Docks and Casco Bay at Portland, Maine
Photos by Ron Fritze  ~  September 2011

At the Society for the History of Discoveries:

Lobster, Clam Chowder, Brew
And Good Fellowship in Maine.

“Oh happy Portlanders,
if they only know their own good fortune!
They get up early, and go to bed early.
The women are comely and sturdy,
able to take care of themselves without any fal-lal of chivalry;
and the men are sedate, obliging, and industrious . . . .
All was, or seemed to be sleek, orderly, and unobtrusive.
Probably of all modes of life that are allotted to man
by his Creator, life such as this is most happy.”
— Anthony Trollope, North America (1862)

By Ron Fritze from Athens, Alabama
Posted on October 12, 2011

Back when the telegraph was rapidly spreading across the United States, Henry David Thoreau in Walden (1854) observed, “We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.” Since my wife Twylia is a Texas native and proud of it, I wondered if she would have anything to communicate to Maine when we visited Portland for the Society for the History of Discoveries conference from 22-25 September, 2011. It turns out she did. First and foremost, she communicated her order for Maine lobster — but more on that later.

Society for the History
of Discoveries (SHD) meetings are always good fun. The papers delivered at the meeting are usually very much of interest to me. SHD folks also eat well at their meetings. Furthermore, they always plan at least one day trip around the region where the annual meeting is held. These trips are informative, fun, and full of good fellowship — and this time, Twylia was coming with me. So life was good. (Is, too.)

Off on the Right Foot,
It's Up to the Top of the East.

Leaving Huntsville at 5:30 am on Thursday, 22 September, we reached Atlanta without incident. There we ran into Greg McIntosh and his girlfriend Zonia, who were on the same flight with us to Portland. That started the trip off on the right foot, and we spent a lot of time with them. Twylia and Zonia hit it off right away.

At Portland we caught the hotel shuttle at the airport and made our way to the Eastland. A fine old hotel, the Eastland is currently maintained in excellent condition. Our room was on the twelfth floor. The next floor up was Floor R (Yeow, triskaidekaphobia lives!), the top floor of the building, which is one of the few tall structures in the city. It is also the location of the Top of the East, a nice restaurant and bar with a great view. They also serve an excellent clam chowder.

Portland is an old seaport located on what was once an island but is now a peninsula. The city has spread out to encompass edges of the mainland and has a population of about 230,000 people. A lot of the old town is older brick buildings, presenting a sturdy, antique appearance — very nice!

In Search of Maine Lobster

Thursday night there was a reception at the Portland Museum of Art across the street from the Eastland. After the reception, Twylia and I joined Greg, Zonia, and two other folks in search of lobster. We found the prize at a restaurant on the wharf called DiMillo’s. It’s located on a big boat but you’d hardly know it. The service was good and we put in our orders.

Twylia and I got the pound-and-a-half size. Since Twylia does not eat crawfish, she did not have practice breaking into the little guys. A lobster is basically a very, very, very huge crawfish that lives in salt water. You break open the tail with a knife and it comes out easily. In fact, it is easier eating lobster than eating crawfish because the lobster shell does not knick your fingers as much as the crawfish shell. Being smaller, crawfish shells can be sharp. On the other hand, the claw of the lobster has lots of good meat in it which is frequently not the case with crawfish, except those that are exceptionally large. We enjoyed both the lobster and the good company. After that it was back to the hotel and bed.

The next morning there was a nice breakfast buffet. Twylia and Zonia made a league with each other and decided to head to the Maine Mall. Our meetings on Friday were at the Osher Map Library of the University of Southern Maine, which is located about three quarters of a mile from the Eastland. Although there was a shuttle bus, I walked to the Osher with Francis Herbert, an English member of the society. Being English, he was a brisk walker, which was okay with me. It was an overcast day, humid but comfortable.

At the Banquet We Travel
To the Ends of the Earth.

The Osher Map Library is located in a quite new building which is very attractive. Our meetings went well. The local arrangements by Yolanda Theunissen of the Osher Library were excellent. I introduced my session in the afternoon and then it was another walk back to the hotel. This time I walked with the outgoing president of SHD, Gerald Saxon, who happens to be a Beaumont, Texas, native like Twylia, although he currently works at the University of Texas at Arlington.

That evening at the society’s banquet, my job was to introduce the keynote speaker, Tony Lester, author of The Fourth Part of the World: The Race to the Ends of the Earth, and the Epic Story of the Map that Gave America Its Name (2009), which focuses on the Martin Waldseemüller map of 1507. Dinner conversation with Tony was pleasant and he gave a good talk. I had finished reading his book on the plane up to Portland, so I got him to sign my copy. After the banquet broke up, we joined Greg and Zonia for some drinks at the Top of the East.

Portland has its own local brewery called Shipyard. It harkens to Portland’s great days of seafaring. Shipyard beer is not bad. I tried their White at the reception on Thursday night. Up in the Top of the East, they serve Extra. Both are good, although I would not classify Shipyard as a great beer. My friends who like Mad Anthony Auburn Lager — I brought a supply from Indiana this late summer — would probably like Extra. The two brews taste much alike. That said, when in Portland, try Shipyard. I was glad I did. In fact, I tried it several times.

The World Stopped Spinning.

The next morning continued with more sessions of interesting papers. When the meeting ended, we gathered for a bus excursion to the DeLorme Map Store, home of the world’s largest revolving globe. Alas, the revolving mechanism was broken — as Joshua put it, “stand thou still,” although he was talking to the Sun and not the Earth.

As we traveled on we passed through Bowdoin,, home of Bowdoin College and the Civil War commander, Joshua Chamberlain of Little Round Top fame. I got a look at his house but we did not stop which I regret. Next we went to the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, a bustling place that is also home to a shipyard building missile frigates for the U.S. Navy. It was a very nice museum and grounds. During the Age of Sail, the shipyards in Bath constructed some very large masted vessels.

On the way back to Portland we stopped at Freeport, the home of L. L. Bean. Freeport has become an outlet mall town, but unfortunately its outlet stores are not that good on prices. But that didn’t matter. In lieu of shopping we went to Linda Bean’s restaurant. Up on the balcony sat another couple from SHD. They invited us to join them, and we enjoyed a great view of the foot traffic on the street. Good conversation, too.

Twylia and I shared a haddock dinner, painfully average fare — although I did enjoy a nice weissbier whose name I did not catch (it wasn’t Shipyard). After our dinner mates left in their rented car for Portland, we struck up a conversation with a young couple, Maine natives who were tiring of the winter cold. Hearing that we lived in Alabama, they inquired about the climate. We told them about our unseasonably hot summer, though nothing like Texas. Twylia ventured that she would like to live in a colder climate. They replied that they would prefer more heat. During the latest winter, they bemoaned, a water pipe had cracked, damaging their house. Given that the houses in Maine are made to withstand cold, that must have been one cold night. Then the bus called out to us: Time to return to Portland.

Azorean Cheese and Salmon Oil

Back at the hotel, Twylia decided to call it a night. I joined Greg and Zonia at the Top of the East for my last Extra and more good conversation. The next morning Twylia and I walked to a Dunkin Donuts for a good cup of coffee, then to the Whole Food Grocery, a nice store, where I tried some Azorean cheese called Flores, named, I suppose, after one of the islands in the Azores. Tasty. At Zonia’s recommendation, Twylia bought some Salmon Oil gel tabs for Rayne Dog’s shedding — let’s hope they will do the trick as Rayne is a champion shedder.

Finally it was time to board the shuttle to the airport. There we had just enough time to stop at the Shipyard Pub for a farewell bowl of clam chowder. Okay, but not as good as the Top of the East’s. The pub also displayed a poster for Shipyard’s Joshua Chamberlain Pale Ale. Looked interesting, but I’m not sure it’s a real beer, the kind you can take down from the poster and sip. Most likely an ad man’s hearkening to days of yore. Besides, given its namesake, the ale probably wouldn’t fly south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Next we had a scare. Our plane was delayed, the airline announced. What would become of our connecting flight from Atlanta to Huntsville? Then: problem fixed! We made it to Atlanta in time. Home again, home again.

Next Stop: Constantinople

This trip was a good one. Twylia really enjoyed herself. We also saw some friends from previous SHD meetings, including Sandy and Jolene Bederman, who are among my favorite people. Next year, we go to Pasadena. But for now, we look to the Continent and our impending journey back to the Mediterranean for another cruise, including two days in Istanbul. Istanbul virgins, we are looking forward to hiking the Theodosian Walls. Remember, it is Istanbul, not Constantinople. Why did they change the name that way? I don’t know, but it’s nobody’s business but the business of the Turks, if you know what I mean — and I think you do. So stay tuned.

PS: Portland is still much as Trollope described it. And that is a good thing.

Click on the black panther to read about Ron Fritze's latest book, Invented Knowledge: False History, Fake Science, and Pseudo-religions.