Rebecca Emery Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution will hold a rededication ceremony for the Biddeford-based Richard Vines Monument at the Brick Store Museum in Kennebunk on Saturday, Aug. 22 at 10 a.m. The event is to commemorate Captain Richard Vines, along with approximately 32 other men, who spent the winter of 1616-17 in the area of Leighton’s Point at Biddeford Pool, then known as Winter Harbor. This event is free and open to the public.
Captain Vines, also a physician, was an agent for Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who sent Vines to explore the northeastern coast of the New World to find out the possibility of surviving a harsh winter at the peninsula of Biddeford Pool. Captain Vines and his crew survived the winter and sailed back to England without the loss of any lives.
The guest speaker at the rededication ceremony will be Christi Mitchell, architectural historian with the Maine Historic Preservation Commission in Augusta. Mitchell’s topic will be on William E. Barry (1846- 1932), a well- known author, artist, historian, philanthropist and world traveler from Kennebunk. Barry had a hobby of marking historical sites and erected a monument on the original Richard Vines property as a tribute to Vines. Measuring 49 1/2 by 19-by- 34-by-21 feet, Barry had a large granite monument with a bronze tablet placed commemorating Vines’ successful stay through his first winter. In 1931, Barry met with the Rebecca Emery Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and offered to bequeath to the chapter the Vines Monument, and the land where it’s located, with a stipulation that the monument never be moved from its original location. The Rebecca Emery Chapter agreed and has been taking care of the monument ever since. The monument stands at Bridge Road at Leighton’s Point in Biddeford.
Mitchell said about Barry, “His contributions in the fields of art, architecture, literature, historic preservation and history have traditionally formed the basis for much of what is known about the colonial era in the towns of Wells, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Biddeford.”
Since 2001, Mitchell’s primary responsibility has been to coordinate nominations to the National Register of Historic Places and architectural surveys throughout the state of Maine. Mitchell has a master’s degree in American and New England Studies from the University of Southern Maine, with a concentration on the intersection of architecture and social history.
In other news, The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution is celebrating its 125th anniversary on Oct. 11. DAR, founded in 1890 and headquartered in Washington D.C., is a non-profit, nonpolitical volunteer women’s service organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American history, and securing America’s future through better education for children. Membership is open to any woman 18 years or older, regardless of race, religion or ethnic background, who can prove linear descent from a patriot of the American Revolution. For more information regarding DAR membership, visit DAR.org.
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