Sunday, October 09, 2016

I came over Cabot Plain from Cabot Village a few minutes ago.  There is a lot of activity on Cabot Plains Road - cars stopped by the cemetery and people roaming in the field near the covered bridge.  Most of the cars had out-of-state plates, but some were Vermonters.  

Down at Burtt's Apple Orchard, there were dozens of cars and lots of people milling about.   They have more than apples for sale - I saw lots of pumpkins, squash and corn.  I didn't take many pictures because there was no sun and too much traffic.  I did get this one as I approached the flat by Cabot Plains School.  The clouds were what caught my attention.  For those of you who may be new to the blog, the farm in the picture is where I was born and brought up.  Of course the whole area has changed considerably over the years, but in some ways not at all.  There are bushes growing along both sides of the "flat" now so it's beginning to look like it did when I was walking back and forth to school.  I think sometime in the 1940's the town built up the road so it wouldn't be so muddy, and the trees and bushes on both sides were completely gone for decades.  Now they are growing back.  I haven't looked closely to see if there are hazel nut, choke cherry and apple trees like we used to have - along with various scrub brush, of course.  There were also remnants of a stone wall on the south side of the road, as I remember.  

The Maynard farm is completely gone; the house I lived in just below the farm has been completely rehabbed and looks only slightly like it did back in my day.  The school is a summer home, and although the fields have been mowed, there is no sign of farming going on.  Not like the old days.  

It's still a
pretty spot, and I can see why my great grandfather put down roots there, building a house on one side of the road and a barn on the other.  My grandfather replaced the original barn with a bigger one in 1921. That barn withstood the 1938 hurricane except that the hi-drive blew over, and then it caught fire in the summer of 1969 and burned to the ground.  My uncle, Bill Bolton, was farming there then, and he built the present barns and twin silos.  The farm passed from him briefly to his son, Bill, and then was sold to Joe Sousa.  Joe died a few years ago, and that was the end of farming on a regular basis.  Now the property is rented from time to time, but not farmed in the usual way.  Still, it's a great spot, Cabot Plain.

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