Robert, Margaret, Hazel, and the Anderson family

A wonderful local connection has made our Old Town House project possible. Robert Anderson of Anderson Landscaping Inc. has generously donated the site work for Old Town House at the Village Center. Robert grew up right here in North Yarmouth and has been an active business owner and community participant for many years, like his parents and grandparents before him.

The Anderson family has been in town since the 1920s. Robert’s parents Bob and Margaret Batson Anderson met at UMaine in Orono, married in 1951, and moved to North Yarmouth to farm in 1959. Robert’s grandparents Clifford and Hazel Anderson were there operating a woodworking business where snowshoes, baseball bats, and lobster traps were manufactured. The farm was the focus of the Anderson family; now, the property is taken up in part by Anderson Landscaping and by Toddy Brook Golf Course.

Back in the late 1980s motorists driving by Robert’s house down the way from Anderson Landscaping headquarters might have noticed Robert’s Personal Putting Green, set next to the house with a golf cart parked at its side … and a modest sign proclaiming “Cow Patty Country Club.” It was good for a laugh—but Robert was serious about golf! From Anderson pastureland, where cows grazed and Toddy Brook meandered, Robert created Toddy Brook Golf Course in 2002.

Margaret Anderson

Robert’s parents were Bob and Margaret Batson Anderson. After moving to North Yarmouth, Margaret and Bob worked hand-in-hand to build a potato and cattle farm while raising four children, until Bob died suddenly in 1983. Many neighbors recall buying beef from Margaret’s freezer … remember her dry sense of humor … and her lifelong constantly-in-motion energy. She was a homemaker, a long time 4- H leader, a Sunday School teacher, a nature lover, a bridge player and a bowler! She died in 2018.

 

Clifford and Hazel Anderson in 1925.

Robert’s grandmother Hazel Anderson was another active family member. In 1952 she founded The Cheerful Workers, the largest 4-H Club in Cumberland County, and led it for 20 years. She was the 1966 Homemaker of the Year. She helped to organize North Yarmouth’s Town Health Council and the community Christmas tree, and delivered Christmas bouquets to local shut-ins. She, like her husband Clifford, was a photographer and member of the Portland Camera Club. The couple traveled extensively, shooting the American landscape as they went.

And Hazel was a longtime Walnut Hill Garden Club member and president. A memorial stone dedicated to her is a part of the Walnut Hill Memorial Garden, a beautiful remembrance that will now be part of the grounds of the Old Town House. We’d like to think that Hazel—along with the rest of Robert’s forebears—is smiling down at her grandson’s good work.