This took me much longer to finish then I imagined!
I made a wonderful journey to the Historical Society in Winter Harbor recently. The pieces in this photo are the culmination of some of what I collected on this trip.
The folks there are working hard to restore the building and organize, archive, and save the collection. Last year the historic bell tower was rebuilt, the bell itself was restored to it’s original soundness and beauty and the group invested in the job of lighting the bell at night.
This past winter the windows upstairs were refurbished and now work like brand new windows, a lot of support has been added in places and more physical labor has been done then I have room to list here.
The job of saving the collection of photographs, letters, school histories and town papers is being organized. Some history from the former Navy Base has been added. Archive quality sleeves are being used to protect information from further damage. A joint effort of the Winter Harbor Public Library and the Historical Society has made Town Newspapers/newsletters more accessible. An air purification system has changed the air quality in the building. This is a whole lot of work, built upon other ambitious efforts of concerned individuals over the years to help make the Historical Society a lasting place of reference and memories.
This is all being accomplished by a small group of interested individuals. They have scheduled public presentations for June, July and August:
June 10, 6:30pm at Historical Society-Public Speaking
Seven young folks from the Peninsula School will give a speech they each wrote. This idea is rooted in the history of the Winter Harbor Schools, at one time students could not pass their English class if they did not present a speech to the school, they also were required to write this speech out in Latin if they were in the 11th or 12th grade. Speakers will include 7 young folks with deep roots in this area.
Whitehouse family: Madeline & Adeline Buswell Harrington Family, Tracy’s daughter Alexis and Melissa’s son Matthew
Young family: Ethan Young The Coombs family: Colby Hurd Alley/Chase family: Rhiannan Alley
Please come to hear what this next generation has to say!
July 8, 7pm-Hammond Hall-Sanford Phippen-Speaks about Frenchman’s Bay Lodge and his book about working there called “Kitchen Boy”. This program is also over but enjoyed by all.
August 12-7pm-Historical Society- Charles Joy will give a presentation about “John Moore”, from Steuben, he owned approx. 2000 acres on Schoodic Point and was the person to donate it to the National Park Service. He also built a home on Grindstone called Far From Wolves-known by many as Frenchman’s Bay Lodge.
A long story short— the reason I am going on about this organization is because I am so very grateful for the archived photographs that I was able to access and use in an upcoming collection of work. I will feature each piece in a blog post in the coming weeks.
Thank you to the society, to the folks who support them and to the folks who donate the treasured memories.
