In 1996 I spoke to Allen Bingston about his property. In 1954 he bought the 46 acres with the house on the east side of Main Road for $4,000. The next year, when we returned, a neighbor said that there had been talk, among the year round residents, of burning me out because I had raised the property values so much that some of them could no longer afford their taxes. Allen and I walked along the shore one day. He said that the property used to extend down to the ocean in a gentle slope. Then one year, probably in the 70’s, a boat came in and dragged the ocean floor for clams and two weeks later a south easter came in and washed out the bank and took out the new Pripet wharf. After that the beach erosion started and progressed every year.

I had dinner last night with the lady who once owned the real Pripet Post office. I asked her about the history of the house. The old Pripet Post Office. The house just south of the Corderman’s, not the little shack that has Post Office written on it.

We bought the house in 1984 for $24,000. There was no indoor plumbing and we worked on the house for two years. It was 3.3 acres with 150 feet of waterfront.* My daughter was 13 years old and she was outraged by our toilet. It consisted of a one holer with plastic bags that we emptied daily. My husband and I updated the house with inside plumbing etc. and finally sold the house to Mrs. Glassman for $150,000. My inlaws were staying with us and Ms. Glassman came to look at the house. She spent three hours going over the place. The realestate agent said that she was very interested. My father in law, not knowing that Mr Glassman had died, said, “well, she cannot make the decision to buy because her husband is not here.” My mother in law was very passive about this remark. When we learned that Ms Glassman was on the Maine Supreme Court my mother in law said, “Well, I guess she could make up her mind.” She was very smug. My inlaws were different.

I do not know if the little building just north of the Judge's house was ever a post office. It may have been either before or after we owned the now Judge's house.

(from the editor)
* Somewhere I saw a town rule that stated that a waterfront lot had to have 150 feet of shore front. When you look at the property map you see that the land with the house is 90 feet wide until it almost reaches the beach at which point it makes a 90 degree turn north so that there are 150 feet of shore front. Allen Bengston probably sold off that piece of land to a previous owner so that they could conform with the zoning restrictions.