One year ago, in October of 2011, my youngest sister and I loaded up our about-to-be-80-year-old Mom and made a road trip from central Texas to the coast of Maine for an extended stay in a beach house at Old Orchard Beach . . . and afternoons spent gathering seaglass on Peaks Island . . . and mornings spent walking the paths of the Victorian garden cemetery overlooking the Saco River where Mom's young mother was laid to rest in 1932 . . . some of the photographic memories of those days have been preserved on the pages of a book created via MyCanvas at ancestry.com . . . a digital photo album entitled Memories of New England highlights the pages of that leather-bound book, which was presented to Mom for her 80th birthday earlier in 2012 . . .
Our adorable Mom was born near Boston, Massachusetts . . . but spent most of her growing-up years with her paternal grandparents in central Texas . . . her Father had left the dry dusty farmfields of West Texas in 1927 to join the Navy . . . and wound up spending time along the coast of Maine with one of his shipmates . . . where both of them met their future wives . . .
Mom's parents, Robert and Elizabeth (aka Bob and Betty), were married in July of 1929 . . . their first child (a boy) was born in May of 1930 in Lynn, Massachusetts . . . followed by Mom in January of 1932 . . . and then 19-year old Elizabeth died three days later . . .
Mom never visited her Mother's grave until October of 1977 . . . which was the first time we made the trek to New England from Texas . . . we went back again in 1981 . . . and then in 1998 . . . 2011 was our fourth trip . . . and we are already making plans for trip #5! . . . in the meantime . . .
Mom was talking just this morning about wanting to print copies of her photos of that trip, and share them with family members . . . she doesn't know it yet, but with this post, I am doing the sharing for her (sorry, Mom!) . . . remember that ALL of the photos in the following albums were taken by Mom with her digital camera . . .
TO MAINE AND BACK THRU MOM'S EYES . . . this album contains images captured by Mom along the road . . .
- MAINE
- Dunstan Cemetery . . . at Scarborough in Cumberland County, Maine . . . Mom's maternal 2nd great-grandparents, William Thurston Merrill (1816-1898) and Olive Jane (Goodwin) Merrill (1821-1895), are buried here . . . along with numerous other kinfolk . . .
- Eastern Cemetery . . . at Gorham in Cumberland County, Maine . . . Mom's maternal great-grandma, Phoebe Ann (Merrill) Morse Tripp (1848-1927), is buried here . . .
- Greenwood Cemetery . . . at Biddeford in York County, Maine . . . Mom's maternal great-grandparents, Atwood Frank Smith (1837-1907) and Jerusha Marilla (Barker) Smith (1841-1899), are buried here . . .
- Hills Beach . . . at Biddeford Pool in York County, Maine . . . Mom's maternal grandparents, Thomas Warren Alonzo Smith (1866-1920) and Eva May (Brackett) Smith (1874-1936), owned and operated a florist business in Biddeford in the early part of the 20th century . . . as part of that business, T.W.A. Smith did landscaping at Biddeford Pool . . .
- Laurel Hill Cemetery . . . at Saco in York County, Maine . . . Mom's maternal grandparents, Thomas Warren Alonzo Smith and Eva May (Brackett) Smith are buried here, along with their children, including Mom's Mother . . .
- Nubble Lighthouse . . . near the entrance to the York River in York County, Maine . . . aka Cape Neddick Light Station . . .
- Old Orchard Beach . . . in York County, Maine . . .
- Peaks Island . . . in Casco Bay near Portland, Maine . . . we have photos of Mom's maternal family members at events on this Island from the early part of the 20th century . . . and Mom's 9th great-grandpa, Michael Mitton, once owned Peaks Island . . .
- MASSACHUSETTS . . . this album contains images of the house where Mom was born . . . and the beach where she played as a child . . .
- NEW HAMPSHIRE . . . Mom's parents honeymooned at Alton Bay on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire . . . where her Mother also spent time as a child . . .