THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
OF WELLS AND OGUNQUIT
PRESERVING THE PAST FOR TWO MAINE TOWNS
Event Calendar
Visit our Video Archive for recordings of previous programs and events.
Shoulder to Shoulder: Uncovering Free & Enslaved Blacks Who Served in the Revolution
Saturday, February 28, 3-4 pm - At the Meetinghouse
Free Admission - $5 Suggested Donation
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As we commemorate 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, we are exploring the roles people of color played in the American Revolution. Both free and enslaved blacks, as well as indigenous people, served on both sides of the conflict. Many were from Maine, including Wells, Ogunquit, and Kennebunk. Join us as Vana Carmona and Kathy Ostrander Roberts share with us the fascinating results of their years of research.
Vana Carmona is the founder of the Prince Project, a database of over 2000 people of color who lived in Maine prior to 1800. She is a docent for several historic sites in the Portland area, including Maine Historical Society and Spirits Alive (Eastern Cemetery in Portland). She is descended from a number of early European settlers, with the first of these arriving in New England in 1620, and moving into Maine in 1633. Many, she discovered, were enslavers and complicit in the slave trade.
Kathy Ostrander Roberts is the appointed Town Historian of Kennebunk, Maine, and the author of three books on local history, including the recently published Unmarked Graves and Forgotten Lives, The Enslaved Persons of Color in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Arundel, and Wells, Maine. She also led the discovery and documentation of the site known as the “Freed Slave Community” of Kennebunk, aka “The Ridge.” The site has been the subject of six archaeological surveys and has yielded hundreds of artifacts relating to the former residents of The Ridge.
This program is free, with a suggested donation of $5, and will be held in person at the Meetinghouse. Please contact us if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing you!
Woodies in the Cove Car Show
Saturday, August 9, 2026 - 8:30am to 2pm
974 Post Road (US Rt 1) in Wells, Maine
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Join us for the annual Woodies in the Cove car show, our biggest fundraiser of the year! The show starts at 8:30 am at 974 Post Road (US Route 1) in Wells, followed by a Woodies parade at 2 pm through Wells and Ogunquit and into Perkins Cove. Admission is free for spectators. Visit our Woodies in the Cove page for more details.