Backwoods Blog .152

NUMBER 9

Backwoods Blog;

in the woods and on the road…

George Hutchinson on backwoods coffee break (1949)

Thanksgiving is this week and one of the traditional ways to honor the holiday in northern Maine is to have Thanksgiving dinner at camp. A day in the woods this time of year combines a family gathering, turkey and hunting into a day well spent with memories generated for years to come. The photographs in this post come from the Roy and Myrtle Cowperthwaite collection. My father’s first wife was Ella Cowperthwaite, Roy’s sister, and many of my father’s photographs at his camp at Harvey Siding include members from the Cowperthwaite, Hutchinson and Wotton family (who are all related). These photographs were all taken on the same day during a trip to Number 9 Lake just west of Bridgewater, Maine. The lake is at a relatively high elevation and is the source of the north branch Meduxnekeag River located at the base of Number 9 Mountain. It used to be a small state park with a ranger station close to the lakefront, but the park was decommissioned years ago. Camps and cottages still ring the lake on leased land from the paper company. There is an old fire tower on top of the mountain (now joined by several cellphone towers) and you can drive or hike right to the top of the 1,643 foot summit. I surmise by the “going to church” attire that the outing to Number 9 occurred on a Sunday afternoon after church. I don’t think they hiked to the top of the mountain that day! Like any good outing, food is always involved when you’re going to the woods.

I want to thank Janice Cowperthwaite Kelley for loaning me her grandparent’s photo collection to peruse. I love nothing better than to discover an “old photograph” I have never seen before that tells a story I have never heard before. I’ve included another map from the DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer so you can see where Number 9 is located. For added interest, see if you can find South Brooks Falls on the map from last week’s post. A hint is available below.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

In the woods,

Dave

hint: look due south

November 22, 2023