Maine Media College Workshops 2024 Recap
CRHS was delighted to partner with Maine Media College for a series of professionally taught workshops in September, 2024.
Tess Taylor, author of five celebrated poetry collections, led a workshop for poets. To inspire the group, CRHS Trustee Don Rainville offered a talk on concealment shoes that he found in his own 18th century home near the Homestead. “Concealment shoes” is a term used by historians to describe footwear found in period houses, often concealed near the center chimney or walls near the door. This seemed to be a little-understood practice in Europe and New England from medieval times up to the 19th century. It is believed that relatively sturdy articles of clothing like leather gloves or shoes because they conform to a person’s unique anatomy, are imbued with aspects of that person’s inherent spirit. Items such as these worn by a family member of the home under construction would protect the home from evil spirits that might enter through the door or chimney. They become, in a sense, a blessing to the home with the protection of the good spirits those items hold within them.
Here is one poem inspired by the talk:
Russell Pflueger led a filmmaking workshop featuring Don Rainville on historic preservation.
Student photographers filmed and photographed the Homestead and our grounds. We’ve included a selection of the photos below and you can view the full photo album on our Facebook page:
