OTISFIELD — The public will have an opportunity to visit three historic buildings in Otisfield, all located on Bell Hill Road, from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, June 27. The Bell Hill Meetinghouse, the Bell Hill Schoolhouse and the Otisfield Town House will be open for public inspection, with members of the Otisfield Historical Society and the Bell Hill Meetinghouse Association on hand to explain their history and point out architectural features. There will be no admission charge.
Almost everything in Otisfield once centered around the three buildings located on the town’s second highest hill – the Congregational meetinghouse at the top, the brick schoolhouse next to it and the town house located a short distance away. These three places were where folks worshipped, learned their ABCs, held military musters and met periodically to make decisions about running the town.
Today, the Bell Hill Meetinghouse, owned and maintained by the Bell Hill Meetinghouse Association, is open for worship services only one Sunday each summer. Within the past year some important repairs have been made to the building, including installing 50-year architectural shingles to the south side of the roof, extensive window repairs and painting, foundation work and major repairs to the timbers of the belfry. All the repairs were made possible through a New Century Grant sponsored by the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.
The brick schoolhouse adjacent to the meetinghouse, also owned by the association, is usually open only one day each year. It serves as a kind of museum where visitors can experience their forebears’ years in a one-room situation and where teachers didn’t usually spare the rod. The building was last used as a schoolhouse about 1940.
The town house was long used by the town for town meetings, record storage and as a voting place. Last year ownership was transferred to the Otisfield Historical Society to use as a headquarters once necessary renovations are completed. Now, for the first time in years, visitors will be able to enter the building safely. The building now features a new set of entry steps, courtesy of Ken Bartow.
While all three buildings will be open concurrently, refreshments will be served only at the town house.
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- The Bell Hill Schoolhouse, built in 1839, is one of the three historic Otisfield buildings that will be open to the public on Sunday, June 27.
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