Perhaps you remember visiting here and being captured
by some of the magic that is the Norlands.
Help us ensure that future generations have the same opportunity.
$45,000 is still needed to finish the barn!
Be a part of the magic.
Help us rebuild our most important classroom and permanent home for our animals.
The frame, roof, and sprinkler systems are complete.
Norlands staff and volunteers have built the ice house and stalls.
An anonymous donor paid for the materials.
Thanks to funding from the Davis Family Foundation
and a donation from Hancock Lumber,
the exterior doors are being installed this fall.
Then, we install the windows and finish the ramps and bring
all of the animals inside their new home!
We are also focused on the exterior siding and paint.
The crowning moment will be when we raise the cupolas. An anoymous donor has already paid for the materials and a volunteer has offered to build them!
We are raising funds to transport and install the cupolas.
Help us reach the finish line.
All new funds raised will be used for the siding, windows, exterior paint and installing the cupolas.
Make a Financial Donation Today.
Gifts of all sizes are needed and much appreciated. To make an immediate gift, give securely online
via Network for Good. Please note that your gift is for the barn.
Or, mail the giving card with a check or your credit card information.
The past is not merely preserved at Norlands - it's brought to life on a daily basis.
Since 1973, the Norlands has continued a multi-generational legacy of unique, interactive living history education in Livermore, Maine for thousands of school children and adults – ever since Washburn family heirs signed over their shares of the property to the Washburn-Norlands Foundation to become a non-profit living history center and museum with a working farm.
In 2008, a disastrous fire took our barn. We lost more than just a building. We lost the heart of our working farm - our primary classroom for school children and adult visitors alike. The barn was the center for school programs and guest tours. It was the home to various farm animals and livestock, storage for farm supplies, equipment, livestock feed and hay, and included an active and popular ice house.
Since 1973, the Norlands has continued a multi-generational legacy of unique, interactive living history education in Livermore, Maine for thousands of school children and adults – ever since Washburn family heirs signed over their shares of the property to the Washburn-Norlands Foundation to become a non-profit living history center and museum with a working farm.
In 2008, a disastrous fire took our barn. We lost more than just a building. We lost the heart of our working farm - our primary classroom for school children and adult visitors alike. The barn was the center for school programs and guest tours. It was the home to various farm animals and livestock, storage for farm supplies, equipment, livestock feed and hay, and included an active and popular ice house.
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Watch the "Raise the Barn, Rebuild the Magic" video and hear about fire night from volunteers
Progress on the new barn as of December 2017. The roof is complete and work on the interior continues.
“Not believing in looking back on what cannot be helped, we pressed on to see what might be done going forward."
(Algernon Sidney Washburn, 1867)
YOU can help us get our farm program back at Norlands. At Norlands, kids get to fetch water from the well, weed gardens, cut firewood, bake in a wood-fired cookstove, gather eggs from the chickens, carry feed to the pigs and cattle, along with a host of other farm chores. In the process, they learn a bit about such old-fashioned ideas as responsibility, self-sufficiency, and sustainability. They also learn the inspiring story of seven remarkable brothers from a Maine family, the Washburns, who were born and raised on this farm and who went on to become prominent in political, diplomatic, military and business affairs of their time.
The barn is a place to clean and muck stalls, grind corn, press apples, store ice, store hay, learn about proper animal care and use agricultural implements in an authentic setting. The virtues and rewards of honest work; the connections between farm fields, crops, livestock, and the family dinner table; the independence and inter-dependence of family members and of neighbors in a crossroads community; the concepts of frugality, recycling, environmental stewardship and sustainability – all of these were formative elements in shaping the lives and character of the Washburns, and all are key elements of educational programs at Norlands.
The new barn brings back the renowned hands-on approach to programming made popular at Norlands since 1973.
THE IMPACT
Your gift helps to rebuild a more historically accurate barn, representing the 1870s era we bring to life. The new barn matches the look and footprint of the original 1867 barn constructed when the present Washburn mansion was built.
More importantly, your gift helps us rebuild an educational classroom and a home for our farm animals and a place for lively barn dances and seasonal harvest activities. It will once again be a place where school children and families can learn about farm life in the 19th century by living IN history, as they work and play and learn at the Norlands.
(Algernon Sidney Washburn, 1867)
YOU can help us get our farm program back at Norlands. At Norlands, kids get to fetch water from the well, weed gardens, cut firewood, bake in a wood-fired cookstove, gather eggs from the chickens, carry feed to the pigs and cattle, along with a host of other farm chores. In the process, they learn a bit about such old-fashioned ideas as responsibility, self-sufficiency, and sustainability. They also learn the inspiring story of seven remarkable brothers from a Maine family, the Washburns, who were born and raised on this farm and who went on to become prominent in political, diplomatic, military and business affairs of their time.
The barn is a place to clean and muck stalls, grind corn, press apples, store ice, store hay, learn about proper animal care and use agricultural implements in an authentic setting. The virtues and rewards of honest work; the connections between farm fields, crops, livestock, and the family dinner table; the independence and inter-dependence of family members and of neighbors in a crossroads community; the concepts of frugality, recycling, environmental stewardship and sustainability – all of these were formative elements in shaping the lives and character of the Washburns, and all are key elements of educational programs at Norlands.
The new barn brings back the renowned hands-on approach to programming made popular at Norlands since 1973.
THE IMPACT
Your gift helps to rebuild a more historically accurate barn, representing the 1870s era we bring to life. The new barn matches the look and footprint of the original 1867 barn constructed when the present Washburn mansion was built.
More importantly, your gift helps us rebuild an educational classroom and a home for our farm animals and a place for lively barn dances and seasonal harvest activities. It will once again be a place where school children and families can learn about farm life in the 19th century by living IN history, as they work and play and learn at the Norlands.
The Washburn-Norlands is a Maine non-profit organization qualified as tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Your gift is tax deductible as allowed by law.