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A Living History Group Portrays Life in Maine in the 1750s and 1760s

October 20, 2009 - DRESDEN -- Soldiers paced to keep warm while camp followers huddled around a roaring fire early Sunday after sleeping on the cold ground in tents.

The weather turned bitter for re-enactors at an encampment on the grounds of the 1761 Pownalborough Court House.

Sponsored by the Lincoln County Historical Association, "A Fall Back in Time" is an annual two-day event that shows life as it was lived in the 1750s and 1760s, when Maine was transitioning from a wilderness frontier to a settled community.

Proceeds from the event will be used for the upkeep of the courthouse overlooking the Kennebec River on Route 128.

Katie Manthey of Manchester, N.H., and Perry Palmer of Brunswick, camp followers, kept watch on a bubbling cast-iron pot of turkey soup.

Palmer said the fixings for the soup were leftovers from the turkey dinner prepared Saturday night for the soldiers.

The women were part of Samuel Goodwin's Company and George White's Company of the 11th Massachusetts Regiment, a living history re-enactment group based in central Maine.

"I'm helping with the cooking and did a little sewing yesterday," Manthey said.

Jay Robbins, president of the historical association, said more than 100 people attended the event Saturday.

According to Robbins, Samuel Goodwin commanded the fort before the courthouse was built. Goodwin and his wife were keepers of the courthouse and ran the tavern after the courts moved to Wiscasset in 1794, he said.

He said the family lived on the site for 200 years until the historical association bought the property in 1954 to preserve it.

"The eighth and ninth generation of Goodwins are still around and volunteer on projects in the courthouse," Robbins said. "This year, they rebuilt the whole front of the cemetery so the gate can close."

Pete Morrissey of Sidney, portraying Samuel Goodwin, said the courthouse was actually constructed on the site of Fort Shirley, which was built in 1755.

"In 1762, the fort walls were taken down to build a jail, and later, lumber from the fort was used to build the courthouse," Morrissey said.

Don Brown of Howland said he had to switch sides Sunday and become part of the French militia because the cold weather prompted other companies participating in the event to leave Saturday night.

Later in the day, he said the troops that were left would take part in a tactical demonstration pitting the British against French and native forces.

Saturday and Sunday were filled with demonstrations of Colonial cooking, games, spinning, weaving and quilting, and military tactics, dress and weaponry.

Jeff Miller of Waldoboro, a blacksmith, hand-forged sixpenny nails. He cut and hammered away at the nailheads..

"They're soft like clay, and I can squish it to make it flat," Miller told his audience. "The last four blows are to make the rose head, the common (nail)head of the day."

Taja and Vy Hjort, ages 9 and 7 respectively, watched with their mother, Nancy Niven of Richmond. "It's pretty cool," Vy said of the blacksmithing.

By MECHELE COOPER, Kennebec Journal October 19, 2009


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