Press Release

AUGUSTA, Maine – A living history event highlighting colonial life in the 18th century will take place this weekend at one of Maine’s most notable historic sites.

An 18th century encampment representing citizen-soldiers on the march will take place Friday through Sunday at the Major Reuben Colburn House State Historic Site in Pittston, location of Benedict Arnold’s headquarters for his ill-fated march to Quebec City in Canada.

The weekend event marks the 236th anniversary of Arnold’s arrival at the Kennebec River homestead with an army of 1,150 men and plans to attack the entrenched British during the American Revolution.

Details of the event are:

• Living History Weekend, 3 p.m., Friday, Sept. 23, to 2 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 25; Colburn House State Historic Site, Pittston; Route 3, south of Gardiner.

In September 1775, Col. Benedict Arnold of the Continental Army led an expedition of colonial soldiers up the Kennebec River to attack the British stronghold of Quebec City. The men came to the Kennebec from Massachusetts on board 11 ships, which disembarked at the home of Reuben Colburn, a member of the Maine Committee of Safety and a prominent colonial family.

Colburn had help spawn the idea of attacking British Quebec by way of the Maine wilderness and had supplied critical information to General Washington. On Arnold's arrival, Colburn had waiting 200 wooden boats called bateaux, and the expedition used them to carry its provisions and military stores upstream toward Canada. The house was Arnold's headquarters and the launching point for his famous expedition against Quebec.

The living history re-enactors will pitch their tents and set their campfires on the grounds of the Colburn House. The restored homestead will be open for self-guided tours, and visitors will be able to see the historic kitchen and its restored oven and stand in the room where Arnold and his young officer, Aaron Burr, slept.

The re-enactors also plan on repairing a bateau during the weekend encampment.

For more information on Maine state parks and historic sites, go to: www.parksandlands.com