Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Go Back to School - 1852!

    The School Bell is Ringing!

On Saturday 1 August 2015 at 10:30-11:15 am the old Blazo School across from the Parsonsfield Seminary will again be open for business!   As part of Parsem Day,  educators from the Norlands Living History Museum will be recreating a school day, 1852 style!

Come see how Readin', 'Ritin' and 'Rithmatic were taught in the mid-nineteenth century.  Try your hand at writing with a quill pen and stand tall when asked to read aloud by the school marm!

Donations will be required to help off-set the costs of the presentation.You can also see a display of photographs of Parsonsfield Schools.
 
Portland Press Herald & Evening Express – Sept 8, 1946
Blazo School, Parsonsfield, ME – established 1792
Emily Louise Chapman age 8, Wilfred Allen Martin age 7, Jane Lewis age 10
 

"There is something inspiring in the thought and sight of the small armies of children returning to school during this second postwar year, beset as they are with teacher shortages.  But the annual event of school opening, and the presence of youth in numbers on the city streets and country lanes can be but heartening to those who sense the importance of these early school years.  At the Blazo School in North Parsonsfield, established in 1792 and one of the oldest of Maine’s few remaining one room schoolhouses, Emily Louise Chapman, 8, Wilfred Allen Martin, 7, and Jane Lewis, 10 pause momentarily before the day’s session when that school opened last Tuesday.   The photograph taken by Staff Photographer, Gardener M. Roberts."

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Come to the Fair!

   Special thanks to Merry Shea, Jan Iler and Sylvia Pease for all their hard work setting up the exhibit at the fair this year.  It was brutally hot but the result was well worth it.  There are other interesting exhibits in the old Grange Hall as well and you will be able to purchase your quilt raffle tickets and take away an old fashioned recipe to try at home.  So, come to the fair and marvel at the skill, ingenuity and hard work of the local residents of the 19th century! 

UPDATE:  I have just learned that our exhibit won first prize again this year! Now you really have to see it!