MOOSEHEAD LAKE
Backwoods Blog;
in the woods and on the road…
(note the paper bag chef hat)
When I was growing up our family spent summer vacation each year at Moosehead Lake in Greenville, Maine. We always rented a cottage at Curtis Sandy Bay Camps on the east side of the lake which was located about three miles out of town heading north. My parents had spent their honeymoon at Sandy Bay Camps in July 1959 and once we were big enough to make the trip we returned every year. The cottages were set up with light kitchen-keeping, electricity, a flush toilet, running water and a screened in porch (which is a key feature for avoiding the Maine black fly). There were approximately twenty cottages at Sandy Bay Camps with a main lodge providing a gathering space, camp store and upstairs living quarters for the owners. There was also a large dock on the waterfront of which the brochure states “you may rent reliable boats and outboard motors, buy gasoline, oil and live bait, dive and swim, relax and chat, listen to fishing tales.” The prominent feature that stood out in my young memory was a wooden foot bridge that spanned a small ravine connecting the two halves of the campground. I’m not sure how long the bridge was (when you’re eight years old everything looks big), but I thought it was the most incredible thing I had ever seen. There was a fresh water spring located next to the entrance road and we had to cross the foot bridge in order to reach it. My twin sister and I used to haul drinking water back to the cottage and that was the one “chore” we had while on summer vacation. I didn’t mind the job because it just gave me one more reason to cross the bridge again. I must have walked to the spring a dozen or more times a day getting a cold drink and crossing the bridge. A short wooden walkway led to the spring where a metal pipe came out of the ground and the water ran continually, ice cold and clear.
Another part of the daily routine was riding into town every morning with my Dad (sometimes my sister would come along). He would go to the Harris Drug Store in downtown Greenville to get a cup of coffee and a newspaper while I’d pick out a comic book to take back to the cottage. They also had an old fashioned Rexall soda fountain so sometimes we would get an ice cream treat and not tell anyone. The only other store I remember in Greenville was The Indian Store located in the historic Shaw Block, and although the name may not be politically correct by today’s standards it was packed full of Native American craftwork, tourist goods and toys. There was even a birch bark canoe hanging overhead from the ceiling and a life-size wooden Indian standing by the entrance door when you walked in. Many souvenirs were purchased at that store…
Most of our time at Moosehead was spent swimming, exploring the woods, reading books, playing games and spending time together as a family. We brought along our 12 inch black and white portable TV one year, but I don’t think we even watched it (the reception wasn’t very good). I do remember watching a couple episodes of the Andy Griffith Show but that was about it. The cost of renting a cabin at Sandy Bay Camps for one week in 1970 was $120 dollars. As an interesting point of comparison, I remember my Dad’s salary at the time as a traveling salesman was also $120 dollars a week – one week of vacation for one week of wages. You get a lot of mileage out of childhood memories from the formative years between age six and twelve, and indeed, some of my strongest and best memories come from the Moosehead Lake vacations of years passed. And 7although I wasn’t aware of it at the time, as I’ve been building and creating our simple place here in the woods (the rope bridge, sauna, cabin, trails) I’ve been recreating some of the valued things I first experienced as a child on vacation at Moosehead. As Mainers we live in “Vacationland” year around, so I guess this is my way of extending the experience into more than just one week out of the year. Happy summer and happy memories everyone!
In the woods,
Dave
July 20, 2022
This comment is for 0.91, Moosehead. Wonderful recollections, especially your awe at the bridge across the ravine. I’m guessing your rope bridge is longer and, perhaps, scarier to cross. You must have been waterlogged by the end of each day.
I was struck by your comment that in 1970, your Dad spent a week’s pay, $120, to rent the cottage for a week. My “Theory of Multiples of 7” is an effort to describe what happened to middle class purchasing power in the years 1970 to 2000. Essentially, a number of major expense (cars, college educations, homes) increased in cost by about a multiple of 7 in those 30 years. If my theory holds (spring) water, the cost of a week at Sandy Bay camps rose to about $840 per week by the year 2000, but…..if he was still working, your father’s traveling salesman earnings only increased to about $360 to maybe $480, while the CEO of any company he represented, had an income that kept up with costs. I’d be interested if you have any information to either verify or dispute my theory in your Dad’s case. And, I thought your Dad was a farmer. He probably had to be a traveling salesman to help support his farming addiction.
Mike
Oh yeah, I almost forgot: that 1960 Chevy in the picture of you and your sister, was, in my humble, Click and Clack, opinion, was one of the ugliest cars ever designed. Almost as ugly as my father’s 1960 Ford station Wagon which, as a teenaged driver, I affectionately named, “The White Ghost,” trying to find some way to impress potential dates, who by then were used to riding in 1965 Chevy SuperSports, one of, in my humble Click and Clack opinion, the most attractive cars made.
My father worked as a bagman selling farm insecticides (spray material) for the C.W. Staples Company out of Presque Isle. Dad ran the Monticello office which was located on our property; the old milk house served as the office and the machine shed was converted into a warehouse. He hired and supervised the office staff and then worked the road as a salesman. He farmed at the same time so he was always on the go. So you are right, Mike, sometimes a farmer had to work a second job (or third) just to keep the bills paid.
You are very lucky to have such good memories and pictures to go with them.
posted by sb
Love it!
And the station wagon! We had one like it.
posted by Jere