FARMINGTON — An exhibit of the town’s Great Fire of 1886 is featured as Farmington Historical Society opens its three sites for Saturday’s Franklin County History Tour.

Several historical societies and museums throughout the area plan to be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 6, for the first of two tours this year.

The Farmington Historical Society will open Titcomb House, Octagon House and North Church where the fire exhibit will be set up, Dan Maxham said. Each site will be staffed with members to answer questions. 

Expanding the history tour to two days — June 6 and Oct. 10 — gives people the opportunity to visit more sites of interest, he said.

There was a good response when historical societies banded together to open one Saturday last October for the first tour, Jane Stinchfield, curator of the Phillips Historical Society, said. Those groups, with some new ones, will open for two tours this year.

New visitors came to several historical societies for the tour and returned later to spend more time viewing historical items, she said.

Along with the Farmington sites, other places open Saturday include Kingfield Historical Society and Stanley Museum, Maine’s Paper and Heritage Museum in Livermore Falls, Madrid Historical Society, Nowetah’s Indian Museum in New Portland, New Vineyard Historical Society, Phillips Historical Society and Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad Museum in Phillips, Rangeley Historical Society and Outdoor Sporting Heritage Museum, Maine Forestry Museum in Rangeley, Strong Historical Society’s Vance and Dorothy Hammond House, Temple Historical Society and the Wilton Farm and Home Museum.

The museums plan to waive entrance fees for the tour days, she said.

A photo display of the Farmington fire is available for three events starting with Thursday’s concert, June 4, featuring Irish flautist Shannon Heaton, Maxham said. The 7 p.m. concert is preceded by a pie social 6 p.m. at the High Street church. Local performers hold a jam session during the social, he said. Tickets for the concert are available at the door.

The exhibit also opens for Farmington’s First Friday event from 4 to 8 p.m. June 5. The exhibit will feature photos of the downtown prior to 1886, the ruins after the fire and the sites rebuilt since.

The fire began Oct. 22, 1886, in a barn containing 45 tons of hay. By the time it was over the next morning, it had destroyed three churches, the post office, three hotels, 42 businesses, 32 dwellings and stables and left 96 families homeless.

With the help of a grant, the Farmington Historical Society enlarged photos from its archives and created the exhibit a few years ago.

abryant@sunmediagroup.net

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