History of The Lane

We have been collecting stories from families that lived on "the Lane" in years past, and have two we'd like to share with you. These are great stories that are a great look back at the history of Portland's Christmas Street.

The Chartier Family

There was never anything more special than when Ed  Hawes would dress up as Santa Claus on Christmas Eve and come to every single  house on Peacock Lane.  He'd come into the house, and call everyone by  their name, adults and children alike. He really knew what we had all done  throughout the year to be naughty and nice, but always said gracious things  about every one of us. He'd pass out candy canes, hold each child on his  lap and talk to them, and then be onto the next house.  It was the  most incredible sight to small children to see him come in the front door and  call them by name.  

I'm not sure if you still have the summer street dance and potluck but I have many stories to share about those.  My Mom  (Frances Chartier) always participated but soon noticed that not everyone could participate in the evening street dance; particularly older  people.  So she organized and managed the potluck dinner that we had  every year prior to the street dance and it eventually became the biggest part  of the evening.  I think that was about 1958.  The Bloodgoods,  across the street and second house in from Belmont, owned a bakery further  down on Belmont.  They could never come to the street dance (which then  always started at 9:00) as they left to go to the bakery at 9:00 to work  through the night.  They were so happy to be able to join neighbors at  the potluck that they would always make a huge cake for the  potluck and as kids we would all gather to watch the beautifully  decorated cake be brought out of their delivery truck.

Upon graduation from Pharmacy School at OSU in  1966, my brother Joe went to Europe and came back with a beautiful set of  bagpipes that he wanted to learn to play.  Word soon spread on the street  that Joe had bagpipes and people came to see them.  He was so happy to  have them that one night at midnight he walked down the entire length of  the Peacock Lane playing the pipes. Not one neighbor complained,  they just knew it was Joe.  He went on to play for over 25 years with  Portland's Clan Maclay, the first non Scotsman to be invited into the bagpipe  band.