We wait a long time for spring to come to the Cranberry Isles. This year it finally arrived in May bringing warblers, green grass and the blossom of fall-planted bulbs. By the middle of the month there was so much to do that the long wait for spring was forgotten in the rush to get ready for Memorial Day weekend and the beginning of summer.
Erin Gray started her summer preparations early by planting her Islesford garden on April 15. By the height of the tourist season she will be able to provide locally grown produce to her customers at Pine Tree Market, the store she owns with her husband, Aaron, in Northeast Harbor. This year, Erin has hired Gretchen Blank to help her with off-island baby-sitting for their eight-month-old baby, Briggs. The arrangement continues a two-family cycle of child care. As a teenager, Erin’s mother, Katy, baby-sat for Gretchen’s father, Edgar, when he was a little boy. Gretchen’s mother, Margaret, was a teenager when she baby-sat for young Erin. When Margaret and Edgar’s four daughters were little, Erin was their baby-sitter; and now Gretchen is taking care of Briggs. While Erin expects the holiday weekend to be busy at the Market, she knows that when she looks back from the frantic pace of July and August, it will seem like a breeze.
Joy Sprague describes the long weekend as a “dress rehearsal” for summer. For those who have been away since fall, there is the excitement of coming back to the home they dream about all winter. Island kids will experience a larger group of friends their age; a reminder that summer vacation is only a few weeks away. For those of us who have become accustomed to the peace and quiet of the long wait for spring, the sudden doubling of the island population can be a little jarring. “I thought I wanted this but I’m not quite ready,” is a common sentiment that is tempered by a more gradual build up of residents in June. (Remember Memorial Day’s emotional twin? “I thought I wanted this but I’m not quite ready,” is the same sentiment for the immediate drop in population on Labor Day.)
In the chaos of getting ready for another island summer, it is easy to forget the true origin of Memorial Day. After the Civil War, Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic made a general order: “The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.”
The Town of Cranberry Isles honors its veterans with new flags every year. On Islesford there is a long standing tradition of a Memorial Day parade to place wreaths and flags at the graves of those who have served their country. Among the 70 designated graves, there are six from the Civil War, eight from World War I, 24 from World War II, and one from the Korean War. Others who did not fight in a war are recognized for their service in the U.S. Navy, the Coast Guard, the U.S. Lighthouse Service, and for their service at the U.S. Life Saving Station.
When Hugh Dwelley was a boy in the 1940s, his uncle George Hadlock would carry a load of flags to lead the parade to the cemeteries. Children would bring wreaths they had made in school from cedar brush gathered in the woods. In the 1960s it was Irene Bartlett who organized the parade. Karen Smallwood and Joy Sprague recall meeting at the school where everyone would say the Pledge of Allegiance, hear a prayer and sing a patriotic song. As school children, it wasn’t required of them, but everyone took part in the parade. If Nelson Bryant was on the island, he played his bugle. It was a community event.
As she became older, Irene looked for someone to take over in leading the parade. Joy Sprague stepped up to take responsibility. Each year, Joy gathers greens and asks some of the school children to help her in tying the red, white and blue bunting around the stems. The town provides flags for both Islesford and Great Cranberry. At the cemeteries, the name of each veteran is read along with his branch of service and the war in which he served. Behind the Islesford Museum is the grave of Eleanor Sawtelle, who served in the Red Cross during World War II. As yet, she is the only female recognized in the Memorial Day parade on Islesford.
The parade ends at the Sand Beach cemetery. When the Lord’s prayer has been recited, “America the Beautiful” has been sung, and all flags and boughs have been distributed, the group walks to the water’s edge to place a wreath in the ocean, to honor all of the unknown soldiers. Three cemeteries and three private burial sites have been visited. The whole activity takes about two hours. I have lived on Islesford for 32 years, and I am sorry to admit I have only recently begun taking part in the Memorial Day parade. My sister-in-law Karen also wishes that, as an adult, she had started to participate sooner. We have learned that it is never too late to remember the real reason for Memorial Day, and that a few hours of reverence and respect are a very good antidote to the hectic opening of the summer season.
Islesford, May 19, 2008