A complete archive of email from October 2006

READ: Last month's mail 

October 25
PAIN IN THE CAINE
In your description of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial trial play appearing at the Music Hall you incorrectly described Caine as a battleship.   Actually it was a destroyer that was being used for minesweeping operations. 
Jack Goterch, CPO, USN(Ret)
Derry, NH  

October 25
REALLY OLD STRAWBERRY BANK
Hi.  What a great Web site you have!  I'm very interested in the history of Strawberry Banke and colonial Portsmouth (around 1680).  Can you recommend any books about that time period.  I'd especially like to learn more about social and cultural history, homelife, marriage and family, women's history, and shipbuilding -- but any suggestions would be appreciated!  Thank you.
Susan Alverson

EDITOR’S REPLY:  I can recommend Chapter 3 of my upcoming book no the history of Strawbery Banke Museum that covers the period from 1650-1700 – but it isn’t scheduled to be published until the fall of 2007. There is not much available specifically on the 17th century in Portsmouth other than the standard works – Brewster’s "Rambles", Brighton’s "They Came to Fish" and Bruce Ingmire’s illustrated history of the Seacoast. Perhaps a good starting point is Ralph May’s volume on EARLY PORTSMOUTH (1927) which is out of print, but available on CD-rom sometimes on eBay. Tad Baker’s upcoming book on Lithobolia or the Rock-Throwing Devil falls into that time period and is an extremely good look at social and political life in Strawbery Banke, which was renamed “Portsmouth” in the 1650s.

October 20
BAD BOY STILL GOOD READ
My son, Andrew, and I read The Story of a Bad Boy together. The book was a gift from his beloved Aunt Maryellen and Uncle Dennis of Portsmouth. We laughed and cried reading the boyhood adventures of Tom Bailey during his Rivermouth years. He really wasn't such a very bad boy!
Heather Burke

October 18
SEEKING MARCH OF TIME
This is probably a strange question, but I'm an intern at the Northwest Film Center in Portland, Oregon and we're trying to find a copy of Louis de Rochemont's "March in Time".  When I Googled his name and that film title, it kept taking me to this web site.  Do you know where I could possibly find a copy of this film to purchase so we can add it to our personal library?  
Scott Braucht

EDITOR’S REPLY: March of Time is not a single film but a series of documentaries that ran in theaters every month from 1936 until 1951 when TV appeared.  Multiply 20 minutes x 12 months x 15 years and you'll have the approximate running time. The originals are still owned by Time magazine (or whomever owns Time these days) and a selection of the films were released on video about 20 years ago. I have about 40 VHS tapes each with 90 minutes worth of footage that I bought on eBay. They cover just about everything in the news from world news to domestic issues. Eventually someone will release this on DVD, but so far, no luck.  Louis de Rochemont was the producer before he went independent. He lived around here which is why you keep finding my local history web site. There is one book about the March of Time by Raymond Fielding. Your best bet is to buy the book on Amazon.com. You can get one today for $3 used.

December 15
WHALING LINKS
Greetings, I am the Web master for Whaling City Rowing, (whalingcityrowing.org) a non-profit recreational whaleboat rowing club in New Bedford, MA. I write seeking permission to link to your site, specifically the story about Palmer's Island Lighthouse in New Bedford Harbor. Many of our rowers row past it every day and one of our members saw your article about the lighthouse recently and asked if we could link to it.
Kevin Lee 

EDITOR'S REPLY: We're honored to be linked since our local whaling experiment failed while New Bedford succeeded.  

 October 12, 2006
JUST WATCHED NORTHWEST PASSAGE
Thanks for the great article on Robert Rogers.  We are homeschoolers, studying the Revolution.  We just watched the movie Northwest Passage, then googled Robert Rogers and found your article.  Real life is always more interesting than Hollywood!  Thank you again. - Jacquie & Family
Jacquie Mann

EDITOR REPLIES:  It seems that Celia saw insects more as pollinators of her beloved flowers and food for her beloved birds. Yes, you’ve found the one butterfly we know in One Woman’s Work (see here when it was in the display case at the Vaughan Museum on Star Island). We’ve seen the monarchs on Appledore in September and are just back from Monhegan Island where as many as a dozen butterflies were clustered on a single branch. You’ve raised a topic that we will have to duck, since it is worthy of a college dissertation, although the world may not be ready yet for “The Use of Butterfly Imagery in the Poems of Celia Thaxter”.  We’ll post your note and hope that anyone with a Celia entomology reference will pass it along.

October 10
MY WIFE DATED JOHN PAUL JONES
For your information, the picture of the actress with Robert Stack in the 1959 Film Theater Window Card is my wife, Erin O'Brien, and not Maisa Pavan, who incidentally also stared in this film. Your correction would be most appreciated. Thankfully yours
Kanan A. Awni

October 9
LIFE IN OGUNQUIT
I am writing a book of my memoirs. In the late forties and early fifties  I worked as a waiter at Barbara Dean's  on Shore Road in Ogunquit .  The north end of Marginal Way started at Barbara Dean's.  I hereby seek your permission to use the photo of the Marginal Way that appears on your web site.  I hope to get the book self-published in the early part of November.  I shall be eagerly waiting for your reply.
Claude Bonang

October 8
TO CELIA’S GARDEN
Is there really no way to get to Appledore Island anymore to see the Thaxter Garden?????
Jane Labanz

EDITOR’S REPLY:  Visiting Celia’s garden on Appledore is still possible within season and for a considerably fee. The info appears on the Shoals Marine Lab section of the Cornell web site.

October 7
POOR LUCY HALE
I'd heard for a while Lucy Hale dated John Wilkes Booth.  It seems a little strange he'd be having a relationship with someone whose father was a noted abolitionist. (I do believe you though and Booth had a real way with women).  What happened to her ultimately and did you see The Day Lincoln Was Shot.  I felt so so sorry for her in that movie.
Just curious,
Carole Taylor

EDITOR’S REPLY:  Legend says that Lucy was distraught over the death of Booth and had to be whisked off to Europe where, this time, her father had a notorious affair. She returned to nurse her father until his death and then married a notable Concord, NH publisher and local politician. She gave her father’s house for use as a museum and it is part of the Woodman Institute in Dover, NH today.

October 6
LESLEY SMITH AND SAMMY SNAIL
I am interested in having Leslie Smith come to our elementary school in Belmont, MA but would like to attend an upcoming program of Wizards and Knights to check it out. Would this be possible? And if so, will she be performing anywhere in MA in the near future?
Joanna Colton
School Counselor

EDITOR’S REPLY: Lesley’s new web site is in our DIRECTORY.

October 5
SEEKING CELIA ARCHIVES
In 2002, I found your site because my family came to the Shoal area in the 1600s and I also went to the Celia Thaxter site because a great aunt mentions her in a biography that she wrote.  I came back because, as a new genealogist, I had not noted all of the information that I should have to site the source.  How often do you update the site?  Can you tell me if I went onto your site on August 17, 2002, what the latest update might have been?  I realize that the question might be impossible to answer but I thought that I would try.  Thank you for any assistance that you can provide.
Howland Davis

EDITOR’S REPLY: We update the site daily, but Celia only gets a new article every few months. All major articles posted on the site since 1997 are still online and slow – oh, so slowly – we are migrating all those thousands of early articles into the new databased section and informing Google of the revised pages.

October 4
OLD IRONSIDES IN NOVA SCOTIA
I am trying to confirm that I am not crazy.  In the summer of either 1997 or 1998, I was in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and believe I toured Old Ironsides.  I have tried everything I know to confirm that she was the ship I toured.  I know this is not necessarily your field of expertise, but your sites have given more information than any other.  Can you help?
Harold Clark

EDITOR’S REPLY: I’m sorry to report that you are crazy. Old Ironsides hasn’t been up that way since the 1930s and has only been out of her berth for a short test run around the block, I believe. Lots of tall ships up that way. Could it have been the restored USS Constellation, although I’m not aware that it has moved from MD. Shouldn’t be too hard to find out from some tourist agency in Halifax. They keep better records up there than we  do.

October 3
TEDDY ROOSEVELT ALIVE IN ILLINOIS
Dear Seacoast New Hampshire Leadership -- My name is Joe Wiegand, and I am a Theodore Roosevelt reprisor.  As TR is so synonymous with the Treaty of Portsmouth and a vigorous U.S. Navy, I thought you might like to consider the fun we might have at one or more of your events.  My TR is a young and vigorous TR, with an emphasis on humor and entertainment.  Through research and cooperation with your centennial committee, we can create some wonderful first person insights from TR on the Treaty of Portsmouth, the Nobel Peace Prize and the United States Navy. You may see some clips at my web site. Bully for you!
Joe Wiegand, Fairdale, IL
OUTSIDE LINK web site

October 3
KUDOS
Hi Dennis,  Just a note to say thank you for your wonderful letter and keep up the good work!
Shirley Lakin

October 2
FROM THE ORIGINAL WASHINGTON IN ENGLAND
As a regular reader of your monthly notes, I was interested to see both Durham and Berwick appearing in your August issue. It just so happens that Durham and Berwick, from which yours take their names are on the itinerary of Heritage tours we will be holding in the UK next year
Washington D.C. has recently signed an historic Agreement of Friendship with the City of Sunderland, now home to the "Original" Washington, England. The Hiltons of Hylton Castle, then in the Palatinate of Durham, founded Hilton Point, now Dover in 1623, two years after the Pilgims landed at Plimoth, New England.
Best Regards,
Eric William Lamberton
OUTISDE LINK: Official web site

October 1
SEEKING KITTERY SHOPS
In our local paper, there was a write up in regards to the 1.5 km shopping of outlet stores in Kittery.  Is there a brochure or a list of stores.  We would like to plan a trip there.
Linda Pettersson in Canada

EDITOR’S REPLY:  The official Kittery Outlet Mall web site has a nice directory of all the stores along Route 1.
OUTISDE LINK: Official web site