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Summertime in the BelgradesContentsfor Printing
Article Summaries |
Oakland History Book Hot Off The Press
Some places never change; some places do. Since Oakland is one of the latter, Images of America — Oakland, a book published by the Oakland Area Historical Society this month, is especially meaningful. Oakland, part of Waterville until 1873, was in the nineteenth century "both a bustling industrial village and a rural farming community. The town was home to busy ax factories, a railway complex built for tourists and trade, an electric power company, a waterfall nearly as high as Niagara Falls, oxen plowing fields, and a Civil War memorial to rival any in the state of Maine." Packed with pictures of buildings, people and settings long gone by, the Oakland book is an amazing chronicle of many changes where no traces remain. The "edge tool" industry, now completely gone, employed hundreds of workers from the early 1900s through the period just after World War II, when Oakland produced more axes, scythes and other edge tools than any other town on earth. An electric street railway from Waterville, also completely gone, terminated on Lake Messalonskee in three-story Messalonskee Hall, the "car barn," where above the trolley car floor was a dance hall, below was a boathouse, and encircling it was a wraparound porch. Main Street/downtown, once the shopping destination for people from all over the Belgrades, is not gone but is decidedly downsized and less of a destination. Images of America — Oakland is divided into seven sections:
Although each section is fascinating and informative, "Water" may be the best reason for the Belgrades' many vacationers to add the book to their shelves. "The lake began drawing summer people c. 1880, and it continues to be one of Oakland's most important tourist destinations," one of the captions explains, while another answers that often confusing question of lake versus pond: "At one time state law said that any body of water large enough to support a steamboat could use the designation of lake rather than pond." Images of America — Oakland is available by calling Mrs. Smith at 465-2172 or Mrs. Porter at 465-7549 or by visiting the Macartney House Museum, Wednesdays, 1:30-4:30 p.m. For more information: | ||