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February 1998
In 1908, Alfred Anthony came to Lewiston to be a professor at Bates College. He enjoyed taking his exercise on horseback, but wanted to avoid the paved and busy city streets. Searching for new scenes and soft footing, he turned his horse’s head out East Avenue to Montello Street. He carefully avoided planted fields and kept to edges so as not to offend any landowner by doing damage.
One Sunday morning, he took his horse through a field that had been recently hayed, thinking he would be doing no harm to crop or land. A voice called out gruffly, telling him to “get off that land!” Dr. Anthony turned to see who was speaking, and recognized the man as the owner of the land where he was riding. The landowner realized who the rider was and apologized for calling out that way. “Oh, I don’t mind you, Dr. Anthony. But other people cross the lot and are making it a regular highway.” They exchanged pleasant words and parted, but Dr. Anthony thought about the right of this man to protect his land. Other landowners might also object to his riding on their land, even when he did no damage.
Dr. Anthony decided to buy some property on which to ride, where he would not offend anyone. He bought about forty acres around Highland Spring on Thorne Mountain, as a sort of private park. When he moved to New York in 1918, he determined to give the land to the newly created Stanton Bird Club, as the beginning of a bird sanctuary. Knowing the aims of the Bird Club, he knew that the property would be open to the general public for education and the enjoyment of nature. It was his intention that other people could, as was his own wish, enjoy a piece of land “absolutely free from objections and the perils of trespass.”
Over the years, additional gifts of land brought the property to 230 acres. When you speak about the Sanctuary to folks in the Lewiston-Auburn community, there are many with memories of outings there, as adults or as children with their parents. From the Stanton Bird Club’s beginning in 1919 through the early sixties, its leadership in the community and its work at the Club’s Sanctuaries, including Thorncrag, were truly democratic and inspiring, involving youth and adults from the entire community. It has been an endeavor that makes you proud of the human spirit. Thorncrag gave all that magnificent energy a focus. In many ways, it was a love affair with Thorncrag, which cast it spell on all those who set foot there.
In 1985, after a period of 20 years during which nature pursuits declined in popularity nationally as well as locally, the Board of Directors of the Stanton Bird Club decided to “revitalize” the Sanctuary. Litter was the biggest problem, and there was a lack of positive and constructive uses. Neither the wildlife nor the forest felt the neglect, but the community had lost wonderful relationships, one with another while stewarding the Sanctuary, and with the Thorncrag forest itself.
The Board asked Susan Hayward, a long-time Club member and naturalist, to become the “Steward” of Thorncrag, and to head up the revitalization. Susan, in researching the history of the Sanctuary, talked with Charles Eastman, an Extension agent here who had been deeply involved in improvements and educational projects at Thorncrag. Hoping to continue the rich relationship with Extension, she called our office and I found myself in Susan’s kitchen. We talked about possibilities for rediscovering the light that Thorncrag had been in the community, and how to continue the work of people impassioned with the love of nature and the love of people. Over time, people from all around the cities joined with us. It has been my reward to become part of the Thorncrag story.
I have my own precious Thorncrag memories. One winter, the resident barred owl swooped close above my head. One summer, I saw the vibrant colour of a scarlet tanager in the tree canopy. Nesting broad-winged hawks gave a feeling of domesticity at the intersection of the main trails. At the moist edge of a rock ledge one summer we found the saprophyte known as “dead men’s fingers.” In early spring, delicate yellow clintonia wildflowers, known as blue-bead for the color of the fruits, sprinkle the forest floor. Grand old trees, some still with the nameplates of long-gone Club members who had “adopted” them, serve as landmarks for finding your way around the paths. The autumn-yellow beech grove radiates sunlight even on a cloudy day. The stand of ancient hemlock shades the steep slope littered with huge stones, glacial erratics left in the last Ice Age. Once we found a deer yard where the impressions of the deer’s bodies were still visible in the deep snow. Thorncrag reveals its treasures at every season. I am not surprised at the love and energy it has inspired in so many people over so many years.
Anyone can walk in the Sanctuary, which now includes almost 310 acres, due to the recent purchase by the Bird Club of the adjacent old farm at the end of East Avenue. The Club is working on a trail map that includes the new property. However, after the damage caused by the “Ice Storm of 1998,” the public is asked to wait until spring to learn which trails are safe to use.
The Sanctuary is an important part of community forest of Lewiston and Auburn. It’s story weaves together human stories with the natural stories of trees, soil, water and wildlife. To begin your own relationship with the Sanctuary, join Susan Hayward for a “Warm Snow” walk on Saturday, February 28, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. The group will meet at 9:30 at the Main Gate, where Highland Spring Road meets Montello. For more information, call Susan Hayward at 782-5238.
By Nancy Coverstone (ncstone@umext.maine.edu), University of Maine Extension Educator in Androscoggin and Sagadahoc Counties
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