Trenton group aims to preserve seaside town’s past

TRENTON – A group of residents has formed the town’s first historical society in hopes of collecting and preserving the documents and artifacts that tell the story of a seaside community founded more than two centuries ago.Documents dating to the incorporation of the town in 1789 never have been preserved properly or protected and are now at risk of ruin, society Vice President Dotty Young said Tuesday.

Young, deputy town clerk, said saving the town ledgers is a priority for the group, which was founded in April by seven residents and already boasts more than 30 members.The old ledgers include information on births and deaths, the sale of property and town finances, Young said.

“We need to get the books into something [protective] before they are completely ruined,” Young said. “They are in bad, bad shape and we would hate to lose all that history.”

Peter Lazas, fund-raising chairman for the society, said the group also hopes to round up artifacts from the town’s rich history in the boat-building, lumber, fishing and masonry industries.

Other areas of interest include cataloging and maintaining the estimated 20 cemeteries in town, most of them small family graveyards, as well as the architecture and buildings of the past.

But first, the society needs to raise money for a building that could serve as a history museum for the town, Lazas said.

“The sky’s the limit,” he said. “We’d like to raise enough money so we could eventually have a building for the documents and artifacts we’re trying to collect.”

The society’s first fund-raiser is set for Saturday in conjunction with the annual Trenton firefighters’ breakfast, to be held from 6 to 10 a.m. at the Town Hall-Fire Station on Oak Point Road.

The society also hopes to develop educational programs to present at Trenton Elementary School to pique pupils’ interest in their community and history, Lazas said.

According to Young, she and society President Patricia Hopkins, another town employee who has seen the moldy old ledgers, have “had it in the back of our minds for a while” to create a historical society.

Young thinks the new group will be popular over time – and successful.

“A lot of people are really taking to this,” Young said. “I think it’s taking off pretty good. I’m having fun with it already and we haven’t got our feet wet yet.”

The group’s “biggest dream,” Young said, is to raise enough money to buy or build a museum. “We’ve talked to people who started with nothing and within a few years they had their building,” she said. “We’re just going to have to work hard at it.”

Donations may be sent to the society at 1007 Bar Harbor Road, Box 134, Trenton 04605. The organization is not yet able to accept donations of artifacts until it has a safe place to store them, Young said. Lazas, chairman of the fund raising, may be reached at 664-7474.