Events at Member Institutions

Join Les Fossel of Old House Restoration, Jonathan Hall of Maine Preservation, and the Greenhorns team for a weekend intensive workshop to learn traditional skills and methods of historic preservation in Pembroke, ME. Washington County has some of the finest 18th and 19th century architecture on the Atlantic seaboard, much of it imperiled by our cold winters, shrinking population and thin economic base. The civic buildings, churches and halls of Downeast were built during the age of sail, lumber, ship building and early industrial development of our rivers. Now the rivers are being restored—but what about the buildings! There is a critical need for farmers and skilled tradespersons in Washington County. With the rest of the Atlantic coast increasingly out of reach, this is a place where a person willing to swing a hammer can actually get some equity going! This is the topic of a strategic session on historic preservation, led by Les, a tireless advocate of the practice and one of New England's foremost preservation contractors. Join us for walkabouts, networking lunches, and skill-building hands-on workshops as we contend with the reality all around us, including the 1896-built Oddfellows Hall, now "Reversing Hall", that is the home of Greenhorns. We will visit other great buildings, talk about triage and approaches, review the existing learning opportunities, and bust out the hammers ourselves. Meals provided by Smithereen Farm, donations appreciated. For more information contact development@greenhorns.org or 603 381 1115. Sign up here. 

Induction Ceremony August 8^that the Silver Spur

All are invited to attend The Maine Country Music Hall of Fame Annual Induction Ceremony on Sunday, August 8^th, 2021 at the Silver Spur 272 Lewiston Street, Rt. 121, Mechanic Falls, Maine.  Doors will open at 11 AM and the ceremony and musical show will begin at 12 noon.  Admission is $15 and tickets may be purchased by calling Nancy Crosby at 207-645-2472.  The snack counter will be open to purchase a lunch.

This year we will be honoring both the 2020 and 2021 inductees.  2020 inductees include Bucky Mitchell, Don Nickerson and Paul Main.  Promoter inductees are Sue Baker, Wagon Wheel Ranch; Pati Crooker, Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass Festival; Greg and Sandy Cormier, Blistered Fingers Bluegrass Festival; Norm Poulin, Country Music Pioneer Shows; and Dick Stacey, Dick Stacey’s Jamboree.  2021 inductees include Jeff Dustin, Phil and Ellen LaClaire, and Pard Letellier, as well as Hall of Fame co-founder Gini Huntington.

There will be raffles and prizes including a handmade quilt and a pair of tickets to the Maine State Music Theatre production of “Ring of Fire,” a Johnny Cash musical presented at the Portland Stage Theatre, Forest Ave, Portland through the month of August.

Hiram Historical Society

presents

A special trolley tour of

Hidden Historic Houses of 1820

A Maine State Bicentennial Event

Sunday August 1, 2021 at 2:00pm

Great Ossipee Museum

20 Historical Ridge, Hiram 04041

The Museum will be open 1 hour before and after the tour

Trolley departs precisely at 2pm from the Museum

Tour is expected to last 1 ½ hours

SEATS ARE LIMITED TO 35

YOU MUST RESERVE A SEAT IN ADVANCE

Tickets are $25.00 or $20 each for two

Send check payable to Hiram Historical Society

To Donna Ward, PO Box 35, Hiram 04041

FMI 207-625-4790 or 207-615-4390

Tate House Museum will be opening for the season on July 1st. Tours are Thursday through Saturday with first tour at 10AM on the hour until the last tour at 3PM. Tickets are online only at www.tatehouse.org and masks are required regardless of vaccination status. Tidkets are $15 adults, $12 seniors and $7 children under 12. FMI: hkhurd@tatehouse.org or 774-6177

The Kerck Kelsey Research Room Dedication

Friday, August 13th 1:00-3:00

Norlands Living History Center, Livermore, Maine

Albert (Kerck) Van Boskerck Kelsey, 1933–2020

Have you ever wondered about the granite, gothic building on the grounds of the Norlands Living History Center in Livermore, Maine? This is your chance to see the inside as we pay tribute to Albert “Kerck” Kelsey and dedicate the Research Room to his memory.

Kerck Kelsey had deep roots in the Norlands. He was the sixth-generation descendant of Israel Washburn, through son Cadwallader. Using the Washburn Memorial Library resources, he researched and wrote three histories of the Washburn Family: Prairie Lightning: The Rise and Fall of William Drew Washburn, Israel Washburn Jr.: Maine’s Little-Known Giant of the Civil War and Remarkable Americans: The Washburn Family. A successful businessman, historian and lecturer, he never tried of extoling the accomplishments of the Washburn family.  

On Friday, August 13^th a dedication ceremony will be held on the lawn of the library from 1:00-3:00. Library tours will take place an hour before the ceremony. Come and tour the library, listen in to the ceremony, view the research displays and see the renovations made to the Norlands’ archive. 

Join us for a free Zoom discussion on Wednesday, May 26th at 12 pm for a discussion on whether proposed bills to ban foreign involvement in Maine election referendums violate our First Amendment rights, or are they a sensible extension of federal precedent? You be the judge! 

Register for Zoom.

Friday Oct 1, 2021 the Center for Painted Wall Preservation is hosting a Connecticut River Valley Talk and Tour of homes with painted murals and overmantels! These residences are not normally open to the public. The Talk will begin at 9:30 AM at the Lyme Center Academy Building and box lunches and maps will be distributed after the talk for those registered for the event. Pre-registration $50/person including box lunch is necessary at www.pwpcenter.org and will open Aug. 1. We look forward to meeting you and sharing this rare opportunity to view these marvelous painted folk art murals and their history.  Masks and proof of Covid vaccination will be required.   

Tuesday, May 18, 2021 at 5:30 pm

Via Zoom.  Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ubLu3KWMT-icgoK0xtz8tw

While approximately 95,000 Mainers served in World War II, many do not know that entire units of Mainers were activated even before the nation was at war. Soldiers in Maine’s National Guard saw service all across the globe, from the Pacific to Europe – and even at home. This presentation will highlight the role of Maine’s citizen-soldiers during World War II.

Captain Jonathan Bratten, presenting. Captain Jonathan Bratten is the Command Historian for the Maine National Guard. In this capacity, he has produced multiple articles on the history of Maine's soldiers, appearing in such publications as “The New York Times,” “The Washington Post,” and “Army History.” He has also appeared in the Smithsonian Channel documentary, “Americans Underground: Secret Cities of World War I” and served as a historian in France for the Army’s World War I Centennial commemorations. His book To the Last Man: A National Guard Regiment in the Great War, 1917-1919 was published in the summer of 2020 from Army University Press. Captain Bratten has been selected as the Army Center of Military History’s Scholar in Residence at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and will report there in June of 2021.

Join the Tate House Museum for a Zoom lecture on Thursday, May 13 at 6:00 p.m. with noted architectural historian Scott T. Hanson as he presents an illustrated talk about how to restore your historic house in a way that preserves its most important features and makes it livable for the 21st century. Scott will take us through several case studies of sensitive renovations as well as practical information about planning your project and the ups and downs you might encounter along the way.

Scott T. Hanson is an author, architectural historian and preservation consultant. His most recent book, Restoring Your Historic House, was released in December 2019 and won the 2020 Excellence in Publishing award from Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance.

This online lecture, presented by the Tate House Museum in partnership with the Stroudwater Neighborhood Association, is $5 for THM and SNA members and $10 for the general public. Visit our website www.tatehouse.org to purchase tickets.

Annual Herb and Plant Sale at the Tate House Museum on Saturday, May 22, 2021 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. featuring perennials divided from the Tate House Museum garden and members’ gardens. And if you have no room for perennials in your garden, there will also be a variety of annual flowers, vegetable seedlings and hanging baskets to choose from.

Tate House Museum is located at 1267 Westbrook Street in the Stroudwater Historic District of Portland.

For more information, please call 207-774-6177 or email info@tatehouse.org.