Spooky Maine Halloween

There are plenty of places in age-old Maine to find a spooky inspiration for Hallowen displays. One of my favorites is in old church cemeteries. The graves nearest the churches are usually the oldest. Above: The Spurwink Church in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Erected in 1802 this style of architecture is a blend of Federal, Gothic and Greek Revival that was frequently used in the early 19th century.

The church sits on a hill above the Spurwink River, upriver from where the first settlers built their homes. The church's historic character is enhanced by the beauty of the salt marshes it overlooks. Had I been at home with my iMac I would have airbrushed out the power lines, which kind of distract from its hot set ready look. Unfortunately I do not have that capacity on my laptop.

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Above: One of the oldest gravestones I found in the Spurwink Graveyard has a great inscription. While badly eroded I believe it reads:

Frederic W. Jordan, died Apr. 1, 1859,

Æ. 38 yrs. 8 mos.

"Happy soul, thy days are ended,

Thy term of probation is run,

Thy footsteps are upon the celestial shore,

And the race of immortals begun.

The inscription is a compilation of 17th century inspirational verses, hymns and poems. It will make a great addition to my 21st-century Halloween display when I recreate it.

The Annie C. Maguire memorial is on the grounds of the Portland Head Lighthouse. Annie C. Maguire was a British three-masted barque, sailing from Buenos Aires, on December 24, 1886, when she struck the ledge at Portland Head Light, Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Lighthouse Keeper Joshua Strout, his son, wife, and volunteers rigged an ordinary ladder as a gangplank between the shore and the ledge the ship was heeled against to rescue Captain O'Neil, the ship's master, his wife, two mates and the nine-man crew. It would be a great Halloween scene, with skeletons on the shipwreck making they way to shore across the heaving ladder.

The Maguire memorial is steps away from the spot where legend says that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow sat and wrote his poem "The Lighthouse."

Sail on, Sail on ye stately ships

And with your floating bridge

the ocean span

Be mine to guard this light

from all eclipse

Be yours to bring man near

unto man.

Above: The "Barely Dead Cemetery" near Falmouth, Maine. I liked how the sun was in the perfect position behind the spooky house to illuminate this shot of an elaborate Halloween display. My favorite character is the werewolf at bottom left of the image, trying to crawl out of the cemetery.

Click on any image to enlarge

Above: A Halloween Wedding complete with ring-bearing, juvenile zombies, on Highway 9 between Falmouth and Cumberland, Maine.

Above: A zombie road crew on a tractor near Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

Above and Below: A pumpkin festival in Scarborough, Maine.

The most interesting specimens were the Brodé Galeux D'Eysines, or Peanut-Shell Pumpkins (Cucurbita maxima), in the shot above. This heirloom's French name translates "embroidered with warts from Eysines," referring to a small town in southwest France. This heirloom pumpkin's random "peanut" warts bedeck the flesh-colored outer skin.