The Hunnewell House, Scarborough’s oldest house, as depicted by local quilter Jean Maclean.
William King, Maine’s first governor, owned this bed, now at home at the Scarborough Historical Society. King lived in Scarborough as a youth. The bicentennial quilt is not featured on the bed. Courtesy photo Lucy Jackson Norvell
Organizers for the Scarborough Bicentennial Quilt event on Aug. 22. From left to right: Lucy Jackson Norvell, coordinator of programming and communications at the Scarborough Public Library, Joyce Alden, Joyce Jensen and Mary Pickard. Catherine Bart photo
Winslow Homer’s “Fox Hunt,” quilted by Kathy Bouchard for the Scarborough Bicentennial Quilt. The quilt will be on display at the Scarborough Public Library on Aug. 22 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
SCARBOROUGH — As part of the Maine Bicentennial series, postponed from last spring, the Scarborough Public Library will host an exhibit of the town’s bicentennial quilt, stitched together with squares made from residents, on Aug. 22.
From 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., guests can celebrate the work of over 40 local quilters, who each contributed squares that feature a piece of Scarborough’s history, Joyce Jensen, Joyce Alden and Mary Pickard, organizers of the project, said. The quilt will be displayed on a bed once owned by William King, Maine’s first governor, who lived in Scarborough through his childhood.
King was born in 1768 and lived in Scarborough until his 20s, said Alden. His bed was originally in a museum in Bath, but went up for auction and found its way to the Scarborough Historical Society.
The project was possible through grant money from the Maine Humanities Council, said Mary Pickard, member of the Scarborough Historical Society. As a way to involve the community, a requirement from the grant, the Scarborough Historical Society thought that bringing quilters together would be fitting.
Quilters had full creative freedom, said Jensen. Squares featured in the exhibit include a depiction of the Hunnewell House, Scarborough’s oldest house, and a homage to Scarborough resident and painter Winslow Homer’s “Fox Hunt.”
Originally, thee quilt was to have been unveiled in March of 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the event, and other related state bicentennial celebration programs, said Lucy Jackson Norvell, coordinator of Programming and Communications at the Scarborough Public Library.
A reception at the library on Aug. 22 will take place outdoors, with the quilt, laid out on King’s bed, inside the library, Norvell said.
People are asked to RSVP to the event on the library’s website, scarboroughlibrary.org/events/registration/bicentennial-quilt-reception-rsvp, said Norvell.
The bed and quilt display will be located at the Scarborough Historical Society’s museum after the event, Alden said. The museum is open by appointment only.
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