FREEPORT – The Freeport Historical Society is bringing stories to the streets.

The society is raising money to erect a series of signs marking important historical and cultural events in the development of the town. The Freeport Heritage Trail would include key sites in Freeport Village, as well as outlying areas. In all, there could be as many as 16 locations on the trail.

“A lot of people assume that Freeport is a quarter-mile of Main Street. But there is 300 years of history here that predates 20 years of retail history,” said Christina White, director of the Freeport Historical Society.

“This is an intact community, and it’s sometimes easy to lose sight of that because the town has been branded so well as a retail destination.”

The project is a collaboration among the historical society, local landowners, businesses and the town. The total budget, including donations of time and services, is $28,000.

A grant application that would help pay for the project is pending with the Maine Humanities Council, White said. The remaining cost would be the responsibility of local landowners.

To help offset that cost, the historical society is mounting a campaign to raise money.

Each interpretive sign would include an image or two and a few paragraphs of information about the location or event, as well as a guide to other stops on the trail.

Among the sites under consideration for the signs are Mast Landing, Bartol Library, Wolfe’s Neck Farm, Flying Point One Room Schoolhouse, the Old First Parish Meeting House and Burial Ground, and the Harrington House, home of the historical society.

“We want to bring stories to the streets. That is our motivation, to get stories to the people,” White said.

The historical society should learn by early July about the fate of its grant application.

 

Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be contacted at 791-6457 or at: bkeyes@pressherald.com