Eventually, most residents on the peninsula pop in to Grover’s Hardware for something. It’s the answer machine for troubled homeowners and beyond. Someone there will help you figure out what it is you need, or don’t need, to fix or repair or replace. I, for one, have been visiting “Hardware Therapy” for as long as I occupied a seat at the table. It’s a good bunch. 

I was sorry to learn of the recent passing of Godfather Bob. He was certainly a supreme lesson in customer service and congeniality, as was his wife Barbara. So many courteous and helpful individuals have scribbled down purchases on pink and white slips from the customer wall. I am reminded of Skip Welch, John West, Bob Pike and other helpful souls gone by. 

But, every now and then a special item, unrelated to plumbing, electric, salt and shovels is a surprise. Such is the case with today’s shared image of an old postcard provided by longtime Grover-ite Gary Dickinson.   

“I’ve got something for you,” he noted during one of my frequent visits. Then one day, as I was leaving the store, Gary met me by the front door and handed me a plastic bag of old postcards he had rescued from a clearing out adventure at home. 

I have no idea when this postcard view of the Harbor was made, but I’d hazard to guess that it wasn’t recently. It was too good to pass up. Postcards have sort of run the course of time and time is running out. I remember our first postcard run back in the late '70s. We scraped together some cash and with the help of Ed Hutchins at the “Hutch” put together a small printing of local scenes. Ed was very supportive and took a good batch of cards to help us out, and we were off to the races. 

In the following years, we published a ton of postcards. I would photograph properties, i.e., motels, restaurants, products and scenes and run cards that could be sold, given away, or mailed. It was a good time. Postage was reasonable, production was affordable and demand was high. I would try to sell a full press run of 15 views, 5,000 of each view, and maybe even sneak in a few new views of our own to refresh our fledgling line. Properties welcomed the opportunity to self promote and we were grateful for the support. We added views from all over the Midcoast for a good stretch and then some big companies came into the market discouraging our additional postcard runs. Thousands of remaining scenic views are not likely to enter the mail stream any time soon! 

Between the internet, postage and rising printing costs, not to mention everyone’s magical phones and cameras, we are pretty much done. It was a good run, but now our original cards, some in the neighborhood of 45 years old, can be seen on Ebay, reminiscent of days gone by and stuff that no longer exists. 

By the way, the card view shared today was printed by Tichnor Bros., Inc., Boston, Massachusetts and distributed by Merchants Greeting Card Co., of Lewiston.Perhaps someone in the Harbor will recognize the scene. If not, ask at Grover’s!