Flaming near the frost

Swamp maples

Swamp maples

“It takes adversity or coming close

To trouble and hard times to make them glow,

Then they really flower as swamp maples

Flower on the edge of frost and snow.’’

— From “New Englanders Are Maples,’’ by Robert P.T. Coffin (1892-1955), a native and long-time resident of Brunswick, Maine, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet

The long-gone Merrymeeting Park Casino and amusement park in Brunswick, circa 1905

The long-gone Merrymeeting Park Casino and amusement park in Brunswick, circa 1905