Help Finding Late Grandparents' Neighborhood

Submitted by orangestar17 t3_xslncp in Maine

Hello, everyone!! This may be not be the type of post you guys do here but I've been trying hard to figure this out and I thought native Maine folks may know!

My grandparents moved to Maine in the 90s and we went every summer to visit them for a week. My grandma worked at Colby and their home was either in Waterville or very close. My grandfather is buried in a Veterans Cemetery there.

My grandmother passed away last month and my heart is calling me back, but we can't find their old address or the name of the body of water they lived on and I was young so I wasn't driving to remember street names. I was hoping something might ring a bell.

It was Waterville or right by Waterville. They had a house and a little guesthouse cottage and a little garden. They had a dock and a boat. It was the "something" Pond they lived on. It wasn't super wide, you could see across to the other side and your across the water neighbors. The whole area was quiet, peaceful, off the main road down a nice private-type road. I don't remember how far it was, but my grandma loved to take us for souvenirs to the "Maine Made" store.

I know nobody will likely know houses and streets but I thought maybe this Something Pond and Waterville might be something familiar.

I now have 3 teens of my own and I want to come back and perhaps find an Air BnB somewhere nearby. Just to give them a taste of that serenity and to just be where I know I'll feel my grandma's presence.

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Comments

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siebzy t1_iqlb79z wrote

Look in the Belgrade Lakes and around the Oakland area. Good luck.

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Guygan t1_iqlyaup wrote

Go online to the county registry of deeds and search by name.

Search their last name in the “Grantor” index.

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16F4 t1_iqm3bc0 wrote

Sounds like North Pond to me, but check the Registry of Deeds

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IamSauerKraut t1_iqmjm0u wrote

Could be around Belgrade Village on North Pond, just up Rt 27 from the Maine Veterans Cemetery near the turnpike exit at the Civic Center. Burial is probably at the Bond Brook extension since the original has been full for about 10 years. There is an index of names for those buried there that will tell you which lot they are buried in.

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OurWhoresAreClean t1_iqmnckp wrote

Waterville doesn't actually have any lakes or ponds--not within the city proper, at any rate--but based on your description it sounds like either Snow Pond or McGrath Pond in Oakland could be candidates. They both have sections that are narrow so you'd easily be able to see the neighbors the way you describe, and there are numerous private roads on both. It would also be an easy drive to Colby from either one of them.

Are there any other details you remember?

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orangestar17 OP t1_iqmo0ez wrote

Replying to OurWhoresAreClean (#11,123)

I know we always said Waterville, but it's very likely it was just simply near it perhaps?

Snow Pond actually seems to ring a bell. I remember it not being exceptionally wide. When it froze in winter, people from both sides would literally come out onto the ice and it wasn't too far to get across.

As for a whole lot more details, we definitely spent most of our time just relaxing at their house on the water so I don't necessarily have a ton of local area info.

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OurWhoresAreClean t1_iqmqbty wrote

Replying to orangestar17 (#11,141)

> When it froze in winter, people from both sides would literally come out onto the ice and it wasn't too far to get across.

That definitely sounds like the northern end of Snow Pond. It gets wider further down, but up at the top it's narrow enough that you could easily snowshoe across it in the winter.

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