I spent the past week adding notes to the photos my girlfriend and I took while in the northeast. I used Wikipedia, Google Maps, and the pamphlets from various locations to make the notes into more of a story. By doing this, I realized we experienced “the biggest traffic jam in Maine” without really knowing it. Granted, we were in a traffic jam, and we knew we were, but we didn’t know the reason for the traffic jam. I found the answer on Wikipedia and Google Maps.
In Wiscasset, Maine, at the corner of US1 (Main Street) and Water Street is a former lobster shack that is now the home to Red’s Eats. The walk-up take-out restaurant serves lobster rolls, fried clams, hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches and French fries. It’s been there since 1954. Because it is so close to the road, and the line snakes along US1 before turning down Railroad Avenue, cars slow down as visitors cross the street and mingle just feet from the busy highway. This causes the traffic jam.
Wiscasset, on the Sheepscot River, was settled in 1663. The citizens abandoned the town during the French and Indian Wars and the King Phillip’s War. Settlers returned in 1730. Wiscasset is an Abenaki word meaning “coming out of the harbor but you don’t see where.” In 1820, when Maine became a state, it was in the running to be the capital city. However, its proximity to the ocean was one of the deciding factors to set the capital city further inland. Isn’t history great, even when it doesn’t write itself?
Lastly, you can learn more about Wiscasset in books. No, not rote history books (although I’m sure you can), but in novels. Lea Wait set a series of books in the seventeenth century. You can also check out Van Reid’s Moosepath saga, set in the late 1890s.
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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I’m currently reading The Palace Job by Patrick Weeks. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.