September and corn are pretty much synonymous in my mind. Corn on the cob, hot and buttered, is always a treat at this time of the year, but it’s also a time of many old memories. From the livingroom window of our farmhouse in Auburn, I can look across the road to a corner of […]
riverviews
Riverviews: The Evans Repeater, from Maine to the Wild West
For a small and quiet Maine town of the mid-1800s, Mechanic Falls had some fascinating connections with the Wild West and some other worldwide events. It all came about with the invention of the Evans rifle, an early lever-action repeating firearm. The story begins shortly after the Civil War, when George Evans, a Rhode Island […]
River Views: Going all out to make servicemen feel at home
It was mid-July in 1944. The war news from Europe was encouraging, but American servicemen had been fighting on battlefields around the world for nearly three years. For war-weary servicemen on leave in New England, it’s possible that they were among many who enjoyed good company and a taste of home on Park Street in […]
Looking back on New Year’s Eve and looking ahead to New Year’s Day
Looking back — and looking ahead. That’s what New Year’s celebrations are all about. It’s only been 15 years since this century arrived with all kinds of Y2K hoopla. The Sun Journal’s front page for Dec. 31, 1999, carried a huge “This is it” goodbye, and the next day’s headline declared, “The future is here.” […]