BETHEL – Some were round, others were rectangular with doors on the sides or fronts. Some were built into the hillside, while others were topped with rounded roofs, and still others attached to farmhouses.
All originally served as farm factories and storehouses for a rural nation.
Barns, a symbol of thrift and hard work, is the subject of an exhibit titled “Barn Again!”
Dozens of photographs, paintings, models and the history behind each will be on display at the Dr. Moses Mason House Exhibit Hall in Bethel beginning at 1 p.m. on Friday. The display hall is a barn, too, built in 1813.
The unique display is part of a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit, and something Stan Howe believes will make Western Maine better known.
Howe, executive director of the Bethel Historical Society, is delighted that his town is one of only three in the state to show this historical display.
“I’m thrilled. This gives us another chance to get on the map,” he said Monday.
Earlier in the year, the exhibit has been to Lille, in northern Maine’s potato country, and to the Saco Museum in southern Maine.
An opening ceremony takes place Friday. From there, visitors may view the exhibit from 1-4 p.m., Tuesdays through Sundays until Oct. 22.
The Bethel Historical Society, a co-sponsor of the exhibit along with the Maine Humanities Council and the Smithsonian Institution, has created a series of other barn-related programs during the weeks of the exhibit.
On Saturday, Sept. 17, a self-guided tour of 16 area barns will take place, followed by a barn dance that evening, and a lecture series on the history of Maine barns, working on the farm, and Aroostook barns is scheduled for Sept. 8, Oct. 13 and Oct. 22.
Howe said the society has been working to prepare the site for the exhibit ever since it was contacted by the Maine Humanities Council more than a year ago.
Admittance to the exhibit is free.
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