WOODSTOCK – Planning for the Oxford County bicentennial celebration has been going forward for nearly a year.

It’s the only Oxford County in the country. Since early March, riders have been bringing the original charter from Boston, the State Capitol, as Maine was still part of Massachusetts.

The riders have been visiting all the elementary schools in the county and arrived at Woodstock Elementary School on May 17. The fourth-graders had invited their counterparts in Forestdale School in South Woodstock to join them and they were waiting when the riders, Tom Hutchinson and Virginia Prentice, arrived on white Arabian horses.

The children had a chance to speak with the riders and to pet the horses, joined by children from the other grades in the school. After nearly an hour the riders left for Crescent Park School in Bethel.

The following day the Woodstock fourth-graders visited the Woodstock Historical Society Museum where they spent some time defining what a county is and discussing how different life must have been when the guides were fourth-graders before the advent of TV and computers.

Guides Annella Burnham, Mary Billings, Joyce Howe and Olive Risko accompanied the children through the museum to explain the exhibits.

The museum will be open every Saturday afternoon through June, July and August.