Haddencroft

Much of this story will, for the most part, reflect the truth. To protect the identities of the poor souls I write about, some of the names and facts are changed and perhaps even exaggerated a little. As usual, however, truth can be far stranger than fiction and often more interesting.

Haddencroft, Part One

Tanglewood Forest, located in Lincolnville Maine is an idyllic spot. Home to the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) after world war two, then later the 4H camps in the 50’s and 60’s it has cathedral forests and the Ducktrap River Running though it. Sprinkled with log cabin bunkhouses, a water tower, ball fields, a mess hall, several utility buildings and a myriad of woods roads and trails, this spot is a true woodland paradise. Alewives and trout run in the rapids of the Ducktrap, eagles nest in its high trees and it boasts the only remaining natural Atlantic salmon fishery in the world. Today, most of its shores and watershed are protected lands with some of the most beautiful forest in Maine. I’m proud to say, much of my life has had some connection to it.

As a young man, in the late 1940’s my father worked that forest as part of his job with Camden Hills State Park. This was the start of his long career as a ranger for the parks in Maine. As a 16 yr old, I helped cut many of the hiking trails still in use there today. My sisters and cousins attended 4H camp there and later on as a college student, I would work there as a camp counselor for Haddencroft School as a wilderness instructor to handicapped kids with my wife to be.

The rest of this story will focus on this experience but my connection doesn’t stop there. In the last 15 years as the local land trust obtained easements to the lands surrounding the Ducktrap River Watershed, I was hired to appraise the land that would eventually be protected by forever wild easements.

For all these reasons, it is no wonder; I feel a real connection to Tanglewood.