLIC LIBRARY
P.O. Box 367
Wiscasset, ME 04578
2078827161

WOOLWICH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
P.O. Box 98
Woolwich, ME 04579
2074434833

YARMOUTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
P.O. Box 107
Yarmouth, ME 04096
2078466259

1. FORT MCCLARY, KITTERY POINT WITH A LOWER TIER OF GRANITE AND AN UPPER STRUCTURE OF SQUARED LOGS, THE BLOCKHOUSE AT FORT MCCLARY HAS STOOD GUARD OVER THE ENTRANCE TO THE PISCATAQUA RIVER SINCE IT WAS BUILT IN 180809. EVIDENCE OF FORTS ON THE SITE DATES BACK TO THE REVOLUTION. THE FORT WAS NAMED FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE MAJOR ANDREW MCCLARY WHO WAS KILLED AT THE BATTLE OF BUNKER (BREEDS) HILL IN BOSTON. THE FORT WAS REFURBISHED BETWEEN 1844 AND 1846, BUT WAS IN ROUGH CONDITION AT THE TIME THIS CARD WAS MADE. THE BLOCKHOUSE WAS RESTORED IN 1987, AND THE SITE IS NOW A STATE PARK.

2. NAVAL PRISON AT PORTSMOUTH NAVY YARD, KITTERY PRESIDENT THOMAS JEFFERSON ESTABLISHED A NAVY YARD ON ISLANDS AT THE MOUTH OF THE PISCATAQUA RIVER IN JUNE 1800. THE YARD LAUNCHED ITS FIRST SHIP, THE WASHINGTON, IN 1815. OVER THE YEARS IT HAS BUILT ALL TYPES OF VESSELS, FROM STEAMSHIPS TO SUBMARINES, AND HAS SERVICED NUCLEAR-POWERED SUBS. IN 1915 THE TREATY ENDING THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR WAS SIGNED IN A BUILDING AT THE NAVY YARD.

THE PRISON WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1898 TO HOLD THOUSANDS OF CAPTIVES FROM THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. AT ITS PEAK DURING WWII, THE PRISON HELD 3,000 MEN. IT WAS CLOSED IN 1974.