Winter 2016 · Issue 22 · Editor: Jean Hankins.
This is an archived annual newsletter to the society’s membership. Appeals, officers, plans, and event details below reflect the time of publication. For current information, see society news, events, or support the society.
2016 dues are now due
YOUR MEMBERSHIP CONTRIBUTIONS are critical for routine expenses such as insurance, electricity, archival supplies, and plumbing. We also need your help funding a number of important maintenance projects on the old Town House. Among these are cleaning the 110-year old ceiling, finishing the handicapped access at the rear door, and acquiring one or two new fire extinguishers. In addition, the front door and most of the windows also need attention. While we're grateful for the many hours of volunteer and in-kind help we receive, we need your continued strong support. Renew your membership now with a generous donation in the envelope enclosed.
Well and bathroom replace privy and port-a-potty
In the first months of 2015, just in time for the crowd that flocked in for Strawberry Shortcake on July 5, we had created a parking area and lawn, drilled a well, installed a bathroom, finished the carpentry work in the upstairs addition, painted, installed lights and carpets. Ken Bartow's clever carpentry transformed the old voting booths in the Town House into an aisle between the old and new parts of the Town House. And so the $180,000 restoration project came to a triumphant close.
Ken Bartow honored
Ever since 2010, when planning and fund-raising for the Old Town House renovations first started, Ken agreed to serve as unpaid clerk-of-the-works, committing himself to untold hours of calculating, negotiating and directing a long, complicated process. Ken himself, now a winter resident of Biddeford, volunteered his carpentry expertise for much of the finish work in the upstairs of the new Town House addition. On September 17 the Society presented Ken with a plaque acknowledging his great contributions "in the rescue of Otisfield's Old Town House."
Recent gifts
During the past year a number of folks contributed photos and mementoes of Otisfield, but the most striking (and biggest) was the antique folding quilt rack given us by Lee Dassler of Bolsters Mills. When folded, the rack looks much like a giraffe. It was manufactured by a man named Burnham, also from Bolsters Mills, and is a handsome addition to our Otisfield memorabilia.
Programs of the past year
Once again we discovered that research for our public programs both drew from our archives and added to them.
View photograph: Strawberry Festival, July 5, 2015
So the history of Otisfield grows. A large crowd at the April program on the town's general stores, featured several individuals showing pictures and remembering stores of days gone by in East Otisfield, Spurr's Corner, Hancockville, and Bolsters Mills. On June 18 we delved into The Otisfield News, the weekly newspaper edited by Ethel Hirst from 1945-1949. The audience returned to the past while reading some of Ethel's breaking news stories, such as the one about the visit Mr. and Mrs. Peaco paid to Mr. and Mrs.
Smith one Sunday in 1946. In September, food historian John Manoush edified us with a history of food preservation, titled "The Food We Eat." Finally, in October the Historical Society and Conservation Committee joined forces to outline the history and ecology of the Coon Road and its swamp.
High point of the evening was the return of former resident Pixie Williams, botanist extraodinary, who can make even bladderworts interesting.
OHS officers for 2016
- President - Shirley Hamilton
- Vice-Pres. - Callie Zilinsky
- Secretary - Jean Pottle
- Treasurer - Polly Bartow
- Archivist/Newsletter - Jean Hankins
- Directors - Derek Dorr, Alan Douglass, Genise Stern, Celeste Hyer
Website
The website is a convenient way to discover new things about Otisfield history, check on forthcoming events, and even donate online. In the near future, we hope to make it possible for folks to search our catalog by attaching it to the website. And you can now find the Otisfield Historical Society on Facebook!
Calendar for 2016
As announced in this newsletter.
- All programs at 7 p.m., except the Strawberry Festival.
- April 21 — Old Farm Tools, with Ed Sommers — Community Hall. Bring your unidentified mystery tools!
- June 16 — Great Oaks Camp, Looking Back — Old Town House
- July 3 — Strawberry Festival — Old Town House, 4:30–6:30 p.m.
- September 15 — The Town Pound, Past and Future — Old Town House. Find out where and what it is!
- November 17 — Mary Pride Knight: The Diaries and the Person — Community Hall
Original newsletter
Download the Winter 2016 newsletter (PDF). The source is labeled Winter 2016; this article is filed under February, the society’s annual mailing month. The exact mailing day is not recorded.