Teenage historians honored

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

On April 2, at the Winslow Congregational Church, the Fort Halifax Chapter, NSDAR presented awards to six young adults at a Student Tea held in their honor. The American History Contest is offered to students in grades 5-12. The fifth grade winner was Elizabeth Longfellow, the daughter of Hailey Longfellow and Patrick Morrison. Dominique Giroux-Paré the daughter of Michelle and Rick Giroux-Paré was chosen as the winner from the eighth grade. They both wrote on the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” and were presented Certificates of Participation. They also both received a historical coloring book published by the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.

Carrina Chen, the daughter of Sandy and Wing Chen received the Jennie Paine Howard Award for achieving the highest rank in American History in her junior class. She was presented a medal and certificate for her outstanding work. Carrina also received a historical coloring book.

Three students were chosen by the faculty from area schools as the DAR Good Citizen Candidate. They included Megan Huesers, daughter of Katie and Thomas Huesers, of Winslow High School, Kloe McEachirn, daughter of Brandy and Corey Dow, of the Maine Arts Academy, and Sawyer Inman, the son of David Inman and Frieda Mavor, of Mt. View High School. Megan Huesers wrote the winning essay for the Fort Halifax Chapter entitled “Our American Heritage and Our Responsibility for Preserving It.” They all received the DAR Good Citizen certificate and pin. Megan will receive an American flag that has been flown at the Maine State Capitol.

New Dimensions FCU awards two area high school students with scholarships

Sage Clukey left, accepted her scholarship certificate on Wednesday, April 27. Thomas Dean received his scholarship certificate at the Skowhegan location on April 25. (contributed photo)

New Dimensions FCU has announced that Sage Clukey, from Winslow High School, and Thomas Dean, from Skowhegan Area High School, have been selected as New Dimensions FCU’s 2022 Scholarship Program winners who have earned $2,500 each for their first year in college.

New Dimensions FCU awards scholarships to deserving high school seniors that demonstrate strong character, community involvement, and academic success. This year we found two exceptional candidates who went above and beyond in their academics and community. They both came highly recommended by school officials, and their essays showed that their character and assessment of financial literacy aligned with our mission and values.

Sage Clukey plans on studying to be a nurse at Franklin Pierce University, while Thomas Dean will study finance at the University of Maine at Orono. The staff and directors of NDFCU wish them both the best of luck in all their educational endeavors.

Ryan Poulin, Chief Executive Officer, states, “Our scholarship program is just one of the many ways we support our community. We hear many times from students that financial education is an underdeveloped skill they feel they’d like to hone, so we try to give them the tools and resources at the local level by adding financial fitness into their curriculum as well as offering our Scholarship Program to show the importance of financial success.”

For more information, contact NDFCU at (800) 326-6190 or visit www.newdimensionsfcu.com.

Winslow baseball team holds clinic

Athletes in grades three through eight had a chance to go to an hour-long clinic to work on baseball skills with the high school team. (photo courtesy of Crystal Pomerleau)

The Winslow High School baseball team held a clinic for youth baseball on Thursday, April 7.

Winslow resident earns award from WGU

Bethanie Farr, of Winslow, has earned an Award of Excellence at Western Governors University College of Health Professions, in Jersey City, New Jersey. The award is given to students who perform at a superior level in their course work.

Waterville Rotary Club donates money to improve high school challenges

MSAD #49 (Lawrence) – from left to right, Dan Bowers, Lawrence HS Principal; Patricia Watts, Assistant Superintendent; Jeff Melanson, President, Waterville Rotary Club.

The Waterville Rotary Club recently donated $500 to four local high schools to provide support to youth who are experiencing homelessness or other challenges that impact their learning and/or engagement in school.  Members of the Club’s Community Services Committee delivered checks in person to each of the schools. These donations dovetail with the club’s focus the past two years on providing resources in the community to address food insecurity and/or lack of access to basic necessities, issues which have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

MSAD #49, in Fairfield, plans to use the funds specifically for food, clothing, or transportation. They may also use some of the funds to purchase sports equipment or materials for students that do not have means to purchase these items to participate in a sport or other activity.

Winslow High School – from left to right, Roger Krause, Waterville Rotary Club; Ms. Jones (JMG teacher) and some of the JMG students who help organize and stock the Raider Closet.  (JMG = Jobs for Maine’s graduates)

Winslow High School will use the funds to support their Raiders Closet.  Non-perishable food and clothes will be purchased, as needed.  In some cases, food-specific gift cards will be provided to families to purchase perishable items.

Messalonskee High School, in Oakland, has an initiative that provides food for families for the weekend and snacks during the school day.  They actively seek additional funds to provide for necessities that many of us take for granted in our daily lives, such as personal hygiene items, clothing, school supplies and food that can be prepared with minimal resources for those in temporary housing.

Messalonskee High School, from left to right, Keith Morin, Assistant Superintendent/Chief Academic Officer; Katelyn Pushard, Waterville Rotary Club; Carl Gartley, Superintendent.

Waterville High School will use the funds to support their school’s Food Pantry.  They may also use some funds to purchase other necessary items for students, such as seasonal clothing.

All the representatives from the various schools expressed a deep appreciation for this donation and the show of support for their most vulnerable students.  The committee members truly enjoyed the opportunity to visit the schools, meet with staff and students, and hear about the ways that our local schools are looking out for their students.

For more information about the Rotary, visit the website at watervillerotary.com.

Waterville High School, from left to right, Michele Prince, Waterville Rotary Club and the four class presidents,  Kate Rice, freshman, Emily Campbell, senior, Brianna Bates, junior, and Gabby St. Peter, sophomore. (contributed photo)

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Wars – Part 13

Capt. James Parnell Jones (left), Capt. Charles W. Billings (right)

by Mary Grow

Civil War

Henry Kingsbury lists four men who served in “the late war” in the personal paragraphs in his chapter on Benton in the 1892 Kennebec County history.

Stephen H. Abbott enlisted from Winslow and served six months with the 19th Maine; he moved to Benton in 1872 and served as postmaster from 1890 and for three years as a selectman.

Gershom Tarbell was in the 19th Maine for three years. Albion native Augustine Crosby was in the 3rd Maine, credited to Benton. Hiram B. Robinson was in Pennsylvania when the war started and enlisted from there not once but twice; he fought in 37 battles and returned to Benton in 1865.

Kingsbury does not mention Benton-born Frank H. Haskell (1843-1903), described in on-line sources as enlisting in Waterville June 4, 1861, when he was 18. Sergeant-Major Haskell was promoted to first lieutenant in the 3rd Maine Infantry after being cited for heroism during the June 1, 1862, Battle of Fair Oaks (also called the Battle of Seven Pines) in Virginia. His action, for which he received a Medal of Honor, is summarized as taking command of part of his regiment after all senior officers were killed or wounded and leading it “gallantly” in a significant stream crossing.

Another Civil War soldier from the central Kennebec Valley who was awarded the Medal of Honor was Private John F. Chase, from Chelsea, who enlisted in Augusta and served in the 5th Battery, Maine Light Artillery. As the May 3, 1863, battle at Chancellorsville, Virginia, wound down, Chase and one other survivor continued firing their gun after other batteries stopped and, since the horses were dead, dragged the gun away by themselves to keep it from the Confederates.

Grave of Horatio Farrington

At least 40 China residents died of wounds or disease, including, the China bicentennial history says, the five oldest of Mary and Ezekiel Farrington’s seven sons. Horatio, age 27, Charles, 25, Reuben, 20, Byron, 19 and Gustavus, 18, died between June 1, 1861, and Oct. 30, 1864.

Records do not show how many Civil War veterans were permanently disabled, the author commented. She retold the story told to her by Eleon M. Shuman of Weeks Mills about Jesse Hatch, from Deer Hill in southeastern China, who (for an unknown reason) fought for the South and came home so disfigured from a powder magazine explosion “that his appearance frightened the neighborhood children, but his friendly words and gifts of apples made him less terrifying.”

One of China’s best-known Civil War soldiers was Eli and Sybil Jones’ oldest son, Captain James Parnell Jones. As the author of the China history pointed out, pacificism is a central Quaker tenet, but in 1861 some Quakers decided ending slavery and maintaining the Union outweighed religious upbringing.

She quoted from the Jones genealogy an account of James Jones (who was 23, married with one son) and his 18-year-old unmarried brother Richard at a troop-raising event.

“Richard immediately raised his hand when the call came but James walked over to his brother, pulled down the raised arm and slowly raised his own. ‘Thee’s too young, Richard.’ ”

Jones was in the 7th Maine, first a company captain and from December 1863 a regimental major, as the troops fought in Virginia and at Gettysburg. In 1864, in the Battle of the Wilderness, he allegedly replied to a demand to surrender his embattled regiment with, “All others may go back, but the Seventh Maine, never!”

Jones was killed in the fighting around Fort Stevens July 11 and 12, 1864, as the 7th Maine helped defend Washington.

From Clinton, Kingsbury listed Daniel B. Abbott, born in Winslow, who served in the 19th Maine until June 1865 and after the war bought a farm in Clinton and became commander and grand master of Billings Post, G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic, the Civil War veterans’ organization that was disbanded in 1956 after the last member died).

The post was named to honor Captain Charles Wheeler Billings (Dec. 13, 1824 – July 15, 1863), Company C, 20th Maine, who was wounded in the left knee July 2, 1863, at the Battle of Little Round Top and died in a field hospital.

Clinton’s Brown Memorial Library website and a “Central Maine Morning Sentinel” article found on line describe the June 6, 2015, rededication of Clinton’s Civil War monument and the monument at Billings’ gravesite in Riverview Cemetery. The newspaper quotes speaker Bruce Keezer, then President of the Friends of Brown Memorial Library, as saying Clinton had a total population of 1,600 in the early 1860s; 252 men enlisted and 32 died.

The website says Billings was the highest-ranking 20th Maine officer to die at Little Round Top.

Billings left a widow, Ellen (Hunter) Billings, whose 30th birthday was July 1, 1863, and two daughters: Isadore Margaret, born in 1850, and Elizabeth W., or Lizzie, born in 1860. Another daughter, Alice, born in 1856, had died in 1860; and Elizabeth died Dec. 7, 1863. Isadore died in 1897, the day after her 47th birthday. Ellen lived until 1924.

Also from Clinton, according to Kingsbury, were Isaac Bingham, Rev. Francis P. Furber, Joseph Frank Rolfe and Laforest Prescott True.

Bingham had gone to California in 1852; he came home in 1861 and served two years with the 1st Maine Cavalry. After the war he moved back and forth between his Clinton farm and California.

Furber, a Winslow native who moved to Clinton in 1845, served in the 19th Maine for three years. A wound received May 6, 1864, “destroyed the use of one arm,” Kingsbury wrote. He was ordained a Freewill Baptist minister Sept. 27, 1885, after serving as a minister in Clinton and nearby towns since 1875.

Rolfe, born in Fairfield of parents who moved to Clinton when he was about three, served in the 2nd Maine Cavalry from 1863 to the end of the war. True was in the 20th Maine from 1862 to 1865 and was wounded twice.

Fairfield’s Civil War monument is one of the oldest in Maine, according to the town’s bicentennial history. The writers noted that its dedication day, July 4, 1868, was a scorching Saturday: the temperature reached 105 degrees in the shade.

Soldiers came from all over Maine. Ceremonies included a parade; cannon salutes; speeches, including one by Governor (former General) Joshua Chamberlain; dinner prepared by townswomen and served “in the old freight depot”; and a baseball game with a final score of 60 to 40 (the history does not record the names of the teams).

“The day was not without its tragedy,” the history says. A veteran named William Ricker, who had survived the war unscathed, lost a hand when one of the cannons went off too soon. Chamberlain promptly canceled the remaining salutes.

Kingsbury found that one of Sidney’s soldiers, Mulford Baker Reynolds (Aug. 5, 1843 – Aug. 3, 1937) served in Company C of the 1st Maine Cavalry from August 1862 to July 1865, “and spent about six months in Andersonville prison” in Georgia.

Reynolds married Ella F. Leighton on Nov. 23, 1881, according to an on-line source. Kingsbury wrote that in 1892 Reynolds was farming his family place in Sidney and he and Ella had four children.

Among the many Vassalboro men whose personal paragraphs in Kingsbury’s history list Civil War service is Edwin C. Barrows (April 2, 1842 – April 20, 1918). Educated at Waterville and Bowdoin colleges, he enlisted Nov. 19, 1863, in the 2nd Maine Cavalry.

Transferred in June 1865, he became second lieutenant (but acted as adjutant, the officer who assists the commander with administration, Kingsbury wrote) of the 86th U.S.C.T. (United States Colored Troops), serving until he was discharged April 10, 1866.

After the war, Barrows got a law degree from Albany Law School in January 1867 and practiced four years in Nebraska City, Nebraska. He married Laura Alden (Sept. 5, 1842 – Dec. 19, 1909) and returned to Vassalboro in 1872. By 1892, he had been a supervisor of schools in 1882 and 1883 and since then a selectman, “being chairman since 1887.”

Edwin and Laura Barrows are buried under a single headstone in Vassalboro’s Nichols Cemetery.

Vassalboro’s G.A.R. Post was named in honor of Richard W. Mullen of the 14th Maine, one of 410 Vassalboro Civil War soldiers, Alma Pierce Robbins wrote in her town history. After the war, town meeting voters appropriated money to the G.A.R.’s Women’s Relief Corps for Memorial Day services and veterans’ grave markers. The Post disbanded in 1942 and the appropriation was transferred to Vassalboro’s American Legion Post and Auxiliary.

The Waterville G.A.R. Post, chartered Dec. 29, 1874, was named in honor of William S. Heath, who was killed in action at Gaines Mill, Virginia, on June 27, 1862. The first post commander was General Francis E. Heath, the second General I. S. Bangs. Francis Heath was almost certainly William Heath’s brother (variously identified as Frank Edw. and Francis E.; died in Waterville in December 1897), I. S. Bangs the author of the military history chapter in Edwin Whittemore’s Waterville history.

Ernest Marriner added information on William Heath’s life in “Kennebec Yesterdays”. In 1849, he wrote, Heath was 15 and “somewhat tubercular”; his father, Solyman, thought a trip to the goldfields in California would be good for him.

Young Heath “did survive the rigors of the terrible trip across plains and mountains, worked a while in a San Francisco store, then shipped off to China, from which distant land the anxious father soon had him returned through the intercession of the United States government.”

Back in Waterville, Heath graduated from Waterville College in 1853. When the 3rd Maine’s Company H was formed in Waterville in April 1861, Heath was captain and his brother Francis/Frank was first lieutenant. By the time of his death, William Heath was a lieutenant colonel in the 5th Maine Infantry, Marriner wrote. Francis ended the war as a colonel in the 19th Maine, according to Bangs.

Linwood Lowden, in his Windsor history, wrote that Charles J. Carrol, one of seven Windsor men who fought in the Battle of Gettysburg July 2-4, 1863, was mortally wounded. Three more Windsor men, George H. B. Barton, George W. Chapman and George W. Merrill, were killed May 6, 1864, in the Battle of the Wilderness.

Windsor’s Vining G.A.R. Post, organized June 2, 1884, was named to honor Marcellus Vining. Post members met every Saturday night in the G.A. R. Hall, which was the upper story of the town house, Lowden said.

At an 1886, meeting, “a Mr. Bangs presented a picture of Marcellus Vining” to the organization. Kingsbury added that the Vining family donated Marcellus Vining’s army sword, “his life-size portrait and an elegant flag.”

Lowden believed Vining Post continued “well into the twentieth century.” Windsor voters helped fund the G.A.R., usually at $15 a year, he wrote. In 1929, however, “$30.00 was appropriated for G.A.R. Memorial and paid to the Sons of Veterans.”

Kingsbury wrote that Vining was born on the family homestead on May 2, 1842, third child and oldest son of Daniel Vining by his first wife, Sarah Esterbrooks of Oldtown (Daniel and Sarah had three daughters and three sons; after Sarah’s death, Daniel married Eliza Choat, and they had six more daughters).

On Jan. 25, 1862, Marcellus Vining became a private in the 7th Maine. He served for two years, during which his “ability and courage” (Kingsbury) earned him two promotions. On Jan. 4, 1864, he re-enlisted in a reorganized 7th Maine. On March 9 he was made second lieutenant of Company A, and on April 21 made first lieutenant. On May 12 he was wounded at Spottsylvania, Virginia; he died a week later.

“A captain’s commission was on its way from Washington to him, but too late to give to the brave soldier his richly earned promotion,” Kingsbury wrote.

He continued with a paraphrase from a letter Vining, knowing he was dying, wrote to his father, saying it was better “to die in the defense of his country’s flag than live to see it disgraced.”

Kingsbury concluded: “Thus the oft-repeated tale—a bright, promising man with the blush of youth still on his cheek, willingly laid down his life to preserve that of his country.”

Main sources

Fairfield Historical Society, Fairfield, Maine 1788-1988 (1988)
Grow, Mary M., China Maine Bicentennial History including 1984 revisions (1984)
Kingsbury, Henry D., ed., Illustrated History of Kennebec County Maine 1625-1892 (1892)
Lowden, Linwood H., good Land & fine Contrey but Poor roads a history of Windsor, Maine (1993)
Marriner, Ernest, Kennebec Yesterdays (1954)
Robbins, Alma, Pierce History of Vassalborough Maine 1771 1971 n.d. (1971)
Whittemore, Rev. Edwin Carey, Centennial History of Waterville 1802-1902 (1902)

Websites, miscellaneous

Dirigo Labs announces selection as AWS activate provider

photo credit: Dirigo Labs

Dirigo Labs, Maine’s newest accelerator program, has been designated as an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Activate Provider, allowing Dirigo Labs-based startups and entrepreneurs to access exclusive benefits to help accelerate growth as they build their respective businesses. The accelerator, launching its first cohort in March, will host appro­ximately 10 Maine-based startups representing a range of industries including biotechnology and information technology.

Startups affiliated with Dirigo Labs who are building or about to start building web-based programs on AWS may apply for the AWS Activate Portfolio and receive free AWS credits, technical support, training, resources, and more. Inclusion in the Activate program differentiates the Dirigo Labs accelerator as an important solution to the maturation of startups building and scaling their companies on AWS.

“Being designated as an AWS Activate Provider will allow Dirigo Labs participating founders access to an exclusive toolset to help them succeed at every stage of their development,” states Dirigo Labs Managing Director Susan Ruhlin. “We welcome all cohort members to take full advantage of these incredible benefits.”

Dirigo Labs will offer a 12-week curriculum for seed-stage entrepreneurs scaling their startups. Topics will include product development, fundraising strategies, revenue modeling, and pitch refinement. Utilizing regional assets to encourage job creation and retention while improving access to capital for startups, Dirigo Labs is building an innovation ecosystem that supports entrepreneurship and showcases central Maine as a destination for business development and success.

“Joining an impressive portfolio of AWS Activate Program companies, including Coinbase and Toast, Dirigo Labs will provide opportunities and services to startups in our accelerator that they wouldn’t have had access to before, such as AWS Cloud credits, AWS business support, and access to the Activate console to help their business prosper,” elaborates Central Maine Growth Council Development Coordinator Sabrina Jandreau. “We look forward to working with our startups to utilize these opportunities while supporting rural business development for years to come.”

Startups and potential mentors interested in learning more about Dirigo Labs and submitting an application can visit www.dirigolabs.org.

Dirigo Labs is a regional startup accelerator based in Waterville, Maine. With a mission to grow mid-Maine’s digital economy by supporting entrepreneurs who are building innovation-based companies, the Dirigo Labs ecosystem brings together people, resources, and organizations to ensure the successful launch of new startups. Dirigo Labs operates under Central Maine Growth Council and is supported by several organizations, academic institutions, and investment firms.

Winslow High School senior wrestler crowned state champion

Referee Shawn Guest, from Bath, presenting State Champion Sam Schmitt with his award. (photo by Jason Gendron)

by Mark Huard

Winslow High School Senior, Sam Schmitt, captured Maine’s Class B State Wrestling Championship at 138 pounds on Saturday, February 19, at Morse High School, in Bath, continuing a family tradition of state champion titles.

Schmitt overcame a very tough finals opponent from Wells with an impressive eight takedowns to finish at 17-10 for the win, a highlight contest that also earned him the coveted Wally LaFountain and John Smith Outstanding Wrestler Award for the State Champ­ionship meet. Sev­eral weeks prior, he won the KVAC Championship at 138 pounds and celebrated his 100th high school career win earlier this season.

Sam comes from a long line of wrestling family members with uncles, cousins and even two sisters that have all competed in the sport for Winslow. He is the fourth of the clan to win a Maine State Championship, joining his grandfather Randall Fredette (1961), cousin Ryan Fredette (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018) and cousin Alex Demers (2020) as a title holder. This is Sam’s 12th year of wrestling, having started in the Pee Wee program as a kindergartner and later winning the Maine State Pee Wee Championship as a second grader. He was no stranger to the high school state finals, having placed fourth his freshman year at 106 pounds, third his sophomore year at 120 pounds, and like many other Maine school athletes, did not have a junior season due to COVID restrictions.

In addition to excelling as a student-athlete, Schmitt is a member of the National Honor Society and was recently chosen as Winslow High School’s Student of the Month by faculty and staff. He plans to pursue a degree in business marketing, has been accepted at several colleges already. Sam is the son of Tara and Mike Fredericks, of Winslow, and Rob and Lisa Schmitt, of Waterville.

PHOTO: Third generation black belt

Kancho Randy Huard, right, and Mackenzie Huard, 20, left. (photo by Mark Huard)

Kancho Randy Huard started Huard’s Martial Arts School in 1966. This was at a time when there were very few Dojos in the area. He built the school on a foundation of loyalty, discipline and respect.

Over 55 years later, he is still teaching those same values to his students and through his students. On January 7, 2022, there was a very special milestone, as it was the beginning of the third generation of Huard’s family black belts. Mackenzie Huard, 20, has worked extremely hard and earned a black belt. He has now joined the fellowship started by his grandfather all those years ago. This was a special night for the family that will be cherished forever.

Stories from Fort Hill Cemetery

Fort Hill Cemetery, in Winslow

by Kit Alexander

As anyone who has lived in Winslow for any length of time can tell you, Fort Halifax was built by the English in the middle of the 18th century on the point of land where the Sebasticook and Kennebec Rivers meet. All that is left of it today is the solitary block house on the southeast corner where the fort had stood. The block house floated down the Kennebec River in the flood of 1987 and returned in pieces to be reassembled by local citizens. It now stands as our town’s symbol, incorporated into stationary, logos, websites and other town-related items.

The fort served as a base to protect the interests of the English in the area, and to deal with any French incursions into the territory claimed by the British. It also existed as a base for further exploration of the area, and to identify and exploit other resources.

The fort grew, diminished, and grew again to where it had, at one time or another, covered most of what is now Winslow’s Fort Halifax Park. The park has suffered through floods and mini-tornados, endured many ownership changes, and hosted several commercial enterprises, including lumber businesses and a used car lot in the 1950s. Now it is Winslow’s premiere park, a place for family recreation, weddings, parties, and, more recently, outside meetings with members sitting in a circle, spaced six feet apart.

Early in the fort’s history, two smaller block houses known as redoubts, connected by a palisade walkway, were built on the top of Fort Hill, presumably to maintain an elevation for monitoring the traffic going up and down the Kennebec or Sebasticook.

What some people do not realize, however, is that a portion of what had been the fort became what we know today as the Fort Hill Cemetery. In 1772, a committee was appointed by town officials to obtain a plot of land on the hill to hold the first public burial ground in Winslow. Three acres or so were donated by Dr. Sylvester Gardiner, a physician and land developer.

While the cemetery was established in 1772, the first burial was not recorded until 1789 when Timothy Heald, a Captain in the Revolutionary War, was interred there. During those intervening 17 years, many residents of Winslow and surrounding towns may well have been buried in the cemetery. They may not, however, have been listed in the town’s vital records beginning in 1771 when Winslow became a town. The earliest residents may have simply been buried in the southern part of the cemetery, without any record of their passing or grave stone to mark their resting place. Others may have had a simple, unadorned field stone or an engraved marker which has either disintegrated or fallen and been overgrown by grass and other plant material. Family genealogists scattered all over the country may be the only people who know about these early residents and their place of burial.

Today, approximately 450 people are buried in the cemetery, only a few of them without a marker. During the past year, members of the Winslow Cemetery Committee along with local volunteers have lifted or uncovered about 50 stones, some completely buried from view and others partially covered with grass and dirt. Members of the Fort Halifax Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution have also helped by repairing and cleaning the grave stones of veterans of the American Revolution.

Buried tombstone of Augus Woodman. “Aet” is Latin abbreviation for “age”. “A” is no longer visible.

While using a leaf blower, a volunteer accidentally uncovered a small area of stone about three inches square. After carefully exposing the entire stone using plastic scrapers, trowels, wooden popsicle sticks and, of course, fingers, the head stone of …ugus (possibly Augusta or Augustus) Woodman, came into view. The top of the stone had broken off prior to the 1930s and the rest of it was badly deteriorated so that identifying its possible owner involved a fair amount of detective work and creative eye squinting.

The lettering on many of the stones in Fort Hill is badly degraded, while other stones are covered with a black, tar-like substance, probably from paper mill pollution and exhaust from trucks climbing the hill. Others have been broken into pieces by frost and possible vandalism. The lichen is easily scraped off, but most stones have required scrubbing with water and biological solutions in order to read just the names and dates of death. A few stones have been completely cleaned and restored to their former beauty, but more work is needed.

Searches have been made in the Town of Winslow Vital Records, Ancestry.com, and FindAGrave.com, along with records of the Maine Old Cemetery Association (MOCA), hoping to identify folks buried in Fort Hill. This work has also involved identifying those who are not interred there, and moving them, figuratively, to other burial grounds in the area as recorded by MOCA or FindAGrave.

On a beautiful, clear autumn day, one can stand behind the graves of Nelson and Carrie McCrillis, and, looking west across the whole of the cemetery, see the Kennebec as it flows by Winslow’s park. Or standing in front of the back fence behind the stone of Capt. Timothy Heald, and his wife, Abigail, one can look toward the south east to the Sebasticook River as it makes its way toward its junction with the Kennebec. And if one were to squint his or her eyes in just the right light, they might even see a pair of Abenaki Native Americans paddling silently down the river, on their way home from a long day of hunting.

View from behind tombstone of Capt. Timothy Heald, looking southeast toward the Sebasticook River.