BARN AGAIN! Smithsonian Exhibition visits Bethel, Maine

August 5, 2005 -- The Bethel Historical Society in the western Maine town of Bethel will host BARN AGAIN! Celebrating an American Icon, a Smithsonian traveling exhibition from August 19-October 22. The exhibit traces the history of farming in Maine and around the country. It depicts barn styles such as the English barn, Pennsylvania or German barn, New England barn with connected farm buildings, prairie barn, tobacco barn, round barn, dairy barn and pole barn. As a learning experience for the whole family, children can explore life on a farm as their grandparents and great grandparents knew. BARN AGAIN! features an architectural scale model, old toys, period advertising and historic images.
   
The Barn Again exhibit will be housed at the Dr. Moses Mason House Exhibit Hall, a 19th century barn once used for stabling horses and other livestock. The exhibition is free and open to the public from 1-4 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, August 19 to October 22.
   
Saturday, September 17, the Bethel Historical Society will conduct a tour of sixteen area barns, chronicling their original use, preservation and transformation to inns, antique and shopping emporia, artist’s studio as well as continued domestic and agricultural use. There will be an old fashioned barn dance that evening. Admission fee for the tour is $10 and includes a map and description of each barn.
   
Lectures on the history of Maine barns, working on the farm and Aroostook Barns are scheduled for September 8, October 13 and October 22.
   
Says Stanley Howe, director of the Bethel Historical Society, “ We are truly fortunate to have been selected to host this exhibition. We expect not only local Maine people to visit but the many national and international visitors who will be touring the area during foliage season.”
   
BARN AGAIN! is part of Museum on Main Street, a partnership of the Smithsonian Institution and State Humanities Councils that serves small town museums and citizens of rural America. It is funded in part by We the People, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
   
Information is available on line at www.bethelhistorical.org and www.mainehumanities.org or by phoning the Bethel Historical Society at 800-824-2910. Travel information for the Bethel area can be found at www.bethelmaine.com.