I was going through some papers the other day and came across a small but interesting pamphlet produced in 1994 by the town of Alna’s Bicentennial Committee. Alna is a part of Lincoln County and bordered by the towns of Wiscasset, Dresden, Newcastle, Whitefield, Jefferson and Pittston. Among the nine people serving on the Bicentennial Committee were Rev. Joe Barth, a retired minister, Diana Ayers, Mary Lou Bailey, Bill Carleton, Cliff Cokefair, Pricilla King, Doug Stover and Jim Bergmann, its chairman. Ruth Vietze, a selectboard member, served as treasurer and secretary.

I remember Rev. Barth best because I interviewed him for the Wiscasset Newspaper during the summers of 1979 and 1980. He grew day lilies; yellow, orange, crimson and violet ones which hit their peak blossoming around this time of summer. During the final Saturday of July, Rev. Barth would open his gardens to visitors at his home located just past The Alna Store on Dock Road. People would come from miles around, some to enjoy the beautiful colors, others to buy lilies from Dr. Barth to transplant in their own gardens. The annual gathering came to be called the “Lily Festival.” Rev. Barth was quite skilled at cross pollinating his lilies and for more than 20 years labored at improving the color, size and shape of their blossoms. I remember him proudly showing me one golden lily blossom measuring almost nine inches across. Beautiful!

Dr. Barth succeeded in developing a number of new day lily varieties which he gave special names to. One that had a deep crimson-colored blossom he named “Wiscasset,” another he called “Pemaquid Lighthouse.” He told me his ultimate goal was to grow a blue lily. Although he tried his best, he never achieved that but some of his lilies did indeed appear to have a faint blue tint to their blossoms. Before moving to Alna with his wife, Ramona, Dr. Barth served at King’s Chapel in Boston, the first Unitarian Church of America. For many years he was active in the Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association. In fact I think he might have been among the organization’s founding members. Although Dr. Barth, the “Lily King,” is gone, his beautiful day lilies continue to faithfully blossom every summer in Alna, my Wiscasset garden and far beyond.

Returning to the brochure, it begins by telling us the community was incorporated June 25, 1794 as the town of “Newmilford,” one word according to their spelling; although also written as, “New Milford.” The town’s name was changed to Alna 17 years later. Why and how that happened isn’t explained. According to the town’s website, the name Alna is derived from the Latin word, “Alnus,” a name for alder trees, a type of birch found abundantly within the town.

Before going further, let’s have a look at how George J. Varney describes the town of Alna in his 1881 Gazetteer of the State of Maine. He writes, “The town has a length of about six miles north and south, and four miles east and west. The surface is uneven, the western part back from the river being quite broken, while the other portions abound in ledges and bogs. Good soil is found in many parts, however, especially along the (Sheepscot) river.” That’s a pretty good description of how the community looks today. Continuing on, Varney adds: “The first church was formed in 1796, Jonathan Scott being chosen first pastor ... Alna has six public school houses; the school property being valued at $3,300 ... The population in 1870 was 747. In 1880, it was 687.” Alna once having had six schools came as a surprise to me. It would be interesting trying to find where these school buildings were located.

The Bicentennial Committee’s brochure states the town was the birthplace of Edward Arlington Robinson and Dr. Fred Albee but doesn’t tell us anything more about either of them. I’ll briefly fill in the gaps. Edward Arlington Robinson born in 1869 at Head Tide is among Maine’s most distinguished poets. (Head Tide is a part of Alna near the dam on the upper reaches of the Sheepscot River.) When Edwin was a child his family moved to the nearby city of Gardiner. During a career spanning 50 years, he published 28 books of poetry and was awarded the very prestigious Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1922, 1925 and 1928. He died April 6, 1935 in New York City. The Gardiner home where he grew up at 67 Lincoln Ave. is now a National Historic Landmark.

Dr. Fred Albee was actually Dr. Fred Houdlette Albee. He was in born in Alna on April 13, 1876 and, like Robinson, also left town at an early age. A brief biography detailing his many accomplishments appears in Fanny Chase’s History of Wiscasset at Pownalborough. Albee began his education at Lincoln Academy and later went to Bowdoin College in Brunswick. From there he studied medicine at Harvard University Medical School where he graduated with his medical degree in 1903. Dr. Albee became a pioneer in early orthopedic surgery and in the technique of bone grafting. He wrote several books on this later subject in the early 20th century gaining both national and international acclaim for his work. During World War I he served overseas in the U.S. Army as a major and later was promoted to a full colonel in the Medical Readiness Command. He died Feb. 15, 1945 in New York City.

Alna’s Bicentennial Committee did a nice job at succinctly describing three of the town’s historic buildings. They include the 1789 Meetinghouse with its five-foot square “box-pews,” the 1769 Center School – Maine’s “second oldest existing school house” where children continued to learn their ABCs until 1962 – and the J.A. Jewett 1884 store near the Head Tide dam. All of these buildings can be seen today and are occasionally opened to the public. Also to be enjoyed is Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway Museum at 97 Cross Road. Alna remains a wonderful community to call home and unique, too, in that it mostly retains both its rural and historic charm.

Phil Di Vece earned a B.A. in journalism studies from Colorado State University and an M.A. in journalism at the University of South Florida. He is the author of three Wiscasset books and is a frequent news contributor to the Boothbay Register-Wiscasset Newspaper. He resides in Wiscasset. Contact him at pdivece@roadrunner.com