July-August, 2010

The Homesteader, Newsletter of The Curran Homestead,
372 Fields Pond Road, Orrington, Maine

We are a community based 501c3 non-profit dedicated to the preservation of eastern Maine rural history

Upcoming Activities and Events:

There will be a Giant Yard Sale  on Friday,July 23 and Saturday, July 24, 8-2PM. There will be a raffle for a handmade child's wooden barn (Donated by Larry Littlefield of Orrington). There will be plenty of stuff to look through including office equipment and supplies, TVs, motorcycle helmets, toys, baby swing, furniture, some antiques, downhill skis, boots, and poles, ski-wear, Jeep double child stroller, baby and toddler clothing (50 cents a piece or $5 a bag), lamps, videos, books, fans, mini-fridge, a Franklin stove, and much more. Donations of items for the Curran Homestead to sell to benefit the farm can be dropped off between 6-8PM Thursday, July 22. Hot dogs will be on sale during yard sale hours.

On Sunday, July 25, 10-2PM, we will have Open Farm Day at the Curran farm. Dan Hughes from Wee Bit Farm will have one of his shaggy-haired Scottish Highland cows on hand, and Carla Brown will have lambs and goats too. We will have an early 20th century laundering hands-on demonstration for the kids, a blacksmithing demonstration, a crosscut saw demonstration, and the interested can peruse some of our new acquisitions from eastern Maine family farms. Depending on weather we will have a hay ride.

Looking Back...

Recently,Andrew Nagelin and his mother Alice Lorraine Ladner and her husband visited us at the farm sharing their recollections of their late relatives, Catherine and Alfred Curran. Mrs. Ladner is the daughter of Alice Louise Curran (1889-1988), who was a sister to Sarah "Sadie" Curran (1881-1968) who owned the farm right next door to that of "Mike Curran" ( Catherine and Alfred's father ), The Curran Homestead.  Alice Ladner remembers visiting her Aunt Sadie's farm.The house that was built for Catherine Curran in 1959 and presently the site of Wilson Stables separates the Sadie's farm and farmhouse from The Curran Homestead. Sadie spent her young adult life as a nanny in Boston before taking over the farm after the death of her father, Nicholas Curran (1835-1920) ( husband to Alice Hammill Curran and father to five children including Sarah "Sadie", Helen "Nellie", twin boys: James and Daniel, and Alice "Allie"). Sadie was an independent spirit who never married and alone worked the farm, although the two Curran farms fields were often combined for planting, harvesting, and pasturing. Photos (left-right): Sadie's father Nicholas Curran in front of the farmhouse with a favorite work horse [the water pump no longer exists], swimming down at Fields Pond, ( this exact spot is still frequented by many ) and Sadie as young woman on the farm and in middle age, Edward and Arthur Conquest ( Arthur Conquest owned both Sadie Curran father's farm and Mike Curran's farm before 1914. Conquest had retired to the Orrington area to raise horses through the assistance of his son Edward, a Bangor businessman. In an oral history done with Connie Conquest Russell, daughter of Edward, and granddaughter of Arthur Conquest, it was related that the farm later owned by Sadie Curran had a barn on it, and after selling the farm and its livestock to a presently unidentified buyer ( someone other than Sadie Curran's father) there was a request for Edward Conquest to buy back the property as its new owner could not afford the mortgage. Edward refused and shortly thereafter the barn burned with all the horses in it which weighed heavily on Edward's conscience for many years later as he regretted that if he had bought back the farm back the horses may not have met their end. in this way. 


On April 24, we had an Abenaki Council Girl Scout Event at The Curran Homestead. There were some 30 scouts and additional parent chaperones at the farm sawing wood with crosscut and buck saws under volunteer Richard Bowden's tutelage. Volunteer Charlie Hydek did a blacksmithing demonstration allowing the girls to mimic the steps of hand forging metal using a ball peen hammer and clay on an anvil. Charlene Bowden led the baking of blackberry muffins in the kitchen, while Board member led the girls in song in the sitting room. There was also dress up, the creation of a new perennial garden (Thanks to Theresa England!), Model T rides, and just good fun exploring the barns and grounds.





Recent Acquisitions: we have been fortunate with the recent donation by Jane (Flagg) Jipson of many of the domestic and farming, tools, utensils, and equipment of the Farm of Thomas and Mildred Flagg, her parents, of Lincolnville Beach. Among these acquisitions there is a cord saw in pristine working order (used by Thomas Flagg on his John Deere 40 tractor until recent years ), a butter churn, a horse drawn dump rake with its original wooden tongue, a logging bobled, and a log scoot that were always stored in the barn. We also disassembled a basement pantry, and shelving, canning jar, and pickling crocks will be exhibited at the Curran farmhouse in the future. Many reproduced photos of the farm and equipment during Thomas Flagg's life as well as anticipated oral histories of this family farm experience through eyes of surviving members of the family will make a valuable addition to this collection.








Recent Developments ( Photos left-right): Achitect Brian Ames of Bangor has donated much time and energy to the future realization of a modern public bathroom at the Curran Homestead; we need such a facility in order to eventually have school groups at the farm and to offer year round educational programming. Brian's work has also included a master plan that includes a future visitors' center and parking lot. Peter Grant has donated much time sharing his considerable knowledge of metal casting with two recent workshops in the old equipment shed at the farm. Another workshop is planned for early August ( it will be announced on our home page). The Hampden Historical Society will have its monthly meeting at the farm on August 23; Rodney Stanhope, of the Society, donated a circa 1915 to the museum that has since been restored to working order. It will be used in future hands-on demonstrations of early laundering practices starting on our Open Farm Day, July 25, 10-2. We are currently building overhanging roofs at both ends of the smithy for the purpose of winter storage and warm weather blacksmithing thanks to the volunteer efforts of Byron Aubrey, Larry Littlefield, Dick Stockford, and Adriaan Gerber.
Bob Daigle and Dick Hanson have insured a warm winter with a large, well-stacked wood pile between the carriage ell and sugar shack. The wood comes from Jeff and Sandy Green down the road and the Brewer Historical Society that recently had a large Norway maple cut down that was threatening the Clewley House Museum on Wilson Street. With an invite from Bill Wilkins of Corinth, who took one of our blackmithing classes, some of us took a reconnaissance trip to the June 27th Antique Tractor Show and Jitterbug Pull  in Farmington. Maybe a similar event on a smaller scale might be held at the farm in the future? A 1922 Buick jitterbug was our favorite and pulled 6 tons! Hugh Curran donated this late 1980s photo of our benefactors Alfred and Catherine Curran. Board member Fred Hartstone donated both time and funds to refurbishing and improving one of our most treasured pieces of equipment---a lightweight trailer. We have been given a pristine 25 foot horse-drawn hay wagon and a circa 1910 threshing machine in recent months, but we still need someone to offer their services in getting these to the farm, or donated the use of an appropriate size trailer for a couple of days for volunteers to move these valuable contributions to our collection. The use of your equipment could be a tax-deductible charitable donation.