“Go to the winter woods: listen there, look, watch, and ‘the dead months’ will give you a subtler secret than any you have yet found in the forest.”



— William Sharp (writing as Fiona Macleod)

Where the Forest Murmurs

History is popular with the locals!

Our local history lecture has been incredibly popular! The first two (Jan & Feb!) were filled fast with waiting lists! Part of this because we are still not in the Barn (and seating is limited) but the lesson is that if you see something that interests you, please go to the website (woodlawnellsworth.org) and register! We want your email so that we can communicate in the event there is a cancellation (weather/presenter illness).

These talks are by donation (to help us offset the cost of refreshments and mileage reimbursement for some of the presenters) but we will begin a $5/lecture payment starting in the spring when we head into the Barn - in part to make up for folks who are excited and register but then leave an empty seat on the night! With a pre-payment, that might happen less and we will have received your donation for holding the space.

If this or anything that Woodlawn offers is something your company may like to sponsor, please reach out to info@woodlawnellsworth.org. Thanks

Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities

The following three programs offer terrific professional development opportunities for educators. We hope that these interesting opportunities to learn and then teach about the seasons, nature, and culture have an audience.

Renting space at the Barn - let's talk soon!

Are you in a wool spinning club, regular book discussion group or maybe you have been looking for a commercial kitchen to rent?

The barn has three different meetings spaces to accommodate a range of activities and gatherings.

The commercial kitchen is perfect for someone who wants to start small with an idea....

On our website (woodlawnellsworth.org) there is a tab called The Barn - use the enquiry form to tell us about what you might want to do and someone will get back to you about a shared future!

A Promising Young Doctor

In honor of retired Ellsworth doctor Charlie Alexander’s election as Woodlawn’s new board president, the following story links John Black with a young man from Ellsworth who was trained as a doctor.

Among John Black's papers is an invoice for medical supplies purchased by Nahum Jordan, Jr. in 1830, that was clearly paid for by John Black.

Nahum Jordan, Jr., born in Ellsworth on November 22, 1807, was the only child of

Nahum and Rachel Joy Jordan. The elder Nahum died four months before the birth of his son. John and Mary Black were living in Gouldsboro at the time their third child, son Henry, was also born in 1807.

Being the same age, the two boys may have known each other from the time the Blacks moved to Ellsworth in 1809. At some point, John Black became young Nahum’s guardian, but how and why remains unclear.

In 1824, Henry Black and Nahum Jordan both entered Bowdoin College as freshman. Letters in the archives show an exchange between Jordan and Black that indicate John Black paid Nahum’s tuition as well as Henry’s and that John Black took great interest in Nahum’s progress. Henry’s college days ended the next year when he was asked to leave the college on disciplinary and academic grounds. Nahum, however, proved to be a serious student graduating from the college and then from the Medical

School of Maine at Bowdoin in 1830.

Soon after graduating, Nahum went to Boston to purchased the things he would need to start his practice. That invoice, paid by John Black, lists books, medical instruments and nearly 100 medicines, providing a valuable window into the medical profession of the time. After this purchase, mention of Nahum stops in the Hancock County and Woodlawn records. Sadly, this is because the promising young doctor died on March 22, 1831 aged 23 yrs. and 4 months. Rachel, his mother, died a few years later at age 50.

While at Bowdoin, Nahum wrote his thesis on “Haemoptysis”, or the coughing up of blood from the lungs. Perhaps his interest in the topic stemmed from his own, or a relations, troubled health and brought the early demise of all three members of this family. That mystery is unable to be explained in the archives.

From the Caretakers......

Sledding and limited skating has begun! There is a sign at the fork in the drive - we are encouraging skating, sledding, and trail walking to continue using the lower lot (where there is a year-round and regularly serviced port-a-potty).

Remember, in and out are on the same part of the driveway so please go slow and drive in front of the museum carefully - that is really only narrow enough for one car in either direction and families/kids will be just below the road, if they are sledding.

Those who may be coming to a meeting or an appointment in the Ell or Barn or Cottage, should come up and park in the spaces you see there between the barn and the cottage.

Please watch for the signs at the gate and the pond to learn if we feel it is safe to skate. As always, please heed the warnings when it says closed and avoid throwing stones/sticks which get in the way of the snow plow and cause a problem when they freeze to the pond surface.

All downed trees have been cleared from the outer trails! Thanks Mike & Richard!

Wish List:

Amazon let's us create a wish list - click the link and pick items to purchase that are mailed directly to us. We will recognize your generosity as a membership donation!

Binoculars

Headlamps

Leaf blower

Wood chipper

Use of a wood mill for some of these trees!

Woodlawn

P.O. Box 1478

Ellsworth, Maine 04605

(207) 667-8671

For general questions, click here