Maine Memory Network

"Mama sings 'get your hands up'": Maria's Diary June 2020
by Maria

Maria, 7 years old, records impressions of staying with her grandparents in Somesville in June 2020.

Monument Square 1967
by C. Michael Lewis

The background story and research behind a commissioned painting of Monument Square.

Apple Time - a visit to the ancestral farm
by Randy Randall

Memories from childhood of visiting the family homestead in Limington during apple picking time.

Learning to fly and instructing cadets at West Point during WWII
by Vera Cleaves

West Point during World War II

John Coyne from Waterville Enlists as a Railroad Man in WWI
by Mary D. Coyne

Description of conditions railroad men endured and family background on John Coyne.

Rachel Tourigny: Richness of growing up in a big, "poor" family
by Biddeford Cultural & Heritage Center

A most vivid and heartwarming account of life during a simpler time

Harold's Garage, Rome Hollow, Maine
by Mimi C

Story about Harold Hawes, owner of Harold's garage and self-styled auctioneer in Rome Hollow, Maine

Hooch Mum and my Vietnam service
by Jim Barrows

A poem about being a medic, saving Vietnamese people and babies. Sometimes we trusted too much.

History of Forest Gardens
by Gary Libby

This is a history of one of Portland's oldest local bars

The Village Cafe - A Place We Called Home
by Michael Fixaris

The Village Cafe was more than a restaurant. It was an extension of our homes and our families.

An enjoyable conference, Portland 2021
by John C. Decker, Danville, Pennsylvania

Some snippets from a 4-day conference by transportation historians in Portland, September 7-11, 2021

The only letter to survive World War II
by Cyrene Slegona

Only one of many letters my father sent to his wife remained after he came home from World War II.

Growing up DownEast
by Darrin MC Mclellan

Stories of growing up Downeast

The Wall
by Michael Uhl

What it means to have beaten the odds

Langdon Burton and the Cold, Wet Tourists
by Phil Tedrick

A father and son have their vacation experience totally changed by an encounter with a fisherman

My father, Earle Ahlquist, served during World War II
by Earlene Chadbourne

Earle Ahlquist used his Maine common sense during his Marine service and to survive Iwo Jima

A Maine Family's story of being Prisoners of War in Manila
by Nicki Griffin

As a child, born after the war, I would hear these stories - glad they were finally written down