Brass beds

After I acquired a receipt of payment for the transportation of brass beds from Bangor to Lincoln I have spent a very frustrating few months trying to piece together the story of the Steamboat W.N.Ray and the history of the Bangor, OldTown and Milford Railroad Co.
I imagined the story of a bed, probably manufactured in New York or Europe, travelling via ship to the Port of Bangor. From there it was carefully loaded on one of the first railroads in the United States to make the short trip to OldTown. There it was transferred to the steamboat and off to Lincoln it goes. From what I have found a brass bed was a status symbol in the 19th century and even iron beds were considered beyond the reach of most people in Maine.
While I am not a huge Wikipedia fan and completely understand that the “facts” there may be far from the truth, my story which I am sharing here will cite an article about Charles P. Rogers who started importing beds into this country starting around 1855. So without any real facts let call it a Rogers brass bed.
If you look at the map posted on this blog it shows the railroad crossing (44°56'28.79"N, 68°38'58.42") the Penobscot River to end at a depot in Milford. I have been unable to find exactly where the steamboats loaded cargo and people. If you look at the map and try to imagine, it may be easy to guess until you recall that there was not a dam in place as there is now so exactly how fast was the current anywhere in this location? That would have been one wild ride if the boat broke loose and headed downstream!
I did find an advertisement in the Bangor Whig & Courier stating that the steamboat departed for Five Islands at 7 o’clock A. M. after connecting from the train from Bangor.
If you look at a map you will not see a place name Five Islands, but Thoreau wrote that the location was just south of Mattawamkeag. So I will guess it would be around here: 45°21'41.94"N, 68°32'43.88"W.
In 1858 the Whig also stated the captain of the Steamboat W.N.Ray was Joseph L Smith. An article describes a tour to Aroostook which the steamboat trip was part of the itinerary. Old Joseph L. lived here (44°56'16.50"N, 68°39'2.79"W) and has a pretty interesting history which I will leave to you to explore.
As I live in Las Vegas now, my research will continue on my annual unplanned trip to Maine, only so much can be done via the internet. I would like to take a boat to retrace the path of the steamboats, but frankly, the Penobscot still scares me. My days as I grew up staring at the cold, sometimes dirty, waters, I still can feel the unnatural pull even 2500 miles away.

Current Project

I will be taking a break from postcards on my next post to share a historic document I acquired recently. I am doing some research now to help me understand more of this era of Old Town, Maine. Hopefully the posting will be up soon!

An Old Map of Old Town Maine Mid 1800's

St Anne’s Church on Indian Island, Old Town, Maine

This is St Anne’s Church on Indian Island, Old Town, Maine. This picture shows the Convent, which on Google Earth, appears to be gone. The church is white in the photo and also shows white snow all around. Currently the church is brown.
I attended Mass there as a child. We used to walk across the old metal bridge, sometimes, as my home was not far away. The wind always seemed to blow down the Penobscot River so we were most always chilled even with hats pulled over our ears.
My Gephyrophobia, or bridge phobia, made the walk interesting to say the least.
They had a 5pm mass on Sunday that was very short (30 minutes and no singing). At the time there were no Saturday masses so you would see the people who would sleep in on Sunday or workers from the day shift at the pulp mill still in their work clothes and smelling of black liquor (like rotten eggs). The Indian children used to raise hell in the front pews at times and the priest would give them the evil eye. After mass we would walk home and look for something for supper (this was the only meal of the week you were on your own in my mother’s house)

44°56'34.04"N
68°39'8.90"W

New information:

National Register of Historic Places
(added 1973 - Building - #73000141)

Center & Main Street in the 1930’s

Most of my postcards are from earlier in the century, but here are two showing two views of the intersection of Main and Center St.
The first image is heading toward French Island and Milford. Note the fine steel bridge which I loathed crossing. It had a grated deck and “sang” as you crossed in a car. It still brings shivers thinking of when I walked across it because you could see the Penobscot River; it seemed like, miles below.
The second image, and much safer direction in my mind, is toward Indian Island, the woolen mills and where I grew up. When I visited Old Town last summer I sat on a bench where the drug store was and imagined all what had happen in that spot over the last few hundred years. I invite others to do the same in a location familiar to you and feel how relaxing and satisfying it can be.

44°56'5.27"N
68°38'44.63"W

The Penobscot River Old Town Maine

Panoramic (River) View of Old Town, Maine