Searsport museum shows quilt

SEARSPORT – The Penobscot Marine Museum has an album quilt on display through Monday, Sept. 5. The quilt dates from around 1850 and was probably stitched in Portland or Cumberland, museum officials said. Each square is pieced, appliqued and decorated with “broderie perse,” a technique in which motifs are cut from chintz, sewn to a backing and quilted individually. Most of the quilt squares contain small muslin patches with a signature.

Loretta Manzo of Millinocket told museum registrar Edith Murphy that she bought the quilt at a local yard sale.

Of special interest to the museum is that most of the surnames on the quilt are Blanchard or Sweetser, names common to Searsport’s seafaring past when the town was homeport for most of Maine’s deepwater sea captains.

The central square of the quilt is an appliqued vessel labeled “Bark Messenger.” So far, research in ship registers and other library materials has not turned up evidence that such a vessel existed.

The quilt may be seen in the upstairs bedroom of the museum’s Fowler House. Museum hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and noon-5 p.m. Sunday until Oct. 16. Admission is $8, $3 children. Childred under 7 are admitted free of charge. Call Loretta Lamb at the museum at 548-2529, Ext. 200 to obtain more information, or visit www.penobscotmarinemuseum.org.