RANGELEY — The Outdoor Sporting Heritage Museum’s new exhibit, “Picnics and Shore Lunches,” is now open for public viewing. The exhibit shares how folks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries cooked and dined outdoors, through a collection of unique vintage equipment and photos.

All the artifacts and images have backgrounds in the region, and have been collected over the past two years by the museum’s staff. “Dining outdoors was a big part of how folks enjoyed the outdoors and occupied their vacation time here in the region, and that is still true today of course, but perhaps to a lesser degree,” said museum Director Bill Pierce.

The exhibit features a mix of vintage equipment including early coolers, folding tables and chairs, picnic baskets and a cookware set for preparing “shore lunches” that was once owned by local legend Capt. Fred Barker. It also shares a series of vintage images of various shore lunches that took place between 1905 and 1915 along the Upper Magalloway for guests of the Parmachenee Club. The images from glass plate negatives have not seen the light of day for over 100 years.

The premiere marks the sixth new exhibit the museum has opened so far this season. “We are pleased that three out of the six new exhibits were aimed at folks who may not hunt or fish at all, because the history of the outdoor experience in this region is quite diverse and we feel that this exhibit shares another aspect of that,” added Pierce.

The Outdoor Sporting Heritage Museum is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., seven days a week in July and August. For more information, please call 207-864-3091 or log on to http://www.rangeleyhistoricalsociety.org/.

Image from the “Picnics and Shore Lunches” exhibit.

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