In early February Stephen Thompson will present his research on Maine's Lost Trotting Parks and 19th Century Kennebec County at Maranacook Community School. Check with the Office of Adult Education for the details! Images of Readfield in the 19th Century and Readfield's lost trotting park will be presented. Stephen's work in Readfield will be a collaborative effort with the Readfield Historical Society. Dale Marie Clark will present information on Readfield in the 19th Century.
If you have old family photos of Readfield, please bring them to share with others attending the presentation.
The photos represents our visit to the property where Readfield's Lost Trotting Park is located. My neighbor, Dana DeVos, and I drove to Dave and Holly Dominie's home on the Old Fairgrounds Road in Readfield. Dave and Holly gave us a grand tour of the walking paths that exist on the old fairgrounds. We found an area with bleachers and what appeared to be supports for a larger grandstand. We also saw what may have been part of the fencing that was erected on the inside of the track. However, the topography of the land didn't seem adequate to support a trotting track. In addition it appeared that if the track were here it was built around a ravine. I do believe our search and research needs to involve others who may remember where the track was located.
I also walked these trails about two weeks ago with a group of people who recollect the fair, and the stewards of the Readfield Fairgrounds Trails were also with us. I grew up in Readfield and remember the fair well - in fact my Grandfather Potter was in charge of horse pulling so most of my time at the Fair was spent near the tracks and grandstand. It was our recollection, and confirmed by the stewards of the trail, that the grandstands are not in the same place where the horse pulling was held, during the last years of the Readfield Grange Fair in the 1950s and 60s, and have been moved. The granite blocks near the grandstand ruins were used, we discovered that day, as weights for the oxen and horse pulling. The Fair, during my lifetime, was held in the open fields as you come in through the Church Road entrance. I say fields because there is a separation of fields with a treeline now. Those who remembered the Fair talked about it that day and concurred the horse pulling track was in the second field near the treeline.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your story. It would be wonderful to post photographs of the fair.
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