Historic sites open for summer
In 1811, the Lincoln County Jail in Wiscasset with individual cells was a modern improvement on earlier facilities where all the prisoners were thrust into a single room. Courtesy of the Lincoln County Historical Association.
Courtesy of the Lincoln County Historical Association.
In 1811, the Lincoln County Jail in Wiscasset with individual cells was a modern improvement on earlier facilities where all the prisoners were thrust into a single room. Courtesy of the Lincoln County Historical Association.
Courtesy of the Lincoln County Historical Association.
Three historic sites under the stewardship of the Lincoln County Historical Association are now open for the season. Volunteer docents are on hand to tell the human stories of law and order, crimes and punishments, and the lives of our residents as our towns became settled communities.
Take some time this summer to visit these historic buildings that have been witness to the lives of the people of Lincoln County over the past two hundred years. Walk through the traditional Cape style home built by the Chapman family in Damariscotta in 1754, the Pownalborough Court House, established in Dresden before the American Revolution, and the Old Jail in Wiscasset that took in its first prisoners 1811. All three sites are open on Saturday and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. Pownalborough Court House also is open Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. during July and August.
A special exhibit of photographs at the Museum & Old Jail will give you a glimpse of Lincoln County in the early 1900s before automobiles and electricity. The collection of images by E. Joseph Leighton were enlarged and annotated by Michael Chaney for his master’s thesis in 1985. They present a vivid account of daily life in Midcoast Maine as documented by this local itinerant photographer. Leighton’s glass plate negatives, now at the Maine State Museum, were initially organized and cared for by the Lincoln County Historical Society in the 1960s.
Admission to each site is $5 per person (free for LCHA members and children 15 and under).
The Lincoln County Historical Association is a non-profit organization that provides stewardship for the 1754 Chapman-Hall House in Damariscotta, the 1761 Pownalborough Court House in Dresden, and the 1811 Old Jail and Museum in Wiscasset. For more information, visit www.lincolncountyhistory.org.
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