About Us

Our mission is to preserve the heritage and traditions of rural life in Maine's past, to celebrate the achievements of Livermore's Washburn family, and to use living history methods to make values, activities, and issues of the past relevant to present and future generations.

To accomplish this, we aspire—

1. to achieve and maintain the fiscal stability needed to assure ongoing care of buildings, grounds and collections at Norlands, (a National Registry historic site)
   
2. to use the resources of Norlands (land, buildings and collections) as a basis of programs for all ages, fulfilling established educational mandates, and utilizing experiential techniques to convey historical understandings and insights
   
3. to foster interest in the Washburn family's roles in major issues and events of its time (including abolition, the Civil War, westward expansion, and industrial/commercial development), relating these to issues, challenges and opportunities of our present day
   
4. to represent the past, present and future of farming as a way of life, as an example of sustainable resource management, and as a source of basic human necessities including food and raw materials for clothing
   
5. to be a site where visitors experience opportunities for hands-on
   involvement in the activities and skills of sustainable and independent
   rural living in both historical and contemporary times
   
6. to foster interest, involvement and pride, on the part of local and
   area residents, organizations, institutions and governmental agencies, in
   the unique community resource and legacies represented by Norlands and the
   Washburn family heritage

Washburn-Norlands Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization operating under section 509c of the Internal Revenue Service.

Incorporation Date: December 1973

The organization is run by a board of trustees and volunteer sub-committees.

Our board members are as follows: Kathleen Beauregard, President Ron Kley, Vice-President Mitch Clyde Thomas, Treasurer Karen Kingsley, Secretary Nancey Drinkwine Mary Castonguay L. Clinton Boothby Paula Coombs Ron Richmond Karen-Doughty-Somers Jennifer Colby-Morse Brian G. Fildes Peter A. Robichaud