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PHOTO: Curtis Homestead will be the site of the Leeds Historical Society walk and talk on July 31. (Maureen Milliken photo)
LEEDS — The Leeds Historical Society is hosting walk and talks at local outdoors historical sites in July and August. All of the walks are at 1 p.m., and those taking part should bring bug dope, especially for the bog walk. The bog willl also be wet, and other sites may be, so wear appropriate footwear.
Rain date and times for all the walks are on the next day, Sunday, at 1pm.
Saturday, July 17, thanks to the generosity of the Maurer family, participants will get out on one of the town’s peat bogs. There have always been those who thought the best thing to do with such a feature is to drain it and sell the peat as fuel, but none of those schemes have ever come to fruition. Jeri Maurer will tell stories related to the bog and, with fingers crossed, show participants pitcher plants, rhodora that might be in bloom and author plants. The group will gather at 886 Route 106. Saturday, July 31, the walk will feature Curtis Homestead. In 2000, former Gov. Kenneth Curtis and his sister, Rebecca, donated 360 acres of their family land to the Kennebec Land Trust. Participants will hear about the Curtis family, the homestead they built around 1840 and the surrounding area. The walk will be on one of the trails, none of which are longer than 1.5 miles round-trip. The site is near the intersection of Route 106 and Bog Road, with the parking area on Bog Road, three-tenths of a mile from Route !06 at Curtis Corner and 1.5 miles from U.S. Route 202. On Saturday, Aug. 7, walkers will tour Twin Bridge and Island Cemetery. Once a wooden covered toll bridge, Twin Bridges between Leeds and Turner has gone through multiple configurations. Participants will hear about those changes and explore Island Cemetery, which has lasted through it all. The site is on Route 219, and there is parking just before the river, on the left when coming from the east, at Googins Island Public Boat Access.
