L. C. Bates Museum

on the campus of Good Will-Hinckley

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Samah Mahmood and Fiona Braslau examining and amazed by the size and length of an Andean Condor wing that will be on exhibition at the L.C. Bates Museum for Bird Day!

Explore the World of Birds at the L.C.Bates Museum

If you like birds and want to learn more about them, come to our special Bird Day at the L.C.Bates Museum. Did you know the woodpecker has a tongue too long for its mouth? Have you ever heard the “cheeseburger” call of the Black- capped Chickadee? What bird has the longest migration route from the South Pole to the North Pole in one year? Now is the chance to discover the answers! The L.C. Bates Museum will be hosting a Bird Day, in celebration of our feathered friends, on September 11, 2010 from 10am until 3 pm.

Special for Bird Day we will have an early taxidermy Andean Condor wing on exhibit in the Audubon Room. The Andean Condor, an endangered species, is a real wonder of the world. The condor has one of the largest wing spans of any bird, a 10 foot wing span, a very long life expectancy of 75 years, and weighs a lot for a bird that can fly…up to 33 pounds!

Families are welcome to drop in anytime to explore the lovely and fascinating world of birds! The day will start at 10 am with drawing and watercoloring birds in the Audubon Room and there will be a guided trail walk at 1 pm. Other events available throughout the day include: hearing bird songs and calls, touching feathers, dissecting owl pellets, stamping tracks, using bird beak tools, and looking at the bones and skulls of birds. Tours of the Audubon Room and investigations into the natural history of birds will be also available.

For more information about the L.C. Bates Museum exhibits and Bird Day activities, contact the L.C.Bates Museum at Good Will-Hinckley 207-238-4250 or lcbates@gwh.org. The L.C. Bates Museum is located on Rt 201 in Hinckley, Maine on the campus of Good Will-Hinckley. The Museum is open Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10AM to 4:30 PM and Sunday from 1 to 4:30 PM. in winter by appointment or chance. The admission is $3.00 for adults and $1.00 for children.

Restored Historic Maine Quarry Paintings

Two large Charles D. Hubbard oil paintings depicting historic Maine granite quarries are currently on public display at the L.C.BatesMuseum in Hinckley, Maine. The paintings of the Mount Waldo Quarry in Frankfort and the Black Diamond Quarry in Addison were recently cleaned and preserved by art conservator Nina Roth-Wells of Georgetown, Maine. The painting restoration was made possible by support from a Maine New Century Program grant. These quarry paintings document the history of the granite industry in Maine.

In the early 1930’s, Impressionist painter, Charles D. Hubbard visited nine Maine granite quarries to draw and paint a series of pictures of the quarries. Mr. George Walter Hinckley, the founder of Good Will-Hinckley went to quarries with Hubbard to collect samples of Granite. These Hubbard paintings and Hinckley’s granite samples from each quarry were placed in Granite House. Granite House, a stone building along the trail in SunSetPark on the Good Will-Hinckley campus, was designed to be a trailside museum of Maine granite. The granite samples were displayed in front of the quarry paintings.

After years of exhibition in Granite House the paintings that had become dirty and lost some paint. These paintings and other Maine Quarry paintings and the granite samples were moved to the L.C.BatesMuseum in the 1960’s. Samples of Mt Waldo and Black Diamond granite are now on exhibit in the museum Rock and Mineral Room.

According to The Commercial Granites of New England, Bulletin 738, by T. Nelson Dale, U. S. Geological Survey, 1923 the Mount Waldo Quarry was "in the town of Frankfort, on the north spur of Mount Waldo, 660 feet above sea level, one-third mile southwest of Frankfort village. The operator of the quarry was the Mount Waldo Granite Works of Frankfort, Maine. The fine grained, medium-gray granite from Mount Waldo Quarry was used for many public buildings. Structures in which MT Waldo granite was used include: the Post Offices in Augusta, Maine; Cleveland, Ohio; Jersey City, New Jersey, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin; the United States Mint in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and the Public Library in St. Louis, Missouri.

For more information about the L.C.BatesMuseum exhibits and activities, contact the L.C.BatesMuseum at Good Will-Hinckley 207-238-4250 or lcbates@gwh.org. The L.C.BatesMuseum is located on Rt 201 in Hinckley, Maine on the campus of Good Will-Hinckley. The Museum is open Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10AM to 4:30 PM and Sunday from 1 to 4:30 PM. in winter by appointment or chance. The admission is $2.50 for adults and $1.00 for children.