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Your Community Newspaper Serving: ARUNDEL, BERWICK, CAPE NEDDICK, ELIOT, KENNEBUNK, KENNEBUNKPORT, KITTERY, KITTERY POINT, LEBANON, MOODY, NO. BERWICK, OGUNQUIT, SO. BERWICK, WELLS, YORK & YORK HARBOR
Friday, October 31, 2014
Volume 10 • Issue No. 44
Historian and Author Dr. Emerson Baker to Speak ELIOT Dr. Emerson Baker will be the guest speaker at the November 3 meeting of the Eliot Historical Society. He will talk about two of his most recent books: “The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft & Conflict in Early New England,� and “A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience.� “The Devil of Great Island� chronicles the events in the small New England settlement of Great Island (Newcastle, NH). In 1682, ten years before the infamous Salem witch trials, the town was plagued by mysterious events: strange, demonic noises; unexplainable movement of objects; and hundreds of stones that rained upon a local tavern and appeared at random inside its walls. Town residents blamed
what they called “Lithobolia� or “the stone-throwing devil.� Mr. Baker explores about how witchcraft hysteria overtook one town and spawned copycat incidents elsewhere in New England, prefiguring the horrors of Salem.
In the process, he illuminates a cross-section of colonial society and overturns many popular assumptions about witchcraft in the seventeenth century. “In A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and
the American Experience� Dr. Baker demonstrates how Salem, Massachusetts was “a perfect storm�: a unique convergence of conditions and events that produced something extraordinary throughout New England in 1692 and the following years, and which has haunted us ever since. Salem in 1692 was a critical moment for the fading Puritan government of Massachusetts Bay, whose attempts to suppress the story of the trials and erase them from memory only fueled the popular imagination. The trials marked a turning point in colonial history from Puritan communalism to Yankee independence, from faith in collective conscience to skepticism toward moral governance. Emerson “Tad� Baker is a professor of History at Salem
State University. He is the awardwinning author of numerous works on the history and archaeology of early New England, including “The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft and Conflict in Early New England.� Baker, a resident of York, was an oncamera expert for the PBS-TV series Colonial House, and has also consulted for The American Experience and the History Channel. His new book, “A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience,� is a part of Oxford University Press’s Pivotal Moments in American History series. Meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the John F. Hill Grange Hall, State Road. Refreshments will be served. Free. Call 207-7520174 for more information/directions.
Discover Your Civil War Ancestors: A Search Event YORK Have you ever wondered, “Where was great gramps in the Civil War?� On Thursday, Nov. 6, from 1 to 5 p.m. In collaboration with
Index
Page
Arts & Entertainment 18 Business & Finance 16-17 Calendar of Events 14-15 Classifieds 34-35 Computer Lady 27 Health & Fitness 19-21 Home & Business 31-33 Library News 12-13 Obituaries 30 Pets 28 Puzzles 27 Sports 31, 36 Real Estate 28-29 Where To Dine 22-26
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the Museums of Old York, York Public Library will host Civil War Ancestor Search with researcher Clay Feeter of York, who will help answer your ancestry questions about this time in history. An estimated 100 million Americans are descendants of Civil War soldiers. Using an extensive Union and Confederate Army database, Feeter, who has performed more than 2,000 Civil War ancestor searches over the years, brings your soldier-ancestor’s story to life.
Feeter says “In most cases we can learn what rank an ancestor held, which battles he was in, whether he was wounded or captured and what town and state he lived in at the time he enlisted. Occasionally we also find his wife’s name and other rich details to broaden your family’s story.� Many Americans don’t know they had ancestors who served in the Civil War. Feeter says, “Even those who know their ancestors were soldiers don’t often know See ANCESTORS page 4...
Ogunquit Ranked No. 2 Favorite Town in the USA OGUNQUIT Beaufort, North Carolina is ranked the Top Town Overall, and Ogunquit, Maine and Lewisburg, West Virginia round out the top three, respectively, on the Travel + Leisure America’s Favorite Towns 2014 list based on data collected from the Travel + Leisure America’s Favorite Places survey. Travel + Leisure asked people to rate towns across the U.S. in several categories, including friendly
locals, barbecue, art scene, affordability, and romance. This list reveals the towns with populations within 50,000 that received the overall highest rankings. To view the complete list, visit www.travelandleisure.com. Travel + Leisure Top 25 America’s Favorite Towns Overall 2014: 1. Beaufort, North Carolina 2. Ogunquit, Maine 3. Lewisburg, West Virginia 4. Aspen, Colorado
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Clay Feeter, ancestry researcher will conduct searches at the library in York.
Health & Fitness A section concerning your health... INSIDE:
PG 19-21
5. Santa Rosa Beach, Florida 6. Charlottesville, Virginia 7. Breckenridge, Colorado 8. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 9. Paso Robles, California 10. Tybee Island, Georgia 11. Bayfield, Wisconsin 12. Traverse City, Michigan 13. Portsmouth, N.H. 14. Pawleys Island, S.C. 15. Glenwood Springs, Colorado 16. Lake Placid, New York 17. San Luis Obispo, California
Also check out our section on
BUSINESS & FINANCE PG 16-17
18. Bar Harbor, Maine 19. Gulf Shores, Alabama 20. Sonoma, California 21. Hood River, Oregon 22. Estes Park, Colorado 23. Park City, Utah 24. La Jolla, California 25. St. Augustine, Florida Disagree with these results? Make your opinion heard by voting in the Travel + Leisure America’s Favorite Places See TOP page 6...
Daylight Savings Ends Fall back, spring ahead! Daylight Savings Time ends Sunday, Nov. 2 at 2 a.m. At that time, clocks should be set back 1 hour.