An open letter to a newlywed
ANTOINETTE JACKSON Mangia! Mangia!

Dear Karlie Rose,

As you and Daniel begin a new life together, your grandfather and I would like to share part of your East Coast roots with you.

We wish you and your new groom could have traveled from where you live in Riverside, California to your great grandparents' home in Portland, Maine.

Your Great Grandmother Catherine Jackson would have welcomed you both with a big smile and a warm hug-just like the ones that captured me when we first met at The Jetport in 1974.

Great grandfather Richard Jackson would have greeted you with his gentle smile and a loving embrace. Immediately, you'd feel not only welcome, but that you were at home with your newly discovered Yankee roots.

The winding two lane roadways and the traditional colonial style homes that lined the route from the airport to their home would have enchanted you.

Reaching the destination, you'd be impressed by the two-story home built in the mid-1700's. The historic white clapboard frame with forest green shutters would have beckoned you to come inside.

Entering through the enclosed back porch, which is used to keep foods cool in the winter and mosquitoes away in the summer, you'd find yourself in a small but efficient kitchen. The cabinets, painted olive green in the 1970's, would call attention to the highly polished brass latches obviously carried over from a different era.

Instantly, you would sense that some of the best pot roasts, hot breads and warm apple pies ever tasted were prepared in this room.

Great Grandfather Jackson would tell you the structure, formerly the pastor's living quarters, was originally built next to the congregational church. To make room for expansion in the late 1950's, the home was professionally moved two blocks north to its present location where he painstakingly restored it.

Great Grandmother Jackson would show you through the charming structure, telling you of its history room by room. Here in the tastefully furnished Pastor's Parlor, is one of the original chairs used by visitors, she would say.

The Duncan Phyfe sofa, porcelain statues of graceful ballerinas and colonial ladies in hooped skirts on the shelves reinforce your great grandmother's efforts to decorate the room in the style of its day.

In the adjoining dining room, the Jackson family coat of arms hangs next to the china cabinet. In front of it, the lace covered Sheridan style dining room suite recounts happy memories of the many holiday meals she served here.

Walking up the stairs, ducking so as not to bump your head, you'd find three bedrooms. Highly varnished beautiful hardwood floors are strategically covered with small woolen colonial rugs. Great Grandfather Jackson would point out that each room had a functional fireplace he had boarded up to prevent the New England winds from curling down the chimney.

A cotton tufted chenille bedspread woven at the historic Bates Mill in Lewiston covers each double bed.

Fighting the temptation to throw your luggage on the bed in your room, your new husband carefully places the bag on the cedar chest protected by a hand crocheted doilies.

Moving up to the lace-curtained window facing Nevens Street, if you crane your neck to the right you can catch a glimpse of the Woodford's Congregational Church.

There, on Nov. 25, 1974, with the Jackson family in attendance, your grandfather and I exchanged our wedding vows.

Going back down the stairs and then down the stairway into the basement, you'd notice a ping-pong table, washer, dryer and large laundry sinks.

Dad would call your attention overhead to the method of construction. The timbers making up the basement floor/ceiling joists were hand-hewn and hammered in place with square headed-nails that indicate the age of the structure.

During your stay, previously unknown relatives from throughout Maine would drop by.

They too would immediately make you and your new husband feel like you are long lost family who has returned home.

With them, you'd enjoy some of the finest desserts and meals home prepared by one of Portland's finest caterers: your Great Grandmother Catherine and her able assistant, husband Richard Jackson.

Outside the Jackson home, you would enjoy Maine lobster caught that morning alongside the coastline.

Fried clams, haddock, and scallops would take on a new flavor that only locally caught seafood can boast.

Driving past Casco Bay you'd arrive at the signature landmark and often-photographed Portland Headlight. You'd marvel at the dramatic difference between the rocky coast of Maine and sandy beaches of the West Coast.

And, when the appointed days were ended, you and Daniel would be driven back to the airport.

Traveling the now familiar two lane winding roads, you would be proud of your newly discovered New England heritage, yet saddened that the time had come to bid your Jackson family farewell.

Sadly, Karlie Rose, your great grandparents no longer live in their beloved home on Nevens Street. They are now permanently entombed in South Portland's Forest City Cemetery where you can only visit their memorial stone covered cremains.

I regret that you and your young groom cannot share this marvelous experience that I was so blessed with more than 30 years ago.

Hopefully, this word picture I have painted of a new bride meeting your grandfather's family for the first time tells you how deep your New England roots reach and conveys some of the love the Jackson Family would have showered upon you if you two would have traveled to their home in Portland.

Someday, your grandfather and I hope to be able to personally escort you on this special journey. Until then, you have our good wishes and prayers for a long, happy life together.

Love, Grandpa Bob and Grandma Ann

Stuffed Pheasant for Eight

From the kitchen of Catherine Jackson. Handwritten by her on a 3 x 5 recipe card.

Ingredients: Two each 3 to 4 pound pheasants, salt, bread stuffing, fat for frying, 1 cup water.

Procedure: For each pound of pheasant, allow ½ cup of favorite bread stuffing. Stuff loosely. Sew or skewer opening together. Brown pheasants in hot fat in pressure-cooker pan. Add water. Cover. Set control at 10.

Cook 20 to 30 minutes (depending on age of birds) after control jiggles. Cool 5 minutes then place pan under cold water to reduce pressure quickly.

!

Antoinette Jackson is a Bullard-area resident. You may reach her at Antojxn@aol.com.