BETHEL – A special stamp cancellation depicting an Oxford County bear was unveiled Saturday at the spring meeting of the county League of Historical Societies where members were updated on plans for the bicentennial wingding, set for June 11 in Paris.
The official bicentennial quilt has also begun its seven-month tour of many of the county’s towns with showings in the town of Woodstock at the end of March and in Canton on Saturday.
And a copy of the original charter creating the county in 1805, is now stored at the Union Church in Porter, waiting to continue its travels through many towns early next month. Its trip, which includes visiting schoolchildren and others, will be conducted by horseback.
Larry Glatz, coordinator of the Bicentennial Committee, said that as plans progress for the county’s 200th birthday, additional artifacts and historical documents are being found, such as a compilation of probate records from 1805 until 1820, when Maine became a state and Oxford County was no longer a part of Massachusetts, and a cartoon showing a rivalry over whether Paris or Norway should become the county seat.
Fourth-graders from all 25 elementary schools in the county will have a chance during May to see the proclamation establishing Oxford County as a county.
Horseback riders began transporting the charter on March 4 from Boston. It was then carried through Massachusetts, New Hampshire and part of southern Maine by hiker, Gardner Waldeier of Waterford, to the Porter-Parsonsfield covered bridge.
On May 4, a horseback rider from Porter will resume the pony-express style transportation of the charter, with changes in horses and riders to nearly 20 towns around the county, ending in Paris in June.
The celebration will include a visit by the governor, a parade, bands, a Colonial re-enactment and an abundance of historical information from most of the county’s historical societies.
Books are being written, including one depicting the bicentennial square from each town, plantation or township, and a description of the communities. Another provides the county’s history, complete with many historic Oxford County maps.
The bear logo, including the slogan, “America’s Only Oxford County,” is also being printed on T-shirts, mugs and other bicentennial souvenirs.
Glatz said the logo was originally a put-down of people living in what was to become Oxford County. He said people from cities claimed the area was filled with people who could only push a plow, not a pen. They were called backwoods farmers 200 years ago, just a bunch of backwoods bears, he said.
The people in what was to become Oxford County turned that derogatory remark around and took pride in it, adopting the bear as the logo.
For a complete listing of quilt showings and horseback rider stops, and other bicentennial information, consult the Web site, oxfordcountybicentennial.com.
The bicentennial quilt’s next few visits are: Otisfield Town Office, April 13; Hartford Patriots Day Celebration at Hartford Town Hall, April 17; and the Fryeburg Historical Society on May 3. A horseback rider with the charter is scheduled to be in Hiram on May 5, Denmark on May 6 and Fryeburg on May 10.
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