LCHA receives grant for summer exhibit on women writers of Lincoln County

Mon, 06/06/2022 - 11:15am

The Lincoln County Historical Association has received a $3,700 grant from the Raymond McKinley Rideout Jr. Marguerite Waterman Rideout Fund of the Maine Community Foundation to build community by raising awareness of Lincoln County's literary heritage through programs and exhibitions about the history of Women Writers of Lincoln County.

"This grant will help spotlight a remarkable number of talented women writers who have called our county home." said Executive Director Shannon Gilmore. "When we started this project, we knew about a handful of these women, but had no idea that we would discover dozens of influential and well regarded novelists, biographers, poets, historians, children's writers, essayists, and nature writers in our local history. Now, we are able to compile and share their stories so that we can all celebrate this special heritage." 

With her experience as a researcher and writer, Alice Smith Duncan has installed an informative and interesting exhibition on Women Writers of Lincoln County at the Old Jail Museum in Wiscasset. Visitors to the museum will have an opportunity to see for themselves how wide ranging the work and successes of our local women writers has been. The museum will be open on Saturdays and Sundays from 12-4 through the summer.

In addition, a lecture series and additional programming will offer opportunities for the public to engage with the topic in different ways. The next lecture is scheduled for June 16th at 6:00pm via zoom, when New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Letts will discuss her book, The Ride of Her Life and its subject, Lincoln County writer and adventurer, Annie Wilkins. Programs will also be offered for children later in the summer. Mini pop-up exhibits will be on view in July at Lincoln County Historical Association's other museums, Pownalborough Court House and Chapman-Hall House.

Lincoln County Historical Association is a non-profit organization that provides stewardship for the 1754 Chapman-Hall House in Damariscotta, the 1761 Pownalborough Court House in Dresden, and the 1811 Old Jail and Museum in Wiscasset.  For more information, please visit www.lincolncountyhistory.org, Facebook at Lincoln County Historical Association (Maine) or Pownalborough Court House Museum.