When I was a child I spent a lot of time with both my maternal and paternal grandparents. They all lived close by, within walking distance, but I spent the most time with my maternal grandmother, Nora. She nurtured my love of flowers, animals, birds and family history. She grew up idowneast in Lubec and Eastport and Machiasport Maine.
Nora was an excellent storyteller and one that intrigued us was about a pair of snowshoes handmade for her by a local Passamaquoddy Native American Chief Joe Lola. My brother and I overused those beautifully crafted snowshoes with sealskin bindings (long gone) The snowshoes survived along with a photograph of Nora in the snow, holding them, circa 1916. We have both on display here at our old homestead in Machiasport. I have tried to find out about Joe Lola, but never found anything.
.Last week we went to the petroglyph talk in Dennysville given by the Passamaquoddy Tribal Historian, Donald Soctomah. I spoke with him after the talk and offered to share some old family photographs of the petroglyphs on the ledges at the end of Clark’s Point in Machiasport. My grandfather was born on that point of land ending in the Machias Bay. My 3rd great grandparents are buried there.,not far from the most impressive petroglyphs on the East Coast.
I shared photographs with Donald Soctomah and we chatted via email. I asked him about the Joe Lola, my grandmother’s friend. He knew of him and told me he was a great hunter. This morning, Donald sent me a photograph of Joe Lola, who made the cherished snowshoes, completing a story and a question I’ve wondered about often when I see the snowshoes. Joe Lola will be remembered now as a man with strong , large hands , not just a mythical maker. The circle is now closed.
For the Record,
This day came in with fog, that burned off as we enjoyed an afternoon in Ellsworth and rolled in again before 8 this evening.
I retired from public school teaching after happily spending twenty eight years playing in Kindergarten. Now I fill my days watching cat antics, taking endless...
@ggshearron The woman in the photograph is my grandma, the man is a Passamaquoddy Native American who made the snowshoes for her in the very early 1900s. She was born in 1893in this area of Maine, the location of the tribe for thousands of of years.
