Older houses creak with the wind, draft-catchers “decorate” our doorways and windows, mailboxes temporarily go missing, and now that the snow is finally off our roofs, we can’t see outside! I hope we’re not coming down with S.A.D!

“Ice Maroons 50 Maine Families,” “Island Siege May Be Ended Today,” “Channel Path Freezes Again” and “Coast Guard Tug High and Dry.” Newspaper headlines from late February to mid-March 1950.

There are people in town who remember the couple of weeks when Westport was cut off from the big world, affecting families and businesses, “Island men” who worked on the mainland, high school kids attending Morse High (the town’s high school at the time), and food and fuel we take for granted today. Ask George, or the Cromwells, Colbys, Greenleafs, Swantons and others.

The Westport Ferry was the link with the mainland, and for a few weeks, it was iced-in at the Westport dock and the Cowsegan Narrows channel was frozen as well. Herbert Cromwell had the store (right next to the fire department, where Cottage Pantry is today). He ran out of fuel and gasoline, and was very low on groceries. Occasionally sleds or skiffs were hauled across the ice, and sometimes the ice broke and groceries went to the bottom (Edwin Cromwell, son Alfred, and others safely escaped).

The selectmen were in touch with Gov. Frederick G. Payne, appreciating the offer of a plane to supply food, but felt that an ice breaker was more urgently needed (that’s another story). Selectman Frank Greenleaf (Senie Greenleaf Morton and Cheryl Greenleaf’s father) knew this was an emergency: he was worried about gas for the town snow plow and the school bus for the town’s grade school, and “there was no telling what we’d be able to do” in the event of a fire.

Senie was pretty young at the time. Calvin Cromwell and his brother and sisters were attending Morse High. Calvin, Judson, Virginia and Marjorie stayed with family friends on the mainland, not too far from the crossing, while everyone waited for the ferry to be freed up. Calvin remembers this like it was yesterday. Everyone got through it, fortunately.

Not sure if a brutally cold winter was a factor, but it seems the major cause of the ice-in was the long-awaited, under-construction land bridge (aka causeway) located to the north of the ferry route, just about where the bridge is today. The causeway was begun in 1949 and this affected the natural flow of the river. A week or two earlier, the contractors had a complete shore-to-shore fill, and then they cut through a section, creating an opening and getting ready to install a steel bridge span.

Kind of ironic: years of working for a dependable all-season connection to the mainland (instead a creaky scow and earlier wooden bridges) led to the big winter adventure of 1950. Smiles, however, handshakes, and a shore dinner celebrated the opening of this modern “bridge” by June!

Are you spending the winter researching genealogy or pouring over old family photographs? If you’re new to genealogy or have been into it for years, you won’t want to miss Sunday’s Lincoln County   Historical Association’s talk by Jay Robbins. Jay’s spent over 40 years documenting connections between Maine’s people, places and property. In a show-and-tell, he’ll discuss research strategies, types of historical records, starting points and shortcuts. Please bring your genealogy questions. This takes place at 1 p.m. at the LC Communications Center. For more info, call Ed Kavanagh at 207-882-4393.

The sun is making its way in our direction, encouraging flowers lining the windowsills. Onto my fourth pair of gloves — is there a perfect winter pair out there?