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Skolfield-Whittier House
The Skolfield-Whittier House is a
Victorian style home that is now the museum of the Pejepscot
Historical Society, on Park Row in Brunswick, Maine. Sometimes
called a time capsule, the house has been the same since it was
built during the late 1850s and early 1860s. The house is an
Italianate style duplex, that was built for the sons of a rich
shipbuilder, Master George Skolfield. Captain Alfred Skolfield owned
the side that is the museum, while his brother, Captain Samuel
Skolfield, owned and lived in the other, and split the cost which
was $15,751.96. The Pejepscot Historical Society is located on the
other side of the museum. It was in 1862, that Alfred, his wife
Martha Harward, and young daughter, Eugenie moved into the new
house, with brand new furniture bought from the expensive furniture
store in Portland of the Walter Corey Company. The furnishings are
of a Rococo Revival type, that the majority of the furniture today
is. Some of the rooms had marble fireplaces, with encaustic tile and
fancy curtains, and had gas lighting. Martha had another daughter in
1864, named Augusta Marie. During 1867, the family was moved to
Liverpool, England, although no one knows why, but they were
Democrats living in a predominantly Republican area, and the
Reconstruction period wasn't making any friends of democrats or
other southern ideologies. They chose not to sell the house in
Brunswick, but rather rented it out to numerous families. Professor
J.B. Sewall moved in in 1868, then Stephen O. Purington lived there
in 1880 until 1882, and then Dr. Mitchell moved in until he bought
the house next door in 1885. That was the year that the Skolfields
came back from England and started numerous remodeling of the house.
First the plumbing was brought up to date, the carriage house was
remodeled and attached to the main house, which gave them room to
move the kitchen, create an informal dining room and add a laundry
room. The old kitchen was made into a formal dining room, and the
old dining room made into a drawing room. The English influence
could well be seen in the changes, with many new additions for the
interior brought back from England. In 1891, the house got
electricity, and in the mid 1890s, it was connected to town sewer
lines. Alfred passed on in 1895, on June 1st, and three weeks later,
his daughter Eugenie married Frank Whittier in the new formal
drawing room. Frank had graduated from Bowdoin College with a
medical degree in 1889, and had been appointed the professor of
pathology and bacteriology at the Maine Medical School, which was at
that time a part of Bowdoin, but later closed. He was the state's
first medical examiner for Cumberland County, and the first forensic
pathologist for the state. He became the town's milk inspector and
chairman of the Maine Medical Association's committee on venereal
diseases. It is believed that Frank was the first to use serology
testing in the courtroom, distinguishing human blood from animal
blood, and the first doctor to test for ballistic fingerprinting.
The Whittiers had 3 daughters, the first dying at age 9 after
catching on fire in the kitchen, Isabel and Alice going to Bryn Mawr
College and graduating in 1920 and 1921. Isabel started teaching at
the Brooklyn College, and she was there for 30 years, and also a
very close friend of Margaret Chase Smith, while Alice went on to
became the first female pediatrician in the state of Maine. Frank
passed on in 1924, so Eugenie and her daughters spent a lot of time
traveling; spending only summers at the Brunswick home. In 1982 the
entire house and contents were given to the Pejepscot Historical
Society by Alice, who continued to live until 1994.
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Bowdoin Polar Bears
Men's basketball is one of the
most prominent athletic programs at Bowdoin College, and starting in
1941, the campus has gone to Morrell Gym to support their team, the
Polar Bears. It has been quite a ride, especially in the last 17
years. They went to 4 ECAC tournaments and 3 NCAA tournaments in
1995-96, 1998-99 and 2007-08. The team has qualified for the NESCAC
tournament in the last eight years, and have had winning seasons in
15 of the last 17 years, under the leadership of Coach Tim Gilbride,
who has coached the team for 24 years now. This year, the team is
doing great, winning 6 out of 8 games so far, and just beat Colby
College, which had been having a banner year and no losses until the
Polar Bears whipped up on them, 69-56. The team had 4 players in
double digits, and had their spirits raised after losing to
Colby-Sawyer two days before that by only one point, 74-73. It was a
heart breaker. One noteworthy item was the announcement that one of
the school's illustrious alumni, former Senator George Mitchell,
class of '54, had been named the 2010 Theodore Roosevelt Award
recipient, the highest honor that the NCAA will give. This award
goes to a former student/athlete, that showed competitive athletics
during his college years, and then followed with great attention to
their physical well being after their graduation; that were
important parts of their distinguished career in national
significance and achievement. The school is a mecca for
sports, complementing the academics that a student endures, and a
great place to meet new friends, and keep in excellent physical
condition. There are 31 varsity teams, six club teams, and three
levels of intramurals in ten sports, as well as over 24 fitness and
lifetime sport classes that are part of the entire program. In the
varsity arena; coed sailing, in men's sports; baseball, basketball,
cross country, golf, indoor and outdoor track, soccer, squash,
lacrosse, Nordic skiing, swimming and diving, football, and ice
hockey. In the women's sports; basketball, cross country,
volleyball, field hockey, softball, indoor and outdoor track,
swimming and diving, ice hockey, tennis, lacrosse, rugby, soccer,
squash and Nordic skiing. One of the men's Nordic skiers, Walt
Shepard, is trying out for the U.S. Olympic biathlon team and is
from Yarmouth, Maine. He has been skiing since he was a small fry
and it has been his dream to make the Olympic team. He had been
training for this event since high school. So be sure to cheer on
Walt and remember he's a great athlete from Maine.
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