I am referencing your artilce on the front page of the Journal Tribune dated June 30, 2017 (cemetery restoration etc.).

From the age of 5- to almost 23-years-old, I lived at 195 and 204 Pool St. in close proximity to the cemetery in question as well as to all the amenities that Clifford Park had to offer in the 1930s and 1940s era. Additionally my grandparents owned property that was adjacent to Clifford Park.

As the distance to the entry to the cemetery and Clifford Park was only a one to two-minute walk from my parents and grandparents homes, I spent much of my youth in the park. During that previously mentioned era, there was a “well traveled road” from Pool Street that wound around the cemetery thence to a place that was “dubbed” the “Stone Crusher” and further into the eastern/southern part of Clifford Park to a place known as “Second Base.”

The “Stone Crusher” was a huge structure that absorbed chunks of previously (on-site) granite (which had been “blasted” at various times), and crushed them into various sizes to be sold for road-building foundations and other uses. I believe that the “Stone Crusher” belonged to local people (maybe the Minnia family). During summer vacation I could hear the “blasting” as well as the cloud of dust resulting from the explosion. It was a busy enterprise that continued operating into the 1940s when it eventually ceased operation probably during World War II.

The “Second Base” area was a ball field created (as I was told) by
the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) a federal government identity
sometime during the 1930s. Ball games were played there by teenagers
and young adults that had sponsored teams. Access to the field was by way
of the same road that accessed the cemetery, and the “Stone Crusher” to
the field by auto, bike or walking.

The field located not
farf rom the Westbrook stream from which we could hear the tumbling of
water over the rocks when we played games.

I played on one of
the sponsor teams as a young teenager. I have least one “clipping” of a
game I participated in that was reported in the Biddeford-Saco-Journal
sometime in the 1945-1946 years.

Baseball games at this so-called
“Second Base” ceased in the early 1950s as softball city leagues took
center stage and were played in more centralized city locations.

Another
feature of the park was a ski toboggan trail created (presumably by the
CCC) that started at the highest point of the park and terminated not
far from the cemetery. My friends often came to the ski trail as we
enjoyed the trail’s under-used amenity on many winter days.

Of
course the “celebrated” concerts on Sundays in the beautiful bandstand of
the park (conducted by Paunchaud’s Band) during July and August were
well attended by the local citizens. Often my parents, brother, and
friends attended these concerts’ most joyous performances until WWII
changed all of that.

As a youngster I would roam the park to pick blueberries and raspberries which I brought home and some were sold to neighbors.

The cemetery in question was also a place that I frequented to read the etched inscription on the stones marking the gravesites. They were most interesting as there were 30 or so stones visibly erected there. As time went by, the stones disappeared (some were either thrown down or used as a buffer to a tiny streamlet that separated the cemetery from a greenhouse belonging to a gentleman by the name of Mr. Labbe.

That was a sad time in the era that I wish I could forget.

I applaud those people mentioned in the article for their endeavors in restoring the cemetery as I believe that there is much heritage that can transcend from that location.

I have many wonderful memories of Clifford Park and what it offered in my youth. It is certainly rewarding to read of the numerous undertakings by local citizens and the city of Biddeford in providing countinued opportunities to all citizens to make use of the park in the modern era.

Robert Hodge

Biddeford