BATH

The Patten Free Library’s annual Town History Series kicks off this Saturday, with five lectures discussing some aspect of the five communities that help fund the library.

“This will be the 14th year in a row,” said History Room Assistant Peter Goodwin, who has been in charge of the series since its inception. “We had a general feeling … from various people I knew here at the library that generally, people would be interested in learning more about their town’s feelings.

“So we decided to put together something for the towns that supported the library,” he added.

There are five lectures, with one dedicated to each municipality that provides funding for the library: Arrowsic, Bath, Georgetown, West Bath and Woolwich. While Phippsburg was originally included in the town series lectures, it has since dropped its financial support for the library.

There’s no overarching theme to the series. Historical societies in each town have free reign to find the right speaker and a good topic. In a town like Arrowsic, where there is no historical society, a group of historically minded individuals work together to

find a topic and a speaker.

“Each historical society decides what (lecture topic) it wants to give this year,” said Goodwin. “I’ve always said, no, we don’t want to do a theme because not every society is going to have something to put forward on that theme.”

Even after 14 years, he’s not worried about running out of things to talk about.

“There’s endless history. The topics are never ending,” Goodwin said.

Over the years, the series has been remarkably well attended for a Saturday morning lecture. Goodwin estimates about 70 people come to each talk. Part of the large interest in the series has to do with the fact that many people in the area feel a strong connection to their town’s history.

“Each of these towns … is a fairly tight knit community. And they all seem to be interested and participating in the history of that community,” said Goodwin, noting that family ties go back generations in the area.

This year, the series is dedicated to the recently deceased Mel Hodgkins and Frances (Chee Chee) Kakos, who both volunteered at the library’s history room. White Mountain Wealth Management is the financial sponsor of the series.

Reservations are not required for the free events, but the available seating goes fast. The first talk will be this Saturday, Jan. 13, and it will be about the Parkers of Georgetown. The remaining lectures will continue on the following Saturdays. All lectures are scheduled in the community room at 10:30 a.m. and are expected to last about an hour.

nstrout@timesrecord.com

History series schedule

• Jan. 13

Georgetown: Rich Start, “The Parkers of Maine”

• Jan. 20

Woolwich: Trevor Hunt, “A History of the Regional Water Supply and the Development of Nequasset Lake as a Source”

• Jan. 27

Bath: Nathan Lipfert, “Rare Shipbuilding Tools Recently found in the North End”

• Feb. 3

West Bath: Madelyn Hennessey, “William J. Hennessey: The First of the Hennesseys in West Bath”

• Feb. 10

Arrowsic: Malcolm Persen, “One House’s Journey through Arrowsic History”