By Donna DeLong
Special to the Aroostook Republican
Every July 23rd New Sweden Founders Day is held to remember the coming of the Swedes. Each year there is a festival to remember those that helped to colonize Maine and mold our state. It is true that the United States is a melting pot of different nationalities that came together with a vision of a better future for themselves and their families and northern Maine’s Swedish Colony echoes the same theme.
In 1870, 51 people arrived — 22 men, 18 women and 15 children — at a spot of land promised to them from the American government. Each family was given a cabin — 25 in total — and 100 acres of forest land with five acres cleared per family. When they arrived they found only six log cabins built and all the supplies in one cabin. The land had been offered to the American citizens, but very few had been interested.
The pioneers who came from Sweden were told about this land by William Widgery Thomas or better known as W.W. Thomas. He was the commissioner of immigration. He fell in love with a Swedish girl and they were married. He convinced the Swedes that they should come to America and they left to make a better home for their families.
They traveled from Sweden and landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia where they traveled up the Saint John River to Fredericton, N.B. and were then transferred by horse-drawn tow boats to Tobique Landing (now Perth Andover) N.B. They took the train from Fort Fairfield to Caribou for a bountiful supper and rode by horse and wagon to New Sweden and arrived at noon on July 23, 1870.
Almost everyone survived the trans-Atlantic trip except for one small baby, a little girl named Hilma Clase, only a few months old. They brought the tiny body and buried the baby on Sunday at what is now referred to as the old cemetery. A monument was erected at the site to bury the many that perished in the first two winters in New Sweden.
The Swedes were excellent with wood and were known for their shingles and even carved out their own silverware. In ten to 15 years the town grew by leaps and bounds and they were soon discouraging people from coming. The town had two railroads and many stores. It was a thriving area.
The Founders Day festival is held every year and kept as original and culturally correct as possible. It starts at 10 a.m. at the monument located in the old cemetery and the people gather around on this day to say some words about their ancestors and sing a few hymns and then they head to the historical society and museum to have coffee and refreshments. There are only 20 names on the original monument in the old cemetery. This was mainly built for the people who did not survive the first few years of the settlement. After that they build the new cemetery, located beside the historical society and museum where people are still buried today.
The townspeople also moved an original log cabin built by the Swedes from Westmanland to the New Sweden Historical Society and Museum. The log cabin depicts life as it was when the Swedes first arrived.
To read the story you can purchase the book that was written by the New Sweden, Woodland and Stockholm historical societies called “Maine’s Historic 1870 Swedish Colony” that also includes a history map and features historic tour areas. The hours of operation of the Historical Society and museum are 12-4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. During the week Berniece Randolph runs the museum and on the weekend it is manned by volunteers from the historical society. It is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day and by appointment until Columbus Day.
People who live in a community rarely take advantage of the historical places that their own area provides. This is one gem that everyone should take the time to stop and visit.
