June at Woodlawn

June 2025 e-Newsletter

A Message from the Co-Directors

Woodlawn Museum is officially open for the 2025 season and we are off to a great start! In our first week we welcomed international visitors from Belgium, Hungary, and the UK as well as fellow citizens from Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri and several Maine towns. This year we are offering both audio and guided tours. Be sure to check our website for the tour schedule and to make reservations if required. While on the website you can also reserve a spot for one of the special teas in June and August, or for a book discussion based on The House at Lobster Cove.

Also coming up in June is the first of three Woodlawn croquet tournaments June 19th -22nd. Spectators are welcome. You will see some amazing strategy and masterful shots unfold each day. If you are inspired to learn more, Woodlawn croquet members are happy to offer lessons and introduce you to a variety of croquet formats. Check the croquet schedule on our website. woodlawnellsworth.org/croquet

As the number of people using the Woodlawn trails increases with the summer weather, please keep in mind that ALL dogs must be on leash no matter where they are on the property. Woodlawn is dog friendly, but please note that we are not a dog park. The Trustees want everyone who visits Woodlawn to feel safe and to walk the grounds confident in the knowledge that our canine visitors are always on leash and under control.

Last week the Trustees announced that applications for the position of executive director are now being accepted. With help from Starboard Leadership Consulting in Bangor, the Trustees expect to begin reviewing candidates in late June. If you, or someone you know, is interested please follow this link woodlawnellsworth.org/employment-opportunities for further information about the position and the process.

Woodlawn’s success depends on the support of people like you. Please consider making a gift today. You may earmark it for the museum, park, public programming, or general support. We have projects in all areas ready to go as soon as they are funded.

We look forward to seeing you at Woodlawn soon!

Roz and Andy

Welcome Ashley Terwilliger!

We would like to introduce you to our new part-time Events Coordinator, Ashley Terwilliger! Ashley’s work includes being the main contact person for private rentals, and the day-of-wedding coordinator.

Ashley was born and raised in Maine and currently lives in Ellsworth with her husband and kids. She earned a degree in Studio Art with a minor in Art History from the University of Maine at Orono.

Ashley is very involved in the Ellsworth community and has directed shows for The Grand for the past several years including, The Little Mermaid, Matilda, Willy Wonka, and A Musical Christmas Carol. She also fosters regularly for the SPCA of Hancock County.

Ashley is very excited to continue to grow the use of the venue and serve the community.

Welcome to the Woodlawn Team Ashley!

From the Collection

Fans from Far Away

By Roz Rea, Trustee

The collection highlight this month is a pair of palm leaf fans that have gone unnoticed for decades. Thanks to Woodlawn’s new collections storage facility, some of the museum’s over furnished rooms are being unpacked and rearranged allowing previously hidden objects to be seen.

These six foot tall palm leaf fans are a prime example. Previously relegated to a dark corner, these unique objects now stand out as the curiosities that they were intended to be. Although the fans need cleaning and conservation, they beg to be seen and integrated into Woodlawn’s story.

Thanks to online searchable museum databases, information about 19th century palm leaf fans is available to help build a plausible story about our two fans. Museums in New Zealand, New York and Massachusetts all have similar fans in their collections with their origins linked to India or the South Pacific Islands. Most intriguing is one at Boston’s Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site. Called a “Bengali Palm Leaf Fan” it was either purchased in India between 1868 and 1870 as a souvenir by Charles Longfellow, or it was given to the Longfellow family as a gift. Either way, it was definitely a curiosity in a New England home.

So what about Woodlawn’s palm leaf fans? Nixon Black could have purchased them during one of his many trips abroad. But thinking a little outside the box raises the possibility that the fans originated with the Pitman family. Benjamin Pitman, father of Nixon’s companion Charles B. Pitman, was married to Hawaiian royalty and lived in Hawaii until the early 1860s when he moved to Boston bringing with him all sorts of exotic objects. Or perhaps Charles’s brother Harold, another widely traveled member of the Black/Pitman social circle, purchased the fans as souvenirs on one of this adventures. We may never know for certain, but it is fun to speculate and begin to appreciate these beautiful objects.

Spring Nature Festival - May 17th

Even though the weather was rainy we had a great time at the Spring Nature Festival!

We started early with a bird walk led by David Lamon of Maine Audubon and saw a beautiful Scarlet Tanager. Mr. Drew and his animals were a HUGE hit, as always. Kids had fun making animal hats, coloring flowers, using bug stencils and learning about animal footprints at our stations run by some AMAZING volunteers, Pam, Barbara, Priscilla and Carol.

The Ellsworth School Department art teachers brought some beautiful artwork from the elementary, middle and high schools. Our friends from Frenchman's Bay Conservancy came and had a great station with mystery boxes and Wing Dingahs food truck provided yummy food options.

Thank you to all that joined us!

Upcoming Programs

Purchase Tickets for the Book Discussion and Tour

History Lecture Series

Carroll Thayer

Berry

June 16th at 6PM

Carroll Thayer Berry was a man of many talents — an able artist, illustrator, printmaker, photographer and engineer. He took up photography at the age of 60, and left a prolific collection of photographs documenting the Maine coast from the late 1940 to the late 1970s to the Penobscot Marine Museum.

Join Penobscot Marine Museum’s Richard Saltonstall Jr. Curator of Maritime History, Cipperly Good, as she shares interesting perspectives on the artist, Carroll Thayer Berry, garnered from PMM’s extensive collection of the artist’s photographs and prints.

RSVP for the Lecture

John & Mary Black's New Home:1827

July 14th at 5PM

*Please note this lecture starts at 5PM not 6PM*

In 1827 John and Mary Black moved into their newly built and furnished home that they called Woodlawn.

The house itself was an extraordinary architectural statement in downeast Maine, and the furnishings were among the finest to be found in Boston. The Black Family Papers hold details about construction of the house and receipts for items purchased during the Blacks’ September 1827 shopping extravaganza. In their lecture, Rosamond Rea and Brian Pfeiffer will piece together the evidence of Woodlawn’s creation and invite you to imagine what it was like to step into the Black’s new home in 1827.

RSVP for the Lecture

After the talk we will be offering a special behind the ropes tour of the Black House with Roz and Brian. This tour is limited to 16 people and will include light appetizers.

The cost of this tour is $35 per person.

Tickets for the tour can be purchased by clicking the link below.

Pre-registration is required.

Purchase Tickets for the Behind the Ropes Tour

Woodlawn's History Lecture Series is sponsored by:

Legacy Properties of Sotheby's International Realty.

Purchase Tickets for the Tea and Tour

Science Saturday

There are only a couple of tickets left for this walk!

Join Maine Master Naturalist Ellen Gellerstedt on a walk to discover wildflowers that bloom in early June. We will talk about the ecosystems that help determine the location of different plant communities as well as the function of flowers within a community.

Space is limited to 10 people. This event is adult focused.

In the event of bad weather this program maybe cancelled or postponed.

Purchase Tickets for the Wildflower Walk