NacNab's Tea Room.

Who among us doesn't have a handful (at least) of anecdotes about a trip to 5 Yu Lu Tea Lane in Boothbay to see Proprietress Fran Browne and that High Priestess of Tea (as I was fond of calling her), Nancy Hilton? Tea was poured, teacups were tipped, conversations were held and confidences were shared — all punctuated with laughter.

Always, there was laughter.

And then, things began to change. Fran retired from the business due to health reasons, and then, this year, came Nancy's untimely death on June 17. For the patrons, many of them friends of Fran and Nancy, came the realization that the tea room's doors would forever be closed. The “happening” Fran and Nancy created, had come to an end.

But the spirit of MacNab's, the giving and sharing, camaraderie and acceptance, and the preparation and serving of tea, lives on. It lives on in every cup of a MacNab's tea still being brewed, by the hundreds of patrons that walked through its doors.

It lives on in the knitting groups, begun sometime in 1991 with quilting and needlepoint classes, shortly after the brewing began on an icy Valentine's Day, that continue to get together at the YMCA while searching for a permanent place to meet between the stitches and pearling, the pouring and drinking.

And it lives on in the memory of every person who walked through the door and, no doubt, left with a smile on his or her face.

And to think that charming building could have been an art gallery; that was Fran's original plan when she purchased the property, but zoning laws at the time would not permit it. Browne and Hilton, a student of the science of herbology, and a reader of tea leaves (tasseography), began talking about tea rooms.

According to Jeff Browne, Fran’s son, the pair went on a tour of England and Scotland, focusing on the tea rooms and sheep and alpaca farms that produced yarns in the fall of 1990.

Not two months into the new year, MacNab's Tea Room was born, named for Fran's mother, whose passing provided her with the means to purchase the property — the tea room, a home and a barn. The name was also a nod of acknowledgment to the many families of Scottish descent that settled on the Boothbay peninsula.

Since the closing, Jeff has been there two to three hours a day taking inventory of the teas, yarns, tea cozies, tea cups, tea pots, and other tea drinking accoutrements, for liquidation.

“Time evaporates here,” said Jeff, of the tea room. “My mother and Nancy created a 'happening.' They had a lot of solicitation over the years from people wanting to know how to open their own tea rooms.

"But it's still not over, every day someone stops by to see what's going on, or to buy something used at the tea room."

Last week three women came by while I was interviewing Jeff. They came for some yarn, but 98 percent of it had been sold to a local fiber artist just a few days before.

The dismay the women felt was evident on their faces.

Maria Kosinski, the most vocal of the trio (which included her daughter and granddaughter), said she had discovered MacNab's three summers ago.

"I was totally enchanted by the atmosphere, and the two ladies were so wonderful," Kosinski said. "I had trouble tearing myself away. Boothbay Harbor needs a place like this. It's very sad."

The knitting groups were very familiar with the quality of MacNab's yarns and used them for their projects. Over the years, Madames Browne and Hilton also carried soy and vegetable-based yarn varieties.

Joan Zehm of Edgecomb joined the knitting group two and a half years ago.

"People join for various reasons, some are expert knitters who share their skills," Zehm said. "Everyone works on their own projects. We were all devastated by Nancy's death. She was the heart of the group. Nancy just drew people in; she was an interesting character and a very welcoming presence. She made tea and cookies, listened to everyone's problems and just absorbed it all."

"The companionship was great, you know. Everyone was greeted like 'Norm' in the TV show ‘Cheers’ when they walked in," Zehm said.

One of the expert knitters, Joanie Ackerman, came in to see Jeff the same day to purchase teacups, teapots, etc. for the knitting group to use during their sessions — anything Nancy used, as physical reminders of their much missed friend.

"It's a great loss," Ackerman said of Hilton's death, and that of MacNab's.

While the knitting group made caps that arrived with a complimentary bag of tea for servicemen and women in Kuwait and Afghanistan (worn under their helmets), purple hats for newborns (for the National "Period of Purple Crying"), prayer shawls and more, the High Priestess of Tea's fondness for tea blending alchemy was in high gear.

Hilton created blends for businesses locally including Enchantments, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Burnt Island Light, Sarah's Cafe; and in Texas for The Yarn Barn. Some blends were created to support organizations, such as Tit for Tat Tea — a blend of organic rose hips, chrysanthemum blossoms, and black teas — 25 percent of the proceeds were donated to the Susan B. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research.

This particular tea blend was inspired by a minor uproar in the community resulting from an ad placed in the Boothbay Register and Wiscasset Newspapers by an art gallery featuring an image of a classic painting with a semi-nude woman as its subject.

One could never tell what would inspire Hilton to create a blend, and neither could she! Other blends carrying the MacNab's label: Monk's Blend, Lemon Myrtle, Hooghly Holler, Sea Urchin Green, State of Maine, and Holiday — black tea mixed with cardamom, cinnamon, vanilla, rose petals, orange peel and almond bits.

And, now, they are all collector's items. The amounts of each flavor, flower and tea — green, black, white or oolong — in those blends left this world with the High Priestess. Jeff will sell teas remaining in the 200-plus year old building to folks who stop by, although he plans to wrap everything up in another few weeks.

The MacNab's blend, however, was created by John Harney, a master tea blender from Salisbury, Conn. in 1992, in response to Fran and Nancy's request.

In addition to blends made for them and their own blends, MacNab's Tea Room carried teas from around the world. By 2006, they were carrying 100 different teas and tea blends!

That's quite a tea stash.

Yes, on any given day, every patron that entered MacNab's Tea Room was greeted warmly; whether you came for High Tea or Afternoon Tea, begun in 1993; to pick up a package of MacNab's scone mixes (named for Fran's grandsons Blake, Malcolm and Quincy), to buy a MacNab's recipe book, which included recipes contributed by friends and patrons; to browse the selection of tea-infused foods, which included green tea chocolate and jasmine tea flavored cookies; or to attend a tea tasting event.

But, let's be honest: What day wasn't a tea tasting event at MacNab's?