Return from Maine

As with any trip, the local newspapers are bought and read. In this case, with the somewhat remoteness of Maine, the papers purchased were weekly editions. Apparently, there is not enough news, or people willing to pay money for an edition, to publish something every day.

And what newspapers! The old sized broadsheets, that when opened present a full 28" wingspan. Since one of the destinations was Bar Harbor, two papers were available: The Ellsworth American and the Mount Desert Islander.

Ellsworth is a mainland town you pass through on the way to Bar Harbor, a town located on the somewhat oddly named Mount Desert Island, a 110 square mile out-cropping piece of land just off the coast of Maine that is one of the 4,000 islands that are part of Maine, and one of the 14 islands that are inhabited. Mount Desert is the largest of all the islands

Mount Desert Island has several towns on it, and is noted for Acadia National Park, a preserve of wilderness and shoreline that was first set aside by Charles Eliot, and then John D. Rockefeller Jr. who contributed carriage trails and bridges to its design. The Rockefellers vacationed in Seal Harbor, a town on Mount Desert Island.

How does something so large off the coast of Maine come to be named Mount Desert? There is a 1,530 foot peak in Acadia Park that offers a stunning view of the land below. It is the highest point along the North Atlantic seaboard and the first place to view sunrise in the United States from October 7 through March 6. We took anyone's word that the sun came up. We didn't try and see it.

Apparently the name Mount Desert Island is translated from the French name the explorer Samuel de Champlain gave the area because of the treeless mountain tops, an island of bare mountains. And it is true. The top of Cadillac mountain has no trees on it. There is a cell phone tower that is visible, and does provide an ability to make calls. I tested it. It works.

But back to the newspapers. The Mount Desert Islander comes in three sections and is full of all the type of local news you'd expect from a maritime, vacation community.  The edition I bought ran 30 pages. One entire section is devoted to real estate listings, complete with color photographs of properties available. Also holds classifieds.

I always check out the obit page. And in this case it only took up most of one page. Three notices with photos of the deceased with biographical stories; another with no photo. In addition, 11 Death Notices. The youngest was 68, and the oldest  97. Five of the 11 were nonagenarians. Salt air and fish the likely factor to longevity. None of the biographical notices offered anything really funny or quirky about the deceased. I don't think the retired fellow who daily observed Happy Hour (5-6) on his porch stands out as unusual. I'm sure they will all be missed.

Now The Ellsworth American was another story. Same broadsheet size, three sections and 36 pages. One entire section devoted to real estate and classifieds. A weekly, coming out on Thursdays.

Obituaries? Sure. Two full facing pages. All local. Eleven biographical, 10 with photos. Ages are skewed younger than those in the Mount Desert Islander; youngest 34, oldest 95, the only nonagenarian.

Death notice listings are from two counties, Washington and Hancock. A total of 32. With that many reported deceased, and a population of under 8,000 people, you would think Ellsworth is losing people faster than they're being born. They're not. The census reports the town is growing.

Aside from the woman who was described as enjoying pulling a "good prank" on her children, (not described) none of the biographical sketches reveal anyone to be particularly eccentric or quirky.

So what does stand out after a deep dive through two local papers? No one is immune to having their identity stolen or being the victim of con artists. A headline in The Ellsworth American tells us:

Sympathetic grandma out $8K trying to aid her "jailed" grandson.

An un-named woman on Bayside Road in Ellsworth was convinced by the "grandparent scam" that her grandson needed $8,000, cash, via UPS, so he could be released from police custody at week's end for having drugs found in his car after the police stopped him.

The story was of course 100% bogus, but through clever conversation, the con artists were able to convince the woman her grandson really needed to be sprung, My wife's elderly aunt got such a call when living in Hyannis, Cape Cod. Only through the intervention of her attentive daughter was she presented from forking over  thousands in cash.

The beat goes on no matter where you go.

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