AUGUSTA — Old Fort Western is set to open its “2022 The Year of the Fort” celebration with “Martha Ballard’s World: Wife, Mother, Healer, Botanist” at 16 Cony St.
On Sunday, May 15, from 1 to 4 p.m., attendees can look into the life of a colonial woman in Hallowell. There will be rotating stations from 1 to 3 p.m. that center around activities that Ballard herself wrote about in her diary during the month of May, according to a news release from the fort.
Rotating stations include the following:
• At the kitchen hearth, make cinnamon butter and savory herbed butter for the scones to be served at the afternoon tea. Learn about where cinnamon and sugar came from, and how it was processed, packaged and shipped during the colonial period. Making and trading butter was a common activity of Ballard’s.
• Textiles played an important role in the lives of Ballard and her daughters. Work different types of looms learn about fibers, and card and spin wool.
• Ballard often made candles for lighting her home.
• In the garden, learn about herbs and the plants available for the 18th-century housewife for consumption and healing.
• At 3 p.m. there will be an 18th-century tea in the south parlor of the Garrison, where Ballard actually came and often partook tea with Susanna Cony Howard (Judge James Howard’s second wife).
The program costs $25. To register, call 207-626-2385. Registration closes at 4 p.m. Friday, April 29. For registration materials, go to oldfortwestern.org.
Fort Western will reopen for tours on Saturday, May 28, for its 2022 Tour Season.
For more information, visit oldfortwestern.org, call 207-626-2385, or visit the organization on Facebook.
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