Maine Voices: A Celebration of the People of Maine and the Places They Love

Maine Voices:

A Celebration of the People of Maine and the Places They Love

Edited by Jeremy Sheaffer, Sarah Cecil, and Steven J. Holmes

196 pp. Hallowell, Maine:

The Wilderness Society, $10.

Reviewed by Burndett Andres

“What is Maine?” asks Robert Perschel of the Wilderness Society. “There is the land, the waters, the sky. Then there is the way we experience land, water, and sky so that they become place. Place becomes relationship, relationship becomes memory and memory becomes story. If you want to know what Maine is, if you want to know the value of Maine, if you want to know which values to protect, you ask people to tell you a story. That’s how Maine speaks to us – through the voices of the people.”

In 2003, Mainers took the time to write essays describing places they cherish in the Maine outdoors and how these places have played a part in shaping their lives. They were all part of the Maine Voices Project, an effort made by the Wilderness Society, the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, and independent scholar Steve Holmes to capture the meaning of Maine’s natural world to today’s Maine residents. Organizations from Kittery to Fort Kent invited their members and friends to participate and individuals as dissimilar as L.L. Bean Chairman Leon Gorman and six-year-old home-schooled Katherine Mawhinney responded.  The project coordinators wanted this publication to represent a broad spectrum of places and persons and have culled seventy-seven of the best essays and organized them into nine sections.

As befits his lofty estate, Governor Baldacci has written the umbrella essay, the eloquent foreword, in which he encourages all Mainers, whether native or from away, to tell their stories “to one another…tie these stories together and forge a future that honors them all…Maine has many voices and many outstanding landmarks, but we have only one future. To go confidently into that future, we need to listen to one another – closely and with deep respect for differing experiences and opinions. Just as in these essays, we should expect to be surprised and enlightened. That will help prepare us for our responsibility to conserve our natural resources and our way of life….”

The essays are divided into eight sections. The first section is “Mountains and Woods” and includes the words of Robert Kimber, a freelance writer, who confesses “it is not I who possess that land; it is the land that possesses me and always has.” The feeling of having been bewitched by the land is the common element in almost all of these essays. Naturally, not all of the writers express this sense of enchantment as eloquently as Mr. Kimber; some trip over their own words waxing poetic about their chosen aspect of Maine. But they all get the point across. Crystal Neoma Hitchings says it this way, “This place will pull until my bones disappear into its raw earth…”

The second section, “Rivers, Bogs, and Lakes,” comprises essays written by those whose love of Maine is manifest in water. Celia Leber begins her story with the words, “When I think about leaving Maine, it is like thinking about dying. I fear most losing the water. Not the salt water of the ocean, but the blue lines on the map….”

Section three, “Coast and Islands,” gives equal time to those for whom Maine is defined by salt water. “Mainstay” is one of these essays. It was dictated by Emily Muir to her caregiver just before she died and describes the “eighty acres with a mile of shore” that was her family home.

“The Cycles of the Seasons” is next, and there is no agreement whatsoever about which season should be most beloved. Even winter has its share of fans as expressed by Lee Bellavance: “My favorite place in Maine is a place that hardly ever exists. I’m not even sure of its name – it’s barely a trace on the maps and it isn’t listed in any tourist books. A place that is created only during the deepest and coldest of winters when the Fore River freezes and becomes an enchanted highway. A smooth road fringed with trees and glittering with billions of crystals of snow piled as high as Eldorado. And the being there is more important than the where.”

The fifth group of essays is called “Homes, Past and Present.” This group of writers includes twelve-year-old Kane Kuchinski, “young old fart” Sarah O’Sullivan, and the shortest essay in the book, a fabulous four sentence offering by Frederick J. Jaeckel. His essay is prefaced with these words: “I have found Maine to be a place of profound inspiration and beauty, populated by gentle eccentrics. The love of this place called Maine not only colors my life, but the lives of everyone I know.” His essay is a laconic marvel.

In “Special Places, Near and Far” Maine is variously identified by the pine needles; an enchanted rock; a bicycle seat; a fifty-three-acre parkland; an erstwhile graveyard; fairy houses; a big spruce; and the feeling of homecoming found by Michael G. Rowe in the middle of the “four-lane interstate highway at the apex of the Piscataqua River Bridge as I am entering the great state of Maine from New Hampshire. It is there at that moment, that particular place, that all of Maine comes to me.”

The seventh section “From Here and From Far Away” contains essays from Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Ford, “a recent arrival to Maine,” and Reuben “Butch” Phillips, Lt. Governor of the Penobscot Indian Nation whose ancestors were having clambakes on Mt. Desert Island thousands of years ago.

“Dangers and Defenders” is made up of the writings of an environmental consultant, a white-water guide, a master planner, an environmental engineer, a psychotherapist, a wildlife rehabilitator, a lumberman, and a conservationist who all agree with teacher Susan Cunningham Healey of Maine and Hawaii who writes, “Like the people of Maine, Hawaiians have traditionally had strong economic, spiritual, and cultural bonds to their land. They are now struggling to reclaim what has already been lost. As a native of Maine, I cannot ignore the lessons I have learned so far from home. For us, it’s not too late. We still have our wild roots, our abundance and variety of wildlife, our bountiful natural resources, and our culture – all treasures to be savored and saved. We already recognize the value and rarity of our tranquil way of life…let us work to preserve it. Let’s keep Maine ‘the Way Life Should Be.’”

“More Maine Voices” is made up of several dozen “excerpts (and a Couple of Poems) from the Maine Voices Project Submissions” that could not all be printed in their entirety but were too good to be left out, e.g., “Anyone who has hiked Katahdin has a story to tell; In the Allagash, one can just sit back and observe; If you think no place is perfect, think again; Making memories is what we do here; It is here that I will live my life with grace, my path in step with my spirit. And it is from here that I will see clearly all those who have come before me, from my place…in Maine.”

The voices of Maine captured here are those of the lover describing the beloved, and the pilgrim trying to find words to share a glimpse of heaven. Jym St. Pierre says, “I feel, for a long, quiet moment, an uncommon bliss. It occurs to me that this would be a good time to pass over. Then an afterthought; perhaps I have.”

The appendix is an invitation to add your voice to theirs, to write about your own favorite place in this magical land called Maine, and these essays could inspire you to do just that.

For Wolf Moon Press Journal – A Maine Magazine of Art and Opinion Issue #12 Nov/Dec. 2004

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Interview with Bob & Meg Harvey - "The Violin Maker"

A Creature of Promise

For Bob Harvey, violinmaking “grew from the desire to learn to play the violin and the equally strong desire not to buy one.”  It all began in 2001, when contractions in the muscles in the palms of his hands restricted finger movement sufficiently that it was impossible to play classical guitar any longer and he thought he might be able to manage the smaller neck of a violin.  Now four years and twenty-six attempts later, he is satisfied that his violinmaking skills are improving although he still can’t play worth a hoot.  “You just do it and do it and do it, until you get to the fifth plateau.  Everyone needs to go through the first four plateaus.  If you have an affinity, you’ll just go through them faster.  It’s not the goal that’s important.  What matters, “ he says, “is the pleasure you receive getting to the goal.”

Bob derives great pleasure from “teaching a piece of wood how to sing.  The purpose is to keep me entertained and to spend my remaining years as pleasantly as possible, instead of just sitting and drooling down my uniform.”  At seventy-six years of age, he feels like he has found his “life’s work” since “the possibility of perfection is not there.”  This being the case, he can keep improving forever and never contrive the ultimate instrument.

The wood is the variable.  He buys mostly pre-sawn European wood – dense maple for the back and neck and light-weight spruce for the front – and from these rough-cut pieces, using a battalion of curved chisels, he carves the forty parts for a violin: 2 fronts, 2 backs, 6 sides, 12 linings, 4 corner blocks, 2 end blocks, 4 pegs, 1 fingerboard, 1 saddle, 1 tail piece, 1 bridge, 1sound post, 1 base bar, 1 neck and scroll, and 1 nut - that doesn’t count the thirty-six pieces of purfling (inlays) that are used to strengthen the edges and keep the top from splitting.

The sidepieces are bent on a hot iron and clamped onto the sides of the chosen mold where they remain until they remember the desired shape.  Bob is “very picky about curves” and although the violin has a classic shape, there is some flexibility in design and he has experimented with a variety of molds.  The “rest is pure carving” and he “plays it by ear,” pun intended.  The front and side pieces are carved so thin you can see light through them and with practice he is learning what works and what doesn’t.  “Being self-taught, it takes about fifteen to get it right.”   “The first one was a disaster,” he confides. “That was tough.  I had to make another.”  #2 fell apart, too, but at least it was salvageable. 

Now, numbers 3 thru 26 (four of them violas) hang in the central living space of Bob and his partner, woodcarver Meg Nalle’s, workshop/home, where they bear silent witness to a man who practices what he preaches and just keeps on trying.  “The clue to a boat builder’s skill,” he confides, “is not how well he built the boat, but how well he hid the mistakes.”  Bob doesn’t mind making mistakes.  “Problem solving is what humans do best,” he says, “screwing up and learning how to save it.”

The carved pieces are then put together with “hide glue,” a purpose-made concoction of “ground up critter’s hides” and the instrument is ready for finishing.  The beautiful wood grain is given depth with twelve coats of varnish beginning with light yellow through successively darker shades to dark brown to give it depth.  Then several coats of clear varnish are applied and finally it is polished with a compound similar to that used to finish fine automobiles. 

Bob tells me that it takes between 200-250 hours for an experienced violinmaker to produce one instrument and although he doesn’t keep track of the time he invests, he knows he’s getting faster and he finds his interest growing, not lessening.  This creative activity has become his driving force; it not only gets him up in the morning, it gets him up on the right side of the bed.   Rather than succumbing to his life-long enemy, depression, he overcomes it.  First, he “accommodates” it; he admits it’s there; he recognizes the problem and acknowledges it by saying “I’m off color.”  Then “I pull my foot out” by thinking only positive, constructive thoughts.  “Don’t waste time on a mental sewer,” he advises.  “There’s nothing nice down there.”   The final coping mechanism is pursuing a pleasurable activity, such as making violins, which “has a soul to it that makes it doubly delicious.”   

He calls Violin #26 “a creature of promise” and demonstrates its resonance by plucking a string and asking me to place my hand lightly on the body of the instrument.  I can feel the instrument vibrating with life while I’m getting some life lessons from its philosopher-creator.  “You can overcome lethargy by doing something that pleases you,” he counsels.  “You have a duty to be happy.  Depression can affect you physically, you know.  Smiling can actually make you feel better.  So can singing.”  He’s got a “bushel” of quotable quotes in his “brain,” a little notebook he keeps handy for the purpose of jotting these jewels down and having them handy when he needs to remind himself “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”

For Bob Harvey, happiness is making violins.  Both he and Meg demonstrate the practical wisdom in the advice of clergyman Howard Thurman who said, if you would be happy, “follow the grain in your own wood.”  When I asked Bob if he would sell any of his instruments, he said, “Sure, but I would pay to do this.”  “No, he wouldn’t,” is Meg’s cheerful rejoinder.  If you need a violin, I suggest you call Bob at 546-3072.  He can give you a great deal because he’ll make one for you while he’s in therapy.  

Note: This article appeared in the Downeast Coastal Press week of September 6-12, 2005         

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The Story of the Nellie Chapin

Jonesport – Notable among the visitors we met at the galleon RawFaith open house on August 21^st were Dr. Reed Holmes and his wife Jean of Peace Valley Farm, Peppeell, MA and the Maine Friendship House, Jaffa.  Like many New Englanders, the Holmes spend six pleasant months in the Northeast and six months away, but instead of heading for Florida, they go to Israel.  In addition to the obvious appeal of a story about the tall ship being built by the McKay family who had never sailed a boat let alone built one before, Reed and Jean Holmes have been following the progress of RawFaith with considerable interest because of another special connection.  Coincidentally, the RawFaith and a ship called the Nellie Chapin were both built on the Pleasant River in Addison and Reed Holmes is the author of The ForeRunners, the story of the Nellie Chapin, which put out of Jonesport on August 11, 1866, carrying 157 passengers bound for Palestine.  Reed and Jean Holmes played a part in placing the unassuming marker in Jonesport which reads “Nellie Chapin Day  August 11, 1866 – 1991.  In Honor of 157 New Englanders who sailed from Jonesport to Jaffa 125 years ago to help restore the land of Israel.  Viewpax Mondiale and Jonesport-Beals Committee.  World Peace Through Friendship”    

 

Carney Gavin, Curator of the Harvard Semitic Museum, begins his introduction to The ForeRunners with the words, “In some ways this is the strangest story I know.”  It is both strange and fascinating, as it always is when someone does something extraordinary.  George Jones Adams, “an offshoot of an obscure root...of that Adams family so prominent in the development of the United States,” was a man with extraordinary gifts for oratory and persuasion.  He was trained as a tailor, worked as an actor, Methodist preacher and Mormon Apostle before beginning his own organization, the Church of the Messiah.   

It was in G. J. Adams and his dream of preparing Palestine for the return of the Jews and the second coming of the Messiah as foreseen by the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel, that members of the ship’s company invested.  Many of the prominent family names of the area were represented on the passenger list including Alley, Ames, Batson, Burns, Clark, Corson, Drisko, Dyer, Emerson, Flagg, Floyd, Gray, Higgins, Kelley, Leighton, Lynch, Mace, McKenzie, Moulton, Norton, Richardson, Rogers, Smith, Stevens, Tabbutt, Tibbetts, Walker, Ward, Wass, Watts, Wentworth, Williams and Witham.  The Master was Warren Wass.  James W. Hinkley was the First Mate and Michael O’Lothlin the Steward.  The seamen are listed as Henry L. Belmont, Thomas Chesterton, Reuben Hall, William Whitney, Sewell Hopkins, Tomas Knnuteson and James Woolfall.  I don’t see any Beals, but there’s probably more than one in there somewhere connected by marriage.

Apparently, for over a century these notable families have been loath to broadcast the fact that members of their illustrious clans participated in such an adventure as that embarked upon by those aboard the Nellie Chapin.  Indeed, the entire escapade was dismissed by Mark Twain as “a complete fiasco” and most subsequent accounts assumed the same tone.  However, years of research by Holmes would seem to indicate that there is instead reason to be proud of the efforts of these pioneers.  Although it is true that their dream of growing a colony in Jaffe never materialized as they envisioned it, it’s quite possible to conclude that their contribution to modern Israel was substantial, for, from the ashes of their defeat arose a phoenix, Mr. Rolla Floyd of Jerusalem, Palestine, late of Surry, Maine, who appears to be the father of the tourism industry in the Middle East. 

I was intrigued by the story and made the effort to find the commemorative stone placed by the side of the road in 1991 just outside the gate of the Coast Guard Station in Jonesport, on the approach to the Beals Island bridge.  A number of years ago, while on a business trip, before the idea of building an accessible sailing ship called the RawFaith had even occurred to him, George McKay saw the counterpart of this stone in Jaffa.  It reads “In honor of 157 American Christian Lovers of Zion who arrived by sail on the “Nellie Chapin” on September 22, 1866, bringing wooden houses from Jonesport, Maine, to establish the American Colony in Yafo.”  McKay took a picture of the stone to show his family back in Winthrop, Maine.  When they’re in Israel, Reed and Jean Holmes live in one of those restored wooden houses in Jaffa made of lumber cut in Whitneyville and loaded on board the Nellie Chapin in Addison.

We’re all connected one way or another.          

 

RawFaith Newspaper Article

Owners Open RawFaith to Public Viewing 

by Burndett Andres

Jonesport – In the pouring rain on Saturday, August 21^st, friends, supporters and curious tourists found their way to 3 Rivers Wharf where the galleon RawFaith was docked at Moosebec Mussels courtesy of Ralph Smith.  Many have wondered about the three-mast, eighty-eight foot, 14^th century-style ship moored in Alley Bay since August of last year.  It certainly has a different profile than the lobster boats that make up the greater part of the fleet in Jonesport harbor.  The open house on the twenty-first gave them an opportunity to satisfy their curiosity. 

Once onboard, the visitors met Captain George McKay; Captain’s Mate Jo, his wife; Helmsman Robert B. McKay, their son; Communications Officer Elizabeth McKay, their daughter; and Charles Brugh, Volunteer Factotum Extraordinaire.  Here in the middle of the broad deck, Captain McKay shared a brief history of the RawFaith. 

When the idea of building a wheelchair-accessible tall ship came to George McKay, he gave God the credit.  The idea seemed too big to be his own.  He and his family had never dreamed dreams of living on a boat.  An electrical engineer by training, George McKay had no carpentry skills and had never built anything in his life, not even so much as a doghouse.  More to the point, he had never sailed a boat of any kind.  It took him three months to work up the courage to share this crazy idea with his wife.

Jo McKay assumed he was having a mid-life crisis.  “Sure, sure,” was her response.  “Couldn’t you just buy a Porsche?”  But as the days and weeks passed and they talked about the idea and prayed together for guidance, they felt strongly that it was God’s will at work in their lives and a mission was born.  Accessible Sailing Adventures would “provide an educational and therapeutic experience for children with special physical needs and their families through hands-on sailing of a tall ship.” 

The McKays have first-hand knowledge of the stresses a handicapped child can place on a family.  Their eldest child, daughter Liz now 22, was born with Marfan syndrome.  Marfan syndrome is a hereditary connective tissue disorder characterized by abnormally elongated bones, especially in the extremities, and affects most particularly the skeleton, eyes, heart and blood vessels, nervous system, skin and lungs.  Her first heart surgery replaced her mitral valve when she was just two years old.  When she was twelve, she had six inches of her aorta and her aortic valve replaced.  She has endured half a dozen back surgeries and has been unable to walk on her own since she was twelve.    

“Children born with disabilities have an indomitable spirit,” says McKay, “which helps them to overcome personal and societal barriers.  They are born with the faith that life is worth living.  A raw faith.  Thus the name of our ship, RawFaith.” 

Another application of raw faith has been necessary for the McKays during the construction of the ship, which began in 1999 at the Addison Shipyard on the Pleasant River in Addison, ME.  All materials used have been donated or bought by the McKays with monies from the sale of their home in Winthrop, ME, or with donations to ASA.  The Lord has provided materials as needed and the concept has captured the imagination of some who have contributed volunteer labor, both individuals and groups such as the Agape Mission.  Ian Jerolmack was biking along, happened upon the site and stayed for months.  You can read about it in his own words on ASA’s donated website www.accessiblesailing.info.  Still, most of the manpower has come from the gentle giants in the McKay family, father George and sons Tom, Aaron and Robert.  Jo McKay acts as chief cook and bottle washer under the official title of Ship’s Stores Manager. 

One body of critics was silenced on August 4, 2003, when the ship was launched...and floated.  The family has been living aboard since that time and the RawFaith has been moored in Jonesport while she took on ballast, masts and rigging and sails.  The greater test lies ahead as the ship prepares for her maiden voyage in early September.  Stops are planned in Bar Harbor, Portsmouth, Woods Hole, and New Jersey as she makes her way to Florida where she will winter in Jacksonville/Green Cove Springs.  Volunteer crew members are needed to make all or parts of the trip and funds are critically low.  At this point, the old maxim “don’t applaud, just throw money” is appropriate.  I’m putting my money on the McKays. 

Note: January 2014 - A documentary has been made about the RawFaith

     http://vimeo.com/62891766

 This article appeared in the Downeast Coastal Press Week of August 31-September 6, 2004 
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