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Talk of the Town - Lincoln County
Local house put on national register
ALNA — The Moses Carleton House in Alna has been entered in the National Register of Historic Places according to Earle G. Shettleworth Jr., director of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, whose staff prepared the nomination.
This designation indicates that the property has been documented, evaluated and considered worthy of preservation and protection as part of the nation’s cultural heritage.
The Moses Carleton House is an intact example of the Federal-period homesteads that flourished in Lincoln County at the turn of the 19th century. The property contains a two-story, center-chimney Federal house and well, with two barns, carriage shed and associated fields and orchards, situated on a high bluff overlooking the Sheepscot River. The buildings that Moses Carleton, one of the scions of the region, built for his daughter, are related in time and space to the historic homes in the Head Tide Historic District, also in Alna.
This home, which has changed very little since it was constructed circa 1810, reflects the wealth that many of the first generation of settlers in Alna and Lincoln County were able to accumulate through ship building, speculation and business. The Moses Carleton House has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places as an example of intact rural Federal architectural complex in Maine.
Muffin baking contest heats up festival in Damariscotta
DAMARISCOTTA — The oven timer is ticking for the LORE Festival Muffin Baking Contest.
The contest, sponsored by the Damariscotta Bed & Breakfast Guild, will award more than $200 in cash prizes to the best homemade muffins in a judged taste-off on Sept. 21.
The contest is open all non-professional bakers of any age. The only rules are that the muffins must be homemade, entered as a whole dozen, and accompanied by a copy of the recipe. The first-place muffin entry will be awarded $100 in cash, with second and third-place cash awards of $75 and $50.
Muffins and a printed recipe must be dropped off at the Skidompha Public Library between 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 21.
A live judging event will take place at 1 p.m. that day at the library. Judges for the contest will represent a broad range of the community, including Senior Spectrum, Damariscotta Teen Center, and the pastry chef at Rogue River Food & Supply.
Following the event, all muffin entries will be available for sale to the public. Proceeds will benefit Senior Spectrum, which provides services to area seniors, such as Meals-on-Wheels and an activities center in Damariscotta.
According to contest organizer Karen Bragg, the idea originated from a desire to bring together multiple generations and communities. Bragg, proprietor of the Flying Cloud B&B and a member of the Damariscotta Bed & Breakfast Guild, said it was a perfect fit for the guild to sponsor the event.
Despite their affinity for muffin-making, no B&B proprietors are allowed to enter the contest. “We really wanted the contest to be for those to whom muffin baking is a personal passion, or an activity that they hope to discover or rediscover,” said Bragg.
Bragg has been assisted by other guild members, including Mary Alber, proprietor of The Tipsy Butler B&B, who developed promotion ideas.
Bragg hopes the contest will attract entries from across generations, from children to grandparents, and that families will work together on their recipes. Each family member may submit an entry of his/her own, but only one recipe entry is allowed per person.
Contest posters and rules will be displayed on area bulletin boards. For more details, call Bragg at 563-2484.
The guild hopes to publicize the winning recipes, with the consent of the winners. The group is also considering a future recipe book, perhaps focused on muffins or the whole breakfast.
The contest is one of many activities featured in the first annual LORE Festival, which will celebrate the region’s lakes, ocean, rivers and environment, Sept. 14 -22.
Organized by the Damariscotta Region Chamber of Commerce, the festival will include conservation tours, arts and crafts shows, literary talks, and charter and lobster fishing excursions. Brochures listing event details and schedules are available at the chamber office and area businesses.
Candlelight concert touts American spirit
SOUTH BRISTOL — Required reservations are filling quickly for the Sunday, Sept. 8, Sixth Annual DaPonte Candlelight Concert at 7 p.m. in virtually all-original Old Walpole Meeting House, built at the head of the Bristol-South Bristol peninsula in 1772.
The Juilliard- and Peabody-trained string quartet — Ferdinand Liva Jr. and Dean Stein, violins; Mark Preston, viola; and Myles Jordan, cello — who love the acoustics of Old Walpole best of all their venues, will have just returned from presenting the opening concert of the annual Beethoven cycle at the State University of New York at Buffalo. The endowed series was created 50 years ago for the world-famous Budapest String Quartet whose last living member, Edgar Ortenberg, was the DaPonte quartet’s mentor.
Before their growing national importance takes them from their Maine season of concerts beginning in October as far as Texas, the Midcoast-based quartet will play to benefit the state’s oldest, continuously-used meeting house ... “One of the most beautiful and important buildings in Maine” according to Earle Shettleworth, director, Office of Historic Preservation.
While candles flicker in the original windows that cost the price of a cow, the audience ($18 per person) will fill the original box pews under the soaring hand-carved pulpit and around the edge of the balcony with its wide boards that by law should have been saved for masts for King George III’s royal navy.
The Spirit of America and of its roots will bless the site, celebrating its fourth century, with a special program: “The Soldier’s Return” by Tom Myron, commissioned by the quartet and based on an early American hymn itself based on a Scottish fiddle tune; “Elegy,” by Gia Comolli, written in response to September 2001; and Beethoven’s String Quartet in C Major, opus 59, No. 1.
Reservations may be made by calling trustee Sally Beaudette at 563-5554.
The final concert in Old Walpole’s season will be 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 15, when the Rev. Stephen White will lead the Annual Candlelight Service closing the meeting house until August 2003. Reservations are not required for the service; contributions are voluntary.
The Meeting House is on Route 129, 3.5 miles from Damariscotta, in South Bristol.