Norway Historical Society

08/29/2026

It will be pie time in two weeks.

The Norway Maine Arts Festival is Saturday, Sept. 12 and that means our Marigold Tea Room will be open from 10 am to 2 pm. Our annual fundraiser will offer a slice of homemade pie, a scoop of ice cream and a cold drink for $5. Stop by our meeting room to sit awhile and have a treat!

08/21/2026

We are still working on the mystery of the lions-head violin. This photo was taken during Norway's bicentennial parade in 1986. Can anyone tell us who this gentleman is?

08/18/2026

Our next program is right around the corner! Join us for a trip back in time to Colonial Otisfield!

08/04/2026

Did you know that a number of Revolutionary War veterans settled in Norway? There are some fine old Norway names among them - Pike, Hobbs, Upton, Shedd & Ames, for example. We'll talk about some of them in our program next Tuesday the 11th. Please join us in our meeting room at 7 pm.

07/22/2026

Following up on our July 20 post about the lion’s head violin/fiddle, the mystery deepens a little. In addition to the reprinted photos of Mellie & Emma Dunham that were tucked into the violin case, there was another negative, also in a Lensdale Studio envelope.

We scanned it into a digital photo and here it is. This gentleman appears to be a World War II-era soldier, posing for a formal portrait. We have no idea who he is. Do you? Why is his negative with Mellie & Emma? Is this your father/grandfather?

07/21/2026

The question at the end of the story is: Has anyone ever seen this violin/fiddle before?

This unusual instrument was purchased at an antique store in Arundel in the spring. The new owner was attracted to the lion’s head/gargoyle scroll on it. After getting it home, tucked under the violin, she discovered reprints of commonly seen photographs of Norway’s famous fiddler & snowshoe maker Mellie Dunham and his wife Emma. The photos and negatives were in an envelope from the Lensdale Studio, a Norway photographer who went out of business in 1950. Also under the violin were a couple clippings about Mellie from the 1990s that were published in the Advertiser Democrat.

The owner had never heard of Mellie Dunham & started doing research, which lead her to us. We have been trying to determine if this violin was one of Mellie’s, whether it was used by a Mellie re-enactor, or whether it was maybe some musician who admired Mellie. The antique dealer was not able to say where they got it and Mellie’s descendants we’ve spoken with do not recall it being in the family.

So, it’s worth a shot: has anyone ever seen a violin/fiddle with a lion’s head scroll?

07/19/2026

07/02/2026

We have been waiting for it to be hot enough to post these photos. It certainly will be hot enough today, so maybe you'll cool off looking at them.

For folks who are surprised to see the snow in the middle of Main Street after a winter storm, the town has been doing it for a long time. These photos are from the 1950s and it must have been a big storm. That's a lot of snow.

06/30/2026

While our annual Marigold Tea Room pie sale has moved to September 12 with the Norway Arts Festival, July is still strawberry shortcake time in Otisfield. Check them out on Sunday, July 5. You won't be sorry.

Who doesn't want to enjoy some delicious shortcake in a nice air conditioned space with live music? We'll have all 3 things this Sunday!

05/05/2026

You need to be aware that some fraudsters are attempting to separate you from your money, via our page.

They are advertising t-shirts, mugs and hoodies with our logo, (stolen from one of our photos), and attaching their ad as a comment to many of our posts. They take it a step further and tag everyone who has commented on that post. Just ignore it. We are deleting the posts and banning the twits when we find them. We are not selling anything on our page and apologize for the hassle.

Send a message to learn more