Editor’s note: This concise history of the Epping Baseline is excerpted from an article written by Burni Andres for the 150th anniversary of the baseline in 2007. It is reprinted here with permission of the Cherryfield Narraguagus Historical Society. The full text can be found on their website, www.cherryfieldhistorical.com.

In the early 1800s the accuracy of existing nautical charts was poor.

by Ronie Strout

Saturday, Sept. 29 started with a foggy morning with the fog soon burning off. Sixteen folks got on a bus to hear Nancy Willey speak about the Epping Base Line in Columbia. The bus tour started at the Union Hall in Columbia Falls at 9 a.m. and we traveled up to Centerville to begin learning about kames, kettle holes and to ride across a natural bridge.

by Amy Dowley

Editor’s note: Local hiker Amy Dowley recently completed the renowned Pacific Crest Trail, the western cousin to Maine’s beloved Appalachian Trail. I asked her to share her extraordinary and impressive experience with us, and am very pleased to bring it to you here in the first of this two-part series.

by Wayne Smith

You think that friends will live forever but sometimes they can go in a blink of an eye, just like a light switch. Alvah Fickett was a friend who grew up about two miles from the farm where I lived who recently passed away unexpectedly. He was 52 years old.

by Hazel Stark

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

It’s no accident that the 70th wedding anniversary is marked with one of the most precious metals on earth — platinum — because couples who reach their 70th anniversary are part of a small, exclusive club. So small, in fact, that the U.S. Census Bureau doesn’t have statistics on marriages that last so long.

by Nancy Beal

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Emma Rogers was in high school when the University of Maine started looking at ways to attract students into the field of engineering. By the time she was ready to apply to college, the new Engineering Pathways program looked like a perfect fit. 

by Lura Jackson

The City of Calais will not allow recreational retail marijuana sales following a public hearing and vote on Thursday, Sept. 27. While the 6-1 vote against the ordinance was decisive, the discussion yielded pros and cons. The medicinal marijuana outlets will continue operations without interruption. 

by Ruth Leubecker

Up against two favored major party candidates, Will Hoar is relying on a strong double-pronged message in his candidacy for Maine’s congressional District 2 seat.

Rep. Bruce Poliquin, the GOP incumbent running for a third term, faces Jared Golden, a young Democrat, politically backgrounded, aiming to make government more responsive. They both have healthy financial coffers and prime-time advertising running nearly non-stop as November 6 approaches.