Chimney Farm Nobleboro, Maine

My interest in the Chimney Farm property is on behalf of my father, Elbert D. Hayford, Jr (lt col USAF ret). My dad is 92 years old and is afflicted with Alzheimers/dementia but his long term memory is good. He lives in the past and vividly remembers a high school sweetheart that worked for Henry Beston and Elizabeth Coatsworth as a housekeeper in about 1939/40. My dad graduated in 1938 from Gardiner High School and subsequently went to diesel engineering school in Boston after graduating from high school. His memories are of picking up his girlfriend (Mildred Washburn) for a weekend off and of how beautiful the grounds at Chimney Farm were. Mildred spoke often and fondly of Henry and Elizabeth. I took my dad to see the property a week ago (November of 2013). A nice road trip indeed!

We drove directly past the Chimney Farm without seeing it or the plaque on the corner of the barn. The neighbors at the very end of East Neck road were both outside and they were ver friendly and informative. We learned much about the history of their own farm. I will like to return and visit again. We spent a very satisfactory afternoon in July, 2013. We were invited by the homeowner of Chimney Farm to walk down the pasture toward to Henry Beston's writers shack where he got alone to write. The red farmhouse near the road was a delightful building especially for readers of The Northern Farm, and Elizabeth Coatsworth's Maine Memories. It is important to remember to respect the privacy of the home owners, well know owners of the Gulf of Maine Bookstore in Brunswick.