Forever

When Ken from the Naples Historical Society approached me about building a stone wall to celebrate the legacy of Edes Falls, my first questions were: Where is Edes Falls? Followed closely by, Why are we celebrating it?

I soon learned that a dam had been built there on the Crooked River in the 1820s. A few years ago, after falling into disrepair and blocking salmon from reaching Sebago Lake, it was removed. And the locals had feelings about it.

One of Ken’s neighbors told him, “I’ll never forgive you for removing my dam.” Another angrily exclaimed, “That dam has been there forever!”

Two hundred years is hardly eternity. But I get the sentiment.

When I was a kid, I used to love driving by those old decaying wooden ships rotting beside the Wiscasset Bridge. Growing up in Boothbay, that was about the only thing I liked about Wiscasset. And I’m glad they didn’t tear down the Carleton Bridge in Bath when they built the new one. That’s the bridge we took to get to my grandparents. We grow attached to the things that surround us. We develop a personal history with them. Our lifetimes do feel like forever.

When the Edes Falls dam was torn down, the town salvaged the granite. We built the wall from those same granite blocks, their old drill marks and stone-dog notches still visible after two hundred years.

For those who remember the dam, I hope the wall honors their connection to it. But what about those too young or too new to Naples to remember it? For them, this wall, so new and unfamiliar, will someday feel like it’s always been there.