19th Century Curran Village, Orrington & Holden, Maine

This past July 18-22 , 19th Century Curran Village hosted its’ first week-long summer S.T.E.A.M. history camp. Our program included the following:

• Alexander Calder-esque Wire Figure Circus Sculpture with artist Ann Thompson, Biddeford, ME
• Foot Treadle Sewing Machine with Susan Howard (Project: Cinch Bag Made with Fat Quarters)
• Cyanotypes with artifacts and found objects with Robert Schmick & Doug Dolan
• Archaeological Dig
• Fiber Arts: Make a Lap Loom, Weave, Spin Wool with a Drop Spindle
• Native American Program with Ken Hamilton: Make wampum, storytelling, song and dance
• Woodworking: Make a Dowel Handle Toolbox with Doug Dolan & Weldon Long
• Woodworking: Make a Coat Rack Using a Shaving Horse, Draw Knife, Spoke Shave and Saw with Doug Dolan
• Ford Model T Rides
• Rides on our 1894 Armitage-Herschell Horse Carousel
• Letterpress Printing with Mark Matteau of the Dunstan Press, Scarborough, ME
• Pickle Making with Cheryl & Weldon Long
• Metal Casting with Peter Grant, Odd Duck Foundry, Orrington, ME
• Blacksmithing with Robert Schmick

Saturday, January 29, 2022, 9-4, Blacksmith For a Day Workshop. Learn the basics of metal forging in this beginner’s or refresher for the initiated’s workshop. Safety, materials, coal fired forging or propane forging, methods and technique are addressed in our museum blacksmith shop under instruction from our longtime blacksmith Dwight King. Make “J” hooks and mount them to a shaped metal plate with hand forged rivets to complete a coat rack. Cost: $75. Bring a 2.5 lb. hammer (pein type or drilling/machinist’s), natural fiber clothing and outerwear, leather footwear, safety glasses/goggles, a mask, and work gloves (optional). Students must be 15 years of age or older. Get $25 off on the next blacksmithing class you take with us like our Feb. 12 & 13, 9-4 Make a Knife Workshop. Call now to register: (207) 205-4849.

On behalf of our Board of Directors and our Museum Director we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! We have had a long separation from you and you from us, but we hope you are looking forward to 19th Century Curran Village’s re-opening in 2022. We wish you good health and a pleasant holiday as we all give thanks for our many blessings. We have been and continue to be busy creating a learning resource for you and your family this year. 19th Century Curran Village has grown exponentially in the last two years; we need your continued help to assist us in this growth. Please donate what you can for this 2021 fiscal year to assist us in not only meeting the goal of opening our doors in the spring but securing a future of sharing our many learning opportunities with you and your family. We tentatively hope to have a public event, our Annual Ice Harvest on Fields Pond, on January 29 from 9AM-3PM; there will be hands-on activity with antique tools, Belgian draft horses pulling our bobsled for rides in the Village, food to eat, and a warm place with social distancing practised as well as some interesting surprises from our collections. Our tentative plan is to have our 1894 horse carousel on exhibit; getting a ride on the carousel will have to wait until next year as electrical installation and excavation for underground piping for our air compressor that powers the carousel are on temporarily on hold. We hope to see you at the Ice Harvest when we can share the progress of 19th Century Curran Village at 372 Fields Pond Road, Orrington, Maine.

This summer (2021) for had the good fortune of receiving two significant donations of archival materials. John Bragg and Jonathan Eames of the one time family owned N.H. Bragg & Son Company, founded in Bangor, Maine in 1853, donated a number of late 19th century ephemera as well as some catalogs from the retailer in heavy equipment, tools, and mechanica supplies. We hope to receive a larger donation of archival materials in the future. The other donation came from Tracy Bigney and Rick Bronson. This is the lifetime circus collection of their father Richard B. Bronson, Sr. who passed away in 2004. The boxed collection had been in storage for more than a decade.

This significant circus collection found us, as it occurred to the donors that the relocation of our carousel building and 1894 Herschell-Armitage horse carousel might be a fitting match to their father’s collection. With the re-assembly and restoration of the octogonal, three story structure that has housed the restored horse carousel since 1990, we put in the effort of sheathing the interior walls with tongue and groove bead board (wainscotting) and putting a coat of white paint. The intention has been for some time to not only offer all visitors in the near future a ride on the carousel but to use the space as a gallery to exhibit archival and art long hidden in filing cabinets and back rooms vitually unknown to most. The carousel itself came with a donation of many other artifacts once belonging to Ivory Fenderson, its original owner. This included just about every document, receipt, photographs, and other material culture saved by the Fenderson family since the carousel was retired to a barn on their farm in Saco. Maine a hundred years ago this coming year!

Silent Auction Offering: One Week Get-Away,
March 19-26, 2021, Friday to Friday, Week #12 at
the Samoset Resort, Rockport, Maine, One
Bedroom Condo Unit with Pull-Out Couch, Kitchen,
Dining, Living Room Area, Value: $800.
Starting Bid: $275
Arrive by 2PM, Unit #602, 220 Warrenton St., Rockport, ME, (207) 594-2511
Place your bid by Email  — klmarsters@gmail.com —by February 26 for a
chance to enjoy Week #12 at Samoset.  Include a phone number in your
email bid. We will contact you on February 27 , if
you are the winner.

19th Century Curran Village has resumed its’ worshop schedule after nearly a year. All our events and programs will observe social distancing and require face masks. Our scheduled January 30 & 31 Blacksmithing: Make a Knife is CANCELLED; we are offering another date soon.

There will be a Make a Propane Burning Blacksmithing Forge Workshop on Saturday, February 13, 9-3 as scheduled; details can be found under “Current Workshops” or on our Facebook page “Events.”

We have CANCELLED our Annual Ice Harvest for Saturday, January 30, 2021 due to increased concern about the COVID-19 PANDEMIC. We hope to offer an event in April.

If you are interested in learning of our latest news, try our Facebook page: “19th Cerntury Curran Villages at Orrington & Newfield.” Visitation is temporarily on hold at our Orrington site due to the COVID=19 Pandemic. The Newfield site is in the process of being relocated. We are presently moving ten structures, including the carousel building and the carousel to Orrington. Our collections are also being relocated and stored temporarily. The Orrington site is under construction with a 25 x 205 foot road constructed recently that will take a museum village across the town line to Holden; the Curran property is divided between Orrington and Holden. We have moved three buildings to Orrington: an icehouse, blacksmith shop and 50 foot long shed. The red schoolhouse in Newfield will soon make its way North. The structures being moved from Newfield are museum buildings constructed between 1969 and 2018. All the original structures to the Newfield site will remain and are currently for sale.

Check out our in-print June 2020 Newsletter: