19th Century Curran Village, Orrington & Holden, Maine

was the greatest attendance in a single day event in the history of the museum. More than 450 visitors experienced our sugaring off activities in the old Sugar Shack. There was lots of food choices in the Curran farmhouse including homemade waffles with our own maple syrup drizzled over them. At the Country Store visitors participated in ice cream making; the product was also served maple syrup. We had a coal fired blacksmithing workshop underway in the Smithy with Dwight King, our resident blacksmith. There was a demonstration of old machinery including a 1906 Economy gas engine running a cord saw mounted to a steel wheel carriage. Our newest acquisition is a pair of Clark Foundry of Rumford, Maine wood splitters dating from the 1920s. One of these was demonstrated much of the day with a 1919 Fairbanks Morse gas engine. At the Letterpress Office, we had guest printer Mark Matteau of the Dunstan Press in Scarborough, ME operate a proof press sharing a prints from a newly donated collection of illustration cuts from the former Bucksport Printing Shop & Free Press owned by the Buxton family for several generations. Jeff Buxton was on hand to share stories about growing up in his family’s letterpress office in the 1970s. Jeff has donated a press, type and other equipment from the former business. Pattie Jones and son Simon shared information about our developing pottery program. Last year the museum was gifted a wood burning kiln from the former Antiquity Tile Works in Hampden, ME. The gift from the new owners of the property included the kiln comprised of nearly 10,000 bricks as well as clay and a lifetime of glazes. We are still in process of moving the mortar-less brick kiln to the museum and need additional volunteer assistance. We plan on a volunteer work day this Saturday, March 23, 10AM. If you are interested in helping, give us a call. We should complete the relocation by the Spring. We have a building that will house potters’ wheels and drying shelves. Our Utility Shed includes an electric kiln.

The museum underwent a major infrastructure development project from 2020-2023 with the addition of 15 new structures. In 2023 we opened our doors to large public school field trips at the Orrington/Holden site for the first time unveiling a program that focuses on hands-on history programming using a working collection. We were open more than 100 days in 2023. Certainly COVID has effected donations in recent years, but we are optimistic, especially after Saturday’s gathering, about the future. We plan on an Earth Day Celebration on Saturday, April 20, 10-3; details will soon be posted.

On Friday Night, March 15, 6-9PM

we will revisit coal fired forging after a long hiatus. Our instructor Dwight King will develop beginners skills in you as you create a series of projects including J & S hooks. You will learn safety, fire starting and strategies for shaping steel once you’ve heated it. You should have natural fiber clothing and footwear, gloves, and a pair of safety eyeglasses with side shields. Cost $65, Ages 15 & Older.

Saturday, March 16, 10AM-3PM, Maple Syrup & Irish Celebration,

Lots of food, including homemade waffles with syrup, homemade ice cream with syrup, baked beans, chili and more…Egg hunt for kids with prizes, fully furnished doll houses to play with, newly donated Rumford, Maine made vertical wood splitter in operation with hit & miss engines, drag saw and cord saw. Blacksmithing and tentatively metal casting. Visit our Letterpress Office where there will be stories of the old Bucksport Free Press along with a perusal of cases of type and furnishings from the former local newspaper… We’re looking for volunteer docents to do things like run the schoolhouse, the country store, the letterpress office, the cider mill & granary, the car culture building, the carpenter’s shop and the horse carousel. Introduce yourself if you are interested in contributing time to the museum. Learn about our evolving pottery program and our wood-burning kiln. Admission: $12 Adults, $6 Ages 13-18, Free: Ages 12 & Under.

Saturday & Sunday, March 16 & 17, 9-4, Blacksmithing Workshop: Start to Finish Knife Making

Begin by forging a blade and handle tang out of 1095 steel. You will grind, file and sand this to your satisfaction. You will do the oil quench and we will oven temper the knife. You will make and fit a hardwood handle to your tang. This includes brass rivets and epoxy. You need natural fiber clothing and footwear, safety eyewear with side shields, gloves, maybe ear plugs, and a 2.5-3lb. hammer ( pein or drilling type hammer ). Cost: $325 Call to register: 207-205-4849. Ages 15 & older.

This free public event is always weather dependent. We have not had this event for two years due to warm weather spells

and consequently no ice on Fields Pond. Our goal this year is to harvest enough ice to fill the small, newly constructed ice

house at the Village. This will allow us to use ice in our multiple ice boxes in the Village throughout the year.

• Free admission
• Warming Station (Sugar Shack. Maine maple syrup for sale)
• Primitive log scoot pulled by antique tractor with half-tracks
• Draft Horses pulling our Marsh Hay Sled (originating from Scarborough, Maine) with bench seating. Rides will be $5.
• Chili, Homemade bread with butter, Beef Stew, Coney Island Hot Dogs for sale in the Curran Farmhouse Kitchen
• Blacksmithing. There will be a knife making Workshop in progress,. Sign up if interested. See details on our Facebook page under “Events” or on our webpage on this website.
• Family Participation. Use ice saws, ice pikes and ice tongs to cut ice cakes from Fields Pond.
• Demonstration of our 1919 gas-powered Novo Ice Saw. This saw was once used for commercial ice harvesting on Sebago Lake in Maine.

Forge a steel metal knife using traditional blacksmithing techniques. You will begin with 1095 steel and hammer out a blade and handle tang. Once you have completed the rough shape you will grind, file and sand your blade to perfection. You will drill holes for your brass handle rivets. You will heat treat your blade starting with a heat and quench in peanut oil. The second part of this is an oven temper which will take place after you leave from Day 1. On Day 2 you will clean up your blade and create the parts of your hardwood handle and fix it permanently. Requirements; Synthetics melt whereas natural fibers may scorch so we recommend natural fiber clothing and footwear, safety eyewear with side shields, work gloves, ear plugs (optional), and a 2.5-3 pound pein type, drilling, or metal work hammer. Call for additional info. or to register with a credit card. Cost: $325 Call: 207-205-4849

Our popular blacksmithing workshop is back. Saturday & Sunday, February 10 & 11, 9AM-4PM, Knife Making Workshop.

Start to finish class. Begin with hand forging a blade and a handle tang from high carbon steel. Grind, file and sand your blade to perfection. You will temper the knife with an oil quench and an oven heat. You will prepare your tang to receive brass rivets and hard wood handle scales, You can sand these and oil finish them. We use a fast-drying epoxy in addition to the brass rivets to hold your handle together. Bring a bag lunch, safety glasses with side shields, ear plugs, leather gloves, natural fiber clothing, leather footwear, and a 2.5-3 lb. metal working hammer ( pein type or drill hammer ). Cost: $325 In case we have to cancel due to snow we will negotiate with you a makeup weekend. Gift certificates available. Call: 207-205-4849

Due to Hurricane Lee we have changed the dates of our Big Tag Sale to Sat. & Sun., Sept. 30 & Oct. 1, 2023. We will still have a sizeable of antiques, household, machinery, hardware, tools, clothing, dolls, horse drawn implements, antique autos and parts, a Saw Mill, a manure spreader, horse drawn plows, signage, Victoriana, furniture, cast iron stoves, winnowers, a Fraser rototiller, a Buffalo Forge Co. drill press, a 19th century wood planer, corn shellers, 1940s vintage power tools, lots of nails and screws, lawn mowers, antique lumber, and more surprises and prizes…

FORD MODEL T SHOW & JITTERBUG/DOODLEBUG COMPETITION PULL

Saturday, September 9, 2023, 10AM-3PM

ADMISSION: $10 Adults, 18 and Under: Free

LUNCH: $6 a plate: a hotdog or hamburger or sausage, potato salad, macaroni salad,

chili, and baked beans, Bottle water. Sodas and fruit juice for sale at the Country Store

along with other merchandise.

Collection, Carousel Rides, Car Show, Performance, and Spectacle

Curran Village will be hosting 27 Model Ts from Pine Tree Model T Club this Saturday. In

addition, Maine Antique Tractor Club (MATC) will have a jitterbug pulling competition. Ribbon prizes

awarded for wins in different categories.A jitterbug, also known as a doodlebug, is a homemade tractor.

These were fitted with dual transmissions for additional pulling power. They are created from vintage and

obsolete autos. This was a phenomenon that began in the 1920s and 1930s out of necessity in rural areas

in order to mechanize your farm or lumber operation at a low cost. Ford, Sears & Roebuck, Montgomery & Ward,

and others produced kits and parts for the purpose of adapting passenger cars. Farmers made their own utility

vehicles when they could not afford to buy a tractor. Model Ts especially were re-purposed into tractors,

cord saws, log skidders, pulp lumber trucks, and farm trucks. The Museum has a collection of these.

MATC keeps the tradition of mechanical prowess and Yankee ingenuity by providing venues for hobbyists

who either build new jitterbugs or preserve vintage ones.

Other activities include a timber framing project underway, mechanized wood splitting, work done in the

Carpenter’s Shop, lessons in the one room schoolhouse, a ride on the 1894 carousel, letterpress printing,

and the Country Store is open

for the first time.

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE.

The public is invited to a Bangor Greendrinks networking gathering at the Museum. Bangor Greendrinks is a nonprofit promoting networking of greater Bangor area businesses and green inspired sustainability. The Museum was a recipient of a $750 grant towards the relocation of a wood burning kiln for its developing ceramics program which was initiated with 7-12 year olds during our two recent weeks of summer camps. The admission is $5 to the Tuesday gathering; this will assist with future grants offered to area entities. This affords you two beers from the Homebrewers of Maine who will be serving in our new Country Store. The Museum will provide plates of snacks to enjoy. There will be limited ticketed carousel rides and some of the museum village will be open to perusal. Get information about the Museum that is completing a major infrastructure development project. Opportunities for you to volunteer or contribute can be discussed. Sign up for our in-print newsletter. Parking on Fields Pond Rd.