Cover photo

Maine Island Cabin: The Fire

On August 22nd, 2022 a fire took our beloved family cabin. I wrote this article a week after the incident.

Jack Dishman

Jack Dishman

post image
Top image is the results of the fire, bottom is an an aerial shot of before (2022)

If you've been up to Maine with us, you've experienced the cabin on Huk Queem-o island and the serenity surrounding Lower Wilson Pond. The island name came from mimicking the sound of loon calls.

post image

My late grandfather, Robert Dishman, a profound Political Science professor at the University of New Hampshire and author, purchased the Dishman family camp for $300 in the early 1960s. Before the island served as capsule for family memories, it stood as a boy's summer camp. The history on the island marks an intersect for both new and old generations enjoying nature and its beauty.

post image

My favorite memories include building a rope swing with my uncles, wakeboarding, and fishing at night after dinner. This camp offered an escape from my reality back in Boston. It was a place where real world stresses disappeared against the sunsets on the back porch and the sounds of the wind through the trees. This is the place I considered my happy place.

post image

The cabin burnt down this past week, leaving only the chimney and smoking debris as remains. All signs point towards an electrical wiring malfunction from solar panel work done the previous day, installed by an apprentice electrician.

post image

Fortunately, nobody was injured or harmed in the fire. Our incredible friends and neighbors, David Ketchum and his family, noticed the flames and alerted Greenville Fire Department. I, along with the entire Dishman family, extend our deepest gratitudes towards the first responders, The Ketchum Family, and my uncle Pat Schaefer and aunt Dee Dishman, who helped transport the firefighters across the pond.

post image

The Maine Forest Rangers and Greenville Firefighters contained the flames and created a perimeter to stop the spread.

post image

I was up there last week just chilling, what I've been doing my entire life, and now it's gone. This is the second fire that we've had as a family. Back in 2018, we had a house fire in Swampscott that woke us up in the middle of the night. Maine was my place of refugee after the first house fire. It symbolized my childhood and early life there. Both fires taught me life can change overnight so be grateful for today.

post image

The island is full of time capsules and sentimental memories. The artifact that I believe is the biggest loss is the Guest Book, where our friends and family staying with us would sign and describe their stay. Entries consisted of my first time as an infant up there and entries spanned back further than that with fishing stories from my Grandpa, whose ashes went down with the fire on the mantle. I wish those stories were engraved in stone.

As we begin the cleanup and start thinking about the rebuild, I would like to capture memories and images from Maine. If you'd like to write a post or send me an email to [me@jackdishman.com] with your guest book memory / entry, I am planning on hosting these stories in a way that will be preserved outside of a physical copy and also displaying them up in Maine for future guests to read.

post image

This was originally written and posted in September 2022 on BlogChain, and was lost for ~2 years after the product was shut down (IPFS content was unpinned). This article was recently discovered thanks to my mom taking screenshots of it at the time!

Bonus pics of interior!!!

post image
World's most comfortable couch and family
post image
Deck we rebuilt the summer before it burnt down. My first true project using a drill
post image
My old dog trying to get up on the bed at his old age

Thanks for reading along! In the next article, I'll talk about the cleanup and framing the rebuild!

Collect this post as an NFT.

Subscribe to dish to receive new posts directly to your inbox.

Jack DishmanFarcaster
Jack Dishman
Commented 8 months ago

Part one of my writing series documenting the island's story. Please like, subscribe, ask questions, share with your peeps, or don't! It's really for my records, but I hope you enjoy if you're into it 😁 Maine Island Cabin: The Fire

Jack DishmanFarcaster
Jack Dishman
Commented 8 months ago
colfaxFarcaster
colfax
Commented 8 months ago

holy shit this is crazy man. it's looking so good. rough go with that fire... can't even imagine

Block.base.eth 🔵Farcaster
Block.base.eth 🔵
Commented 8 months ago

Now we can understand the history of this island even deeper, thank you!

Jack DishmanFarcaster
Jack Dishman
Commented 8 months ago

Next article I’ll talk about the local town more too, thanks for following along!

Block.base.eth 🔵Farcaster
Block.base.eth 🔵
Commented 8 months ago

I'm really interested! there is so much in the world that we don’t even know about, but thanks to people like you we learn something new

Jack DishmanFarcaster
Jack Dishman
Commented 8 months ago

True that, I think we can learn something from everyone!

BBBFarcaster
BBB
Commented 8 months ago

this is so good. makes me feel like a complete dunce though. i have to replace external window trim this weekend and i have absolutely no idea what to do. i'm in a youtube handyman home depot k-hole and you guys are over here building a house. unreal.

Jack DishmanFarcaster
Jack Dishman
Commented 8 months ago

You've got this, @jianbing.eth!! Doesn't have to be perfect. Make sure to use a shim if you're replacing the entire frame to keep the window frames off the base. If it's just the external trim (aesthetics, not structural), you shouldn't have to worry about that!

BBBFarcaster
BBB
Commented 8 months ago

i may have commented on the wrong post - the fire is not excellent, but rebuild is :x

NutellaCrepe 🎩🍖Farcaster
NutellaCrepe 🎩🍖
Commented 8 months ago

I'm so sorry about the cabin, fires are devastating. What you said there, that you wish everything was written in stone, I felt that 💜 Can't wait to read more of this

Jack DishmanFarcaster
Jack Dishman
Commented 8 months ago

Thank you @nutellacrepe.eth 🙌 🪨

Sean Wince 🎩Farcaster
Sean Wince 🎩
Commented 8 months ago

420 $degen

ParagraphFarcaster
Paragraph
Commented 8 months ago

The Dishman family cabin on Huk Queem-o island, a cherished retreat since the 1960s, recently burned down due to an electrical malfunction. Thankfully, no one was hurt. The family plans to rebuild and seeks to preserve memories from the lost Guest Book. Read more from @dish.

Maine Island Cabin: The Fire