Memories of Moosehead Lake

To the Editor;

Fifty years ago this week, a newlywed couple left their South Portland roots for Piscataquis County. Having left I-95 for points north, just beyond Corinna we witnessed an amazing aurora borealis. When, at 10 p.m., I reached the desolate Main Street of Guilford, my young wife, Linda, who had fallen asleep, awoke and asked why I had stopped the car (in the middle of the road in front of Davis Furniture). I put the headlights on high beam to greater reveal to her the massive moose on the center line staring at us. Little did she know then that she was going to be a hygienist for Hap Gerrish, and would drive the Greenville to Dover roads year-round in her little Pinto with many encounters with Maine’s largest animal.

We finally reached our destination at the beginning of Moosehead Lake, where I soon loved my Greenville classroom of wonderful young people, although, as I think now, not so much younger than we were. The next eight years would change our lives. We had two girls born at Dean Hospital, and the entire town seemed to rejoice. We came for the beauty of Maine, adventure, and to begin a life together. We left realizing the great value of the dear friends who we still cherish today.

Linda and I, with children’s families and friends, just celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary, fittingly, on the shore of Moosehead in Greenville, Maine. The population of Piscataquis County, like its natural beauty, remains largely unchanged.

Christopher Babbidge

Kennebunk