DURHAM

Oh, say, can you see, by the ’dozer’s work light / If “flag rock” will remain by the road on the right?

State road officials and town residents hope so.

The iconic local rock, with an American flag painted on its southeastern face, sits in the path of the state’s relocation of Route 136 between Freeport and Auburn. Part of the road is collapsing into the Androscoggin River — again — and the state is moving the road 100 feet inland to prevent a catastrophic collapse like the one that occurred — twice — two years ago and shut down the road for several months.

During the relocation, numerous properties have been taken by eminent domain to make way for the new roadway. In one case an entire house was annexed, but most of the seizures involve only sections of driveway or lawn.

Rita Giguere, a longtime Durham resident who died in 2011, originally painted the flag on the rock in 1963. It has received numerous touch-ups over the years, frequently and most recently by neighbors Jim and Judy Mills.

They implored the Maine Department of Transportation to save the rock if they could.

Luther Yonce, MDOT’s senior property officer, is in charge of the eminent domain process. He promised the Mills’ that, if the contractor’s “big toys” could unearth and move the rock, they would. The problem is that nobody knows what is underneath it. If it’s a buried boulder, it likely can be moved. If it’s ledge, however, it’ll have to be blasted.

“They couldn’t give us any guarantees,” Mills said, “but it’s part of this area, it’s a landmark. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.”

jtleonard@timesrecord.com