A weekend of Civil War re-enactment events at the Washburn Norlands Living History Center will conclude with Maine’s only “Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Concert” on Sunday June 7 at 3 p.m. The free concert will be held in the historic country church where friends and political colleagues of Lincoln once worshiped as boys and young men. Several of Livermore’s Washburn brothers were close allies and promoters of the 16th and 18th presidents.
Composer, singer and pianist, Mitchell Clyde Thomas of Durham, will be joined by other Maine performers who will assist him in presenting the premiere of an original musical tribute to the nation’s Civil-War President on the 200th anniversary of his birth. Also a tribute to veterans of all wars, the concert will include a mix of patriotic songs, ballads from the period, and folk songs from the time of the president’s youth in frontier America. Veterans and their families are invited to attend the concert and be seated in places of honor.
“Neither President Lincoln nor President Grant were ever known to visit the site where their close friends were raised,” said Thomas, who is a long-time interpreter and trustee at the Living History Center, “But I’m sure they were both very much aware of its existence and would have heard stories about the Washburns growing on this farm and in this church.”
The weekend event, RALLY FOR NORLANDS, is set to take place June 6 and 7 at the 19th-century historic settlement, the Washburn-Norlands Living History Center (Norlands) in Livermore. As many as 200 Confederate and Union military and civilian re-enactors from across New England will participate two days of Civil War living history to benefit the Norlands. Organizers hope to raise $15,000 to assist with the rebuilding of the barn and farmers cottage lost to fire last year. There will be a free-will collection taken following Sunday’s concert.
This is Maine’s largest Civil War reenactment in recent years. Organizers from the 20th Maine Company B, 3rd Maine Company A, and the 15th Alabama Company G are helping to organize the event.
Visitors will become engaged in the lives of soldiers and civilians, including a full-scale battle, artillery fire, the “Town of Unity”, field music, a 19th-century fashion show, a formal tea party, home-front living history, and a blacksmith demonstration. There will be old-time photos taken, visits to the one-room schoolhouse, quilting, a bean supper, a contra-dance, a Sunday church service, an 1860s town-ball game, raffles, good food, children’s activities, and much more family fun. Gate admission is $7; children under 6 years old are free.
The Washburn Norlands Living History Center is located at
290 Norlands Road
Livermore, ME 04253.
Map and more details about the event can be found on the website
www.norlands.org. For more information, contact Kathleen Beauregard at 897-4366, 778-1195 or Kathy@tdstelme.net.
