Group reprints popular history of Flagstaff Lake

Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with Ruey Stevens Baldwin of Bangor about days of old in towns that are no more: Flagstaff, Dead River and Bigelow.

It was an uplifting conversation because I found it heartwarming that she returns to that special place to enjoy Maine summer days beside a lake that covers the remains of what were three towns.

Baldwin had written to let readers know that last winter, members of the Flagstaff Memorial Chapel Association decided to “have another printing” made of the book “There Was A Land … Memories of Flagstaff, Dead River and Bigelow.”

The book, which has proved to be very popular and continues to sell out, contains stories of 70 authors who told “about life in a small town in Maine before the inhabitants were forced to move away from their homes due to the rising water.”

“By the fall of 1949,” Baldwin continued, “the dam at Long Falls was completed, and water began to back up and fill the valley with water.

“By Spring, Flagstaff Lake was complete,” and the villages were no more.

For anyone who has been unable to obtain a copy of the book, which “tells some wonderful tales, there are now more available,” Baldwin reports.

The books are $35 each, plus $2 if you want it mailed to you.

They can be ordered from Baldwin, 56 Sunny Hollow Place, Bangor 04401.

Any profit from the sale of the books, she added, will be used “for the upkeep of the cemetery and the chapel in Eustis, and three scholarships” for descendants of former residents of those former communities.

The 35th reunion of the descendants of Arthur and Mamie Hopkins, whose family traces its roots to Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower, will meet at noon Saturday, June 19, at the Dixmont Snowmobile Club on Route 7 in Dixmont.

Former reunion president Ronald Hopkins of Newport is “attempting to put together a genealogy of all 10 families who came to Maine from Cape Cod from 1760 to the 1800s,” he told me.

Hopkins would like any descendant of this family who has information that would help in this effort to call him, 368-4334, or write him at 51 Douglas Drive, Newport 04953.

We’ll have more information about this event later, but right now, Tara Pineo wants you to know volunteers are needed “to help run carnival booths and line up the parade” for Corinth Old Homes Days Friday, June 25, and Saturday, June 26.

If you can help, call Pineo at 285-7282.

Amy Cooper of Bangor reports that the “first reunion in several years” for the families of George Maynard of Dedham, Oscar Guptill of Ellsworth and the Luce family of Carmel is Sunday, July 4, at Lamoine Beach.

John Maynard will provide hot dogs and hamburgers, but you should bring “something good to share,” Cooper said.

Call Cooper at 262-9404 for more details.

For Whitcomb-Baker Post 4633 Veterans of Foreign Wars and its Ladies Auxiliary of Hampden, Commander Weldon P. Young, Jr. thanks everyone who contributed to its “most successful” Buddy Poppy drive the end of May.

Those contributions “assist sick and disabled veterans, their widows and children, and the children at the VFW National Home in Eaton Rapids, Mich.,” he wrote and, locally, “support several activities at the Maine Veterans Home in Bangor.”

OHI, which supports adults and children with disabilities in the Bangor area, is preparing for its giant yard sale, rain or shine, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 26, in front of its offices at Twin City Plaza in Brewer.

To make it the success organizers hope it will be, however, the public is asked to donate yard sale items ranging from furniture to housewares, appliances, office equipment, clothing and more.

Individuals interested in donating items can call Mindy Ward for more information at 848-5804, Ext. 112.

Randy Merrill of Waco, Texas, wrote the Bangor Daily News last month to say he saw “the CNN report on your citizens greeting U.S. Service Personnel as they first set foot back on American soil.”

“Whether one does or does not support the war, the kindness and patriotism of this group is remarkable,” he said. “From halfway across the country, I thank those who take time to welcome home our brave sons and daughters. If this is any indication of the soul of Bangor, you represent the best of America.”

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.