Photo by Jacob L. Grant for the Caledonian Record.

The Town of Hardwick suffered another huge loss to fire this week. The Bemis Block on Main Street caught fire on Friday, November 25, 2005 leaving 14 people homeless and destroying four businesses. The three-story building was built in 1905 and damaged by a fire in 1923. It was repaired after that fire. The building is now owned by Northern Communities Management Corporation of St. Johnsbury and was slated for renovations in the summer of 2006.
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In January of 1992 a similar fire on Main Street, not far from the Bemis Block, left nine families homeless and destroyed several businesses in nearby buildings including Merlu's Restaurant, Cox Pharmacy, Jac Howard's real estate office and Hardwick Video. Conditions at both fires were similar with frigid temperatures and winds, making it difficult for the fire fighters to battle the blazes. The buildings were repaired or rebuilt following this fire.

Fortunately there were only minor injuries at either of these devastating fires.

An Update on Construction at Joe's Pond

Fred and I just came back from a walk along West Shore Road. The weather is mild and the roads are a bit muddy, but we wanted to see how the building projects are moving along on this side of the pond. We went first to the site of the old Clayton Smith cottage where Gregory and Laura Keenan are building a beautiful log home. The picture above is a view from the driveway. The next is of the side facing the lake.

We then went to see how Pat and Mo Gardner's new retaining wall looks from the water. It is a very nicely designed wall and will be beautiful when fully landscaped next summer.

Two more cottages have been leveled to make room for new construction. Both Lewis camps, at 300 and 304 Sandy Beach Road, are gone. Rachel Lewis, opposite Pearl's Island, has a nice new foundation awaiting placement of her new home; Sam and Judy Lewis, on the channel, are having preliminary groundwork done and will lay their foundation ready to begin building next year. Here are the shots I took on Saturday, November 12, 2005.
At left, Rachel Lewis's lot, at right, Sam and Judy Lewis's lot.

The cottage next to Homer and Elsie Fitts is gone, too. Eric and Susan (Fitts) Martin are going to build a new home on the site. We have been told this will be a post and beam home very similar to one built this summer on Dole Hill in Danville.

On West Shore Road Ken and Nancy Mason have a nice new garage. Ken says they'll appreciate being able to get their vehicles in out of the cold and snow this winter.

I'm sure there is other building going on around the pond. I'll try to fill you in on any new developments later.

Fred and I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.