SACO – The Saco Museum celebrates hooked rug innovator and entrepreneur Edward S. Frost with the show “Rugs All Marked Out,” opening Jan. 14. Frost launched a rug-pattern business in Biddeford in the mid-19th century.

Originally presented at the Maine State Museum in 2006, “Rugs All Marked Out” features rugs, burlap patterns and metal stencils from the Maine State Museum collection. The original exhibition will be supplemented with Frost rugs and patterns from the Saco Museum collections, all recent acquisitions.

Additional Photos

Pattern for hooked rug, ink on burlap, Edward S. Frost pattern #92, 1870s. Images courtesy of Saco Museum

Hooked rug, wool, Edward S. Frost pattern #108, hooked by Mary Etta Hammond before 1908.

Also on view will be modern hooked rugs by members of the Maine Tin Pedlar, a group of local hooked-rug artists named in honor of Frost.

Both exhibitions will be on view through March 24. An opening reception for both exhibitions will be 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Jan. 13. The reception is free and open to the public.

Frost (1843-94) created the stencils around 1870, and they were used by E. S. Frost and Co. for the next 30 years to produce printed patterns on burlap, ready to be worked into hooked rugs.

Traveling around northern New England as a tin peddler in the years after his service in the Civil War, Frost noted the great diversity of quality in the designs that farm women drew onto burlap and hooked into rugs for their homes. He decided he could tap into this market, beginning with a hand-drawn pattern on burlap that proved to be popular with friends and customers.

The Dyer Library/Saco Museum is at 371 Main St. (Route 1). The museum is open noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, noon to 8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5; $3 for seniors and students; and $2 for ages 7 to 18. Children ages 6 and younger are admitted free.

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