What’s in a name – Alcohol Mary Road

Photo: Jackie Rybeck

TOWN ROAD – Alcohol Mary Road is located off Route 219 in Greenwood. It was home to Mary Heikkinen, who was rumored to have sold home brew during the prohibition days.

GREENWOOD – Deep in the hills of Greenwood there is a short town way named Alcohol Mary Road.

According to Blaine Mills, town historian, there isn’t much information about Mary Heikkinen, the woman who lived in a small cabin at the corner of the road.

“Most everything I heard was pretty much hearsay,” he smiled. “But years ago I had some of the old timers talk about Mary and how she perhaps sold a bit of home brew during the prohibition days. From what they said, she made some pretty good stuff, and that’s how her nickname came about.”

But even if Mary made home brewed beer, she wasn’t alone.

“Back then, it was rumored that many people made home brew,” he added. “Even my father made some, one spring up in the barn. I’ll never forget it. The sun came out and some bottles blew up all over my mother’s car; it was the last time he did that!”

Edwin Hertell was Mary’s great-grandson and his recollection was not of homebrew, but of wine.

“I don’t really remember a lot about her, as she passed away in the late 30’s, when I was around six years old,” he said. “But from what I remember, she made blackberry wine.”

“She probably didn’t sell that much,” he added. “And it was back in the day when you couldn’t buy liquor on Sunday. It was pretty tough times back then and she may have done it to make a little extra money during the Depression.”

According to Hertell, Mary was from Finland and perhaps grew up, or at least lived, in Errol, New Hampshire.

“I know my grandfather went to work at a hotel in Errol and that’s where he met my grandmother, which was Mary’s daughter. So I figure she must have lived there at some point. I don’t know when she moved here to Maine, but this entire area here of Greenwood was pretty much a Finnish settlement.”

But the road’s name is not something that sets too well with Hertell.

“I am a bit disturbed by the name of the road,” he admitted. “It sounds somewhat disrespectful, and I would feel that way if it was someone else’s family.”

Hertell would prefer to have his great-grandmother remembered as just a nice lady, not a bootlegger.

“She was just a woman who lived in a small-town cabin in the woods and minded her own business. I remember her walking down to visit us at the farm; we lived about a mile away.”

“She lived to be around 80, which was quite a feat in those days,” he added. “Actually there seemed to be quite a bit of longevity with the Finnish in the area, as many of them lived a long life, including my parents.”

Was it perhaps the blackberry wine?

“It could have been, I guess,” Hertell chuckled. “They say it’s not bad for you!”