Harold Alley 1941 yearbook Harold Alley was the son of Eldad and Edith Alley who lived on Elm Street in Calais. Eldad is described in the 1935 Calais directory as a fish dealer. Born in 1923, Harold attended Calais Academy … Continue reading
The early 1920s aren’t remembered for many momentous historical events in the United States other than perhaps the sudden death of President Harding in 1923. The “Roaring Twenties” and the Depression came later in the decade. However, those early years … Continue reading
In the spring of 1970, Calais found itself on the front lines of the political battle over the war in Vietnam and Fidel Castro’s Cuba. If Senator John Eastland of Mississippi and chair of the Senate “Internal Security Committee” were … Continue reading
The Red Beach community of 1901 was not the sort of small New England village likely to find its way into the national headlines, and it was even more unlikely the very ordinary Red Beach family of James and Margaret … Continue reading
1903 was a relatively peaceful year. There were no major military conflicts and only a few political dust-ups, primarily those involving the European powers colonial land grabs, especially in Africa. Joseph Conrad, in his classic Heart of Darkness put it … Continue reading
There were a couple of significant international events in 1902 which had a local connection—the purchase of the rights to the Panama Canal project by the United States from the French and the end of the Boer War in South … Continue reading
The Gravestone above reads: Leonard T.Son of Leonard & Mary E. FarrisDied Aug. 28 1898AE 7 Mos & 18 Dys The grave pictured above is in the Calais Cemetery, between the Beckett lot which is on the main avenue on … Continue reading
“Under the sod and the dew, Waiting the judgment day;Under the blossoms the Blue;Under the garlands the Gray.” Memorial Day originated after the Civil War to honor the dead of both the North and the South by decorating the graves … Continue reading
This engraving depicts a nighttime scene in a nineteenth century smuggler’s headquarters near Calais. Based on a sketch by J. Becker, the engraving appeared in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper (New York City) in 1873. “SMUGGLING NEAR CALAIS, 1873! Nineteenth century … Continue reading
Boston Globe Headline March 19, 1903 When the bleeding, battered, bruised, badly perforated and barely alive body of Henry McElroy was found by the railroad tracks in Dedham Massachusetts in March 1903, it caused quite a stir in the Boston … Continue reading