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A Brief History of
Greene Plantation Historical Society
On Oct. 14, 1989, a small group of people met in the kitchen of Bob and Isabel
Maresh in Belmont, Maine for the purpose of organizing a Historical Society. Jackie
Watts, a founder of the Lincolnville Historical Society attended the meeting to help with
the organizing, to tell of her experiences as president of the LHS, and to show four
scrapbook histories, which she was instrumental in publishing for the society.
The group voted to organize a historical society to be named Greene Plantation
Historical Society from that time forth. Belmont was part of a plantation called Greene,
which then included Belmont, Searsmont and Morrill. Searsmont was set off and
incorporated as a town on Feb. 5, 1814. At that time, Belmont, which then included what
is now Morrill, was also set off and incorporated as a separate town. Morrill was then set
off from Belmont on March 3, 1855. In May 1855, the store of John Crawford at
Belmont Corner was destroyed by fire. Crawford was the then Town Clerk of Belmont,
so at that time, the Town records of the Town of Belmont, and the Plantation of Greene
were destroyed by fire.
The first officers of the newly-formed Greene Plantation Historical Society were:
President, Wilbur Buck; Vice President, M. Alice Buck; Secretary, Isabel Morse Maresh;
and Treasurer, Lytle Eaton. The group had high hopes, as they also elected Carrie Cross,
Kitchen Chairman; Shirley Cushman as membership chairperson; Isabel and Alice B. as a
program committee. In the early days of the Society, they held separate officers’
meetings.
At the organizational meeting, the objectives of the Greene Plantation Historical
Society were “to find and preserve early pictures, scrapbooks, town reports, record books,
postcards, family Bible records, and items of this nature, as well as old newspapers and
clippings for historical research, and as artifacts.” These objectives had not changed.
Within two months, our president became very ill, not able to attend meetings.
The society appointed Linwood Pattee as temporary president. Mr. Pattee also became ill,
and passed away the next year.
In the first years, the small group valiantly pressed on. They held membership
suppers at Grand View Grange Hall in Northport with small attendance, despite good
advertising. The treasurer, Lytle Eaton, obtained a State Identification number for the
society.
In 1990, the group was elated when Marjorie and Yvonne Redman gave, in trust,
the Greer’s Corner one-room schoolhouse. Trustees named on the Trust agreenent are:
Mary J. Smith, Irene Mehuren, Jacqueline J. Watts, and Isabel Morse Maresh. In the
Trust agreement, the schoolhouse is to remain as a one-room school. No changes can be
made to the building, nor buildings be built or erected on the schoolhouse lot. Members
of the historical society, and their relatives, went to work on the building and yard.
They pulled down the crumbling plaster ceiling, as it was unsafe. They had work bees,
yard sales, afternoon teas, and a Victorian Christmas party.
Donations from relatives of former early students were obtained, restoring the
broken windows which had rotting wood. A group of young men, all relatives of the
members, put up the ceiling. Another member patched a hole in the roof.
A Brief History of
Greene Plantation Historical Society
On Oct. 16, 1991, the secretary received word that the efforts of a few were
rewarded, when the Schoolhouse was placed in the National Register of Historic Places by
the National Park Service of the Dept. of the Interior, Washington, D.C.
After that, interest waned, from lack of membership. A few yardsales were held in
the schoolhouse, and in a member’s backyard, on what turned out to be the rainiest day of
the year.
In late 1998, interest again sparked, and a flame grew. In early 1999, again a
dedicated few members worked on and obtained Tax-Free status from the State of Maine,
and from the Internal Revenue Service. That year, the inmates of Waldo County Jail, as
part of a community service program, pounded nails, scraped old paint, and painted the
schoolhouse in three days. Paint was donated by a local lumber company and local
individuals. The media was called, and coverage was given by three newspapers.
In the late spring of 2000 a Craft Fair was held under a canopy, which, too, was
shortened by rain in the afternoon. In June of 2000, many former students of Greer’s
Corner School were sent invitations to attend a Remembrance Day at the schoolhouse. It
is hoped that this might become an annual event.
It is the dream of the officers and trustees of Greene Plantation Historical Society
that the Greer’s Corner one-room schoolhouse be restored, with similiar paint and
artifacts to make it as near original as possible, so that the schoolhouse will be a beacon to
students from the area, and perhaps across the State of Maine to come to the schoolroom,
sit in the atmosphere of the school that their ancestors attended, and learn of the past. The
original outhouses attached to the building are intact, and are one item of interest, as to
the lack of luxuries experienced by the original students. In 1999 three groups of students
visited the school, two of which arrived in big yellow schoolbuses. It is probably the first
time in history that big yellow schoolbuses have pulled up in front of the Greer’s Corner
Schoolhouse.
It is also a dream of the officers, and trustees, to have a separate building, perhaps
on another site in the Town of Belmont, Maine to have an office, eventually with a
computer, to set up displays, with storage space and cataloging of Belmont artifacts,
including large family portraits [of which we have had two donated], and other interesting
memorabilia. These can be supported by grants and by dedicated work of individual
members, as well as by donations.
Followups:
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