Harraseeket Heritage Day: Tickets available!
Join us for an exciting day and evening on the waterfront in South Freeport on June 23. Families and individuals are invited to come down to Brewer South Freeport Marine for a lively public celebration of Freeport’s maritime past, including viewing, touring or sailing aboard the historic schooner Bowdoin; trying their hand at knot-tying and oar-making with the Compass Project; enjoying maritime shanties and jigs; and more.
In the evening, a fabulous Harborside Gala will be staged, also at Brewer South Freeport Marine, with entertainment by the Jason Spooner Trio, light food and beverages, and both silent and live auction as well as Giving Tree. All events will benefit the Freeport Historical Society and their public programs and two historic properties.
Celebrating the maritime history of Freeport, the schooner Bowdoin will be at the dock at Brewer South Freeport Marine for viewing, deck tours and sailing adventures. The Bowdoin, built in East Boothbay in 1921, has deep ties to Freeport. She was captained by Admiral Donald MacMillan, known far and wide for his Arctic explorations, which led him to receive the prestigious Hubbard Gold Medal from the National Geographic Society in 1953.
The Bowdoin is today owned by the Maine Maritime Academy and is designated Maine’s official state vessel. Her mission is to provide sail training for the Maine Maritime Academy students and the public as well as to aid in recruiting and community relations, making her inclusion in the inaugural Harraseeket Heritage Day on behalf of the Freeport Historical Society a natural fit.
Also on hand at Brewer South Freeport Marine providing oar-making demonstrations will be the Compass Project, which uses boatbuilding and rowing to provide positive direction to youth by encouraging the development of personal responsibility and community and environmental engagement. In addition, Maine Maritime Academy students acting as crew members on the Bowdoin will be demonstrating their skills at knot-making and splicing, while local artists of the Freeport-based Frost Gully Violins will be performing traditional maritime shanties. Children’s author Mary Cowans will do a reading for children from her award-winning book, Captain Mac: The Life of Donald Baxter MacMillan, Arctic Explorer, and will be available for book signings.
Harraseeket Heritage Day events will be held from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm at Brewer South Freeport Marine. Deck tours of the schooner Bowdoin will be held from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm and admission to the dock will cost $5 per person or $20 per family. Two-hour sailing adventures will depart at 12:30 pm and 3:30 pm, with a limited supply of tickets for $30 per person available in advance. Children under 13 must be accompanied by a parent and must provide their own PFDs.
The Harborside Gala will begin at 6:30 pm, with the auction ending at 8:00 pm and the Jason Spooner Trio performing live music. Tickets will be $40, including light hors d’oeuvres and beverages for purchase.
Tickets are available at the Freeport Historical Society: in person (45 Main Street, Freeport), by phone (207.865.3170), or online at www.freeporthistoricalsociety.org (click on “Online Donation” and use your credit card or Paypal account). Tickets may also be purchased at Brewer South Freeport Marine.
Harraseeket Heritage Day and Harborside Gala are sponsored by L.L.Bean, The Doolan/Dougherty Group at Morgan Stanley, Brewer South Freeport Marine, Bob Knecht/Town & Shore, Mary Noyes, Haraseeket Lunch & Lobster, Seabags, and Curtis Thaxter-Attorneys at Law.
Annual Meeting on May 24
The Trustees of Freeport Historical Society invite the membership and public to the 43rd Annual Meeting of Freeport Historical Society taking place Thursday, May 24th, 7:00pm-9:00pm at Freeport Community Library located at 10 Library Drive.
The evening begins with a Business Meeting which will include a quick review of 2011 programs, voting on proposed Trustees, introduction of the new slate of Officers, and a farewell to two long-serving Trustees. Presentation of the Mel Collins Award and the Partners in Preservation Award as well as our recognition ceremony for volunteers will also take place.
Our speaker, Jane C. Nylander
We are honored to have as our special guest speaker this year Jane C. Nylander, author of numerous articles and books, including the authoritative Our Own Snug Fireside: Images of the New England Home, 1760-1860.
Her presentation is titled “Items of good taste and perfect specimens of economy: Freeport homes in the 1830s.” Jane C. Nylander is a nationally recognized scholar on New England social history and decorative arts and is President Emerita of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now Historic New England). She is the former President of Strawbery Banke Museum, and former Curator of Textiles and Senior Curator at Old Sturbridge Village. She is a Trustee of the New Hampshire Historical Society, an Honorary Trustee of Historic Deerfield, a Governor of the Decorative Arts Trust, and an Advisor to the Castle in the Clouds in Moultonborough, New Hampshire. Her many publications include Windows on the Past and Fabrics for Historic Buildings as well as more than ninety articles.
All are welcome to attend the meeting and lecture. Beverages and sweets will be available.
New nesting boxes at Pettengill
Thanks to Boy Scout Troop 45 and our Americorps/NCCC Team Buffalo 1, Pettengill Farm now has 24 new nesting boxes for bluebirds, flickers, and bats. The boxes were made by RSU5 middle school students.
Our new nesting boxes
Prepping the posts
Attaching the nesting box
Transporting the posts
Digging post holes
The teams enjoy a well-deserved break!
Trail improvements at Pettengill
Check out the latest improvements to the trails at Pettengill Farm, courtesy of our hardworking Americorps/NCCC team.
Americorps/NCCC team arrives in Freeport
Our 11-member Americorps team, Buffalo 1, arrived on Monday and immediately began work in the orchard at historic Pettengill Farm. The team will be with us for fourteen days.
Historic knitting patterns available
Click the following links to download our first two historic knitting patterns:
Apple tree pruning workshop a success!
In early March, FHS hosted Dr. Richard Brzozowski of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension to present a hands-on workshop about pruning techniques for apple and other fruit trees. Participants met at snow-covered Pettengill Farm to try their hands at pruning our historic orchard under Dr. Brzozowski’s direction.
Dr. Brzozowski suggests the following links for more information and further support.
Pruning woody landscape plants
Order the 32-page publication, Growing Fruit Trees in Maine
Link to Orchard Equipment Supply Company from which he bought many of the pruning tools used at the workshop
Worried about the effect of our recent warm temperatures and cold snaps? Check the following links for information about these conditions on fruit trees and other plants:
Critical temperatures for fruit tree buds
Frost Protection: Tips and Techniques
Participants gather for the workshop.
Dr. Richard Brzozowski discusses pruning techniques.
An apple tree before pruning.
The apple tree after pruning!
Free Trade and Sailors’ Rights: The War of 1812
The War of 1812 was the catalyst for statehood in 1820, yet few Mainers understand the hardships the war brought to the region: harassment by British warships, government trade regulations and high taxes, and of course the death or maiming of those who served their country. In this presentation, award-winning historian Josh Smith explores the personal stories of Mainers caught in a war they did not want, focusing on Casco Bay and Freeport, a coastal region where smugglers, privateers, and naval vessels engaged in a shadowy conflict on the foggy waters, never sure who was friend and who was foe.
“Free Trade and Sailors Rights,” a rallying cry of the war, is comprised of two public programs: an illustrated presentation taking place on Sunday, May 6th at 1:30pm at 45 Main Street featuring Dr. Joshua M. Smith, and a lively acoustic music program set for Sunday, Sept 9th at 4:00pm featuring merchant, maritime and early American Navy songs, presented by Bob Webb and Dave Peloquin. (The location of the music program will be announced shortly.)
Dr. Joshua M. Smith is Associate Professor of Humanities and Interim Coordinator of the American Merchant Marine Museum at the US Merchant Marine Academy. Among other publications, he is author of Borderland Smuggling: Patriots, Loyalists, and Illicit Trade in the Northeast, 1783-1820 (University Press of Florida, 2006).
For nearly four decades, Bob Webb has presented the music of seafarers, loggers, railroad men and other folk heroes and heroines. A singer, raconteur and instrumentalist, Bob reaches all ages in presentations ranging from theatre concerts to intimate informal programs. His specialties are shipboard work songs, known as “shanties,” and the seagoing ballads called “forebitters” or “main-hatch songs.” He is an accomplished balladeer, who sings unaccompanied (a capella) and with the five-string banjo, MacCann-duet concertina and guitar. Audiences delight in joining Bob on the choruses. His songs, shanties and instrumental music have been received with acclaim from New Zealand to Poland. He is also a historian and scholar: his groundbreaking exhibition on the history of the banjo in America at the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts led to the publication of his Ring The Banjar!: The Banjo in America from Folklore to Factory (Centerstream Press, 1996), the first overall history of America’s “own” musical instrument. Sailor-Painter, his long-awaited biography of the marine artist Charles Robert Patterson is now in print.
Dave Peloquin, a well known folk musician from Windsor, has been singing ballads, a cappella shanties, and many other types of traditional folk music for over 25 years. He is also a published poet and playwright who has appeared on Good Morning America, played at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D. C., and toured the country as an ECHO performer.
Tickets are $5.00. FHS Members are free (click here to join).
New additions at Pettengill Farm
FHS recently installed new interpretive signs at Pettengill Farm presenting the history of the site and detailing the results of a series of archaeological excavations at key locations on the property.
We also took delivery of several hand-made nesting boxes for the farm. These boxes were made by RSU5 middle school students in John Nicholson’s class. Pictured below are Ned Allen (left), FHS Collections Manager, and John Nicholson (right).
Knit history at FHS!
In conjunction with its upcoming summer exhibit, Buttons, Rum, and Rakes: Freeport’s Mercantile Past, Freeport Historical Society invites knitters to participate in a series of afternoon knitting circles. We will focus on historic knitting patterns to illustrate the types of goods that were produced at home during the 1830s and ‘40s, just as the craft of knitting became a popular pastime in American parlors. Beginning on March 17, from 1:00-3:00, and continuing every Saturday through April 1, the historical society will host knitters at Harrington House at 45 Main Street in downtown Freeport.
We will provide modern versions of original knitting patterns from the 1840s and will supply appropriate yarn for knitters wishing to knit from these historic patterns and then donate their finished item to the historical society. These handknit items will be offered for sale as part of our summer installation of an 1830s-era general store. Knitters may also opt to bring along their own yarn and keep their finished items. Or, just come along with a current project and enjoy the knitting camaraderie. Knitters are welcome to attend any or all of our sessions!
The knitting sessions will be hosted by FHS staff member and knitter Katie Worthing. Although assistance will be available during the workshop, knitters intending to knit from the historic patterns should be comfortable with skills like ribbing, increasing and decreasing stitches, and knitting in the round.
The workshops are free of charge for knitters wishing to donate their finished historic item to the historical society. All other knitters will be asked to make a contribution. For a list of necessary materials and to sign up for the sessions, please call (207) 865-3170 or email info@freeporthistoricalsociety.org.
