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Welcome to the Harpswell Anchor

Welcome to the Harpswell Anchor. Here you can find information on our unique community whether it be local events, historical vignettes, and profiles of some of our unique individual residents.

Anchor Publishing also publishes books, maps and other materials which are on display here.

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The Anchor Staff

Scouts Plan Annual Bean Hole Supper Print

Written by Bob Jørgensen | 02 July 2009


Mark Saturday, July 18, on your calendar! It's the evening when the Harpswell scouts will be offering their traditional bean-hole supper from 5-7 PM at Mitchell Field, down by the waterfront. The public is invited to attend.
This year the overall event will be under the direction of Eric Field. In charge of preparing the beans is Dale McLaughlin. "I've got 59 years of tradition and the secret sauce recipe to back me up," he quipped. McLaughlin and his crew will be observing the traditional procedure for cooking beans in a bean-hole, a technique that involves digging a four foot deep by four foot square hole in the ground and filling it with hardwood, which is then lit and the roaring fire allowed to burn for hours until there is nothing left but extremely hot, glowing coals. After that, several special, heavy stainless kettles full of a mixture of pork, secret sauce and parboiled beans are lowered into the hole atop the coals, covered with a steel plate and subsequently buried. The beans are left undisturbed to simmer in the classified mixture for a unique flavor that cannot be achieved any other way. "There are many ways to cook beans," noted Fields, "And while this one is the most hard work and most time-consuming, the results are certainly well worth it."

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Elijah Kellogg Church Chicken Barbecue Print

Written by Bob Jørgensen | 02 July 2009

One of the most reliable indications that summer has come to Harpswell is the annual chicken barbecue at the Kellogg Church on Rt. 123. This culinary extravaganza has attracted roast chicken fans from miles around the big outdoor feast for over three decades. According to C.V. Noyes, who is in charge of the event this year, the barbecue will be held on the last Saturday of the month, July 25, on the same weekend as the annual Harpswell Festival, which is being held up the road at Mitchell Field, "So that our guests can enjoy the best of both events."
"This is one of the three big annual fundraisers at the Kellogg Church," explained Win Gillis, Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee. "The others being the recent yard sale and the Christmas Fair." He went on to observe that, "I am always surprised at the large number of people who come from as far away as Lewiston for our barbecue, along with folks who are visiting the area from out of state. We have become a major social and culinary event on the Midcoast calendar over the years." Thad Winder is in charge of generating a large turnout again this year as Chair of the Publicity Committee.

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You Might be a Harpswellite if.... Print

Written by Nelson Barter | 02 July 2009

You might be a Harpswellite if.....
With special thanks to Major Shirley Thompson and Color Sergeant Rick Reed of the Harpswell Militia

You mistake fireworks for night hunting

You think if you can poach an egg, you can poach a deer

"Your road soda is Budweiser"

You can hear the deer laughing as you contemplate the next hunting season

You start up your snow blower this month, just to "make sure she's still runnin'"

You still know where Narragansett was brewed.