Community Heart and Soul seeks to help people to shape the future of their communities by actively seeking the collective wisdom of all residents, improving local decision-making, creating a shared sense of belonging, and ultimately strengthening the social, cultural, and economic vibrancy of each place.

So reads the mission statement of the Community Heart and Soul network. In case you missed it, Lincolnville is now set to engage in their two-year project to help us identify what matters most to, well, most of us.

And the most important part of that is getting to know each other, the kinds of things we used to know about our neighbors.  Neighborhoods play a big part in the Community Heart and Soul process, so that got me thinking about Lincolnville’s neighborhoods. And of mine.

I grew up in a neighborhood, the kind with houses on both sides, and with an alley running behind the garages. Florence, a dressmaker, and her husband Eddie, a furrier, lived next door, and on the other side Judy, an older girl who was allowed to chew bubble gum. Next door to Judy was a two-flat; my friend Mike, my first playmate, lived there with his mother and grandmother.

We moved to a bigger house three blocks away when I was 12; I cried for days, to the bewilderment of my parents who thought I’d love the new house. Eventually, I guess I did, but 621 Park Drive still has a permanent place in my heart.

The Lincolnville neighborhood I’ve lived in for 52 years bears no resemblance to Park Drive. From my house I can only see trees, across the road, behind the house and on both sides. Now that the leaves have fallen, I occasionally catch a glimpse of the Olivers’ lights through the woods, over the brook on Ducktrap Road.

The houses on either side of me are well out of sight, one beyond Sleepy Hollow, the other up the road and around the bend. Both are currently uninhabited. One, where Richard Glock lived and died, is maintained and visited by his offspring. The other, once home to Ben and Florence Mikutajcis, has been empty for years, apparently contaminated with mold. No one will touch it.

So how is this a neighborhood? Several years ago, Will Brown (an out-of-sight neighbor up the road from me) declared us the Frohock neighborhood. Based on the brook of that name, which flows down off the mountains to the Beach, our neighborhood can be defined as the houses that border Frohock Brook – Ducktrap Road and Beach Road from Stevens Corner (the Bald Rock trailhead) to Atlantic Highway.

The folks who live closer to the Beach might consider themselves in the Beach neighborhood, while the last few houses on Ducktrap Road are surely part of Ducktrap Village.

Some neighborhoods encircle a pond, and at least three – Coleman, Pitcher and Megunticook – already hold regular meetings of their associations. Do they constitute a neighborhood?

The Center is a distinct neighborhood, as is the Beach, at least from Dot’s to Bayshore church; both are areas with denser housing. Dead end Masalin Road, outlier High Street, along with intentional developments such as Harbor Pointe, Crowley-True Road, Heather Hill, and Old Stone Drive are others.

It's challenging to pull together folks on the rural roads, to see themselves as, indeed a neighborhood. Much of Beach Road may center around Western Auto; North Lincolnville on Belfast Road from Slab City to the Northport line is another. Youngtown Road, traditionally home to the Youngs, Hardys and their various relatives, is now more diverse, but basically a one-road neighborhood.

There are four phases to the Heart and Soul process. The first is Imagine who we are. Where do we live? Where do we work?

Where do we play? We may be surprised to learn how many of us work from home, how many of us are retired, how many have children, how many live alone.

Next is Connect. Here’s where neighborhoods come in. We can hold potluck gatherings, inviting everyone in our identified neighborhood to gather for a meal, ideally next summer. Or hold it at one of our public spaces like the Community Building, the Boat Club, the Historical Society, or the Grange.

Maybe yours is already doing this. Youngtown Road folks got together not long ago, inviting every single household to an outdoor barbecue. Jane Liedtke did potlucks every summer month for years at her Bayleaf Motel, inviting neighbors on a Monday evening.

Susan Silverio, chair of the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee, sees Community Heart and Soul as a way to create a vision for our future shared by all. When her committee got to work to update the old Comprehensive Plan, they realized they needed help. She started by checking out neighboring towns.

Belfast had hired a consultant to work on their plan, and so had Camden, although they already have a development director on staff. These consultants can cost up to $80,000. Private Camden consultant Jane LaFleur strongly recommended Heart and Soul which she sees as highly effective and more directly related to what the people of a town want.

The project has a nation-wide reach. Maine towns that are doing, or have done, the Heart and Soul project include Bethel, Biddeford, Bridgton, Bucksport, Chelsea, Damariscotta, Dexter, Gardiner, Greenwood, Hallowell, Newry, Rockland, and Woodstock. Read their experiences here.

Community Heart and Soul gives a $10,000 matching grant to towns that make a successful application, which the Comp Plan Review committee did. The Budget Committee approved the town’s share last January, and the town voted for it in June. The $10,000 check arrived recently at the Town Office to match the town’s share.

So how is this $20,000 spent? For the next two years the process will be facilitated by a coach, Cat Ingraham, a Maine native – she’s a farmer in Aroostook County – who has already traveled to Lincolnville seven times in the past year (at the expense of the Heart and Soul Project, not the town) to work with our local Heart and Soul committee: Cindy and Jim Dunham, Mike Ray, Lynn Travis, and Bob Olson.

As coach, Cat will facilitate every phase of the project, continuing to work with our committee. Lincolnville’s share of Ingraham’s salary will be $6,000 with the balance of the money to cover other expenses that may occur – mailings, food, rent for a gathering, etc.

The next two phases, yet to be enacted, are Planning and Implementing, where ideas that emerge from our collective gatherings are brought out. What would make our town work better for most of us? What do we need? How can we make it happen?

After years of meeting up via Zoom or Facebook or texting, seeing one another face to face is a treat; we crave real people talking to one another. Telling each other our stories, where we came from or how we grew up here, what we love about our town and what we’d like to see happen. “Creating a shared sense of belonging, and ultimately strengthening the social, cultural, and economic vibrancy of each place” sounds wonderful.

Carols in the Round

Finally, after a two-year hiatus, the Mount View High School Chamber Singers return to Lincolnville for their Carols in the Round program at United Christian Church, Sunday, December 17 at 3 p.m. The old meeting house with its double aisles and balcony is the perfect venue for the singers, as they rotate around the sanctuary, candlelit as dusk falls.

Looking for a Board Member

Stewardship Education Alliance, S.E.A., is a non-profit that serves schools in Appleton, Camden, Hope, Lincolnville and Rockport, and their communities. Their mission is “to increase community awareness of ways to be better stewards of our local watersheds.” The Board of S.E.A. is looking for someone to represent Lincolnville, and be the Board Liaison to Lincolnville Central School, Hope Elementary School and Sweetland School. The S.E.A. Board meets once a month, and there are many ways in which you can contribute, depending on your interests and experience. We are also looking for volunteers to help with specific tasks like bookkeeping, coordinating volunteers, and helping organize events. Contact Paul Russo if you’re interested.

Condolences

Ernie Littlefield, longtime Lincolnville resident, passed away last week. Ernie was a selectman here for many years, and if you’ve ever visited the Town Office you’ve probably seen the beautiful, panoramic photoof the Ducktrap bridge hanging in the foyer which he took.