Goose Rocks Beach -- Kennebunkport -- Maine

Abstract 1240 Desmond O’Hara and Carl “Dick” Schmalz, interviewed by Joyce Butler, July 20, 1977, Goose Rocks, Kennebunkport, Maine. O’Hara and Schmaltz discuss the fire of 1947 in Kennebunkport, Maine; their work with Elliot O’Hara’s (Desmond’s father) art school and studio; awareness of the fire danger; learning about the fire while out of state; neighbors who escaped flames in the water; Eliot O’Hara’s painting of Timber Island while it was still smoking; artwork lost in the fire; Elliot O’Hara’s...

Abstract 1245 Dorothea (Mrs. Fred) Smith, interviewed by Joyce Butler, January 13, 1977, Goose Rocks Beach, Maine. Smith talks about the fire of 1947 in Goose Rocks Beach; how the fire sounded; taking refuge in a neighbor’s house; annoyance that effort was concentrated on saving a farm; thieves and looters; animals fleeing towards the water; fear that her daughter was lost when in fact she was safely asleep elsewhere; the neighbor reunited with his dog; Elliot O’Hara’s art studio losses; National...

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1228 Frank Handlen, interviewed by Joyce Butler, September 9, 1977, Kennebunkport, Maine. Handlen discusses his experience of the 1947 wildfires in the Biddeford – Kennebunkport area; sight of the smoke; fire coming through and description of it; a man who saved his house; lack of organized firefighting; fire lingering in a bog and loss of trees; how Goose Rocks burned; and a house that was spared.

Abstract 1231 Mabel Emery and Ruth Gobeil, interviewed by Joyce Butler, August 31, 1977, Kennebunk, Maine. Emery and daughter Gobeil discuss the fires of 1947 in the Biddeford-Kennebunk area; approach of the fire near their home; trying to save possessions; explosion of their house; fire at Goose Rocks and surviving it by staying in the ocean; inability to understand why their house burned when neighbors’ homes did not; Ruth’s work at a telephone switchboard during the fire; and rebuilding. Text: 14...