Also available locally at Spice and Grain, White Birch Books & Bridgton Books
The cover and book design were created and published by the author. The colorized photo on the cover depicts Portland Street around 1907, showing Elmer Brackett’s Hardware, Mary Howe’s Millinery & Fancy Goods, and the Fryeburg Fire Department. Postcard: Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company, from a glass-plate negative courtesy of the Penobscot Marine Museum, Searsport, ME.
Researching and compiling Fryeburg, Maine, was a singular and solitary endeavor. The content is made up, however, of fragments, quotes, clippings, and imagery of many others, whose contextual knowledge and visual recordings make up the narrative. My own background in art, photography, and design informs the content and the process. As the publisher, I get to build the book from the ground up, conforming the content to the functioning design. Like any creative project, there is an element of improvisation and surprise since you don’t know what you are looking for until you find it—a series of meaningful coincidences unfolds.
In 1938, John Stuart Barrows wrote, “The demand for a history of Fryeburg has been insistent through many years.” The new book project began at the invitation of the Fryeburg Historical Society after seeing Brownfield, Maine, (the publication done in 2020.) With small donations and grant applications, it has succeeded. Proceeds from book sales go to benefit the ongoing growth and preservation of the historical collection in the society’s library and museum.
Once you delve into Fryeburg, Maine, you may have a better understanding of those universal questions: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?
Do you know about the super volcano the size of Mt. Fuji looming over the town or giant sloths and camels roaming the prehistoric interval? Did you hear about the wooly mammoth that got washed down the Saco and was mistaken for a famous circus elephant? There's also a lava dome near the center of town that was mistaken for a hat. A religious movement started in a grocery store on Main Street, influenced Joseph Smith's Mormon sect, and sent shock waves throughout the region.
General Joseph Frye led a storied military career. At the surrender of Fort Edwards in 1757, he was led away to an unknown fate. Overcoming his American-Indian captor, he escaped through the wilderness with little more than his skills of survival. Twenty years later he would be overlooking his vast estate, living in a rustic-baronial style with his appearance of nobility and title of honor, Brigadier General. He made it.
You will find that you can start reading anywhere in the book. It has a beginning and a middle but no end since history is alive and very much in the present.
Native Americans who spoke Algonquian and Iroquoian frequently referred to North and Central America as "Turtle Island," which is a symbol of life and their spiritual conception of creation.
Covering Vast Distances
"Portage" by Winslow Homer
The Abenaki people lived in what is now Vermont, New Hampshire, parts of Western Maine, parts of Northern Massachusetts, and parts of southern Quebec. They were known as the People of the Aurora Borealis, or morning of the north. They possessed expert farmers and navigators, intricate hierarchical religious, political, and social structures, and potently expressive artifacts.
The Husking Party
Eastman Johnson
Welcome! Welcome! Welcome home, Children of Fryeburg,
Children of the children of Fryeburg,
all who love any of the children of the sons or daughters of Fryeburg,
A cordial, a hearty welcome home
` ASA CHARLES
Centennial Celebration of the Settlement of Fryeburg, 1916.