LEEDS — People are invited to stop by the Leeds Historical Society’s table at the Leeds Fire Department Barn Sale on Saturday and Sunday, July 19 and 20, at Sander-Lou Farm, North Road.
Along with many unrelated treasures, there will be an opportunity to buy Leeds commemorative pottery, including a variety of mugs, pitchers and bowls.
Also on sale will be the Scenes of Leeds note cards featuring paintings of Leeds by Ian Ormon. On the back of each card is a short paragraph explaining the scene’s connection to Leeds.
Profits from the sale of the cards will benefit the society. Both the pottery and the note cards can also be purchased at the Leeds Town Office, 8 Community Drive, Leeds Center.
The Leeds Barn Tour will take place on Saturday, Sept. 27. Maine barn expert Don Perkins, author of “The Barns of Maine: Our History, Our Story,” will guide the tour of four Leeds barns, comparing and contrasting the style and construction. Further details on the tour and where to buy tickets will be announced.
The society recently received a packet of photographs from Allen Merrill, along with his family Bible, printed in the 18th century and passed down through many generations of Merrills.
The Bible and photographs are an addition to the society’s Merrill Family collection, which includes 11 years of diaries (1855-65) written by Leeds resident John Young Merrill. Some of the photographs and excerpts from the diaries can be seen online at the Maine Memory Network, in the Leeds collection.
The Leeds Volunteer Fire Department has given the society a 1907 pull-down wall map of the United States, which had been given to the FD for its annual barn sale.
The society is slowly renovating the Old Town House and plans to set up one part of the building as a one-room school. When the LHS interviewed people for their Leeds one-room school program, the feature most often mentioned by former students were the pull-down maps, and the donated map will be displayed at the history center’s “school room.”
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