DRESDEN — On Sunday, kids and musicians played on the grounds of the Pownalborough Court House, the same place where John Adams plied his skills as a young lawyer 250 years ago.
It’s the site of Dresden Summerfest, an event that organizer Peter Walsh said is designed to show off the historic building and the peaceful part of the Kennebec River that it sits on just off of Cedar Grove Road in Dresden, which he called “one of the most fabulous towns in Maine.”
“It’s just to get the community together,” Walsh said of the event sponsored by the Dresden Recreation Committee and the Kenyon Fund. “It’s very low-key. People come if they want and we do get a good crowd.”
Outside the courthouse, kids played lawn games and seniors lounged in the shade listening to live music. Inside, members of the Lincoln County Historical Association gave tours of the building that stands three and a half stories tall with impressive symmetry, dual chimneys and many historical exhibits.
“I always like to say that if nothing happened in this building, this would be a remarkable building,” said Dale Hinote, a Dresden selectman and historical association trustee.
The Massachusetts colonial government, which controlled Maine at the time, built it on the site of a fort that had been established there in 1752. It went up in 1761, and until 1794, it served as a courthouse and the seat of Lincoln County, which was one of three Maine counties at its founding along with York and Cumberland, controlling most of what is now the state.
John Adams, the Founding Father who became the second American president, tried a case there in 1765. In his autobiography, he wrote about the “fatigue and disgust” of his journey, saying he was sick and often hungry and his horse often got stuck on muddy, rural roads. But he said it helped make his legal career, as his client called him to court in present-day Portland for ten more years.
George McCray, an antique dealer from Cambridge, Massachusetts, with friends in the area, said he has been to the courthouse before but still enjoys touring it.
“Each time I come, I see something new,” he said. “I love history. There’s so much to it.”
Michael Shepherd — 370-7652
Twitter: @mikeshepherdme
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