Epilogue
Camden Corners Chronicle, January 3, 1973.
Renovations on the old
Merryweather Building begin today. Local gals, Tracy Robinson and
Holly Mackenzie are quite the entrepreneurs these days. “That old
building has been in existence here in Camden Corners for close to
200 years. Holly and I couldn't bear to have it torn down and
replaced with a Motel 7. We know it will require a lot of work but
we hope to bring it back to its original splendor. Camden Corners
has become a very popular vacation spot all year round. Folks from
all over the area come to Pine Hills for skiing in the winter. The
vineyards rival California for their wine products. Autumn brings
out the leaf peepers and of course in the summer we have the finest
swimming and water sports around. Holly and I have grand plans for
The Merryweather. We hope to be up and running by the first day of
summer, June 21st.”
Good luck and happy sanding, ladies.
“Tracy, we made the morning newspaper. I get the
feeling Steve Burke has little faith in our ability to pull off The
Merryweather transformation.”
“Steve Burke is not happy because you turned down his
marriage proposal to concentrate on our project. I think he'd like
to see the whole building collapse and the soon the better.”
“I don't know why every Burke out there thinks of
nothing but adding to the population. Aren't there enough Burkes and
Mackenzies in this little town already? I do love Steve, but this
renovation is important to me and if he can't understand that, I
don't see any future for us.”
“Don't be so hasty Holly. Steve is looking out for
both our interests. He is afraid we have bitten off more than we can
chew. Who knows, maybe he's right. Some of the top renovation
experts told us we were taking a foolish chance.”
“Do you want to back out, Tracy, we have about five
minutes until we sign the papers?”
“Not on your life.”
Two hours later the
papers were signed. Tracy Robinson and Holly Mackenzie and the
Camden Corners Savings and Loan were the proud owners of what would
be known as The
Merryweather.
Cyrus Merryweather built the house for his bride. He
wanted the largest home at the highest point in Camden Corners. Cyrus
and his wife had two children. Millicent and Neville. Millicent
loved the old house and even though her first husband tried to
persuade her to leave the albatross she would not have any part of
it. After Mr. Stout's death, the money finally did run out and she
was forced to turn the mansion into an antique store and boarding
house. There she lived the remainder of her days surrounded by the
love of friends and family. Neville agreed to a marriage his father
arranged and it wasn't until years later, discovered his lost love,
Helene and the son he never knew he had.
The house changed hands several times. The original
antique shop expanded on its original site and there was no reason to
continue operating out of the Merryweather mansion. The house was in
disrepair at the present time but was structurally sound.
“Here we are, Holly. It's all ours. Where do we
start?”
“Let's check out the attic. I was thinking we could
use that top floor for a spa and gym. I remember there were several
rooms adjacent to the center room on that floor.”
“Can you believe the shape of this old elevator? I
don't think I trust it. That is one thing we will definitely be
replacing. Hope the stairs are in better shape.”
The girls entered the third floor. It was dark and the
floor creaked. “I don't see any light switches Tracy, do you
suppose they used oil lamps up here?” Holly turned her flashlight
to the highest beam.
“Look at all this stuff. I don't think any of it has
ever been used. We'll get some of the boys from the high school to
help us move it all out of here.”
“Come look at this Tracy. It's an old trunk. It
looks like it has been shoved back in this corner. I can't budge it.
Do we dare look inside? Maybe there is a dead body in there.”
Holly laughed.
“Just what we need. Let's both try to pull it. It's
been wedged tightly back here.”
“Anybody home? What are you girls doing up here?
It's spooky.” said Heather Crowley.
“Hi Heather, come help us pull this old trunk out.”
“What's in there, a dead body?”
“You girls are hilarious. One – two - three - pull.
I think it's loosening up. It must be stuck on the eaves. What we
need is a crowbar.”
“Ask and ye shall receive.”
“Hey Steve, what are you doing here? I thought you
weren't speaking to me.”
“I'm not, I'm speaking to Tracy and Heather. You said
you needed a crowbar. I just happened to have one.”
“How did you know?”
“I just figured there were probably a bunch of crates
up here and knowing how nosy you two are, I figured this would come
in handy.”
“Be careful. Don't break the trunk. It may be
valuable.”
“Old is not necessarily valuable as I have been
telling you, Holly.”
“I thought you weren't speaking to me.”
“I'm not. That is really stuck in there. Let me get
it at another angle. I think it's coming out now although it might
take part of the roof with it.”
“You'd love that wouldn't you?”
“Will you two stop your bickering. Let's see what we
have here.”
Steve slowly opened the trunk and let out a scream. He
slammed the lid down. “It's a bloody hand.” He hid his own hand
in the sleeve of his jacket.
“Steve, knock it off. Open the trunk.”
“Sorry, just a bunch of books and junk.”
“What kind of newspaper man are you? These are
journals. Look at this one, it's dated 1903 and it has Nettie
Crowley's name on it. Heather, wasn't she your great great
grandmother?”
“Great great great
grandmother. She was pretty old when she adopted my great great
grandmother. My sister, Annette was named after her. Look she has
filled in every page. Listen to this: I
wonder if I'm being a foolish old woman. Here I am on the train
headed for a town I've never even visited before.
This is great.” Heather leafed through page after page. She talks
about meeting Oscar. Oh my goodness. She fell for him the minute
she saw him. I have to show this to my mother. Nettie and Oscar
adopted my great great grandmother and her twin sister, Aunt Hattie.
“There's one written by Rosa Marino. This one
belonged to Millie Harvey, that was my aunt's second husband's name.
Another by Caroline Bentley. Oh my goodness. These are all dated
1903 through 1925. There are dozens of them in here. We are going
to have to get in touch with every one of their descendants. We'll
have a reading party.”
Tracy's excitement was catching. Even Steve was looking
through the books.
“I knew I'd find at least one Burke in here and there
are three. I knew my great great grandfather Randy was involved in
the first printing of the newspaper. Now I will be able to read all
about it.
“Look at this, on
the bottom all wrapped in brown paper. They are photographs. They
were taken by Tony Marino. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his
journalistic work in the 2nd
World War. These are photos of the people of Camden Corners. They
are marked on the back. Nettie and Oscar Crowley. What a handsome
couple they were. You can just see the twinkle in his eye. The
photos are priceless. We should get everything downstairs. They are
too fragile to be rummaging through them in the shadows,” said
Tracy.
They all helped to carry the heavy trunk down the narrow
staircase. The girls had planned to spend the day cleaning and
getting rid of junk in the building but finding the trunk had made
them change their plans.
“Lets get on the phone and call everyone who has an
ancestor who we can find a journal for. We'll order a pizza and make
a party of it.”
They all got on the phone immediately. Everyone was
anxious to see what the girls had found and changed their plans if
they had any. At 5:00 folks began arriving on their way home from
work. The older folks joined them.
“I would love to have copies of these photographs to
hang in the vestibule,” said Holly. “We could also have display
cases with the journals opened up to specific dates.”
“I'm sure we all have a box or two of mementos from
that era in our attics. Train tickets, programs from a dance, things
like that. Wouldn't that be nice in those cases?”
Everyone found a journal that had been written by their
own family member. You could hear a pin drop in the old Merryweather
building as the reading began.
