Day: April 18, 2024

Earth Day Program at 19^th Century Curran Village

Saturday, April 20, 2024

1. Stained Glass-esque Window Hangers or Bookmarkers (with Genevieve Schmick in the Letterpress Office): Using old fashioned wax paper, crayon shavings, paraffin wax, and dried flowers and plants will be sandwiched between two sheets using an iron. The heat from the iron melts the waxes to seal in the contents making translucent art. This was a school art project back in the 60s and 70s, maybe earlier.
2. Scavenger Hunt (Get the list when you enter the Sugar Shack). Locate all the items on the list. This involves interaction with the rest of the visitors as you will need to ask questions about what things are and where they might be. If you have the capability snap a photo of the items that you have located and send us a digital copy: thecurranhomestead@gmail.com we would greatly appreciate this and share your photos on our website and Facebook page.
3. Letterpress Printing (with Jeff Buxton and Zoe): Experience using a proof press and printing some illustration cuts for you to take home as souvenirs.
4. Birdhouse Building at the Carpenter Shop (Alden Miller): Use some basic woodworking tools. Use a hand powered drill press, bit and brace, and hammer and nails. Volunteer Alden Miller has made two dozen birdhouse kits for you to assist him in assembling. Ideally, we would like to put these up all over Curran Village so we can observe bird activity. There are not enough kits to give these away, but we may award a few to our younger and happy builders.
5. Planting Apple Trees (Bob Schmick and Zachary Platt). These trees started out as seedlings that were grafted by us during our first tree grafting workshop. They have been growing at the Director’s house in Bangor for a few years as there are many deer at Curran Village that would like to eat these tender morsels up. That is why we have such a tall fence for the even smaller apple tree seedlings so that deer cannot reach them. We will create some fencing after the event to protect these 6 trees, but we will plant them together during the event on the hill to the right of the Post Office.
6. Tree Grafting in front of Curran’s old Icehouse (Nate Coe & Zachary Platt): We have 30 root stocks that we will graft scions to during the event with your help. Last year we did 60 and almost all the grafts took. The seedlings are thriving in the tall fence enclosure behind the Post Office. Eventually we will transplant these and create an apple orchard that both complements our Cider Mill and provides apples for cooking, baking and eating. See our 1870s Cider Press and Grinder in the Mustard Color Barn down the way.
7. 1905 Economy Engine with Cord Saw, Clark Foundry, Rumford, Maine Wood splitters, and our 1917 Ford Model T Cord Saw (Cal McGraw): We will have machines running from another era. We burn wood in stoves at the Museum, and some of these machines assist in this work.
8. Live Steam Power (Richard Lizotte): Learn about steam power by watching. This working replica vertical boiler steam traction engine was built in the 1960s by the late Lloyd Holland of Corinth. When asked why he built he answered, “because I could.”  The steam traction engine sat in a barn for some time and was purchased for the museum by a Board member. Richard got it going again by insulating the boiler to reduce the amount of time it takes to get it up to steam. The tractor will drive up and down the Village Road and visitors should watch from a safe distance when it’s operating, but you can examine and talk with the operator while he is preparing it to go.
9. Ice Cream at the Country Store (Volunteers Pat Caluori and Sister Val): Volunteers will be making ice cream at the Country Store for you to try with some of our Maple Syrup if you like.
10. Food in the Farmhouse (Volunteers Keith & Heather Bowden, Lauren Platt and others; Curran’s wood cook stove maintained by Zachary and Bob) A plate of food purchased with your entrance ticket; seconds and thirds may be available later in the day. All the food was prepared by volunteers; please let us know if you can contribute to our next event).
11. Baked Bean with Pork
12. Chili
13. Hot Dogs & Hamburgers
14. Kraut Kuchen (Cabbage and Bacon or Onion & Bacon Savory Pastry)
15. Bottled Water
16. Strudel (Strawberry & Strawberry Rhubarb)
17. Other donated desserts

18. Music in the Farmhouse (The River Jammers: Doug Alley, Mark Burtt, Jim Bradley, Connor McLeod and Angie and Donnie Glidden). The Band will perform from 11AM-1PM. The band volunteers their talent to benefit the Curran Village.

19. Blacksmithing: With volunteers Elena Sparrow, Jeff Fenn, David Terry and others. Ask our director for information about getting into one of our frequent blacksmithing workshops.

20. John Boyce and his team of Belgian Draft Horses. Ride a horse drawn wagon around the Village.

21. Our 1894 Armitage Herschell Riding Gallery (Horse Carousel). Purchased mail order by Ivory Fenderson of Saco, Maine in 1894 this “portable” “Merry-Go-Round” took two years to arrive from the factory in Tonawanda, NY. Fenderson ran this carousel at fairs and other gatherings from 1896-1922 when it was retired to a barn. In the 1970s the carousel was offered to Willowbrook Museum in Newfield, Maine (York Co.). The Museum restored it and offered limited rides on it starting in 1991. The building that houses it was built in Newfield and was relocated by Nickerson & O’Day in 2021. The carousel itself was taken apart by staff and volunteers and packed in two tractor trailers and relocated to Curran Village. It was re-assembled and became operational again in 2022.

22. We are looking for volunteers. Let us know if you can help. We are a non-profit that depends on private donations and volunteer help to continue to share New England heritage. Call: 207-205-4849 or 207-745-4426 or email us at: thecurranhomestead@gmail.com. Sign up on our Sign-Up Sheet to receive updates on events, programs, and other offerings.