The Rufus Porter Museum and Cultural Heritage Center located on North High Street (Route 302) in Bridgton opened to the public in June 2005.

The museum is the only museum dedicated to the life and times of Rufus Porter (1792-1884). Porter was a musician, artist, teacher, inventor, and publisher, explained Beth Cossey, board member and president of the Cultural Heritage Center.

Much of his influential and lasting artwork was creating murals on the walls of houses around New England. He was a portrait artist as well. Most of the scenes he created resembled bucolic trees and fields as well as seascapes.

“It’s the scenery from this town and this area is what inspired Rufus Porter to create the murals. It’s the lakes, the mountains and trees of this area that inspired his vision,” said Julie Lindberg, owner of the museum. “This is real Americana.”

A Renaissance Man if there ever was one, Rufus Porter, referred to as the most influential muralist of the early 19th century, invented a revolving rifle that he sold to Samuel Colt in 1844 for $100. Porter was also the founder of Scientific American, a magazine still in print today.

Porter, who grew up on Moose Pond in Denmark and attended Fryeburg Academy, then a one-room schoolhouse founded by his uncle, Rev. Nathaniel Porter, painted his murals in distemper. A good example of his murals fill the walls of the front parlor of the museum. Also on display are other artwork by Porter, an extensive collection of early issues of Scientific American, a room dedicated to his inventions (he had more than 100 patents in his name) and works by contemporaries of Porter.

Among the works of his contemporaries are portraits of the Perley family of Bridgton painted by John Brewster Jr. An exhibit of works by Brewster is slated for January, 2007 at the Portland Museum of Art.

After just nine months in operation, the museum attracted national attention when featured in an article on Rufus Porter’s murals in Early American Life, a Firelands Media Group, LLC publication.

The second week of July marks the annual Cultural Heritage Series held at the Rufus Porter Museum and Cultural Heritage Center. The event spans several days offering lectures, classes and workshops in authentic American crafts and traditional 19th century arts for both children and adults.

“Being our first year we just put together what we thought would work,” said Nancy Smoaks, board member and treasurer for the Cultural Heritage Center, noting the popularity of a three-day mural painting workshop offered by Linda Carter Lefko, a noted researcher, teacher and painter of historic decorative arts.

“We have had people come from Washington, Florida, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Washington D.C.,” said Nancy Smoaks, ticking off a mental list.

The museum has been open to the public for a little more than a year, but according to Beth Cossey, the Cultural Heritage Center has a definite vision.

It is a three-stage operation, Cossey said. Stage one, the museum, which is a former parsonage, is a focal point. The Cultural Heritage Center is working toward purchasing the museum from the Lindbergs.

The museum and another cape already located on the two-acre museum grounds are estimated to have been built between 1790 and 1810. Stage two, will transform the second cape into the administrative building.

To complete their vision, plans are to move an antique barn to the site, to house the programs, classes, lectures and workshops offered throughout the year.

“We want to be an educational institute,” Cossey said.

About 20 years ago restoration carpenter Bob Dunning worked on a house moving project. Bridgton was developing Shorey Park on Highland lake. The old vacant houses located on the proposed park site were set for demolition.

“We cut the house in two, right down the middle,” Dunning said. At the time, he was working on a project headed by Dana Watson.

Bob Dunning is now a board member and vice president of the Rufus Porter Museum and Cultural Heritage Center.

Owners Karl and Julie Lindberg, in a private transaction, purchased the building and property in 2004, after being approached by Tom Johnson, a former Bridgton resident who is now curator of the Old York Historical Society. Julie Lindberg is a third generation summer resident of Bridgton.

“All of us have been working together toward this for 20 years but didn’t know it,” Julie Lindberg said.

It was Tom Johnson who is responsible for saving the house from demolition some 20 years ago. Living in Bridgton at the time, and with his interest in history and knowing the home, a former parsonage, was owned by a member of the Porter family; Johnson did some investigating and found what he was looking for, Rufus Porter murals hidden under wallpaper. His parents purchased the home and had it moved to its present location.

The museum and cultural center has applied to the IRS for nonprofit status. With one grant pending and more written, museum members are anxious to continue the center’s development.

“We’re hung up waiting for the IRS. I’m so mad at them,” Beth Cossey said.

Each summer the museum features an exhibit related to the life and times of Rufus Porter. This season’s exhibit is a collection of portraits, painted by contemporaries of Porter. The focal point of the exhibit is an 1830 M.W. Hopkins portrait of a girl in a red dress on loan from a private collection.

The museum is open to the public from 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday – Saturday through the month of August and then 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday into fall.