Maine Old Cemetery Association (MOCA) Summer Program will meet in Limerick, Maine at the Limerick Brick Town House on Main Street (GPS: 43.688517, -70.795163) on Saturday, July 13, 2019 starting at 8:30 a.m. Hosted by the Limerick Historical Society.
Members and Non-Members are Always Welcome!
8:30 a.m. — 9:15 a.m. Registration $3.00 per person at the door. Proceeds benefit the Limerick Historical Society and MOCA. Coffee and a light breakfast provided by the Limerick Historical Society.
9:15 a.m — 9:30 a.m Welcome and Announcements
Angela Tibbetts, MOCA President
Martha Smith, President, Limerick Historical Society
9:30 a.m. — 10:00 a.m. Limerick’s Main Street Historical Buildings
Shirley Keller, Vice President, Limerick Historical Society
Brief history and interesting information about the buildings forming the Limerick Village Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.
10:00 a.m. — 10:15 a.m. Break
10:15 a.m. — 11:00 a.m. MOCA Business Meeting (All are welcome to attend)
11:00 a.m. — 12:00 p.m. How We Lay Our Dead: Mourning and Funeral Customs in New England
Cara Kent, Secretary, Limerick Historical Society
Some of the “lost” customs of mourning and burial practices between 1650 and 1900.
12:00 p.m. — 1:00 p.m. Lunch
Lunch will be in the Limerick Congregational Church, 46 Main St., which is close to the Brick Town House. The short walk will provide views of the beautiful historic buildings along the way. For those unable to make the walk, there is limited parking at the church with additional parking on both sides of the street.
Available for $9.00, ham, egg, or tuna sandwiches with chips, pickle, choice of pasta salad or potato salad, drink, and strawberry shortcake for dessert.
LUNCH RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED by Friday, July 5.
Lunch reservations and payments may be made online at the MOCA website, moca-me.org, or
contact Jessica Couture, couturejess@gmail.com or call/text to (207) 649-6161.
1:00 p.m. Tour of the Baptist Society Church Cemetery. Located on the left on the hill above the church. A map of local cemeteries will be available for touring on your own.
Door prize drawings at the conclusion of the cemetery tour.
Host Site: Limerick, Maine.
MOCA is pleased to present its summer program this year in Limerick, Maine, hosted by the Limerick Historical Society.
Limerick was one of the “Five Ossipee towns” traded in 1668 to Francis Small by Wesumbe, Chief Sandy of the Newichewannock tribe of the Sagamore Indians. The town was originally settled in 1772 and incorporated in 1787.
The Limerick Historical Society maintains two properties on Main Street. One is the former law office of Luther Moore, which was formerly used as the Limerick Town Library. The other property is the Limerick Academy, the most prominent focal point entering the town’s upper village. Built in 1881, it was the third Academy and will be open for viewing following the MOCA meeting. Be sure and stop by and view the exhibits.
The MOCA meeting will be held in the historic Brick Town House that was built in 1860. It is recorded that there were fish and meat markets in the basement shortly after it was built. When the second Academy burned in 1870, classes were held in the Town House.
An article in the Dec. 28, 1883 issue of the Biddeford Journal reads, “The new floor in the town hall is nearly completed... The dancers and skaters have reason to rejoice in the improvements.”
Limerick is also known for The Morning Star newspaper published by the Freewill Baptists who organized in the town in 1780. The Morning Star was one of the first abolitionist newspapers to be published in the United States.
More information on the founding of Limerick and settling of towns surrounding the village is available at the town library, within walking distance of the Brick Town House.
Lunch will be served in the Limerick Congregational Church, U.C.C., which was organized in 1795. The present building, built in 1833, is the oldest church building in Limerick. Tours of the church will take place following lunch.
Also after lunch there will be a self-guided tour of the cemetery at the Limerick Baptist Society Church, the final resting place of many original Limerick residents, along with their stories. The church, currently undergoing restoration, was built in 1852 and is on the National Register of Historic Places for Limerick, Maine.
A production of The Old Peabody Pew, a play by Kate Douglass Wiggan (author of Rebecca of Sunny Brook Farm), was performed at the church in 1921. It is rumored that Kate herself may have graced the halls on opening night. People are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to visit the church as well as the cemetery.
There are additional cemeteries to visit in the area.
Driving and/or walking instructions and brief summaries of their inhabitants will be available.
On behalf of the Limerick Historical Society, we look forward to hosting the summer meeting of MOCA and hope you enjoy your visit.
Summer Meeting Logistics
In the absence of a street number for the Brick Town House, use the adjacent post office address of 19 Main St. for your location. Our meeting place and the post office are on opposite corners of Burbank St., which is where you will turn for parking at the back of the Brick Town House. There is also parking along both sides of Main St. Please do not park along the sides of Burbank St. as the fire department needs the way to remain clear of vehicles.
