Rockland: Custom Museum Publishing, 2007.
A Whole Town, In Print
On July 28 of this year Friendship celebrated its bicentennial, an occasion for which this book was created. It has neither author nor editor listed on its cover, stating simply that it was “A collaborative community effort in Friendship, Maine.” Marguerite Sylvester, over 90 and one of the book’s most prolific contributors, put it this way: “This is a book a town wrote.”
From a modest initial concept of perhaps ten homes, the project grew into a handsome collection of 41 articles, vintage and contemporary photos, recipes, poetry, artwork, etc., contributed by 27 volunteer writers, 20 photographers and 14 artists. Although their names are not on the cover, the efforts of four particular people should be recognized: Celia Briggs, head of the Friendship Public Library; Linda DeRosa, former president of the Friendship Museum; Jeff Evangelos, instrumental in grant writing for financial support; and Mary Ann Hensel, graphic design. State historian Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr., wrote the introduction.
I am not a disinterested reader of this book, as my husband and I contributed an article and his family has summered here since 1918. I have long been bothered by the chasm between townspeople and summer folks, but as this book has contributors from both groups, it serves as a bridge between them. In our own research local homes and family archives were opened to us with warmth and generosity.
Although it appears to be a strictly local chronicle, there are many aspects of this book that will interest outside readers. Friendship residents, with origins in England, Scotland, Germany, Portugal, Finland and the Netherlands, engaged in professions typical to coastal Maine: farming, fishing (first cod, then lobster), boatbuilding, ice cutting, granite quarrying, seafaring and, later on, tourism.
Regional and national history are reflected in that of the town. In 1758 the earliest settlers clashed with the Abenaki over land issues. Members of the Jameson family participated in the Boston Tea Party, the Revolution and the War of 1812. Many Friendship men served in the Civil War. In 1864 the Confederate raider Tallahassee torched the schooner Magnolia in Friendship harbor. In 1887 resident Randall Condon persuaded the state legislature to accept legal-size limits on lobsters. At the end of the 19th century, as steamers began to bring tourists, hotels and summer cottages sprang up. Legendary boatbuilder Wilbur Morse popularized the Friendship sloop in a very modern way, using his crew of 12 to work assembly-line fashion to build two or more a month. During World War II Friendship residents worked in Maine shipyards and manned an enemy plane-spotting station on the town dock. And so it goes.
Friendship women are not slighted in this book. While men built boats their wives sewed the sails; they also farmed and raised large families. Some helped tend lighthouses. I love the photo of Lettie Simmons Collamore, who from 1919-22 rowed from Long Island to Friendship every day to collect mail. There she is in her dory, oars at rest, in a flowered dress and small hat, looking capable. Kitt Jameson, a woman of much wit, when complimented on how well she looked, replied, “The thicker the fog, the nicer I look.” Mid Reed, now nearing 100, observed that “They made `em good in the old days,” and in her case God “got all the pieces hooked up right.”
The same could be said of this book.