Goose Eye No. 1 (2021)
Editorial
This first issue of Goose Eye: A Journal of Western Maine and White Mountain History has been a long time in the making. In past years, our newsletter, The Courier, which we have published since 1976, featured a mix of historical articles, society news, and official announcements. Ever since I started work at the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society, six years ago, we have discussed the possibility of launching a history journal to provide a place for longer and more detailed scholarly articles.
In naming the journal after one of our most notable local peaks, we hope to emphasize the regional focus of the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society and our research library and collections. The second-highest mountain in the Mahoosuc Range, a northern section of the White Mountains, Goose Eye can stand as a symbol of the connection between the Bethel area and the White Mountain region of Maine and New Hampshire.
Each edition of Goose Eye will contain a mix of featured articles which dive deep into various aspects of our region’s history, along with several recurring departments. While future issues will be structured around a common theme, here we present a small sample of the range and types of material we intend to publish.
Leading off, we publish for the first time a bit of family lore passed down and retold by Leroy C. Noyes, a longtime supporter of the Bethel Historical Society who passed away last year. A brief memoir or reflective piece such as this will open each issue and establish its theme. For our introductory issue, we have selected Noyes’ account, which is appropriately titled “The Cat from Goose Eye Mountain.”
In addition to his long career as a wildlife scientist, William B. Krohn has established himself as a leading authority on the history of sportsmanship and conservation in the Maine wilderness. Here, Krohn brings us the story of Daniel Heywood, a pioneering hunter, trapper, writer, and guide who was active in the Parmachenee Lake area during the 1880s and 1890s.
Larry Glatz untangles the complicated series of land transactions that established the “Twitchell Purchase” or “Raymond Grant,” an area which now makes up the northern about one half of Greenwood, including the village of Locke’s Mills.
Your editor contributes an article on an infamous figure known as “Roaring Dan Seavey.” It will come as a surprise to many that Seavey, supposedly the only man ever arrested for piracy on the Great Lakes, originally hailed from Bethel, Maine.
Reviewing an unpublished manuscript by renowned Maine historian Fannie Hardy Eckstorm, David Crouse corrects several inaccuracies which have long made their way into depictions of “Lovewell’s Fight,” a famous 1725 confrontation between British colonists and Abenaki at the site of present-day Fryeburg.
In connection with Crouse’s article we reprint an account of the battle written by historian Francis Parkman and published in the Oxford Democrat newspaper in 1890. Parkman’s article should be read today in context. As is typical of accounts of the era, little or no attempt is made to view events from the perspective of the indigenous peoples, whose vanquishment is celebrated as a victory for the advancement of white civilization. Nonetheless, we feel that it is worth inclusion here for the information it contains and as an example of nineteenth century historical writing. “From the Archives” will be a regular department in which we reprint a published item from an early newspaper or other source, or an unpublished item such as a letter or diary.
A related department, “Collection Spotlight,” will focus on visual works or historical artifacts from our collection. In our first Collection Spotlight we showcase an important collection of glass negatives once owned by members of the Roberts and Hastings families of Hanover and Bethel.
Admittedly, my review of Peter Tufts Richardsons’s sweeping study of the Universalist and Unitarian religious traditions in Maine appears somewhat belated. However, despite what I consider the book’s importance, it has not been widely noticed, and I feel it is worthy of more recognition. Book reviews are a staple of any historical journal, and we hope to greatly expand this section in the future.
A subscription to Goose Eye is being offered as a benefit for all members of the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society. If you know of others who would be interested, please encourage them to join the society. Individual copies of Goose Eye will also be offered for sale in our museum shop and through our online store. Furthermore, if you would be interested in contributing an article or book review to a future issue, please do get in touch.
A final note of thanks is due to Erik Koeppel, one of America's leading plein air artists, for permission to use the beautiful painting that graces the cover. Thanks also to Randall H. Bennett, the painting’s owner, who recently retired as Executive Director after a long career of service to the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society. It would be hard to conceive of a more appropriate visual for our premiere edition.
We hope that you find this issue both entertaining and enlightening.
William F. Chapman
March 2021