MARS HILL, Maine — The town of Mars Hill awarded a gold-tipped Boston Post Cane to its oldest resident — 97-year-old Charlie Smith — on Wednesday, continuing a New England tradition more than a century old.
Mars Hill Town Manager David Cyr gave Smith the cane and a plaque in a ceremony held at the town office and attended by Smith’s wife, Alma. More than 20 of Smith’s friends attended, all wishing him well on this new accomplishment. They laughed as they told stories about Smith’s time working in the farm industry.
“I had a chicken hatchery here at one point,” Smith said. “That was quite a while ago.”
To put Smith’s long and illustrious life in perspective, he was born in 1922, less than four years after the end of World War I. Warren G. Harding, himself born in 1865, was the U.S. president at the time.
Cyr also spoke about changes that have occurred in Mars Hill since Smith’s time. While new technology and trends have arrived, he said the community has a lot in common with its former self.
“We are still a farming community. The amount of farmers has gone down, but the amount of acreage has held steady,” Cyr said. “That has been arguably the one constant in Mars Hill. And [Smith] contributed to that.”
Steve Hitchcock, the founder of the Central Aroostook Historical Society, said that Smith made his mark running the Fort Fairfield Potato Company in Mars Hill. He said Smith had a “good work history” in the area and had been active in the local Mars Hill United Methodist Church for many years.
The Boston Post newspaper began the tradition in 1909 when they sent hundreds of gold-capped canes to town officials across New England. Cyr said that four or five Mars Hill residents had been awarded the current cane, which is a replica.
