MEMORIES OF THE POOL Part 2

by Carrington Williams, Jr (1917-2014)

       

Originally written in 1997 & revised in 2006

submitted by Dabney McCoy

When I was a child, ice, milk, and groceries were delivered daily. Ice was cut in the winter from the Great Pond to the east of the Marie Joseph Spiritual Center and was stored in sawdust in the ice house on the west side of the pond. Groceries were brought by Mr. Milbanks and Mr. Epstein, and the lobster pound was operated by Mr. Crowley. “The Store” was owned and operated by the Goldthwaite family and has actually changed very little over the years.

I remember that around 1930, there was a total eclipse of the sun, and I was at Andy Lindsay’s on Staples Street. It got so dark that dogs, cats, and chickens went to bed, and when the sun emerged later, cocks crowed just as if it were dawn!

 At about the same time, Howdy Turner organized a puppet theater in the basement of the Dupee cottage, and we had regular shows there in the summer.

 In our early teen years, when we could not legally drive, Harry Buzby was given an electric car by his father. It was called a “Redbug,” and he drove all over the Pool but would never let any of us ride with him. Chan and Joe Robbins, who were older, drove around in a roadster with the top down and two mongrel terriers named Petey and Bussie sitting haughtily in the back seat. Those early teenage years were lots of fun!

Drinking seemed to be heavier in those days, and it is a wonder that there were so few bad accidents on the old and very winding road from Biddeford Pool to Kennebunkport. On one notable occasion, when my father, acting as a good Samaritan, was taking one very inebriated young man home in his new Huppmobile sedan. He dropped Mother off on his way from the dance at Auldstocke. The passenger took the wheel, roared up the hill by the Fire Barn, took the left fork at the top of the hill and continued to the left, ending up in the rocks in the bottom of the property now owned by David and Christy Millett.

The Yacht Club was founded by teenage boys who wanted to learn sailing, the first members being the Blacks, Lindsays, Wakelins and Shafers. The Yacht Club is very active today, providing moorings for pleasure craft and sailing lessons for the young people.

The Abenakee Club, then as now, was the center of much activity and, as boys, my brothers Mason and Armistead and I learned to play tennis and golf. In 1931, both Mason and I won cups in our age division in tennis. In the 1980s, my grandsons Tim and Chris McCoy also won cups in their age divisions.

I started hitting golf balls when I was about 8 years old and developed an affinity for the game. When I was a teenager, I found a beautiful diamond and sapphire brooch lying in the rough of the third or fourth hole. The owner was a Mrs. Strong from Cleveland, and when I returned it to her, she rewarded me with a set of golf clubs and bag from Abercrombie and Fitch! I only wish I knew what had happened to them.

Mr. James Emmons and Mr. Gray Emmons awed me with their drives on the first hole, which in the old days went around the swamp to a green below the cemetery. The second hole was then a par three, up over the corner of the graveyard to the present first green. As boys, we used to caddy, and once I was conked on the head by the tee shot of a lady hitting on the second hole. Her male companion was so scared by this that he gave me five dollars and carried the bag, so I simply walked along! Because of the parallel fairways on holes six, seven and eight, getting hit by errant shots was not rare.

Instead of today’s scramble format, there was a Monkey Golf tournament in which the four players on a team were given a wood, a five iron, a wedge and a putter. The player whose turn it was to hit the ball had to use the club assigned. Using a wood from a trap or a putter to drive made for great fun! There were some refreshment stands at several spots on the course, and some participants had to be carted (literally) back to the clubhouse. Today’s Captain’s Choice events are mild in comparison. The golfing tradition continues in our family, as my son, Mason, and grandson Tim have won the club championship several times.