Homestead mailing list

[sjc <indexer AT fairpoint.net>]

rayzentz AT aim.com wrote:

> Really? How did they do that? And when? Are you referring to a particular 
> event?
>
>   

Late in the 50s and early in the 60s many people left this area for jobs 
elsewhere; the only real jobs left here for many years thereafter were 
'factory' chicken operations, huge processing plants down on the 
Penobscot Bay (which had waste chutes 8' across where waste was shovel 
straight into the Bay), and a smattering of leftover lobstermen and 
fishers.  The fisherman were at the beginning of the overfishing and 
couldn't make a living, a lot of them turned to lobstering.  That still 
survives; they took it upon themselves to set limits after having 
watched what happened to the fisheries.  Just about everything else was 
chickens.  Most everybody else took off for 'greener pastures' (I guess 
that means where the snow in July in the gutter isn't actually white 
chicken feathers), largely Boston and beyond.  A lot of farmers, having 
bought the 'can't make any money farming anymore' walked off and left 
land, houses, whatever.

People were happy to sell some large tracts to incoming 
back-to0-the-lander, hippie types.  There were hundreds at one time.  
So, they were pretty well-educated, willing to take a risk, supported 
through the initial stages, not afraid to be doing something new.  Now 
they're old hippies, but it turned out they were well educated (Daddy's 
money), and had enough of the same money (trust funds) to buy land and 
actually get it going.  MOFGA was in its infancy then but there were a 
couple of people there who helped them off to a decent organic start, 
information-wise, and a few of the old farmers left here helped them. 

Just about the time they got a toehold, the chicken business in Maine 
fell apart (disease) and more people left, leaving more ground, some of 
which was occupied by said folks, mostly by then in family groups.  They 
all had kids, which they homeschooled, county was too broke so they 
looked the other way.  Eventually Pop's money ran out, and everybody 
buckled down to work.  The kids were reared to be polite, to work with 
their hands and backs, to be respectful, curious, hardworking, 
goal-oriented, independent, contributing members of their community.  
They learned in many cases to take care of the old farmers and their 
wives who'd helped them when they first came.  Now those kids have grown 
up to be some real decent folks, with a good sense of who they are, who 
else is here, a good bit of wisdom for a group of young people.  They're 
teaching, some abroad, in the military, taking care of grandparents.....

The adults who came here as kids are  now mayors/town managers in many 
of our small towns here, and enthusiastic still about the area, willing 
to work hard for it.  Most of the staff of Unity College got their start 
right here on Stovepipe Alley (one of the communes which is now a 
cohousing unit under I-forget-the-name).  Most of the staff of College 
of the Atlantic came from here, same circumstances.  Not a few are 
professors at UMO and UMA.  We have a reasonable tax base. They started 
and still own a newspaper.  They redeemed many old buildings and built 
many new ones which one can be pleased to see.  They have been at the 
forefront of alternative energy in Maine, and some of them, on a 
national basis.  There are no 6000sq foot boxes here, nor nasty 
mortgages to pull us into the fray to the south.  We have libraries now, 
parks and other public places, beach access in many places, and many 
small businesses which employ our residents.  they still don't poke into 
anybody else's business, and I've never heard of a one of them 
bellyaching about what services they don't have or can't get here (my 
personal gripe; if ya want it, stay where ya have it). 

We do have 2 stoplights here now, but that's due to the  old  yuppie 
(Crowley, MBNA) who thought he'd make a killing off the dumb  Mainers 
and  installed a huge call center where he soon found out that the dumb 
Mainers here don't like to lie to consumers, even on the phone, and so 
won't sell bad interest rates without telling people what they're 
getting into.  I think they were here 4 years.  Didn't take everybody 
long to decide they'd rather have the hippies......

The sense of community is outstanding here; when my house burned in '01 
I told 6 people to please spread the word (on Wed, too late to get it in 
paper) that I planned to have a house-raising on Fri & Sat (Thanksgiving 
weekend) and to please come, and bring any tool you don't mind others 
using, and any materials you may have that you don't otherwise want.  
Fri there were well over 60 people (plus children who could actually be 
trusted to operate a tape, carry cheerfully, whatever) and on Saturday 
over 100 folks, plus a lot more who came by but would have had to park 
too far down the muddy road (over a mile).  Little kids restacked my 
half-burned firewood to a new spot, picked up trash, dragged magnets, 
corraled dogs (strict leash law here backed by 410s).  A rousing good 
time and much good food was had by all, and by Sat dark (about 4:00 that 
time of year) the shell was up except for the roofing, which hadn't come 
in yet.  About half the materials were donated.  Peter (old hippie, 
probably still count himself one, who makes apple ladders brought the 
rafters he'd cut in the woods that morning.   Donald, one of the few 
farmers who welcomed new people to the land even if they were hippies, 
was in the woods logging Fri and came Sat and cut those logs right in 
the driveway into the flooring, with the measuring and toting help of  
two hippies' grandchildren.  The next Saturday the roofing went on in 
four hours.  We like (treasure, actually) that sense of community and we 
all know and acknowledge that had Waldo County driven off the hippies, 
as did many surrounding places, we'd now not have what we do, in many 
ways.  Their children, after living all over the world, are now coming 
home to be teachers in our schools, administrator at our hospital, 
manager at the credit union....and so it marches on.

The counties adjacent to us, with the exception of Knox County (Camden, 
old money and established tourism), were in similar shape to our county 
at the beginning of 1960.  They were just beginning to get their heads 
above water when things slowed down this time, and now who knows; they 
are already in trouble in 3 of the 4 counties....meanwhile we are in 
reasonably good shape here. 

So even though nobody really wanted them to come, or so I'm told, it's 
not been tooooo bad.  I doubt if you'd find anyone complaining here, 
now.  I can't think when I heard the last person grumble about 'them 
hippies', maybe about 1990?

They did OK by us.

SJ