by John Sprague

Created on: July 29, 2008

Meddybemps Memoirs

My parents purchased our camp on beautiful Meddybemps Lake Maine in 1946. They bought our camp(what cottages are called in downeast Maine) from "Donkey" Smith of Calais. There was just our camp and Tommy Denyer's cottage next to Reynolds Beach. Dad painted our place "Red" so from then on, we were known as the "red camp" near the beach. Cliff Reynolds owned the beach but our family had beach rights. Mr Reynolds also owned the camps on our right side and he had them all rented during the summer. Cliff had quite a business with the beach, his camps and boats to rent. He had a place for people to tent and campout in his field just opposite the beach, complete with a hand pump for drawing well water, a snack bar and a place to launch boats. I used to dive off our pier growing up there in front of our red camp and I would swim diagonally all the way out to the beach raft. It was usually crowded on that float, especially on a hot summer's day. It was fun being a kid in those days.

Dad worked in a paper mill(St.Croix Paper Co) in nearby "Woodland" in Baileyville,Maine. When the Woodland schools let out for summer vacation, we Sprague children and our mom would move right out there and stay until Labor Day. I could swim all day, fish and go boating. Guess I never realized how lucky I was at the time. I could jump in the boat and drive to the town dock. I'd tie up to the dock and walk up to Palmeter's store. They sold gas there and I could get candy and ice cream or a few groceries. The Palmeter family were always friendly. There was Curtis "Chub" Palmeter and his wife Roberta,daughters Betty,Maxine and Myrtle and a son Curtis. Charlie Bridges worked there too and was a good guy. The store was a gathering spot for Meddybempsters and the summer campers. There were guides and caretakers like Cecil Ward and Ronald Cousins. I enjoyed seeing Howard Allen there and I'd sometimes visit him at his nearby house.

I hung around with Mark Ketchem, Jeff Orchard, Dale Sherrard, Johnny Hanson, Roger Holst, Jon Mahar and a few others. Sometimes, mom would have me run errands. I'd sometimes go to the post office which was just a short walk from there over the bridge by Harry Smith's Dam and Lottie Lombards store to the the PO which was in the Everett Gillespie home. Once in a while, I'd get a glimse of his pretty daughters, Nancy and Frannie. Later the PO moved further down Route 191 and Lottie's store was closed. I can still remember all the baskets hanging there

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next Page >>