Friday, December 28, 2007

Butts in the moose's mouth

Hi! What a great feeling it was when I Googled Orchard Mansion during this holiday break. After Googling my ex-boyfriends, I suddenly thought of Orchard Mansion.

I spent 12 summers there, from 1961-1972 when it closed. I am now 46. The memories made there are hard to explain to anyone but someone who went there. Every time we checked in my dad put a cigarette in the Moose's mouth in the TV room. I even think he put Limburger cheese on the air conditioner in the dining room.

I still talk about Maxie's onion rolls (my husband thinks I'm nuts) and the 85 cents hot fudge sundaes that Lina sold.

Morris Kabatznick "tried" to teach me to swim and I remember Gail as a waitress. My parents made terrific friends there, and I met my first boyfriend there when I was 10.

Other memories: The Purple People who "lived" at the cemetery next door, walking to the waterfall down the road, eating Jawbreakers and Turkish taffy at the candy store in town, shows at Goodspeed Opera House and The Owl Coffee Shop,"Cracker Soup," square dancing at the patio, milk and cookies.

My dog used to run around the big tree in front of my Cabin #12, which we pretty much stayed in every year.

--Terri Heller

  I am pleased to announce that the new local history website EastHaddamStories.org is now live. It is a project of the East Haddam Historic...