Letters to the Editor
Readers respond to Where in Maine and other articles.
The folks here at the Phippsburg Congregational Church were delighted to see the photograph of our beloved church in your December issue. Our faith community was founded in 1765 and originally met in a meetinghouse across the Kennebec River, in what is now Arrowsic. Construction of our current church building was started in 1795 and completed in 1802 (not the 1820s, as you printed). Since your photograph was taken, we have added a new building, the Linden Tree Meetinghouse. The great English linden tree in front of the church dates to 1774 and was most likely planted by Mrs. Mary McCobb, who split off a portion of her estate to allow for construction of the church.
—Reverend Mark D. Wilson
Pastor, Phippsburg Congregational Church,
United Church of Christ
Pastor, Phippsburg Congregational Church,
United Church of Christ
Delicious Donuts
I am compelled to respond to the letter in your December issue challenging your inclusion of a donut recipe with your October article about Franco-American cooking. I fried up a batch of chef James Tranchemontagne’s donuts (with maple frosting) using his recipe. They taste just like the ones I ate in Maine in the 1950s and 1960s while working on the staff for Camp Natarswi, north of Millinocket. Ranger Wilbur Smith and his wife often invited me into their cabin where Mrs. Smith fried up donuts. While she stuffed me with donuts and prepared even more “to go,” we shared a lot of laughter along with the latest Baxter State Park gossip.
Donuts may not be uniquely Franco-American, but any recipe that takes me back to some of the great people I’ve known and the places I’ve been to in Maine gets my everlasting gratitude.
—Barbara Lucas
Casper, Wyoming
Casper, Wyoming
Genetic Threat
Describing new ways of using potato starch to make plastic as “back to the future” [“North by East,” October 2007] is dangerously misleading. We are several decades into a Brave New World where plastics are being made by biotech corporations who splice foreign genetic material into crops. The dangers of genetic engineering are not hypothetical: Contamination of non-GE fields has occurred through pollen transported by water and wind; by birds, rodents, and insects; by spilled seed and unharvested seed sprouting the next year; and by means of farm machinery.
It is only a matter of time until the potato lobby decides that farmers should grow a GMO variety for non-food crops. In this Brave New Future, our only hope for truly sustainable green plastics in Maine is the formulation of stringent guidelines to protect health and the environment.
—Jody Spear
Harborside, Maine
Harborside, Maine
Comments may be edited for spelling. Profanity is discouraged. If you'd like your comment considered for inclusion in the magazine, please include your hometown and state.
Reader Comments:
WHERE IN MAINE? FEBRUARY 2008
THIS WEATHERED LOOKING FISHERMAN STATUE IS A FOCAL POINT NEAR THE BREAKWATER IN EASTPORT. I'VE BEEN COMING TO EASTPORT FOR THE PAST TWENTY YEARS TO VISIT MY UNCLE, IRV LOVELL WHO LIVES ON THE OLD TOLL BRIDGE ROAD IN EASTPORT FOR THE PAST 30 YEARS. THE TOWN OF EASTPORT HAS BEEN GROWING AND IMPROVING THROUGH THE YEARS. WHEN VISITING EASTPORT YOU WILL DEFINITELY BE AMAZED BY THE DETAIL AND THE SIZE OF THIS STATUE, AS WELL AS, THE BREATHTAKING VIEWS ACROSS THE WATERS TO CANADA. VIEWING THE DETAIL OF THE WORKING VINTAGE LOBSTER AND FISHING BOATS ALONG WITH THE TUG BOATS IS TRULY A WORK OF ART. AT THE NEW PORT YOU WILL SEE LARGE CARGO SHIPS LOADING WHICH IS JUST AMAZING. THIS TOWN IS TRULY A PLACE NOT TO BE PASTED WHEN VISITING ALONG THE COAST. I HAVE BEEN LOOKING THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS TO BUY A HOME IN EASTPORT AND HOPE TO DO THIS IN THE NEAR FUTURE. IT'S A PLACE WHERE YOU JUST CAN'T VISIT ONCE, YOU HAVE TO KEEP COMING BACK. THE PEOPLE THERE ARE VERY FRIENDLY AND MAKE YOU FEEL AT HOME.
BILL TREMBLEY
GLEN GARDNER, NEW JERSEY
We just got the March 2008 Down East and we immediately recognized Chauncey Creek, in Kittery Point as the Where in Maine? picture. It's our favorite lobster place when my husband and I aren't "camping out" in a little boathouse we have up in West Brooksville Maine. We celebrated my husband's 60th birthday with family and friends at Chauncey Creek two years ago, and it was simply wonderful. Although we're in NH most of the year, we take every opportunity to step across the border and treat ourselves to the Chauncey Creek experience that can't be found anywhere else.
Peg Downing and Kevin Hunt
8 Baptist Hill Road, Canterbury, NH
and
Ferry Road
W. Brooksville, Maine
See above.