Last fall I called the town office in West Gardiner to see what they knew about Merrill's Park. The answer being not much, they referred me to Mert Hickey. Mert and I talked a few times. He had a couple of picture of the trotting park. We never managed to get together. This past Sunday I called Mert and we agreed to meet this evening at the "Y" at the beginning of the Pond Road. Oddly just down the Pond Road to the left was the location of West Gardiner's lost trotting park. Mert got permission from Vernon Packard, the owner of the land, for us to explore the property to see if we could find any remnants of the old park. Alas -- except for a few pieces of granite, we could not find a trace of the track. If you look at the Google Earth image in the storyboard below you can definitely see the halo of the track. After our walk, I dropped by to speak with Mr. Packard. Mr. Packard agreed to walk the grounds with me and show me the location of the cement posts that were once part of the grandstand. I hope to add more information about Merrill Park in the near future. When I checked out my e-mail and I had received an e-mail from Margaret Peacock who had kindly scanned the Mert's photos of the trotting park.
Here is the text of Margaret's e-mail:
"I believe you met with Mert today in West Gardiner. I asked Mert if I could scan his old pictures and he graciously agreed. I'm sending what I think you need for your project. Your work is fascinating and is itself a race against time to gather material. Best to you in your endeavor."
Margaret Peacock
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