Don Rogers

Don Rogers grew up on Mackerel Cove, Bailey Island, Maine. He walked a mile to school each day where he had the same teacher for six years. There were about fifteen children in the whole school for all grades. He liked his teacher who was older and strict. He went to high school at Brunswick High and later was the only one from the islands to attend the University of Maine in Orono.

When Don was a kid, they didn't have running water in their homes. Water had to be fetched from the well and you used an outhouse instead of an inside toilet. They heated their homes with a kerosene or wood stove, Everybody had chores as there was more to do because they had less conveniences.

When Don was 8 years old he started lobstering with a skiff, a pair of oars and ten traps his father built. He rowed around Mackerel Cove to set traps in sight of his father. He learned lobstering by watching and helping his father, “it was fun!” When he was older he had his own lobster boat, they were smaller back than. Fish and lobster were abundant and there were no restrictions.

When Don was 10 or 12, he got a single shot 22 rifle for Christmas. This was his most prized possession. Every Christmas in his stocking, he got two boxes of bullets. There were fifty bullets in each box. He would make these last all winter long. On days off from school he would run around the shores and shoot at ducks. He would only shoot at a duck if the wind was blowing in the right direction to blow the duck ashore. He had a hand line in his pocket with a weight on one end. He would throw this out over the duck and pull it into shore. He also looked forward to hunting deer for a week with his father.

When it was time to work or haul in a boat, the community people pulled together and got the job done. They would end the work by talking together before they all went home. Money wasn't used as much to get things done then as it is now.