First Date Bracelet

Up in Farm Country

I took a new girlfriend to a Shakespearean theater… up country in Maine. I’d read about it. I dressed for it. A seersucker suit with a fine blue stripe, 36” waist, and a simple light-colored summer tie. She dressed for the occasion in a great skirt and top. We were sharp. I would list this trip to the Monmouth Theater as one of my top ten best early dates. The car was a gray Toronado. I was in my 30’s; she’d not yet turned 30.

The Monmouth Theater is in Monmouth Maine next to a long lake. If you go, it’s up in farm country, above Lewiston and Auburn. We could actually smell the cattle in the fields as we drove up the lake. That doesn’t sound exotic. It was part of the authenticity of the occasion.

The theater came as a total surprise. It looked like a Victorian castle. We parked in a field. The crowd was older, 50s plus, well dressed, and neatly attired. They all looked like they belonged. I remember feeling very sophisticated.

This was before air conditioning at the theater. As we entered the building, I remember the heat of that summer night. The staircase wound up through the tower. The theater took my breath away because it simply did not belong in the middle of farm country. It looked like a fancy Broadway theater in New York City. The play was by Shakespeare, I remember nothing of it. The date went well.

The theater in Monmouth was built in 1898 by a local kid who went away, did well, and had the place built for his hometown. It’s actually outrageous, totally out of place and magnificent. A favorite detail from the painted ceiling was the three graces in long flowing gowns. There are cherubs flying high and one little cherub winging backward with a pair of binoculars looking at one of the two lovely ladies. If you get the chance, go, the building is a hoot, it simply does not belong in farm country. And yes, it’s air-conditioned now.

Our bracelet has five detailed panels from the Art Nouveau period. Late Victorian to 1920s. The scenes are of lovely Goddesses and lovely women. My favorite is the panel with the three flying cherubs and thus, the connection to Cumston Hall in Monmouth, Maine.

Bracelet length 7 ¾”, all sterling silver.