24 Jun 2024 - NSTR - Laundry, History, Mahket, Reminiscing with Kirk

 

We are enjoying our stay here in Millinocket. The weather has turned cool and the rain is moderate. There is a lot to see and enjoy here. Today Kirk had a truck appointment so we used today as a "down" day and headed into town to do laundry. As we approached the bridge we went under getting here, a huge load of logs was stalled above. The logging industry is alive and well here.

When we arrived at the laundry I headed across the street and purchased rolls of quarters as we had depleted our stash. Doreen got the laundry started and then we crossed the street the other direction to visit the Millinocket Historical Society, but it is only open Thurs-Sun, Poor planning on my part. I'm sure it would have been very interesting.

Maine History:  Talking about history, I try to do my homework as we travel around  the United States.  Also, having lived in Maine it's history is important to us and interesting.  So Maine was admitted to the Union in 1820 as the 23rd state, Maine is synonymous with it's rocky Atlantic coastline, an abundance of moose, and stunning vistas of Acadia National Park. You may likely be aware that:

• Maine has the easternmost lighthouses in the U.S - the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse
• Maine has over 40,000 acres of wild blueberries
• Maine is famous for it's lobster.

Factoids you might not be aware of include:  

• Maine is the only state whose name is one syllable
• Maine is the only state that borders exactly one other state
• Maine is the most rural of the 48 lower U.S. states, and 
• Maine hosts Mount Katahdin which is the endpoint (or starting point) of the world-renowned Appalachian Trail.

For thousands of years before white European settlement, the original inhabitants of the area that is now Maine were the Algonquian-speaking peoples of the Wabanaki Confederacy, including the Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, Penobscot, Androscoggin, and the Kennebec.  So now you know!

Millinocket History:  Millinocket, where we are,  is a Native American word (Abenaki) that means “the land of many islands”. For 10,000 years Millinocket was inhabited solely by Native Americans. In 1829 the first white settler, Thomas Fowler, arrived and built the first log cabin.  

The Bangor and Aroostook Railroad arrived in 1894 and the growth took off.  The Great Northern Paper Company built a mill in 1899 by hundreds of Italian immigrants and the mill grew to be the largest in the world.  It operated 24 hours a day seven days a week, churning out newsprint at the rate of 240 tons per day.  The town's population peaked at more than 7,700 residents in the 1960s and 1970s. Great Northern Paper was taken over by Georgia Pacific in 1989 and changed hands several times between 1989 and 2008 and they finally filed for bankruptcy and closed.  There is still logging operations in the area but much of the industry now revolves around tourism with Baxter State Park, Mount Katahdin and the Appalachian Trailhead.  

Enough history for now!  We finished up with our laundry and then made a swing through downtown Millinocket.  We spotted the Appalachian Trail Cafe that is noted for it's awesome breakfasts.  There are other shops and businesses there, but downtown Millinocket is a bit sparce.  You can tell, though, that it thrived back in it's hay day.

We then drove back towards the interstate to visit a store Doreen spotted when we arrived:  Ellis Family Mahket!  Mainers tend to drop their "R's".  We did need a few groceries and they had a pretty good selection but Doreen was really hoping for a t-shirt or sweatshirt with the store name, including :Mahket"!  No clothing but we did get our groceries.

Back at the campground we unloaded laundry and groceries, and then headed out with Liberty for a walk.  The campground is pretty big and we had a lot of area to explore.  Liberty had fun chasing the small squirrels they have here.  

We also walked by the pool which was busy when we first arrived but sat idle today.

Later, Kirk was back from his truck service and stopped by for a cold one.  We had a great time talking and reminiscing about our time at Loring.  One of these times was in May 1975 when Kirk and I headed miles into the Maine woods to one of his "camps". The route there was an old logging road and it was in rough shape - muddy and rutty.  We got seriously stuck going in and had to cut trees and fill in the ruts plus use a "come-a-long" cable winch, but we finally made it. 

 So today we identified exactly where that camp was and is still located and I marked the coordinates on my Google Map.  

That's it for today.  The Cubs are on the west coast playing the Giants tonight, and the game does not start until about 2200 hrs Eastern time, so will have to watch the recorded version later tomorrow.  But first thing tomorrow if the weather cooperates, we plan to head out on Kirk's pontoon fishing.