by David Sparks, HHS Board Vice President

I grew up in Harpswell in the 1960s and 1970s. Not till later in my life did I realize how special a place Harpswell is. There are 30 miles of coastline from sandy coves to rugged ledges facing the power of the Atlantic Ocean, and you can see both the sunrise and sunset over the sea. As a young boy, I would do clamming with my bare hands to either eat or use for bait to catch flounder using a handline out of my grandfather’s row boat with a lobster buoy as my anchor. Both the clams and flounder were delicious. I also was blessed that both my grandmothers had camps. Nanny’s was on the east shore behind the dump. It was over water at high tide and sat on ledge at low tide. Grandma’s was behind Billy Randall’s on the west shore with a view of Mount Washington. How many people are lucky enough to have that!

As I age, these things become more valuable. My curiosity about the history of Harpswell becomes stronger every day. My hope is to learn as much as I can and pass it along to others. At the HHS museum, seeing people’s reactions when they hear what they are looking at or feel a connection to the past is incredible. My hope is to continue to learn more and work with our group of HHS volunteers to make our organization go forward. HHS is a great thing. Working together we will be even better. Thank you to everyone for your support.

David Sparks joined the HHS board about five years ago and is now its vice president. One of his goals is to learn as much as possible about the HHS Museum’s artifacts so that he can better share that information with visitors. David currently works at Bath Iron Works. He lives in Guernsey Villa, an historic home in West Harpswell which once served as a guest house and restaurant during the heyday of early 20th century tourism in Harpswell.