Maine Misadventure
 

This post was buried in an older thread. I feel so proud of it I want
it up front.

It's about a recent experience I had in Downeast Maine.

***

I already have an amusing anecdote about fishing (or not fishing) in
the
region. When I was up in November for the home inspection, I had a
Saturday stayover on my frequent-flyer ticket, so I decided to find a
place to fish, preferrably for trout. Now one feature of Maine
fisheries is that most moving water is closed from October until
Spring, so I only had a few places to choose from.


I went and bought a Delorme Atlas, a fishing license, a bright orange
hat (they hunt up there), and some bear spray (just in case). I mapped

out a route from Machias where I was staying (Hello Broadway B &B) to a

promising flowage between routes 1 and 9 in Washington County, North of

Cherryfield, if anyone know where that is. Oh, I need to tell you that

the jokers at Bangor Airport gave me a convertable car to rent when I
left Bangor. The sad thing is that at first I was excited about it-
excited to get a convertable car- in Maine- in November.


So anyway, I took Route 1 (the main route along the coast) about
halfway there, but there was this great meandering path through the
wild blueberry fields, which Delorme said was paved. I had a full tank

of gas, water, beer, and my lunch in the car, and it was 8:00 am, so
onto the meandering path I went.


The road was enjoyable albeit somewhat monotonous. Occasionally I
passed a house or a barn, but mostly it was scrub and blueberry fields,

some with large boulders stranded in the fields from the last glacier
that went through.


Everything was going great until I climbed up a long hill where the
fields dropped off on both sides. I came down the hill and was in the
middle of a vast field that was level into the distance. Then the road

became dirt. At first it was well packed dirt, so I went on. Keep
going, I thought, the road is straight and the pavement will pick up
again. Then the road ended in a T. I had to turn. I turned north.?.
(My destination was north-west). I kept going; sooner or later I had
to find a road that was on the atlas. One turn turned to two which
turned to twenty, and I was lost . . . lost in Blueberry fields. It is

hard to describe how extensive they are, but on the map they are
probably 15 miles by 30 miles square. What could I do? I kept
driving, field after field, turn after turn for two hours. Alone
except for the radio, no sign of humanity other than the road.


After two hours, miracle of miracles, I saw an SUV coming down the road

coming toward me. Now the dirt path was narrow, so we would both have
to slow down and pull to the side to pass. I could see that the driver

was about to nod and pull past, so I rolled down my window and waved my

arms frantically.


He stopped, lowered his window, looked me up and down, and said in a
ringing down east accent, "You picked a pretty fine car for running
around in the blueberries fields." I had to smile at that comment.
I had no choice, I stuck in the middle of the blueberry wilderness.
Without his help I may be stuck forever. I quickly described my
plight, and asked him to guide my out of the fields. He said to turn
around and follow him, which I did. We took innumerable turns, went
past a lake, and down and up a gully where I also got stuck. After
about twenty minutes we were on hard packed dirt, approaching a paved
road. He stopped at the intersection with the paved road, and I pulled

around him to thank him for the help. Before I could open my mouth, he

pointed his arm out his window, past my car and said, "The road to
the Bangor Airport is that way." I thanked him and went on my way.
Of course, I wasn't going to the airport, but he figured that after
getting lost so dumbly, I couldn't be from around there and would
probably benefit from leaving as quickly as possible.


Lessons learned: Maine is big, and Eastern Maine is more rural than you

can imagine, probably more rural than any other place east of the
Mississippi. Blueberry farms in Maine are big. Roads in Maine end
abruptly. Finally, the only way to be sure where you are is to have a
GPS.


I didn't get to fish that day, but I am not discouraged. I am moving
to an area with much wilderness- more every year, and I will enjoy
exploring it.

Maine Misadventure
 

I enjoyed your story. It reminded me of my college days at the
University of Maine at Orono when we would explore all those woods roads
on weekends to see where they went. Sometimes we would hunt pah-tridge
and rabbit, sometimes we would ice fish, but the driving was half the fun.

Pete Collin

Maine Misadventure
 

Memphis Jim wrote:


I didn't get to fish that day, but I am not discouraged. I am moving
to an area with much wilderness- more every year, and I will enjoy
exploring it.


Cool story. What does "much wilderness - more every year" mean?

I didn't think that was happening anywhere.

Willi

Maine Misadventure
 

"Willi" wrote in message
...
Memphis Jim wrote:


I didn't get to fish that day, but I am not discouraged. I am moving
to an area with much wilderness- more every year, and I will enjoy
exploring it.


Cool story. What does "much wilderness - more every year" mean?

I didn't think that was happening anywhere.

Willi

It's what happens when you quit mowing the back forty.

Danl

Maine Misadventure
 

"Memphis Jim" wrote in message
oups.com...
Everything was going great until I climbed up a long hill where the
fields dropped off on both sides. I came down the hill and was in the
middle of a vast field that was level into the distance. Then the road
became dirt.

Great story. It really brought back some memories.

I spent may hours riding through the barrens in the back of an old hard top
jeep driven by my cousin's father. "Mack" was a born and bred Mainer, had
little use for comfort, and was happiest when there were as many people
around as possible. So my father, my cousin (dad's age), Mack, my cousin's
two sons (both a bit younger than me), and my brother and me, along with a
very happy full grown lab and a dozen rods (classic Down-East fishing rods
of the telescopic metallic variety), would load up in Mack's CJ7 and roar
off from Northfield down to the barrens. Mack had no idea how rough the ride
was in the back of the Jeep, or perhaps he thought all the bodies crammed
together would offer some sort of cushioning, but at the speeds he traveled,
we all spent as much time airborne as seated, if you can call the fender
well a seat. I never decided whether he drove fast over the rutted dirt
roads because he was anxious to get to the brooks, didn't have any idea how
bloodied we were getting from the impact against the roof, or just thought
driving fast was fun. In any case, by the time we rolled out of the Jeep, I
would gladly have walked back to camp rather than ride back. Of course, by
the next day, I had forgotten this discomfort, and was always ready to do it
again.

Mack always knew where the fishing was going to be good, and since there
wasn't a lot of fishing pressure in the brooks of the barrens back then, it
was almost always wonderful. In fact, I can never remember seeing another
fisherman in all the trips we made. It always seemed that the barrens were
our private fishing grounds, and I can remember my cousin's outrage when he
thought someone was building a house near one of the brooks. They weren't,
but it got his attention. We were meat fisherman, and kept our limit for
dinner and the freezer long before there was any realization that the
resource was limited. I learned early how to best preserve a nice bright
brookie in a sphagnum moss lined basket creel so that it's flesh would still
be firm at the end of the day - a skill I haven't needed to use in nearly 30
years of C&R. That's just the way it was back then, even with an 8 fish
limit. Dad says my grandfather was devasted when Maine dropped the limit to
25 fish a day. There are many nice brooks and "rivers" on the barrens, and
while I haven't fished them in 35 years, they always held fish. The season
allowed fishing in "rivers" after August 15, but the brooks closed. If the
map said it was a river, we fished it, even though many of the rivers were
significantly smaller than some of the brooks.

Sorry for the ramble. I cherish the experiences I have had fishing out West
with my wife, but in the end, there is simply nothing like the joy of
fishing a brook so tight with alders that you have to poke the pole though
the branches.

And but for a wrong turn or two, you were in the right place.

Jim Ray

Maine Misadventure
 

"jimbo" wrote in message
...

...Sorry for the ramble. I cherish the experiences I have had fishing out
West with my wife, but in the end, there is simply nothing like the joy of
fishing a brook so tight with alders that you have to poke the pole though
the branches....

Thanks for taking us along. It was a much nicer ride than you had to endure
to get there. :)

Wolfgang

Maine Misadventure
 

Hey Peter; I went to UMO. Did we have this conversation a few years ago?

--riverman


"Peter A. Collin" wrote in message
...
I enjoyed your story. It reminded me of my college days at the University
of Maine at Orono when we would explore all those woods roads on weekends
to see where they went. Sometimes we would hunt pah-tridge and rabbit,
sometimes we would ice fish, but the driving was half the fun.

Pete Collin

Maine Misadventure
 

"Memphis Jim" wrote in message
oups.com...
This post was buried in an older thread. I feel so proud of it I want
it up front.

It's about a recent experience I had in Downeast Maine.



Sounds like my entire teenage years. I spent many a summer (and winter) in
the blueberry barrens. By the way, the region you were headed for (sounds
like around Cathance Lake?) is not so great for winter fishing.

--riverman

Maine Misadventure
 

riverman wrote:
Hey Peter; I went to UMO. Did we have this conversation a few years ago?

--riverman


"Peter A. Collin" wrote in message
...
I enjoyed your story. It reminded me of my college days at the University
of Maine at Orono when we would explore all those woods roads on weekends
to see where they went. Sometimes we would hunt pah-tridge and rabbit,
sometimes we would ice fish, but the driving was half the fun.

Pete Collin


Oh, Maybe. I tend to repeat myself. Graduated '91.

Maine Misadventure
 

"Peter A. Collin" wrote in message
...
riverman wrote:
Hey Peter; I went to UMO. Did we have this conversation a few years ago?

--riverman


"Peter A. Collin" wrote in message
...
I enjoyed your story. It reminded me of my college days at the
University of Maine at Orono when we would explore all those woods roads
on weekends to see where they went. Sometimes we would hunt pah-tridge
and rabbit, sometimes we would ice fish, but the driving was half the
fun.

Pete Collin


Oh, Maybe. I tend to repeat myself. Graduated '91.

December, '84. Worked in Boardman for the Geology department before Steve
Kahl built the new labs out by Stillwater Village (near the Cabins field:
you missed the Cabins era).

--riverman

Maine Misadventure
 

riverman wrote:
"Memphis Jim" wrote in message
oups.com...
This post was buried in an older thread. I feel so proud of it I want
it up front.

It's about a recent experience I had in Downeast Maine.



Sounds like my entire teenage years. I spent many a summer (and winter) in
the blueberry barrens. By the way, the region you were headed for (sounds
like around Cathance Lake?) is not so great for winter fishing.

--riverman


While we are on the subject of Maine, may I ask, how far outside of
Maine is is where a "camp" must properly be called a "cottage"? I
always want to call people's summer homes "camps" no matter how many
luxuries they contain.

Pete

Maine Misadventure
 

"Peter A. Collin" wrote in message
...
riverman wrote:
"Memphis Jim" wrote in message
oups.com...
This post was buried in an older thread. I feel so proud of it I want
it up front.

It's about a recent experience I had in Downeast Maine.



Sounds like my entire teenage years. I spent many a summer (and winter)
in the blueberry barrens. By the way, the region you were headed for
(sounds like around Cathance Lake?) is not so great for winter fishing.

--riverman
While we are on the subject of Maine, may I ask, how far outside of Maine
is is where a "camp" must properly be called a "cottage"? I always want
to call people's summer homes "camps" no matter how many luxuries they
contain.



I think it has more to do with yearly income than anything else. Everyone I
knew who had one, had a 'summah camp out in the woods'. Out of staters who
could afford a summah place in Maine had a 'cottage on the lake'. I think
once you are out of ME, NH and VT, you can call them 'Cottages'.

I suppose it really has to do with what you use them for. Camps are used
mostly to hunt from, I think. And even if you don't hunt, if some owner
sometime in the past used it for hunting, its a camp.

--riverman

Maine Misadventure
 

"Peter A. Collin" wrote in message
While we are on the subject of Maine, may I ask, how far outside of Maine
is is where a "camp" must properly be called a "cottage"?


Vermont.


Joe F.

Maine Misadventure
 

There are several long term trends that are making parts of Maine, and
parts of other states in the northern U.S. have more wilderness.

In the case of Maine, much of the state used to support a small farm
economy when the U.S. was much more agrarian than it is now. Now in
most of Maine, smaller farms are not economically productive (with the
exception of Aroostook County in the northeast of the state where
potato farms predominate). Over the past hundred years, much of
interior Maine that used to be farmland has reverted back to woods.

At the same time, over the last 40 years or so the population of the
state has consolidated toward coast, toward the southwest, and toward
urban areas, such that there are towns throughout Maine that are slowly
dimming and blinking out. Close to where I will be living there is one
town that no longer exists as a coporate entity, Centerville, and two
others that are trying to go in that direction, Whitneyville, and
Cooper (on Cathance Lake) Deorganization means lower taxes for these
towns on the brink. When deorganization succeeds, local control of the
community is given up. This ultimately furthers the trend toward
forested land.

Finally, much of the land in Maine is owned by international timber
companies. Currently they are managing much of the land for pulp
production, and letting forests regrow. If you didn't know better you
might assume much of the land is preserved.

The town where I am buying a house once had about 2500 people and was
an industrial center for cutting wood (thorough water power). Now the
mills are gone, along with the dams (thank goodness). If you didn't
know the history of the town it would be hard to imagine how industrial
the town was in the past.

That is what I meant.

Maine Misadventure
 

Thanks Petah I appreciate your comments. Good to know that there are
former Mainers on the board.

Maine Misadventure
 

That's exactly my point.

As my wife and I looked at new places to settle, we found that we were
attracted to places with zero or negative growth rates, places where
strip mall development and suburbanization was not occurring. (I live
in Memphis, Tennessee, a healthy hub of suburbanization, where no
development project is ever turned down, so I know of which I speak).

We have found that while we did not necessarily want to live in the
woods, we did want to live in a place where the suburban imprint had
not taken over. Places like Maine, apart from southern Maine, northern
Vermont, and northern and western New York fit the bill. If you
haven't been to rural sections of New York, you really cannot
appreciate how rural it can be.

Maine Misadventure
 

The tension you feel when you realize that you are really lost, really
in the middle of no where, and you really have to consider what the
weather and nature have in store for you is a real moment of clarity.

Maine Misadventure
 

The exact place I was heading toward was the Blog Brook Flowage, North
of Cherryfield, in Deblois township (Delorme map 25). I really didn't
think the fishing would be good, but I had a fly rod and was ready to
try. I didn't have a boad, canoe, float tube, etc. so I was trying to
find water that had a little movement.

Maine Misadventure
 

Willi wrote:
Memphis Jim wrote:

There are several long term trends that are making parts of Maine, and
parts of other states in the northern U.S. have more wilderness.

In the case of Maine, much of the state used to support a small farm
economy when the U.S. was much more agrarian than it is now.



Thanks, your and Greg's explanation make sense. For some stupid reason,
I assumed that since our Country's population is growing, all areas of
the Country would have population increases.

Check out:

http://www.patagonia.com/enviro/repo...o_common.shtml

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

Maine Misadventure
 

Memphis Jim wrote:
There are several long term trends that are making parts of Maine, and
parts of other states in the northern U.S. have more wilderness.

In the case of Maine, much of the state used to support a small farm
economy when the U.S. was much more agrarian than it is now.


Thanks, your and Greg's explanation make sense. For some stupid reason,
I assumed that since our Country's population is growing, all areas of
the Country would have population increases. The area I live in and the
areas I most visit all are places with considerable growth and the
issues are dealing with this growth while still retaining the open space
that makes the areas desirable. Although ranching isn't profitable for
smaller operations (and VERY difficult even for big ones), the land
they're on is very valuable and many ranches get sold and developed into
"gentleman ranchettes". Thankfully the majority of the mountainous areas
in CO, NM, WY, MT, and UT are National Forests. Hopefully they'll stay
that way.

Willi

Maine Misadventure
 

Jim, I really appreciate the post. I have it on good authority that
many of those small brooks still hold wild brook trout. If I can spend
my time getting out into them, it will make my move to Washington
County, Maine well worth it. I'll be living in East Machias, on the
East Machias River, near head of tide. It sounds like you may be
familiar with the area. It probably hasn't changed in 35 years.

Maine Misadventure
 

rw wrote:
Willi wrote:

Memphis Jim wrote:

There are several long term trends that are making parts of Maine, and
parts of other states in the northern U.S. have more wilderness.

In the case of Maine, much of the state used to support a small farm
economy when the U.S. was much more agrarian than it is now.




Thanks, your and Greg's explanation make sense. For some stupid reason,
I assumed that since our Country's population is growing, all areas of
the Country would have population increases.


Check out:

http://www.patagonia.com/enviro/repo...o_common.shtml



That's cool! I was aware of some of this in CO and WY but I had no idea
of the extent of it. An incredibly ambitious project. I can't imagine
our government getting involved in something like that (no matter what
party is in office). That's what makes the Nature's Conservancy so
effective, they're able to operate outside of the political system.

Willi

Maine Misadventure
 

On 16 Mar 2006 15:00:55 -0800, "Memphis Jim"
wrote:

Lessons learned: Maine is big, and Eastern Maine is more rural than you

can imagine, probably more rural than any other place east of the
Mississippi. Blueberry farms in Maine are big. Roads in Maine end
abruptly. Finally, the only way to be sure where you are is to have a
GPS.


I didn't get to fish that day, but I am not discouraged. I am moving
to an area with much wilderness- more every year, and I will enjoy
exploring it.

Maine has been my second home for the past 18 years or so. I am in
love with its many streams and ponds full of beautiful brook trout.

I understand you will be in East Machias; you can't get very much more
Down East than that. d;o) When you get to exploring it, don't forget
the Rapid River in the Ranchleys (grid 18 on the Maine
Atlas/Gazatteer). Gimme a call and I'll be your guide (fishing guide,
that is).

Dave

Maine Misadventure
 

December, '84. Worked in Boardman for the Geology department before Steve
Kahl built the new labs out by Stillwater Village (near the Cabins field:
you missed the Cabins era).

--riverman



Cabin field is where they Held Bumstock the first 4 years. I heard that
they tore down the Ram's Horn - my favorite coffee house ever.

Maine Misadventure
 

"Memphis Jim" wrote in message
oups.com...
There are several long term trends that are making parts of Maine, and
parts of other states in the northern U.S. have more wilderness.

In the case of Maine, much of the state used to support a small farm
economy when the U.S. was much more agrarian than it is now. Now in
most of Maine, smaller farms are not economically productive (with the
exception of Aroostook County in the northeast of the state where
potato farms predominate). Over the past hundred years, much of
interior Maine that used to be farmland has reverted back to woods.

At the same time, over the last 40 years or so the population of the
state has consolidated toward coast, toward the southwest, and toward
urban areas, such that there are towns throughout Maine that are slowly
dimming and blinking out. Close to where I will be living there is one
town that no longer exists as a coporate entity, Centerville, and two
others that are trying to go in that direction, Whitneyville, and
Cooper (on Cathance Lake) Deorganization means lower taxes for these
towns on the brink. When deorganization succeeds, local control of the
community is given up. This ultimately furthers the trend toward
forested land.

Finally, much of the land in Maine is owned by international timber
companies. Currently they are managing much of the land for pulp
production, and letting forests regrow. If you didn't know better you
might assume much of the land is preserved.

The town where I am buying a house once had about 2500 people and was
an industrial center for cutting wood (thorough water power). Now the
mills are gone, along with the dams (thank goodness). If you didn't
know the history of the town it would be hard to imagine how industrial
the town was in the past.

That is what I meant.


What town is that where you are buying? It sounds like something east of
Lincoln...out by the lakes on the Airline. I grew up in Bradford, a small
town in central Maine that matches your description perfectly. Back at the
turn of the last century, the town had something like 2000 residents, a
mill, several town centers, a movie theatre, and lots of activity. When I
left in the late 70s, the entire Bradford/North Bradford/Bradford Center
region had only about 600 residents, and falling, and the woods (my regular
haunts) had many many overgrown foundations and reclaimed homesteads. You'd
know you were in one when you were walking in the woods and you stumbled
onto an apple tree grove, found rhubarb and raspberries growing in patches,
and a little poking around inevitably turned up an old collapsed foundation,
a well (don't fall in), and some rusted farm machinery tangled in the
grasses. Often, 50+ year old trees were growing from the foundation, and
there was little or no trace of the access road left. A little sleuthing
would show how the current woods road or skidder trail network used to be a
main road across the region, and how old anonymous sections of stone wall
that were deep in the forest were once roadside features, made by people
long ago whose memories had faded along with the landscape they created.
More than once, I'd find an old cemetary the did not appear on any maps, and
was barely recognizable.

I used to wonder what those folks would think if they saw the region today.
What was, to them, a small dirt access road out back became the main paved
highway through town. The old town center, with its church, lumberyard,
store and even railway station is now a lost ruin deep in the woods, miles
from any road or trail, with only 4-legged visitors.

--riverman

Maine Misadventure
 

On Sat, 18 Mar 2006 11:20:21 -0700, Willi
wrote:

Memphis Jim wrote:
There are several long term trends that are making parts of Maine, and
parts of other states in the northern U.S. have more wilderness.

In the case of Maine, much of the state used to support a small farm
economy when the U.S. was much more agrarian than it is now.


Thanks, your and Greg's explanation make sense. For some stupid reason,
I assumed that since our Country's population is growing, all areas of
the Country would have population increases. The area I live in and the
areas I most visit all are places with considerable growth and the
issues are dealing with this growth while still retaining the open space
that makes the areas desirable. Although ranching isn't profitable for
smaller operations (and VERY difficult even for big ones), the land
they're on is very valuable and many ranches get sold and developed into
"gentleman ranchettes". Thankfully the majority of the mountainous areas
in CO, NM, WY, MT, and UT are National Forests. Hopefully they'll stay
that way.

Willi

Helps if the land is too lousy to grow profitable crops and too far
from cities and industrial areas to use as homes. Much of what keeps
Northern WI, MN, and the U.P of Michigan going as far as the people
who live there are concerned are tourists and summer people. If not
for the tourists and summer people, a lot more of it would go back to
trees and wild than already has.

In northern MN some of our old pit mines are being turned into fishing
lakes, as the mining business is almost all gone. The Boundary Waters
Canoe Area has been around a long time. 'Useless' land turned to a
tourist bonanza of a mild sort. Fortunately a lot of the land was
turned into state parks and state or national forests during the early
exodus from the area, so it'll stay forests. They snapped them up
before 'the cabin up north' got into huge popularity again.
--

r.bc: vixen
Speaker to squirrels, willow watcher, etc..
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.
Really.

Maine Misadventure
 

"riverman" wrote in message ...

...When I left in the late 70s, the entire Bradford/North
Bradford/Bradford Center region had only about 600 residents, and falling,
and the woods (my regular haunts) had many many overgrown foundations and
reclaimed homesteads. You'd know you were in one when you were walking in
the woods and you stumbled onto an apple tree grove, found rhubarb and
raspberries growing in patches, and a little poking around inevitably
turned up an old collapsed foundation, a well (don't fall in), and some
rusted farm machinery tangled in the grasses. Often, 50+ year old trees
were growing from the foundation, and there was little or no trace of the
access road left. A little sleuthing would show how the current woods road
or skidder trail network used to be a main road across the region, and how
old anonymous sections of stone wall that were deep in the forest were
once roadside features, made by people long ago whose memories had faded
along with the landscape they created. More than once, I'd find an old
cemetary the did not appear on any maps, and was barely recognizable.

I used to wonder what those folks would think if they saw the region
today. What was, to them, a small dirt access road out back became the
main paved highway through town. The old town center, with its church,
lumberyard, store and even railway station is now a lost ruin deep in the
woods, miles from any road or trail, with only 4-legged visitors.

Back in those same late 70s and into the early 80s I knew a number of people
who were involved in the nascent (and apparently stillborn) "back to the
earth" movement. They rented or, in a few cases, bought old farm houses
here in southeast Wisconsin and to one degree or another tried to make at
least a part of their living off the land. Virtually all of them had a
woodlot on or adjacent to their property, and I used to spend a lot of time
exploring in them. I found many of the same kinds of tantalizing clues to
former land use practices you described above and, more often than not, was
left wondering what they might mean. Imagine my delight to find a book
that was all about finding and interpreting those clues. I hadn't thought
about "Reading the Landscape of America" by May Theilgaard Watts, for some
time. Googling it just now, I guessed that it would be long out of print
and difficult to find. Not so. Looks like it was reissued in 1999. Good
thing. Good book:

http://home.att.net/~naturebooks/rtla1.html

Wolfgang

Maine Misadventure
 

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"riverman" wrote in message
...

...When I left in the late 70s, the entire Bradford/North
Bradford/Bradford Center region had only about 600 residents, and
falling, and the woods (my regular haunts) had many many overgrown
foundations and reclaimed homesteads. You'd know you were in one when you
were walking in the woods and you stumbled onto an apple tree grove,
found rhubarb and raspberries growing in patches, and a little poking
around inevitably turned up an old collapsed foundation, a well (don't
fall in), and some rusted farm machinery tangled in the grasses. Often,
50+ year old trees were growing from the foundation, and there was little
or no trace of the access road left. A little sleuthing would show how
the current woods road or skidder trail network used to be a main road
across the region, and how old anonymous sections of stone wall that were
deep in the forest were once roadside features, made by people long ago
whose memories had faded along with the landscape they created. More than
once, I'd find an old cemetary the did not appear on any maps, and was
barely recognizable.

I used to wonder what those folks would think if they saw the region
today. What was, to them, a small dirt access road out back became the
main paved highway through town. The old town center, with its church,
lumberyard, store and even railway station is now a lost ruin deep in the
woods, miles from any road or trail, with only 4-legged visitors.

Back in those same late 70s and into the early 80s I knew a number of
people who were involved in the nascent (and apparently stillborn) "back
to the earth" movement. They rented or, in a few cases, bought old farm
houses here in southeast Wisconsin and to one degree or another tried to
make at least a part of their living off the land. Virtually all of them
had a woodlot on or adjacent to their property, and I used to spend a lot
of time exploring in them. I found many of the same kinds of tantalizing
clues to former land use practices you described above and, more often
than not, was left wondering what they might mean. Imagine my delight to
find a book that was all about finding and interpreting those clues. I
hadn't thought about "Reading the Landscape of America" by May Theilgaard
Watts, for some time. Googling it just now, I guessed that it would be
long out of print and difficult to find. Not so. Looks like it was
reissued in 1999. Good thing. Good book:

http://home.att.net/~naturebooks/rtla1.html



Wow, this does indeed look like a good book. I think I'll track it down,
thanks. :-)

Meanwhile, a semi nonsequiter...more non- than semi-, is this book:
http://tinyurl.com/ofvtl

While it doesn't describe evolving fauna, it does occupy that same spot in
my memory as "Reading the Landscape" seems to for you. After reading it many
years ago, it now forms the baseline with which I build my familarity with
placenames across the US. I loved it then, and if you haven't read it yet, I
bet you'll enjoy it yourself.

--riverman

Maine Misadventure
 

"riverman" wrote in message ...

While it doesn't describe evolving fauna,

....or flora, for that matta.

--riverman

Maine Misadventure
 

"riverman" wrote in message ...

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

http://home.att.net/~naturebooks/rtla1.html



Wow, this does indeed look like a good book. I think I'll track it down,
thanks. :-)

De nada.

Meanwhile, a semi nonsequiter...more non- than semi-, is this book:
http://tinyurl.com/ofvtl

While it doesn't describe evolving fauna, it does occupy that same spot in
my memory as "Reading the Landscape" seems to for you. After reading it
many years ago, it now forms the baseline with which I build my familarity
with placenames across the US. I loved it then, and if you haven't read it
yet, I bet you'll enjoy it yourself.

Ack! This happens EVERY time! Clicked on the link. Saw the
title.....scrolled down....saw old friends....Stegner, "Angle of
Repose"....Miller, "A Canticle for Leibowitz".....Boorstin "The
Americans".....I DON'T HAVE TIME TO GO TO THE BOOKSTORE TODAY, YOU *******!
:(

"Names on the Land" is a familiar title but I don't recall ever reading the
book. Odd......this is right up my alley. I'll definitely be keeping an
eye out for it.

Thanks back at ya.

Wolfgang

Maine Misadventure
 

Riverman wrote:

What town is that where you are buying? It sounds like something east of
Lincoln...out by the lakes on the Airline.

That is a pretty good guess given what I've written. The town we are
buying in is East Machias, further east and further down toward the
coast from Lincoln.

I think that there is something staggeringly poignant (and
characteristically American) about finding former farms and villages in
the woods. When I was looking at moving to Northern Vermont, there was
a town (I can't remember which one) where an entire complex of 19th
Century factories running down a hillside was taken over by forest. It
is supposed to be a surreal scene.

Maine Misadventure
 

Dave wrote:

I understand you will be in East Machias; you can't get very much more
Down East than that. d;o) When you get to exploring it, don't forget
the Rapid River in the Ranchleys (grid 18 on the Maine
Atlas/Gazatteer). Gimme a call and I'll be your guide (fishing guide,
that is).

That sounds great Dave, I'll have to make a point of that.

Maine Misadventure
 

Memphis Jim wrote:
....... Places like Maine, apart from southern Maine, northern
Vermont, and northern and western New York fit the bill. If you
haven't been to rural sections of New York, you really cannot
appreciate how rural it can be. ...

But I would guess that most of the Maine coast will be developed
eventually, even if other parts are not.

We really liked Belfast. That's another town that appears to
have had an industrial past.