May at Woodlawn

May 2025 Newsletter

May Has Arrived!

It is a wonderful time to be at Woodlawn. The grass is greening up, flowers are emerging in the formal garden, bird boxes in the fields are filled with new life, the picnic tables are beckoning, and the museum will be open to visitors beginning May 20th.

Soon our croquet players will return for some “wicket” good play. Will this is the year you decide to join them? Check out the schedule of play on our website.

We encourage you to scroll down through the newsletter to learn about all activities coming up this month and next in the barn, in the museum and on the grounds. The barn is becoming a cherished place where friends and family gather and make memories. Come take a look and book an event!

Thank you for caring about Woodlawn and for your support.

Andy and Roz

From the Archives

Woodlawn's Everchanging Landscape

By Roz Rea, Trustee

The Woodlawn landscape will be featured in two of our upcoming events.

Join us at 8:00AM on May 3rd for our Jane’s Walk , “A Walk through History”. Using historic photographs we will contrast the 19th century Black family estate with our modern 21st century campus.

Then on May 5th, at 6:00PM the monthly history lecture will be about stonewalls, a truly defining feature here.

In this photo looking southwest from the front of the mansion a stonewall provides the backdrop for one of Nixon Black’s peacocks. The field beyond the wall is where Woodlawn’s croquet court was built in 2006.

Fortunately, there are photographs in Woodlawn's archives dating back to about 1875 and continuing through to the present. These visual records are critical to tracking changes in the landscape and will inform the Trustees’ plans for Woodlawn. A Cultural Landscape Report written in 2009 that captured the history has just been updated and will serve as our guide as we decide on new plantings around the reconstructed barn.

This picture shows the approach to the house, the stately elms that once graced the front yard, vines growing up the brick walls, and numerous evergreen trees.

At one time the field in front of the mansion was cut for hay using teams of horses. The hedge that once divided the house from the field figures prominently in this photo.

The formal garden, now an iconic element of Woodlawn’s landscape, was installed in 1903. This photo shows the backyard of the Black House before the garden was added.

This view of the mansion was taken from the field in front of the house and shows how shaded the mansion once was.

While we can not, and should not, endeavor to duplicate an earlier time, the aim will be to recover the 19th century context surrounding the historic house and to provide updated plantings around the gardens, meadows and trails that Nixon Black left to be use as a public park.

Upcoming Events

Jane's Walk -

Exploring Woodlawn: A Walk Through Time

Join Woodlawn’s Trustee, Roz Rea and Education Director, Kelly Lunt for a guided walk around the historic Woodlawn estate. As you explore the scenic grounds, you’ll learn about the rich history, architectural features, and stories behind this Ellsworth landmark.

Participants will start the walk along part of the trail system to view the ancestral Black Family tomb. This part of the walk will be along a natural forest path. Participants will then learn about the history of Woodlawn’s buildings, landscapes, and past residents, to gain a deeper appreciation for its role in the community. The walk will be about 1 mile in length on both even and uneven surfaces.

We will meet in the lower parking lot near the croquet court.

Visit our Website

History Lecture Series

New England

Stone Walls

May 5th at 6PM

Cheryl Laz, Maine Master Naturalist will speak about the history of stone walls in New England.

In Maine, and New England more generally, stone walls are one of our most enduring reminders of the past. They line country roads, border cemeteries, mark edges of fields and wind through the woods. Sometimes stone walls seem to be in the middle of nowhere. We'll explore stone walls through the lenses of natural history and human history, paying attention to geology, glaciation, and patterns of human settlement and land use.

At the end of the talk we will venture outside (weather permitting) to explore some of the stonewalls found at Woodlawn.

RSVP

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

Woodlawn's History Lecture Series is sponsored by:

Legacy Properties of Sotheby's International Realty.

Purchase Tickets

Join us to Celebrate Spring!

Campus Clean-up RSVP

Science Saturday

Beginner

Bird Walk

with Maine Audubon

May 17th

8-9:30AM

FREE

Want to get into birding this spring migration season?

If you’re new to birding or have never been on a bird walk before, this is a great opportunity to get introduced to the hobby and learn some of the more common species around us, alongside folks who are just as new as you are!

Participants should bring binoculars if they have some, but we’ll have extras to loan out and can give some lessons on how best to use them.

Leader: David Lamon, Maine Audubon Director of Northern Programs & Operations

Space is limited to 15 people.

This event is family friendly. In the event of bad weather this event maybe cancelled or postponed.

Wildflower

Walk

June 7th

10AM-12PM

$10 per person

Join Maine Master Naturalist Ellen Gellerstedt on a walk to discover the 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 event maybe cancelled or postponed.