Map no.12 - Chester, Maine

The last 2013 journal quilt for Contemporary Quilt. These have had the theme of Maps and the size was 8"x12" landscape format. And it was finished around 8pm last night. So it wasn't even the last minute!

This was the hardest map because it is where my family live. But because I thought about it so long, it came together quickly. This map is not to scale and probably not quite accurate either. I did use proper maps to get the general gist of things, but it is more about memory than accuracy.

Part of the reason why it was hard to make this was because the life was hard. Coming to this place in Maine with no buildings, no running water, no electricity - 8 people in a trailer and all sorts of animals in a $9 barn we built with scraps of things from the paper mill. All because Dad wanted us to learn responsibility.

Okay, that bit worked! But no one else we knew lived that way. Milking 2 cows by hand before school every morning and then going up with a lantern to milk them again at night. Helping with haying on other farms so we could have some for ours...even though the temperature was over 100°F. Carrying numerous 5 gallon buckets of water to the cows in winter because they needed a drink even when the temperature was around -40°F!
And no female I have ever known, besides my sister with me, earned college money by cutting wood and selling it to the paper mill or to people who wanted wood for their wood stoves.

However, it has come full circle this year as A Certain Young Man is living there now - he wanted to! (I still don't get that part.) And yes, learning responsibility...because my dad can no longer do the hard work it takes to live there. So A Certain Young Man has been cutting wood, fixing holes in the roof, and shovelling snow and ice...and so on. And because he chose to, it is still an adventure to him and he is contemplating having them get some animals again!

The Penobscot River runs through this map mainly representing North Chester, with some of North Lincoln and Winn on the other side of the river where Route 2 or the 'Military Road' travels north accompanied by the railway track.

Our Land is on the far right (detail above) and goes right down to the river. The land below the road is pretty swampy though.

The bridge to cross the river is on the far left of the map. Various neighbour's homes are marked. Two different saw mills on the river side of the road and a large patch of veg farm marks the place approx. 1 mile down the road where I had my first 'real' job working for our friend's uncle picking fruit and veg. Other plots of land were also theirs and on all of these they also grew potatoes. (Maine is known for being potato country.)

This post is now linked to Off the Wall Fridays at Nina-Marie's.
If you have come from there, you can also see another finish from this week.