ORRINGTON, Maine — The Wiswell Farm on River Road this week has taken on the sights, sounds and tastes of pre-1840 America as it serves as the gathering spot for the Northeastern Primitive Rendezvous, one of the featured activities during this year’s Old Home Week celebration in Orrington.
Presented by the National Rendezvous and Living History Foundation, the Orrington rendezvous has drawn people from around the United States — as well as a few people from Canada and Europe — who are living in canvas tents and cooking over campfires as they re-enact the 1640 to 1840 rendezvous lives of the mountain men, fur traders, Indian tribes and others who used to gather once a year for trade and revelry.
Keith Bowden, an Orrington selectman and a member of the Old Home Week planning committee, said between 300 and 350 “settlers” were staying at the farm, which has been in the Wiswell family for eight generations and likely will remain for a ninth.
A visit to their encampment Sunday yielded the sharp crack of muskets being fired at a range at the edge of the temporary settlement and the thud of tomahawks and knives being thrown at another area. Meanwhile, ham and venison and other main courses were roasting over fires and coals throughout the encampment in anticipation of supper.
Settlers sold wares ranging from clothing and kitchen goods to moccasins, wooden shoes, beads and bags, to name a few.
For some, it really was Old Home Week. Peggy Chubbuck of Plainville, Connecticut, grew up in the area, though she noted she has lived outside of Maine more than in it. She and her husband are portraying camp followers, or early American traveling salesmen.
The weeklong encampment was open to the public on Saturday and Sunday, Bowden said. He estimated that 450 people from the community and beyond turned out Saturday and that at least 150 more dropped by as of about 2 p.m. on Sunday, though numbers were down because of the heavy downpour that morning.
Rachel Nichols said she and her husband, Billy, found the encampment by luck while heading to visit her family in Bucksport.
“We just drove by and saw it,” Billy Nichols said.
Rachel Nichols said the family thought it would be fun to visit because they are fans of the Living History Days at the Maine Forest and Logging Museum at Leonard’s Mills in Bradley.
The third and final public day at the rendezvous will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday and will feature a tribal encampment on the banks of the Penobscot River.
The Wednesday event will include the encampment, along with artisans, historians, musicians and authentic food and old-fashioned merchandise that were available over the weekend.
In keeping with the group’s mission, signs of modern times like cellphones, TVs and radios are not permitted during the times when the gates are closed to visitors.
One of the few allowances with regard to modern conveniences is that internal combustion vehicles are allowed at the encampment solely for the purpose of loading and unloading tents and other camping gear and for some service vehicles, namely those delivering water and ice or removing trash and sewage.
The town was supposed to be named for Orangetown, Maryland, but because of a spelling error in the act of incorporation, the name became Orrington, according to a history of Orrington posted on the town’s website. To that end, an Orangetown Road runs around the encampment.
For more information and the complete Orrington Old Home Week schedule, visit the event’s website at orringtonoldhomeweek.com or its Facebook page.