JAY — The Holmes-Craft Homestead on Old Jay Hill Road was a popular destination Saturday as the Jay Historical Society held its annual open house.
Several vendors displayed their wares on the large lawn. Inside the house itself guides were available to help visitors maneuver the narrow stairway to the second floor. Men and women were intrigued by kitchen items such as the dry sink and the glassware found in the cabinets.
In the Florence Raymond building Elise Depres spoke of just recently recovering the horse painting her father, Reginald Howes, had painted. Marlene Walsh Landus had donated the painting to the Jay Historical Society, but it had gone missing three years ago. It was found in an upstairs room.
In another room, bright orange band uniforms from Jay High School were displayed.
In the Carriage House, society member Roger Lane gave details on a doll house made around 1952 by Jesse Ridley. Each room was carefully drawn to scale and two sides of the 2-story house are on hinges to better view the inside.
Roger Lane shows details of a doll house found in the Carriage House at the Holmes-Craft Homestead on Old Jay Hill Road in Jay to Phillips Historical Society museum curator Jane Stinchfield. Saturday was the Jay Historical Society’s annual open house at the complex. (Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser)
Deb Probert of Farmington said the details are amazing.
“Every time you look, you see something new,” Phillips Historical Society museum curator Jane Stinchfield said.
In the building behind the Carriage House, members of the Jay Fire Department were on hand to answer questions. Jay and the Livermore Falls Fire Department each house an antique engine there.
During the annual open house at the Holmes-Craft Homestead in Jay, several visited the Jay Fire Museum found in back of the Carriage House. 5-year old Byron Hopkins checked out the Livermore Falls 1926 Maxim fire truck while his dad, Patrick Hopkins, and sister, Annabel Hopkins, looked on. (Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser)
Also on display are caps, equipment and a hand cart which was used before the age of motorization. Children enjoyed climbing on the antique engines and then comparing them to a much larger truck used to fight fires today.
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