Camden Corners Volume Three — Jane O'Brien

On the first day of summer in 1973, the grandest hotel and resort in Camden Corners opened for business. The resort was called simply The Merryweather in honor of the family who built and resided in the stately old mansion throughout the eighteen and early nineteen hundred's. It was the dream of young entrepreneurs, Tracy Robinson, and Holly Mackenzie to preserve as much of the main building and grounds as possible. The folks of Camden Corners were skeptical the old place could be restored and thought the young women may have been in over their heads. They were determined to follow through with the project. On the day of the closing, they discovered an old trunk that had been pushed into the rafters on the third floor. Inside were dozens of journals written by women who lived in Camden Corners at the beginning of the twentieth Century. Most every family now residing in Camden Corners have ancestors who lived and raised families in the small town and were represented by a journal or two from the past. After the discovery of the journals, even the most skeptical of the longtime residents began to embrace the idea of restoring the mansion to its original condition and were more than willing to lend a hand. The journals and framed photographs of the men, women, and children decorated the walls and glass cases on the first floor of the resort. At least three times a day, the cleaning crew cleaned fingerprints from the cases as people looked through the glass to read a page or two of the now famous journals. Each morning a page was turned every journal to the next day's entry. Residents and visitors alike felt a special bond with the authors of the diaries keeping their memories alive long after their passing.