Colburn Barn In Need of Work as Well

Click Here to See Carriage House Jacking Photos

Thanks to more than $25,000 in donated labor, restoration work is underway at the Colburn House and most of it should be completed before the summer season begins in July.

The caretaker's residence in the ell of the house has been gutted and restored with all new walls, floors, fixtures, appliances, etc.

Major work is also underway in the nineteenth century barn. The entire floor has been removed so that Jewett Builders can jack the barn two feet into the air and restore the sills and floor beams before dropping the barn back down about one foot. The Jewett's descended from Moses Jewett who married Reuben Colburn's granddaughter Mary Ann in 1837.

Inside the main house, the drywall has been removed from the Keeping Room ceiling exposing the original 1765 beams. The 1840 brick face of the main fireplace has been removed so that a historic mason can restore the fireplace and beehive oven back to their original state.

This will be the only working beehive oven in use in a public historic home in Maine, if not New England.

Historic paint experts from Sutherland Restoration Services will be doing some testing and studying in the main house soon to see if they can locate and identify the original paint colors on the walls as well as any stenciling or wallpaper. If we find them, we will restore these walls to their original colors.

Museum figures clothed in period style dress will welcome visitors in the birthing room, dining room and the Arnold bedroom. Benedict Arnold will appear in the same style of dress he wore when he first stepped off of his ship onto the Colburn property in September 1775.

The restored birthing room will feature an exhibit about midwifery in the 1700s featuring Maine's most famous midwife, Martha Ballard.

Outdoors, the utility lines will be buried in April so that no overhead wires will be visible on the property. In May, painting will be completed on the remainder of the three buildings so that they will have their first coat of fresh paint in more than thirty years.

We have received 600 gold-wrapped chocolate coins with the Colburn House on one side and "Arnold's Treasure" on the other. These will serve as a reward for young History Explorers who tour the house and find the origin of several old sayings--"sleep tight don't let the bedbugs bite"--"run of the mill floors", etc.

Other donations have been made to the contents of the house including a spinning wheel, a nineteenth century sofa and many cooking implements for the keeping room.

If you have some antique items, or modern reproductions of these items, and would like to donate them for display in the Colburn House, please see our wish list or e-mail us directly.