Today was a very satisfying day! We started out by exploring the waterfront area of Portland. Looks like a great place to explore! (Note to self: a great road trip would be: fly to Portland, take the ferry (The CAT) over to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia ( 6hrs), drive up the length of NS, ferry across to Prince Edward Island and back, drive back down through Maine and return to Portland).
The real purpose of today's trip was to inter Mother's remains in the Vittum Hill Cemetery in Center Sandwich, N.H. We arrived there on schedule and met Rudy Whittaker the caretaker. Turns out he knew John and Margaret quite well. In fact, he was on the emergency call to the house when Pa had his stroke in about 1995 (?). He'd also worked on the crew that built their house on Frog Pond Road back in the mid '80s. Rudy was very kind and provided shovels for us to dig a hole next to the grave site in which we deposited the urn containing Ma's ashes. So now, Pa and Ma and our sister Judy are all together.
After our visit at the gravesite, we went back to the Rt 16 intersection and had a good lunch at the Yankee Smokehouse BarBQ. Then we returned to Center Sandwich to check things out. The house on Frog Pond Road looks well cared for, but hard to see through the grown-up trees. There were three bequests that had been made: the Library, the East Sandwich Meeting House and he Methodist Church. We stopped at the Library and met the director and a clerk, both of whom remembered John and Margaret well. We found where they had hung the needlepoint that we thought they should have (it was scene of the village that had been in storage) and we saw the big clock that us kids had given the library in their name on their 50th anniversary in 1995.....including the plaque which just happened to be on the Director's desk! All in all Center Sandwich looks pretty good. There's a new cafe which has opened, replacing the other one that went our of business. (For those who have never been there, its teeny, tiny!)
Our next adventure was to try to find the "cottage" on Dan Hole Pond. I wasn't sure I'd remember how to get there. When I was a kid, we rented a cottage on Little Dan Hole Pond from one of my Mother's theater friends, Val Bean. During the years I was in High School (early 1960s), Ma and Pa built their own cottage on neighboring Dan Hole Pond. They loved that little place and we all had memorable years there until they sold it in the mid '80s when they moved to Sandwich permanently.
So off we went up this little road through the woods from Center Ossipee, past the Terrace Pines Campground, and up the private road, clearly marked "no trespassing". Sure enough, there it was, right where we left it! It appeared no-one was there, so as we started to walk down the driveway, the neighbor happened to see us and inquired as to our intentions. We explained who we were and since the owner was not there, he didn't see any reason why couldn't snoop around. This guy had moved here from Alaska and built a real house on the lot next door (that my parents had owned - there were originally three lots. The one on the right is still vacant and for sale). Its beautiful, complete with large sandy beach. He lives there all year round; he has a tractor to prove it.
The cottage looks just like it did 50+ years ago. However, the neighbor explained that a large tree had fallen on it last year and did some serious damage to the roof. Repairs are underway. In the meantime, the place looks not loved. Nevertheless, some great memories were rekindled. Linda and I honeymooned there in 1969, watching the moon landing on a little, fuzzy, black and white TV.
Once our mission was completed we headed down to Laconia for the night. Had a wonderful Italian dinner at Fratelli's.
So it was a great, satisfying day! Said goodbye to Mother, saw the legacy she and Pa had left to their little village and remembered all the good times at "the Cottage".
Tomorrow we'll drive to Bennington, VT. Maybe they'll have a fireworks show for us! One more thing: its REALLY HOT! 95 degrees and high humidity. We're not used to this. Its horrible!
