NORWAY – Steamboats, steamer trunks, steaming hot tea and fresh homemade pie will be available to visitors at the Norway Historical Society Saturday, July 12, during the Summer Arts Festival, which has “Norway Lake Life” as its theme.

Longtime residents and visitors may remember the Marigold Tea Room, which opened at Norway Lake Village in 1933 and served its delectables to lakesiders for decades. This unique part of Norway’s history will come to life again with the serving of tea, iced or hot, and slices of homemade pie, starting at 10 a.m., at the society’s museum at Main and Whitman street.

Repeating throughout the day will be a captioned video tour from the head of Main Street to the Lake Village and beyond. This montage of historic photos from the society’s archive is titled “Norway Lake Village, a Living Community.”

If you’ve never seen the “Wassee” (the hamburger stand which operated from an old Norway trolley car), if you’ve wondered what C.A. Stephens’ amazing “Laboratory” looked like, or if a grandparent has told you of the days when the lake road was just a winding dirt trail over a wooden bridge – you’ll enjoy this presentation.

Through the generosity of one of its trustees, the society is offering for sale a limited print edition of one of Minnie Libby’s last watercolors, a lovely Pennesseewassee lakeside scene. The original work was created by the artist as a gift for one of her caregivers during the final months of her life, and a run of just 12 reproductions has been produced by 100 Aker Wood Studio.

In addition, the society has issued its second annual arts festival poster, with this year’s edition playing on the theme of the lake as a vacation retreat; and it will have several full-scale,operating steamboats on display during the festival.

Steamboat captains from several area towns will display their crafts during the day and will be available to talk about steamboats, steamboating, steam engines and related lore. There will also be a hands-on exhibit of steam power which will test anyone’s energy against the power of a miniature working steam engine.

Finally, the boats will be taken to Pennesseewassee Park in mid-afternoon to be launched. Although space is be limited, a few people will be able to enjoy a trip across the lake as passengers in a steamboat – for the first time in almost 100 years.


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