Scarborough Historical Museum
647 U.S. Route 1, Dunstan
Museum Tours All Day – Raffles – Presentations
Marsh & Staddles 12:30 & 2:00 PM
Clamming & Clam Shells: 1:00 & 2:30 PM
Churring Butter: 1:30 & 3:00 PM
Loom Weaving – Videos – Genealogy Assistance
What’s a staddle or a hornbook? Come and bring family and friends to the Scarborough Historical Society Museum Sunday, June 3rd, between 12:00 and 4:00 and find answers to these questions and more. This is an opportunity to tour the museum, view our latest exhibits and see a number of presentations and hands-on demonstrations by museum volunteers. Questions about researching your family history? We can help with that, too! So, mark your calendars now and plan to join us June 3rd at the museum in Dunstan.
Note: There will not be an SHS Monthly Meeting at the Scarborough Public Library on this day.
We received a number of photos of the students of Scarborough High School, Class of 1931, from the collection of Marguerite Carver Shaw Davis, also known as “Mag.”
These photos were sized for the web at three inches wide with a resolution of 144 pixels per inch. The original image scans were done at 600 pixels per inch and are available from the Society. Please contact the society if you are interested in a higher resolution copy of the image.
The Scarborough Historical Museum also has the 1931 High School Yearbook available for viewing at the museum. You can learn much more about the class members in the yearbook. When I looked at the yearbook, I was surprised to not find a “class photo.” There were only two group photos, one of the 1930-31 Boys Basketball Team and one of the 1930-31 Girls Basketball Team.
The May Scarborough Historical Society monthly meeting will be May 6th,2:00 pm, at the Scarborough Public Library. After a short business meeting, guest speaker Jason C. Libby will talk about Maine’s involvement in World War I.
Maine in World War I Available on Amazon.Com
More than 35,000 men and women from Maine joined the armed forces in 1917-1918 to fight in aid of America’s European allies against Germany. Mainers provided vital support through war-related industries, such as shipbuilding, munitions, and textiles. Mainers on the home front also donated bandages, books, and comforts of home to the troops “over there.”
Jason C. Libby is the author of several local histories. He has worked in historic preservation and currently serves as a member of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission and as an adjunct history faculty member. He is the co-author with Earle G. Shettleworth of Maine in World War I, an Arcadia publication.
The Scarborough Historical Society’s annual meeting will be 2:00 PM, April 8th, the second Sunday of the month, as Easter is April 1st. After the business meeting, John Babin, visitor services manager for the Wadsworth/Longfellow House in Portland, take us inside the historic Longfellow House through photos and talk. He and also explore the city that shaped the poet. Longfellow wrote his first childhood poem in the house on Congress Street built by his grandfather Peleg Wadsworth. He went on to write the classics you’re sure to remember—”Paul Revere’s Ride” and “Evangeline.”
At this meeting, we will draw winners of our loon and the bamboo fly rod raffles.
Eastern Cemetery, Portland’s oldest public space, reaches a milestone 350th anniversary in 2018, and Spirits Alive will kick off its celebration of the beloved burial ground with a presentation by cemetery historian and author Ron Romano. Using photos, maps, and images of historic documents, Ron will guide us through the cemetery’s rich history, with a peek inside the City Tomb, an overview of the remote burial patches designated for minorities, and a look at how the landscape has changed over the past 350 years. From bank robbers and pirates to abolitionists and war heroes – with some gravestone symbolism sprinkled in – this presentation promises to be a most interesting hour.
Saturday, March 24, 1:30 PM at the Wishcamper Center, Bedford St. on the USM Portland Campus, with parking in the USM Bedford St. garage. The lecture is free, though donations are gratefully accepted.
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Portland Railroad’s Letter “S” Trestle on the road to Old Orchard Beach circa 1903
The Portland Railroad system as it existed following the completion of the Saco-Old Orchard line in 1903, operated trolleys on 93.75 miles of track, serving the communities of Portland, South Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough, Saco, Old Orchard Beach, Westbrook, Gorham, South Windham, Falmouth, Cumberland, and Yarmouth. More than 500 persons, including 133 motormen and 133 conductors, were employed. The line owned a total of 217 passenger cars (trolleys). Imagine living in Scarborough in the very early 1900s and being able to board a trolley and easily travel to visit any number of attractions in Maine, south, and east of Waterville, or south into New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and beyond. Make plans to bring a friend and attend the presentation on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Scarborough Public Library. Scarborough Historical Society’s guest speaker, Phil Morse from Seashore Trolley Museum will be the presenter. Artifacts from the Portland-Lewiston Interurban and its 1912 high-speed interurban, No. 14, Narcissus will be on display. The Narcissus is currently under restoration at Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport.
Location: Scarborough Public Library, 48 Gorham Rd, Scarborough, ME 04074 – March 4, 2018 at 1:00 pm.
The regular meeting of the Scarborough Historical Society has moved from the evening of the first Wednesday to the afternoon of the first Sunday and from the museum to the library.
Reminder: The next meeting will be at 2:00 pm, February 4th, 2018, at the Scarborough Public Library. “Scarborough Cemeteries” will be presented by Jan Makowski.
The following program hosted by Spirits Alive may be of interest.
Your Father Still Fears at New England Will Be Depopulated:
Mainers and the Rush for California Gold
News of California gold changed the lives of everyone in Maine – those who left and those who stayed. Historian Jan Eakins draws on diaries and letters of 300 Mainers to tell why more than 2,000 headed west in 1849 and why thousands more followed. She explores how families coped, who returned to Maine, who stayed in the West, and the effects of migration and gold on the State of Maine.
Saturday, January 27, 2018, at 1:30 PM at the Wishcamper Center, Bedford St. on the USM Portland Campus, with parking in the USM Bedford St. garage. The lecture is free, though donations are gratefully accepted.
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The Next SHS Meeting
February 4th, 2018 – 2 PM – Scarborough Public Library
Image provided by the speaker.
The program for February will be a talk by Jan Makowski about her years of research on local cemeteries. Beginning in the late 1980s and continuing through the 1990s, Jan located over 60 private cemeteries throughout Scarborough and another 17 cemeteries in neighboring towns that have Scarborough connections. Each cemetery has been documented, photographed and indexed. Information on these cemeteries is available for research at the historical society. This program should be of great interest to those doing research of family known to have lived in the Scarborough area.
What’s a staddle or a hornbook? Come and bring family and friends to the Scarborough Historical Society Museum Sunday, June 3rd, between 12:00 and 4:00 and find answers to these questions and more. This is an opportunity to tour the museum, view our latest exhibits and see a number of presentations and hands-on demonstrations by museum volunteers. Questions about researching your family history? We can help with that, too! So, mark your calendars now and plan to join us June 3rd at the museum in Dunstan.
