The Raymond-Casco Historical Society meets every second Monday in the month. At a February meeting, Skip Watkins, benefactor of the new museum gave members an update on the progress of the building, which is located on Route 302 in South Casco.

The interior walls of the barn are covered with 16-inch rough sawn barn boards harvested from the Watkins property. The ceiling and floor tile have been installed in the conference/research room and the office area. The building is now heated and ready to host the April meeting.

The historical society is ready now to accept donated items for the museum. Please call society historians Elizabeth Bullen at 998-3123 or Laurie Cook at 627-7348, to discuss acceptance. All donations if accepted will be photographed and documented. You may just want to loan an item to the museum. In which case you will receive a written agreement.

It was pointed out at a March meeting that in order for the museum to be open to the public throughout the summer months many volunteers will be needed. Historical society members are asking area residents to please consider donating time to the new museum and are urged to sign up now. You may call Anne Miller at 627-4989 if you are interested.

The next Raymond-Casco Historical Society next meeting will be held at the museum, Monday, April 14, at 7 p.m. The museum is located almost across from the Watkins Farm Stand, on Route 302. The barn has a magnificent painted mural depicting the Raymond steamboat boat landing and the Casco stagecoach picking up tourists.

Please join the society as it starts on this new exciting venture and plans for future generations. The Raymond-Casco Historical Museum will be not only a wonderful tourist attraction for our summer visitors but will educate our young people. They will be able to see how Raymond and Casco early settlers conquered cold snowy winters and tolerated hot summers, how they planted their crops, built their homesteads and lived through it all with a lot less than we have today! Generations of the same families that settled in Raymondtown and Casco before the Revolutionary War still reside in this area, often in the same homestead.

Let’s make our museum a wonderful place – a place we can all be proud of – a place we can say we all took part in. Join us today and get involved. For more info about the Raymond-Casco Historical Society call Wayne Holmquist, society president at 655-7672 or visit www.raymondmaine.org/historical_society.

Anne Miller

Raymond-Casco Historical Society