By Brian Swartz
Weekly Staff Editor
HAMPDEN — The past comes to life each Tuesday at the Martin Kinsley House, a circa-1794 two-story, wood-frame house located at 83 Main Road South.
Inside this building that witnessed British soldiers marching past in early September 1814, Hampden Historical Society members spend each Tuesday cataloging documents and photos, researching information in the society’s extensive archives, and expanding those same archives. Even though they live in the present, for several hours a week, these volunteers delve into the past, sometimes deep into the 19th century …
… and they would not have it any other way.
“All my ancestors back generations have lived in Hampden,” said Jerry Stanhope, the Hampden Historical Society president. “Some of us have never left.”
Past President Ken Rowell was young when he moved away from Hampden. Now a Bangor resident, he retains close ties with his hometown and currently focuses his research on Hampden schools, especially the rural schoolhouses scattered across the town not that many decades ago.
The society has 200 members, not all active, and everyone helping to catalog and expand the society’s archives — written and material, documents and letters, clothing and furniture — volunteers to do so. “It’s because you love it is why we do this,” said Archivist Jean London.
Local preservationists founded the Hampden Historical Society in 1970. According to its constitution, the society exists “to bring together those people interested in history and especially in the history of Hampden and the surrounding area.
“Understanding the history of our community is basic to our democratic way of life, gives us a better understanding of our state and nation, and promotes a better appreciation of our American heritage,” the HHS constitution states.
“We want the community to have a resource so they can learn about that history and realize it’s just not what we have now” in terms of buildings and events, said London, who has been electronically scanning myriad printed material for some time.
“We are up to the letter ‘G,’ and two rows of file cabinets are done,” she said.
The Hampden Historical Society purchased the Kinsley House in August 1981. A Harvard graduate, Kinsley moved to Hampden circa 1797 and later represented the town in the Massachusetts General Court.
The largest first-floor room inside the house is designated the Meeting Room, site of the meetings held at 7 p.m., the fourth Monday of each month from March through November. Each meeting features a guest speaker, according to Stanhope; meeting attendance averages around 20 people, she indicated.
Also located on the Kinsley House property are a carriage barn, a blacksmith shop, and the law office once used by Vice President Hannibal Hamlin. Preservationists relocated the law office to its current site some 20 years ago; the Fresh Ginger Restaurant now stands on the law office’s original location.
Spread throughout the buildings are approximately 6,000 collections containing such diverse items as tools, dolls, clothing, dishes and glasses. Many items are on display — tools in the carriage barn, and vintage clothing and furnishings from the Colonial, Federal and Victorian eras, and art inside the Kinsley House. Particularly intriguing are four full-color murals featuring primitive landscapes possibly painted by a British soldier involved in the 1814 Battle of Hampden.
Inside the Kinsley House, an upstairs bedroom contains a rope bed and a nanny’s bench, both provided by the Maine State Museum, and the second-floor exhibit room contains a Battle of Hampden exhibit and a scale dollhouse modeled after a nearby Main Road South home.
Other fully furnished rooms include the parlor and dining room on the first floor.
The Kinsley House is open for public tours from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays April through October; private tours can be arranged at other times, according to Stanhope.
While the buildings and their contents visually manifest Hampden history, the archives bring printed fact to that history. Settled by Benjamin Wheeler in 1767, Hampden became a Massachusetts town in 1794; much paperwork has been generated in Hampden in the 247 years since Wheeler arrived.
The Hampden Historical Society archives myriad legal documents, letters, maps, photographs, publications and tax books. “We have a complete set of town reports from 1869 to the present,” London said. And among the archived Hampden Academy yearbooks are some dating to 1853. The society has approximately 1,400 photographs, including 50 glass negatives.
The archives expand weekly. “Every day one of our members clips from the Bangor Daily News articles about Hampden, and we have those on file,” Stanhope said.
Society volunteers often peruse the archives to find particular information. People with a connection to Hampden contact the society to learn about ancestors or specific events. Sometimes, after buying an older house, people seek information about the property’s history.
“We get inquiries from all over,” said Rowell. “Three different Irish families were here this summer [of 2013],” looking for information about ancestors who had lived in East Hampden.
“Usually people want to know about their ancestors. They’re trying to do a family tree,” London said.
The actual archival room was a late addition to the Kinsley House, Stanhope pointed out. “We’re in the beginning stages to build new archives, a new, secure addition,” she said. The project would involve tearing down the existing archival room and building
The Hampden Historical Society sponsors two annual events, a bake-and-book sale in June and a Christmas bazaar in November. The society’s biannual Heritage Day will take place on Saturday, Sept. 13.
Those interested in Hampden history are encouraged to learn about the Hampden Historical Society and consider joining it. “It would be wonderful to have younger people who would be interested in learning what we do,” Stanhope said.
For information about the Hampden Historical Society, call 862-2027, email hampdenhistorical@gmail.com, or follow the society on Facebook.