934 3239 A historical Address Delivered in Connection with Old Home Week in Castine, Maine, BY REV. GEORGE MOULTON ADAMS, D.D. BOSTON PRESS OF SAMUEL USHER 171 DEVONSHIRE STREET 1900 OLD HOME WEEK IN CASTINE The Home Week Association for the town of Castine, Me., was organized in June, 1900, by the appointment of the following-named officers: Noah Brooks, President; R. B. Wardwell, First Vice-President, and E. C. Bowden, Second Vice-President; Rowland B. Brown, Treasurer; Charles H. Hooper, Secretary; Mrs. George W. Warren, Mrs. C. F. Jones, and Miss Helen Norton, Executive Committee. These appointments were made by the Chairman of the Board of Selectmen and the Master of the local Grange, under the authority of the State Home Week Association. Adopting the custom generally accepted throughout the state, the local association selected the week of August 6-12 to be observed as Old Home Week, the tenth day of the month being specially designated as the day for a more formal celebration. A Harbor Carnival was held on the evening of Tuesday, the seventh, when a considerable fleet of canoes and boats, profusely decorated with Chinese lanterns, made the circuit of the harbor and went through a series of aquatic evolutions. The Lawrence Cornet Band discoursed sweet music from a float moored in the harbor while this was being done. The morning of the tenth was ushered in by the customary bell-ringing and salutes, and at ten o'clock in the forenoon there was a parade of vehicles of every description, most of them adorned with bunting, evergreens, and flowers, the procession forming one of the most pleasing features of the celebration. In the afternoon, the United States Ship Dolphin having arrived, the officers of the vessel were given a drive through the village and vicinity. Later, a yacht race took place in the harbor, and a baseball game (between the Bucksports and the local nine) was played at Fort George. In the evening, the Common was brilliantly and tastefully decorated with Chinese lanterns, the band played during the evening, and a reception was held at a pavilion built on the upper end of the Common. At nine o'clock, a large company assembled in the Town. Hall, among them being a goodly number of natives of Castine whose homes are now in other parts of the world, and who had responded to the invitations sent out by the association. An address of welcome was made to these by the presiding officer of the association. Vocal solos were given by Miss Isabel Wales, assisted by Miss Maybelle Wood, pianist, and glees were sung by a quartette composed of Messrs. Warren C. Philbrook, of Waterville, and William A. Walker, William G. Sargent, and Dr. E. E. Philbrook, of Castine. On behalf of residents of Castine who were not born in the town, Mr. George W. Warren made a pleasing address, and Judge Warren C. Philbrook spoke for former residents of the town whose homes were now in other parts of the country. At the conclusion of these exercises, the entire company rose and sung "Auld Lang Syne." The evening was concluded by an informal dance, which was participated in by all who chose to remain. The whole celebration passed off without serious delay or hitch, and was very generally enjoyed. On the evening of Sunday, August 12, a union service was held in the Congregational church, when a discourse, appropriate to the occasion, was delivered by the Rev. Dr. George M. Adams, a son of Castine, now residing in Auburndale, Mass. The address is printed in the following pages of this pamphlet. HISTORICAL ADDRESS The thought of the "Old Home" is something to touch us on the tenderest side, and is fitted to join itself with our purest and best emotions. The home of our childhood, the scenes of our earliest experiences, the place associated with the dear ones who guided our infant feet on the first steps of this perilous journey of life, this must ever be precious to us, and our relations to it must be of value to our spiritual life. The house of God is no unfit place in which to recall the memory of youthful years; the Lord's Day is a good time to speak of fathers and mothers who taught us sacred lessons of duty and of righteousness; all that is sweet in the memories of household affection may well ally itself with the worship of our Father in heaven. Let me ask your attention to some reminiscences of Castine and its people in the last sixty years. The Castine that I knew best was the Castine of about 1840, a smaller village than the present. Court Street ran only from Dresser's Lane on the south to thirty rods beyond the foot of Windmill Hill on the north. Perkins Street also terminated near the foot of Dresser's Lane. There was no Broadway, no Pleasant Street above the rope-walk, and High Street extended towards the lighthouse only as far as where it now meets Broadway. There were neither streets nor houses, except the lighthouse and two lonely farmhouses, in all the section lying south and west of what is now Broadway. The lighthouse was reached only by a cart track through the pastures, with two or three gates or pairs of bars on the way, which must be carefully closed after passing. But this smaller Castine throbbed with a commercial activ NOTE. The brief time available for preparing this address obliged the writer to draw almost exclusively from his own recollections, so that the address has a more personal tone than would have been preferred. |