In 1868 on a train bound for Boston, a 12-year-old girl plopped uninvited into a seat beside her hero, Charles Dickens, whose literary fame at the time rivaled that of present-day rock stars.

“God Bless my soul. Where did you come from?” said Dickens.

“I came from Hollis, Maine,” the girl replied.

The girl would grow up to become children’s author Kate Douglas Wiggin. By happenstance as a child on a train rattling over the rails to Beantown from Portland, she met and talked with Charles Dickens, the author who brought to life characters like David Copperfield and Ebenezer Scrooge.

Wiggin, whose life is intertwined with the history of Tory Hill in Buxton and nearby Salmon Falls along the Saco River in Hollis, is being honored this weekend as part of Buxton Community Day. This year marks the 150th anniversary of Wiggin’s birth. Wiggin is remembered as the author of “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” and “The Old Peabody Pew,” which is performed each Christmas in Tory Hill Church.

Dickens’ great-great grandson, British actor Gerald Dickens, will be performing, as the community celebrates her life this year. Wiggin was a local benefactor. She founded the Dorcas Society, a charitable organization, in 1897.

Wiggin gave the Salmon Falls Library to the community and bought a railroad station as a parish house for the Tory Hill Church, where she attended services. But one of the most memorable gifts to the present generation from Wiggin is her story about meeting Dickens.

Sitting in Wiggin’s chair in her summer home, Quillcote, Carla Turner, the president of the Dorcas Society, retold the story last week. Turner and her husband, Bill Turner, are present day owners of Quillcote, known in early times as the Carll boarding house.

The youngster was upset when a ticket to the Portland appearance of Charles Dickens was unavailable. Turner said Wiggin, born Katherine Smith, was given a train ride to Boston by her mother to console the dejected girl.

But unexpectedly and to her delight, the girl’s hero boarded the train. “Low and behold there’s Dickens,” Turner said.

“Whoosh” was the word Turner used to describe the way Kate flew down the aisle when her mother turned her back. “Invisible ropes pulled me out of my seat,” Turner read from Wiggin’s personal account of the incident in “A Child’s Journey with Dickens.”

Dickens returns

Gerald Dickens said Wiggin’s family had named pets, chickens, cows and even her sled after characters in Charles Dickens’ books. His novels lined shelves in the family’s home, then a cottage across the road from Quillcote. He said the family was thrilled to learn Charles Dickens would be performing readings in Boston and Portland.

But any hope of a personal meeting with Dickens would have been banished as unobtainable. Dickens said his ancestor’s fame was “akin” to a rock star today. “She was star struck by him. He was her hero,” Dickens said.

Gerald Dickens said Wiggin told her hero she had read all his works. Charles Dickens marveled at how such a young girl could have possibily read them.

“I skipped all the dull parts,” Wiggin replied.

Charles Dickens carried on the conversation, perhaps stunned by his young critic and admirer. “No one ever tells me that,” he said.

Gerald Dickens said Wiggin was in her 60s when she wrote about the meeting as a child. While she remembered what her hero was wearing, Wiggin was overawed and recalled only a little bit of their conversation, according to Gerald Dickens. “She remembered snippets of it,” Dickens said.

Now, Dickens’ descendant comes to Buxton, honoring Wiggin and today’s townspeople. He will perform at 7 p.m. on Friday, July 21, and 2 and 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 22, in the Tory Hill Church. The Saturday matinee, “A Child’s Journey with Dickens,” is a tribute to Wiggin, who came to town to live at 6.

Trading poverty for prosperity

After her father died, Wiggin’s mother married Dr. Albion Bradbury, a country doctor in Hollis. They lived in a cottage on Salmon Falls Road on the banks of the Saco River. “Salmon Falls was the elite part of town,” said Beverly Atkinson, an organizer of Buxton Community Day.

Wiggin’s education included attending school in Buxton and the Gorham Female Seminary. The family moved to California where the doctor died, leaving his widow and family penniless.

Hoping to generate income, Wiggin opened a kindergarten school in San Francisco, teaching immigrant children. But Turner said poor parents weren’t able to pay and Wiggin launched her literary career.

Turning to writing, Wiggin traded poverty for prosperity. She achieved fame and often traveled abroad. Turner said Wiggin received welcomes in England usually reserved for royalty. “She was mobbed,” Turner said.

In her 30s, Wiggin returned first as a tenant and then bought the Carll boarding house, renaming it Quillcote – “House of the Pen.”

Silent film actress Lillian Gish was among a cast of celebrities who visited Quillcote. And Wiggin was a friend of Mark Twain.

But Victorian era friends and neighbors in Buxton and Hollis knew Wiggin simply as “Mrs. Riggs.” After her husband, Samuel Wiggin, died, she had married George Riggs.

Turner said Wiggin was well liked in the community. Wiggin hired a local housekeeper and a Swedish teenager, Marie (Swanson) Dunnell as a cook. Wiggin also hosted locals at parties. “I think she was a really good neighbor,” Turner said.

Never forgetting local folk

Grandparents of Barbara Anderson of Buxton were neighbors to Wiggin. Anderson’s mom was named Kate Douglas Libby. “Kate named her,” Anderson said.

Anderson’s mother was born next door to Quillcote. She has books and an engraved christening cup given to her mother by Wiggin. “I treasure it,” Anderson said. “My mother loved her.”

She said Wiggin didn’t have children and did a lot for her mother. Wiggin added the part of a little girl, Sally Bixby, to the play “The Old Peabody Pew” for Anderson’s mother as a 13th birthday gift.

Wiggin also named Anderson’s mother in her will.”It was $2,000,” Anderson said.

With all her success, Wiggin never forgot the local folk. Another neighbor, Sally Frothingham, had been married in the barn at Quillcote. Years later, Wiggin published the memoirs of the Frothingham wedding. Bill Turner, whose parents bought Quillcote in the 1930s, told of hearing Mrs. Frothingham’s historical accounts of Quillcote and the Carll boarding house.

Wiggin died in England in 1923 at age 67. Patricia (Meserve) Chase, a former Buxton selectman, said last week that Wiggin made a huge contribution to the community. “She’s very revered,” Chase said.

At Quillcote in Hollis, Carla Turner maintains the collection of books that belonged to childrenQuillcote in Hollis was the summer home of children