Sea Glass

A Passageway into History

Almost every shoreline offers up worlds of adventure, archaeology, science, and the arts in the form of sea glass and ceramic shards. These discarded remains can pull the beachcomber through a passageway into history, one founded on documented research or one broadened and colored by the imagination. Maybe that is part of the appeal and the romance of treasure hunting at the edge of the tide. For some, the secrets whispered by sea glass hold more riches than a pirate's chest…

This sea glass [above] once belonged to a bottle containing a 19th-century elixir. Sarsaparilla purportedly cured a variety of conditions, such as boils, tumors, rheumatism, and syphilis. Doctors often recommended it as a tonic to be taken regularly because they believed it cleansed and purified the blood. A sample recipe included the dried roots of the smilax vine; alcohol; dandelion, yellow dock, or burdock roots; and prickly ash, birch, or sassafras bark. Modified versions of this formula are used today to flavor medicine and soft drinks.

Pat Hanbery

The raised lettering on this shard identifies it as Dana's Sarsaparilla, manufactured in Belfast, Maine. This shard measures approximately 3" by 1.5".

Some beachcombers call [green sea glass, like that to the right,] emeralds. Others think of them as the world's finest jade. Still another notion is deeply rooted in sea lore and perpetuated by writer and artist Mimi Carpenter in her book Of Lucky Pebbles and Mermaid's Tears. An excerpt:

On a beautiful island called Islesboro
Just below the edge of low tide,
Lived a mischievous Mermaid named Shorah
With the Sea Ugly Xyat by her side.

She was different from all of the others,
Wearing fins on her nose and her ears,
But the most remarkable things you would notice
Were her scales - and her soft green, glass tears.

The real origin of green glass is, of course, less romantic. It is created with chromium, copper, and iron. The largest shard in this group measures approximately 1.25" by 0.875".

Pat Hanbery

Here is allegory gone awry. Battered by a rugged coastline and found in a rocky inner harbor, this wrecked lighthouse scene washed ashore in the wake of a storm. The ill-fated shard [in the photo at the left] met the end that the subject of its illustration protects against. The wavy back of the fragment and its thickness suggest that it is part of a hot-plate tile or fireplace surround. This shard measures approximately 2.75" by 3".

Excerpted from Sea Glass Chronicles: Whispers from the Past, by C.S. Lambert; published by Down East

By: C.S. Lambert

Today's:

Our New Books
	Mr. Rockefeller's Roads \| This updated version of the 1990 best-seller has new photography, more archival photos, and descriptions of recent improvements to the 51-mile carriage road system.
	Eric Hopkins \| From his earliest work with glass to the stunning aerial panoramas of Maine islands that have gained him far-reaching fame, Eric Hopkins has consistently explored boundaries—of medium, of space, of vision.
	Ultimate Acadia \| Ultimate Acadia is the essential book about Maine’s Mount Desert Island, providing everything you need to know to make the most of your time there.
	Grandma Drove the Lobsterboat \| The redoubtable Grandma—this book is a sequel to Grandma Drove the Snowplow—is at it again.