Retrace the path of the 1866 fire! How did the city of Portland, Maine change after the fire?
To view, click on the image to enlarge, then right click to open the banner in a new tab.
Copyright 2020 -- The Lost Trotting Parks Heritage Center -- P.O. Box 263, Hallowell, Maine 04347 -- Editor: Stephen D. Thompson
Tuesday, March 8, 2022
Friday, March 4, 2022
In Celebration of the Horse -- Maine Equestrian -- Skijoring in 2022 by Dr. Kelsey Hilton
If you would like to know more about this event join the Facebook group "Skijor Maine."
The 2022/2023 Schedule will be posted to this FB Group.
The 4th annual Skijor Skowhegan competition took place this year on Feb
26, 2022, with 27 teams competing in
the "Pro" Division, 12 teams competing in the Novice Division and 7
teams in the Novice Junior Division. A team is made up of a horseback rider, a
horse, and a skier/ snowboarder. Each team has two opportunities to complete a course of obstacles and
the team that does it in the quickest time, wins
the race for their division. Pro teams are generally the fastest, and the pro
skiers are expected to complete jumps
and navigate around whisker gates, while novice skiers are required to complete
the whisker gates and sometimes
rollers. This year, we additionally provided rings which could be collected by the skier for a bonus of 0.5 seconds
taken off the total time. A penalty of 5 seconds is added to the time if the skier misses a gate or a jump
that is required, and skiers must cross the finish line on at least one ski to complete the course.
Skijor Skowhegan is the first event of this type to be held in Maine, and
the first event for some number of
years on the east coast. The event was inspired in part by the skijoring events
held out west, one of the most famous of which is the skijor event that is held in Leadville, Colorado in which horses and skiers race down the main street hitting jumps. Leadville will hold its 74th running
of the event on March
5-6, 2022. The Maine skijoring community was very excited
to welcome another
event this year to the lineup, Topsham
Skijoring which took place at the Topsham
fairgrounds on February
12.
I have been involved on the planning committee for
Skijor Skowhegan with the organizers, Mary Haley,
and Main Street Skowhegan, since the first event in 2019. The first event was
held at Eaton Mountain and was chosen
in part due to the convenience of having a snowcat groomer already present at the mountain. However, we found
it challenging to manage the excited crowds
of spectators and create a safe environment for a suitable course,
so we were very excited when the following year the Hight family,
who owns and manages the Skowhegan Fairgrounds, agreed to support
us in holding it there.
Holding the competitions on the standardbred racetrack allows us to utilize
fencing and grandstands and parking that are already
present, as well as provides
a nice flat canvas on which to create a course.
Sugarloaf Mountain
has been integral
in producing professional quality courses and their park crew have brought a snowcat to the fairgrounds for this purpose.
Holding an event like this in the wintertime is an
incredible feat, not just because of the logistics of plowing and sanding and salting the parking, but also the incredible effect
that the weather
can have on track
conditions. The horses are required to have studded shoes or boots for traction
but even so, the safety of animals
and competitors comes first, and we watch the weather with trepidation in the
last few days before a competition.
As the veterinarian on hand for the competition, as well as a horseback rider, safety matters! Additionally, Riders, skiers, horses, volunteers, and spectators alike could be greeted with a 60-degree day or be dealing
with 10-degree winds and a snowstorm as has happened
in past years.
However, I think this sport appeals well to the spirit of Maine people;
many of us truly enjoy the challenge and unpredictability of what the day will bring.
Those interested in getting involved
in western style skijoring in Maine should
consider joining the Facebook
group "Skijor Maine" where many informational videos and photos and
rules have been posted as well as the Skijor America
or Skijor USA websites.
Photos by Jamie Lawler -- Video by Sarah Varney
Sunday, January 30, 2022
The Story of Nelson 4209 by Young Rolfe, Dam Gretchen -- Bred & Trained by C.H. Nelson, Proprietor of Sunnyside Farm on the Oakland Road in Waterville, Maine
Click on the banner image to get a better view and then right click on the image to open in a new tab. Doing this will allow you to read each page and view images.
The Winner's Circle at First Tracks Cumberland & Hall of Fame Recipients
Click on the banner image to get a better view and then right click on the image to open in a new tab. Doing this will allow you to read each page and view images.
Horse Competitions at Maine Agricultural Fairs
Click on the banner image to get a better view and then right click on the image to open in a new tab. Doing this will allow you to read each page and view images.
Famous American Trotting Horses including Maine's Mac and Hopeful
Click on the banner image to get a better view and then right click on the image to open in a new tab. Doing this will allow you to read each page and view images.
Saturday, January 29, 2022
Incorporation Dates of Maine's Agricultural Societies
Click on the banner image to get a better view and then right click on the image to open in a new tab. Doing this will allow you to read each page and view images.
Aroostook County -- Farming with Horses in Limestone, Maine
Click on the banner image to get a better view and then right click on the image to open in a new tab. Doing this will allow you to read each page and view images.
A Lost Trotting Parks Storyboard Sampler, Finding Kingfield's Lost Trotting Park, The Aroostook War, and the Libby Family of West Buxton, Maine
Click on the banner image to get a better view and then right click on the image to open in a new tab. Doing this will allow you to read each page and view images.
When Stagecoaches Connected Mainers throughout the State and New England
Click on the banner image to get a better view and then right click on the image to open in a new tab. Doing this will allow you to read each page and view images.
Noted Maine Horses published by J.W. Thompson from Canton, Maine in 1874 -- Describing the Sires and Get in Maine Prior to 1874
The Horse Families, the Names of Horses, The Breeders, Years Bred, Purchasers, Racing Times, Premiums
Click on the banner image to get a better view and then right click on the image to open in a new tab. Doing this will allow you to read each page and view images.
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
1802 Documents Associated with the Separation of Waterville, Maine from Winslow, Maine -- Source: The Archives of the State of Massachusetts -- Links to Books with Greater Details
Introduction by Earl Smith
Dean of College Emeritus, Colby College
Author of Water Village: The History of Waterville, Maine
Author of Water Village: The History of Waterville, Maine
In
April of 1771 the English settlement at Teconnet, first called Kingfield
Plantation, was incorporated by the General Court of Massachusetts as the
fourth town in the District of Maine and re-named it in honor of General John Winslow.
Four years later, almost to the day, the first blood of the American Revolution
was spilled at the Concord Bridge.
The town’s
only real brush with war came
in the fall of 1775, when the central house of the unmanned garrison at Fort
Halifax, by then a town hall and tavern, greeted Benedict Arnold’s doomed
expedition on its faltering way to Quebec.
The river place that confounded
Arnold’s troops also hindered the governing of the growing town of Winslow. It
was difficult to collect taxes and hard to provide teachers and preachers, and
in 1791 town fathers petitioned the Commonwealth to be rid of the bothersome
west bank place they called Ticonic Village. Although the cross-river land had
never been at the center of things (the Indians used it only as a burial
ground) townspeople were reluctant to give it up, and the petition was delayed
five years while they experimented with alternating town and religious meetings
in the Lithgow meetinghouse on the east bank and at the home of Elnathan
Sherwin (Sherwin Street, later home of Silas Redington) across the river. It
was impossible. Petitioners claimed that “in the spring season, at the annual
meetings held in said Town, the Inhabitants thereof living on the opposite side
from where the said meeting is to be held are frequently prevented by the
particular situation of said River from crossing the same to attend said
meeting.”
In
1801, with 800 of Winslow’s 1250 inhabitants now living west of the river, the
ruling court was again asked to cut the town in two. At a special town meeting
on December 8, voters adopted a petition that read, in part: “That the now Town
of Winslow shall be divided through the middle of the river Kennebeck (sic) as the river usually runs across
the width of said Town” and “That part of said Town which lay on the Eastern
side of the Kennebeck shall retain the name of Winslow, and the part which lay
on the Western side be erected into a town by the name of Waterville.” On June 23, 1802, the petition was granted,
creating the new town and by local decree, a place called West Waterville
(Oakland). Waterville became the 138th township in the District of
Maine.
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
Saturday, January 15, 2022
Maine 200 Banners -- Picturesque Augusta 1890 & Historic Map and Images of Today -- Exploring Yesterday and Today! Plus The History of Augusta published in 1870
Images & the First Chapter from
The History of Augusta,
The History of Augusta,
from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time
With Notices of the Plymouth Company, and Settlements on the Kennebec; Together with Biographical Sketches and Genealogical Register by James W. North (1870)
The Maine 200 Banners
To view each banner, right click on the image and select open in a new tab. Go to the new tab and you will be able to view the details of each banner.
Clink the Link below -- A Google Book -- The History of Augusta, Maine
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)