Peggy the Bear

Let me tell you a story about Peggy the Bear. In the July 1993 issue of the Provoncha Newsletter I wrote a story about a picture I had found of a black bear. Since my dad Harold had died in 1991, I had to ask my Uncle Ken what he knew about the photo. He handed me a business card, and told me this tale.

Apparently, back in the summer of 1937, my grandparents, Albia and Lois Provoncha, ran a gas station 3 miles south of Middlebury.  It was called  The Bear Filling Station and Uncle Ken remembered that they moved there to live in May, spent the whole summer, and moved out in October of the same year.

Obviously, there was a gas station, but there were also over-night cabins and a small restaurant serving hot meals on weekends. You could also buy candy, cigarettes, and other items through a window. And then there was Peggy, a black bear chained to a pole and fenced in near the restaurant.

Customers could buy root beer, without the fizz, to feed to Peggy. You can see her drinking here, but you can also see the chain. Not something you see in this day and age, but I guess back in 1937, it was not so uncommon. Or maybe it was! Maybe people drove miles to visit Peggy.

According to Uncle Ken, Grandpa Albia contniued to work daily at Caswell's Garage which was located on Washington Street in Middlebury. Grandma Lois made the hot meals on the weekends.  Uncle Moose and my dad Harold were in their teens, so they tended the gas station. Uncle Ken said he was only 11 so he drank soda, ate candy, and bottled the root beer for Peggy. Enjoying her fizzless root beer...

I know by the 1940s, Albia owned the Esso station on Main Street that my Uncle Moose took over in the 1950s. He ran it until his death in 1968. Lois and Albia retired and moved to live in a trailer in Bristol. But for one brief summer, they ran a place that had a bear named Peggy!

I be interested to know if anyone had heard of this place. Leave a comment if you did!