In real life, I never planned to open a shop on the Coast of Maine called Frenchmans Bay Tea Co. -- I only dreamed about it. Now it has become a reality that I am very excited to share with you!
I am so thrilled to be able to welcome you to the real Frenchmans Bay Tea Co., sited on the 3 mile long peninsula of Sorrento, which is surrounded by the waters of Frenchmans Bay.
First, I must share a couple of things with you that are interesting about my new shop. It is housed in an old mobile home that we gutted and salvaged on a shoe string budget. Our major investment became the cost of several gallons of white paint that we used to transform it's dark, drab and dated interior. We wanted to create the look of a well-worn, yet inviting space that would house a retail shop for our raku pottery and fun vintage treasures as well as coffee, ice cream and sweet treats. Mission accomplished.
But there is one more thing about the location of our shop that I must share with you. When we acquired the property and the mobile home, it came with a long forgotten cemetery hidden in the woods, neglected and overgrown with vines, brambles and thick brush. Granite footers embedded with iron pipes were the only evidence left that it was once a burial ground, and where years ago all of the headstones were mysteriously removed.
In our efforts to restore this cemetery, we hope to honor the memory of each unknown person that is buried there by eventually placing a concrete monument on each of the 17 sites we have found to date. The above concrete cherub is one of the first monuments that we have placed in the cemetery for this purpose.
*********
Rather than delete my previous entries of pretend from this blog, from this date forward, I plan to use this site to share the goings on here at Frenchmans Bay Tea Co. as well as chronicle our fervent efforts to restore this long forgotten burial ground. I hope you join us in our quest to find out more about the identity of these forgotten residents of Sorrento as we continue to learn how they may link to the very customers that find their way into Frenchmans Bay Tea Co. Our adventure has just begun!
