Childhood Images of the Pool in the 1950s

by Lisa Barstow

In the 1950s, when I was a child spending my summers at Biddeford Pool, 60 was the new 80, not the other way around as it is today. Many of the female “elders” of the Pool’s summer community had tightly curled grey hair (thanks to a permanent) and whenever they happened to be outside they wore hairnets so the sea breeze would not disturb their un-blowable hair. They always wore dresses, never pants, and I remember most of them had plain copper chains around their ankles that were supposed to heal arthritis.

The ladies of the summer Pool were the grandmothers, the dowagers, the wives of formidable men. Most had live-in hired help they brought from where they lived “year round” because they entertained frequently -- always a favorite sport at the Pool -- and they were perfect hostesses. They also spent time on the Abenakee Club porch, watching the tennis matches, and a few, like Mrs. Mower (Christy Bergland and Helen Reilly”s grandmother) and Mrs. Black (Tim Black’s grandmother) played an excellent game of golf.

Mrs. James (Marjorie Stevens’ mother, who was a force all her own,) lived in the present Lindsay house next to the croquet courts; Mrs. Wear (Will Borders’ great-grandmother) lived in the Dean’s home; Mrs. Hubbard (we, of course, called her “Old Mother Hubbard,”) was in the house known as The Lilacs (now Joan Wyon’s house, next to the Fire Barn,) while Mrs. Kilvert was at Auldstocke. Mrs. Lindsay (Peter Sr. and Andy Sr.’s mother) lived, I believe, in the house Peter and Kate Lindsay now own on Staples Street.

Mildred Emmons Tidd, my maternal grandmother Nanny, lived at Stonecliff with her second husband, George Tidd. She inherited Stonecliff and she in turn willed it to my mother and two uncles. Our families are still happily sharing the property 60 years after her death. There are many more Pool dowagers but I will leave this topic for now.

I also remember some of the older men, including Mr. Colgate who lived in the Red House (yes, it really was red then.) We called him “the Lollipop Man,” because he walked around the Pool with a cigar box filled with lollipops, offering them to the children only.

He lived with his reclusive wife whom I’d go visit with my mother. Mrs. Colgate had a bun, wore plain clothes and sturdy, lace-up black shoes, and she was always sitting in a rocking chair. We used to joke that she was glued to it.

Mr. Wear often swam at the Big Beach and wore wool bathing trunks and a wool top that sort of looked like today’s muscle shirts. Most men had given up the swimming tops, but not Mr. Wear.

Before the Wears bought their houses (now the Dean’s and the Burkham-Borders homes), Margot Anderson’s grandparents owned it. I loved walking down Evans Road to the boardwalk that led to the beach because, more often than not, old Mr. Anderson was sitting on the lawn in his wheel chair. He was always dressed in a summer suit, white bucks and a straw hat, and my friends and I would go over to say hi. We would squeal with delight when he would ask us if we wanted to see his teeth. “Yes!” we’d reply, and he’d remove both his upper and lower false teeth and give us a huge toothless smile!

I caddied for Mr. James, who paid $1.00 a round, and I am sure that my friends and I were extremely unpopular with the boys from town who sat in the caddy shack on the 1^st hole, waiting for work. My summer “job” was short-lived, however, when I left Mr. James’ putter on the 8^th green and everyone had to wait on the 9^th while I ran the length of the hole and back to retrieve it.

More later …..

(originally posted Sept 23, 2018)