Finding Whitefield

        Some years ago, in 1974, my family and I made a visit to friends in Whitefield, Art and Natasha Mayers, who had a home on Townhouse Road. After a pleasant reunion with them and chatting about friends in common, Art mentioned that there was a house for sale, down the road apiece.

   Bill (Bell) and I, with our children, arranged to meet with Billy Hall and his wife, the owners of said house.

     As we had been browsing the newspapers for possible farmhouses for purchase, we were quite impressed with the old house which had a good view of the small hills and river across the road. The Halls took us through the house, through the kitchen, living room, two side rooms, and four upstairs bedrooms.

     Eight rooms, a bath, a decent parcel of land, and a fine view. What more could we want? Perhaps the little old cottage on the hill above the main house?

     Within a few hours, we made our decision. “We’ll take it,” Bill said to Mr. Hall. I don’t know who was more surprised, my family or the Halls!

     We hurried home, to our place in Southern Maine, and called our relatives. My mother, a Maine-born lady, said : “Whitefield?” “You are buying a home in Whitefield, on Townhouse Road? My Aunt Maud lived on Townhouse Road, in Whitefield, and we used to visit her and Uncle Forest (Ware) when we visited Grampy and Grammy in Boothbay Harbor.” I was astounded, I had no idea. We were going to move to a home on a road where my late great-aunt and uncle had lived, many years previous.

        Our Bell family settled into our new home in the Fall of 1974. That Christmas, my mother, who was then living in Connecticut, joined us for the holidays. She and I sat at our kitchen table and talked for hours about Maud and Forest and other relatives who had traveled to Whitefield, in the old days, for visits. We drove by the old Ware residence, visited the Whitefield cemetery where Maud, Forest, and other relatives are buried, and toured around town so that my mother could see how Whitefield had changed (or not) over the years.

      We all have fond memories of our years in Whitefield, and of the family history revisited, just down Townhouse Road a bit.
 

Lynn (Bell) Webster