Ducktrap> Maine village thrived during 19th, early 20th century

DUCKTRAP: Chronicles of a Maine Village, by Diane O’Brien, photography by Peggy S. Bochkay. Available through the Lincolnville Historical Society, P.O. Box 211, Lincolnville Center 04850, $20 plus $3 shipping and $1.20 tax for Maine residents

Mention Ducktrap to many of Maine’s year-round or summer residents and you will get, at best, a vague recollection of having sighted a motel sign or maybe some other business bearing that name.

Few know that it is an area of the town of Lincolnville, halfway between Camden and Belfast. If a traveler on Route 1 notices Ducktrap at all, it is only as a blur of woods and water as the car speeds past on its way to busier sections of the Maine coast. A hiker might pause at the quaint bridge which spans the stream below what 19th century residents called “The Trap,” but there is little to indicate that a century ago this section of Maine was alive with families fishing in these waters and living on these shores.

In the 19th century, Ducktrap was a hub of industrial activity which included a sawmill, gristmill, shipyard, tannery, cooper shops, lime kiln and railroad. The community supported two stores, a school and church. The residents who remain are mainly seasonal visitors “from away.” The story of Ducktrap’s former life and its evolution into its present existence is told in a new book published by the Lincolnville Historical Society.

Diane O’Brien suggests that the best way to learn about Ducktrap is to take a walk along the length of the river. Her love of the natural world is obvious, making readers yearn for a warm summer day and the time to explore the Trap: “Simply follow the shore from Howe’s Point up the Stream as far as the land and your energy allows. Keep your eyes open, breathe deeply, walk another stretch. Start farther upstream. Explore the tributaries — Black and Kendall Brooks — as you come to them. Bring fly dope, a lunch.”

She describes the feast for birds which the daily tidal outflow provides: “On a single walk along the muddy edge you might see a couple of Canada geese, black ducks, or a pair of kingfishers. An osprey hunts overhead, diving down to the water’s surface, missing more often than not, but finally rising with a dripping fish in its talons.” This is Ducktrap today, and most likely much as it was a century ago as the exodus of human activity has provided the peace and serenity necessary for natural life to thrive.

O’Brien relies on the oral and written stories and photographs of descendants of early Ducktrap natives to create the vision of the area’s past. At times, the inclusion of coastal dialect in some of these tales is a bit distracting, but the emphasis is on a historical retelling of the area’s history, and the dialect serves to give a local flavor.

O’Brien captures the courage and persistence of the earliest settlers, poor farmers from southern New England seeking free land, carving farms in New Canaan and Ducktrap plantations. Their lives were consumed by the struggle to produce and store enough food to feed their young families throughout the winter. They raised rye, corn, barley, beans and potatoes. They slaughtered pigs and cows and hunted wild game. It was common, O’Brien said, for people to run out of meat in late winter, forcing the slaughtering of farm animals.

Winters were harsh, and in the famous year of “1816 and Froze to Death,” it snowed every month. Abner Dunton remembered planting corn in May, barefoot in the snow.

As time went on, and the village grew, entrepreneurs such as George and Philip Ulmer built a dam and a bridge, and businesses grew up along the river. Area shipbuilders created schooners which carried Ducktrap products to the far corners of the world.

Stories are told of individuals surviving epidemics of tuberculosis and diphtheria, of children orphaned or killed by disease, of men fishing and farming, and women raising children and canning the produce of their gardens. There are descriptions of root vegetables stored in dirt cellars, and fruits and herbs dried in bunches in attics.

O’Brien puts names and faces on these stories as, for example, she writes of how Mary Augusta Allen Wade, a 30-year-old widow, was determined to adopt her orphaned grandson. Even a futile trip to Boston and the refusal of the orphanage’s priest to discharge the young boy without the asked-for fee of $300 could not dissuade her. She borrowed the money and made a second trip, returning with young Austin P. Wade in tow. Many of Austin’s photograph’s — sweeping panoramas from the top of Ducktrap Mountain as well as others showing residents fishing, shelling peas, picnicking and enjoying life in the early 1900s — were used in this book.

Every aspect of 19th and early 20th century life in this area, from childhood pastimes and schooling, to visits from wandering tramps and Gypsies, is covered in detail, and clear, well-documented photographs abound. The book ends with a brief look at life at Ducktrap today and how those who remember and value the past are coming to terms with the changes contemporary life has brought.

“Ducktrap” is extensively researched and comprehensive in its scope. It provides an insider’s view of a gentler and far different time in this small coastal village’s life.

Judy Eyerer is a free-lance writer who lives in Bangor.