Once An Apple Barn Once an apple barn, then a dance hall, then a restaurant, then several years when the old Woolwich building near the Woolwich-Wiscasset town line sat vacant. Now it's hopping, once again.

Back from the dead!

Have you noticed all the cars at the Montsweag? In the '90s it looked like nobody wanted the old place. In 2002, my wife and I met with Nick Sewall several times to talk about buying it, impressed by the 4.5 acres, with 1,000 feet running along the busiest road in the midcoast, and a run down barn loaded with history and charm, and selling for only $299,000.

Like many others, we didn't see what it was, but what it could be.

The history of the property was interesting. Nick showed us the legend on the back of an old menu which said, "Montsweag on Monseag (original spelling) was the old Abenaki Indian name for the tidal area from the Kennebec to the Sheepscot Rivers. In 1639 it belonged to Chief Mon-ho-ti-wormet, nicknamed Robin Hood.

Much later, in 1775, Hilton's Garrison overlooked Montsweag Brook, where Route 1 crosses it, and sheltered the settlers from agitated Native Americans. Forty years later, Colonel Jotham Clark operated a farm and built a wool fulling mill, where wool was shrunk and thickened. Then the property went through many owners, including the Puringtons, Butlers, Jewetts, and Dunklings, operating as an all-around farm, producing dairy, vegetable and orchard products. At one time, the barn was a dance hall.

The barn burned flat during the thirties and the present barn was built in 1939. War came, taking with it able-body apple pickers. Those who did not go off to fight found BIW shipbuilding more lucrative than climbing ladders in apple trees.

The cider press, located in the entrance where the bar is now, pressed many an apple. The ceiling doors are still in place and, when opened, allowed apples to slide down a chute to be graded and packed at ground level.

When the Sewalls bought the property, they attempted to save the orchard, but the trees were just too old.

In the 1950s, Mrs. Sewall established Merrymeeting Nurseries, planting red pine seedlings and white spruce Christmas trees. Meanwhile, from the apple business, former Governor Sewall, along with his two sons, Nick and Dave, transformed the place into a restaurant, featuring "no exotic sauces or gourmet inventions, but good food prepared simply, but well, at affordable prices."

The Sewall family closed the restaurant in the 1990's. A young couple leased it and unsuccessfully tried to make a go of it in 1999. When we considered buying it in 2002, the roof was sagging and leaking, the plumbing lines had burst from freezing, and we could almost hear the old girl moaning "repair me," no matter where we turned. While we were adding up our nickels and dimes, Paul Cooleen swooped in and bought it with plans for a clam bar. Paul had been in the North Tower of the World Trade Center on 9-11-01, and his values changed in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, he knew how fragile and uncertain this life is, and quickly decided to move his family to a safer, quieter place where he and his wife, Liz could focus on their children's well being. Cooleen's was born.

When it didn't make it, we grieved again for the old girl, but in 2006, Chris and Jenny Johnston came to her rescue. Having run the Five Islands Lobster Company for several years, Chris and Jenny knew what it would take to make a restaurant work, and resurrected the game plan that had worked so well for the Sewalls so many years before… good food at reasonable prices, along with a "Cheers" kind of bar experience. Bringing their slogan "Great Food - Good Times" to reality has led to continuous growth of their business, even in this year when most restaurants and retailers are complaining. It's a fun and laid back place to go and the food is good, so people keep coming back, and new people keep trying it.

From the start, Chris and Jenny have been committed to restoring the Montsweag to its landmark status. Renovations and upgrades to the old barn were needed before they could open for business, and they haven't stopped making improvements every season since.

Last year they got the patio waterfall working again and added some tables for outside dining. Within the last month they paved the front parking lot so patrons wouldn't have to step around the puddles to get inside, and improved the side parking lots. The downstairs will be air-conditioned this summer, with the upstairs soon to follow. The trees being cleared behind the building are making way for a sand volleyball court, horseshoe pit, and a play-scape where kids can climb, slide, and swing.

The Roadhouse experience involves daily meat and seafood specials along with appetizers, soups, salads, lobster, burgers, sandwiches, pasta, and entrees priced from $5 to $20. It is best known for good beef and seafood, incredible sweet potato fries, and its Beer Mug Club and "Beer-For-Toys" Christmas fund- raiser.