The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-08-30
Eyes Of The World Will Center On Little
 Town Of 500 As Sun Hides Its Face Tomorrow
BIZ ALFRED ELDEN fNYrisfnn for HEA HcrYlcel

Fryeburg, Me. Astronomers from all parts, of the world are ar- irving daily in Fryeburg and near by points to get ready to observe the total eclipse of the sun to-
 while the path of totaIity is a belt of darkness 100 miles wide across the northeast corner of Ver- mont, most of New Hampshire and southeastern Maine, here is the ex- act center of the eclipse. More over. all past weather records for
 more than 50 years indicate that Fryeburg and a section within 25
 miles, including West Baldwin. | Bennington and Limerick, are most likely to have favorable weather. BaIIylloolnR the Eclipse The Fryeburg-Lovell Kiwanis club is planning to make the eclipse the grand smash. the
 cerulean climax of the summer
 vacation season. It has had print
 ed for liberal distribution an elab-
 crate folder entitled "See the
 Eclipse from the Fryeburg-Lovell
 Region"
 Messrs Sun, Moon and Earth commence their act, which will not be repeated in this section until 1863, at 2:20 D. m. The period of totality begins at 3:2S eastern standard time and lasts for 99 sec
 onds. At 4:33 D. m. the curtain falls, so to speak, and the sun again floods the earth. At least that's the gamble. The Fryeburg region has had about 60 per cent clear afternoons the latter part of August for a good many years. so on that chance, astronomers from far and near are hocking to Frye
 burg.
 Hotels, inns. boarding houses and summer camps are planning for capacity crowds. Kezar Pond. | in Lowell, is close by. where there are capacious summer hotels, and incidentally, Rudy Vallee's splen- did summer cottage. The Frye burg Fair Grounds will be opened
 to the public as an ideal point Of | vantage. Cement bases for telescopes and other apparatus are being built in the large fiat, open field where
 stands the Peary memorial on
 Main street. Here Lieutenant Com
 mander Robert E. Peary, as e boy
 attending Fryeburg academy Tn 1863, found time to lay out sys- tenn of rock markers, or meridian
 stones, which indicate the true
 north and enable surveyors to op- tain the magnetic variation. Bases will also be placed at various ad-
 tacent spots along the high bare
 banks of the Saco river.
 Historic Nc!ghb0rhood Fryeburg itself Is delightful
 old town. very level, with broad
 Main street, fine homes and well
 kept lawns. It has few small
 maiiufa cttories and the largest for.' est nursery In Maine. The total population of Fryeburg. North
 and Center Fryeburg IS only about | 1500.
 Famous as a town of intellect
 nal standing. it's Freyburg Acad- emy in 1892 had completed cen tury of life. the Rev William Fes- senden founding 1t in 1792. Its second preceptor was Daniel Web | ster. who studied law and taught l in 1892 and also served as a clerk | in the old County Registers ofice.
 Page after page of original Web- ster penmanship' may be seen on file in the modern county building l today The facilities of the acad-
 emy will be open to the visiting scientists.
 | Literary Flavor
 | Not far outside the town prop. CT at Lowell Pond is the scene or LovewelPs fight. when Massachu- setts company of 34 soldiers lost half it's number when ambushed by the Indians in 1725. It was in Fryeburg exactly 100 years later that Henry Wadsworth Longfel-
 low, Portland's famous poet,
 heard his first published poem,
 "Lovewelrs Fight" sung by chorus of school children William Dean Howells wrote or
 Fryeburg in novel while staying
 at hotel here. About 25 years ago Richard Harding Davis, then editor Of
 Munsey's. discovered wonderful fishing in Lovel's Pond and he introduced 1t to Newton Newkirk, Boston humorist, Irwin Cobb and other notables who have visited 1t frequently.
 Fryeburg has no motion picture theater nor pool room.
 Such are the surroundings amid which the great astronomers will gather. Fryeburg folk talk of lit- tie else these midsummer days.