The Lost Trotting Parks Storyboard Archives

The Lost Trotting Parks Storyboard Archives

Monday, February 18, 2013

Plan of Streets -- Waterville, Maine 1894

In November of 1891, Hod Nelson stopped work on his mile track in Waterville. This 1894 map shows the Webb Trotting Park. Although of interest this map does not provide adequate information that would lead us to the location of what would have been central Maine's mile track.


Tuesday, February 12, 2013

The Horse We Rode in On -- A Sports Illustrated Article on Dan Patch

Susan Higgins posted the link to this article on Facebook. This is a great article that tells a story and builds a bit of suspense as you read it!

Monday, February 4, 2013

The American Trotting horse by James B. Townsend -- 1885

To view individual storyboards, place your cursor on the storyboard image, right click your mouse and open the storyboard in a new window or under a new tab. This will allow you to use the CTRL + feature to enlarge the storyboard.

This article comes from the November 1885 issue of "Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly Magazine," published in New York by Frank Leslie Publishing.


The American Trotting Horse -- Dexter, Under Saddle


American Girl
Goldsmith Maid at Rochester, August 1878

Goldsmith Maid in 1877



Smuggler, who beat Goldsmith Maid at Cleveland, July, 1876
William H. Vanderbilt driving Small Hopes and Lady Mac, December, 1877.


American Trotting Stock shipped to foreign lands.


American Girl
Goldsmith at Rochester


The American Trotting Horse -- Flora Temple
Goldsmith Maid -- 1877
Hambletonian, Sire of Dexter

Flora Temple
Goldsmith Maid


Smuggler
American Trotters shipped to foreign lands


William R Vanderbilt
Portrait of Hiram Woodruff

Touring Readfield's Lost Trotting Park -- 6:00 on February 5, 2013 -- Maranacook Adult Education






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.