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Paris Hill Baptist Church Restoration Underway!

Hi Everyone,

If you have recently been by the church, you will have noticed that the outside restoration project has started. The cost has been fully covered from a $24,000 grant that we received from the Davis Family Foundation of Yarmouth, ME. The project includes replacement of all decayed wood, reglazing the windows, replacement of missing shutters and painting all outside surfaces. There is quite a long lead time on the custom building of the shutters. Therefore, we may have to live without a full complement of shutters for some number of months. We expect the outside restoration project to be completed before the end of June (weather dependent).

On Monday, May 1st, there will be a very large hydraulic lift that will be delivered to allow Hahnel Bros. Roofing to begin replacing the steeple roof and eliminating the leaks that have damaged part of the domed ceiling inside the church. The cost of this project will be 50% covered by a grant of $36,000 from the Maine Steeple Foundation. The remaining 50% will be covered by our fundraising efforts from the last two years. Even after paying 50% of the cost of this project, we will still have a reasonable cushion of funds for operating expenses and any other unforeseen costs.

We expect both projects to be completed in time for the summer fund raising events which include Founders Day (in conjunction with the library) on July 15th, Hannibal Hamlin Birthday Event on August 26th and the Paris Hill Music Festival hosted at the Paris Hill Country Club on August 4th and 5th.   The Friends of the Church Board of Directors are very pleased that we are able to return this 185-year-old historic building to its original glory in the heart of Paris Hill.

Thanks,

Kevin

Friends of the First Baptist Church Painting Auction

The Brogan’s were the winners of the Friends of the First Baptist Church Deb Deshon Painting raffle at the Hannibal Hamlin Birthday Event on August 27th.  

Mike and Janet have graciously donated the painting back to the Friends to raise more money for the upcoming church building projects (Steeple Roof Maintenance, Outside Building Painting and Restoration, etc.)

Therefore, the Friends Board of Directors has decided to sell the painting. Current bidding is up to $800. We will keep the opportunity open until midnight September 30th. If anyone is interested in making a bid higher than $800, please email Kevin Carleton at Kevinecarleton@gmail.com. It is a beautiful painting of the church and I hope that it finds a good home. This is a framed original 24×30″ oil painting by local artist Deb Deshon.

Hannibal Hamlin Birthday Event Thanks

Please accept my sincere thank you and appreciation for all the sponsors and volunteers that made the 2022 Hannibal Hamlin Birthday Fund Raiser an amazing success.

As you know, we must fund raise every dollar that we spend for the annual operation, maintenance and preservation of this 200 plus year old church/meeting house and common. To achieve a successful outcome for an event like this, it takes leadership, funding, planning, creativity, volunteers, sponsors and a whole lot of help and dedication from many people. The bottom line for net profit from this event was $20,436 which is almost triple the result from 2021. Please see the list of sponsors and volunteers below that helped to make this event a huge success.

Sandra and Gary Bahre who brought Jerry Mathers of “Leave it to Beaver” fame to the event which provided a huge draw of people to help more than triple the attendance and fund raising from the previous year.

Nancy Cushman who led the entire effort of overseeing the planning, organizing, fundraising, sponsorships and committee meetings.

Committee Members Ken Hoyt, Amber Dionne, Sue Oakes, Kenny Grant, Terry Hoyt, Sheryl Morgan, CarlaRose Dubois, Chris Losso, Rosemary Losso, Linda Richardson, Brian Partridge and Jancie Cazneau, Deb Witham

Friends of the First Baptist Church Board Members Skip Herrick, Lesli Olson, Karen Kothe, Mark Kikel, Hank Emerson and Mike Black

Sponsors Head Invest, Goodwin Motor Group, Texas Instruments, Speedway Inc, Deb Deshon, Baker Newman & Noyes, Ripley and Fletcher Ford, Gorham Savings Bank, Cross Insurance, Oxford Federal Credit Union, WOXO, Valley View Orchard Pies, Hannaford, Dig Maine Gems, Flagship Cinemas, Jonah Thurlow and Dick Decato

Maine State Cake Decorating Championship Volunteers – Will Beriau, Tanya Hazard, Kelly Pride, Rachael Crowley, Meg Broderick

Event Volunteers – Jan Brogan, Mike Brogan, Peter Roy, Jeff Richardson, Brooks Lynch, John Moffett, Jeff Orwig, Norm Hutchins, Steve’s General Store, Tim Simms, Senator Rick Bennett, Mike and Sue Morin, Terri Carleton, Chad Martinez, Mary Smith, Annie O’Connor, Terry Downs and Jon Thompson.

As they say, it takes a village to accomplish the level of success that we gained for this event. All day long I looked across the green and saw families together, kids playing, people watching the various performers and everyone enjoying the food and of course the cake. Again, thank you to everyone who helped with the huge success of the Hannibal Hamlin Birthday Celebration.

Sincerely,

Kevin Carleton
President, Friends of the First Baptist Church of Paris Hill.

Welcome to the new Paris Hill Community Website

Welcome fellow neighbors!

After 12+ years of publishing the On the Hill newsletter, Janet Brogan has decided it is time change things for the better.  We have a mailing list of over 200 residents, and others who love our village, and the newsletter has a been a valuable way to communicate, share stories and events. We believe moving to a dedicated website with more frequent, interactive and dynamic content will help us tell the history and happenings on our village more easily!

A huge thank you to Janet Brogan and all the newsletter contributors who supported the On The Hill newsletter for the last 12+ years!

While the format is changing from the print newsletter to this new website, Janet is staying onboard as an editor and coordinator for news and features going forward.

Should you still want a print copy, we will be sending monthly copies to those who request, as well as posting in the Historical Society display box for viewing each month. The Hamlin Memorial Library is also making available their computers and wifi for access to the site.

Introducing ParisHill.org

As part of the transition to this website we wanted to offer a central place for all Paris Hill organizations, events, notices, news, galleries, links and contacts. These sections make up the menu at the top of the page on mobile devices, or the left sidebar on desktops. When new features and news are posted, emails with links will go to the newsletter and facebook, and the ParisHill.org site will always have the latest information.

Organizations
Each organization has their own page with contact information, history, uses, nonprofits involved, events, news and links. You can view these pages in the Organizations menu, or directly at each link; Hamlin Memorial Library & Museum, Paris Hill Academy, Paris Hill Baptist Church, Paris Hill Country Club and the Paris Hill Historical Society.

Events
In addition to the new organization pages, we wanted a centralized event calendar to capture the many events that happen each summer (and some in winter!) We have over a dozen events this year, including the summer suppers returning, Hannibal Hamlin’s Birthday, the Music Festival, the (43rd annual) Founders Day and more! Details for each are in the events section of this site and updated regularly. We will also continue to promote the same events on our Paris Hill Residents group and the public Paris Hill Historic District facebook page for public events.

More Events

Notices, Links and Galleries
In addition to events, we have notices – which are brief community notices such as power and water outages, MSAD 17 budget meetings, and other things our community may find of use. There is also a community links section which includes links to local resources like the Town of Paris resources and the Utility District. Also new, a Gallery section containing photo galleries from events and happenings around the hill. Expect to see a lot more galleries soon!

News and Features
We’re most excited to begin to have more frequent and visual News and Features content, starting with stories and spring updates from each organization. We’re also planning more frequent stories contributed by writers who are interested in documenting the history of the Paris Hill community! Some great feature ideas Janet Brogan suggested include the Mt Mica Mine, Cooper Springs, the Cornwall Preserve, the Lost Buildings of Paris Hill, and the Little buildings of Paris Hill. Please volunteer if interested in helping write or contribute to a feature!

Recent News

We realize there may be some hiccups during this transition, so please stay engaged and feel free to reach out anytime with questions, issues or corrections. We’re planning a support session as part of our June summer dinner, if anyone has any questions or needs help navigating the site. We’re also delivering a printed “Community Invite for Summer 2022” to everyone in the coming week. We’ll also be using that to promote this new website and make sure after such a long winter (or two, or three!) new residents are aware of all the events, historical buildings and organizations that support them in our community.

Most importantly, we hope that you will continue to stay engaged with our community after we come out of a much longer than usual winter hibernation. See you out walking as the temperatures warm and yard work calls, and hopefully at some of the many events planned this summer!

Paris Hill Commemorative Wooden Eggs

The first commemorative Paris Hill Egg was a huge success as a fundraiser this year. Linda has sold all but a dozen of the “Eggs” out of the 200 eggs she purchased.

If anyone has yet to purchase an egg and would like to, please contact Linda Richardson as soon as possible. The interest was phenomenal and many are awaiting next year’s egg with a different Paris Hill building and  different color to add to your collection. The addition of Jeff’s handmade cherry stand really made a nice presentation for the egg to be displayed.

Linda and everyone involved want to extend a huge Thank You to  everyone that purchased an “Egg” and gave generously to The Friends of First Baptist Church  of Paris Maine for their steeple repair.

(Provided by Linda Richardson)

Friends of First Baptist Church of Paris Spring 2022 Updates

In August 2020 Friends of First Baptist Church of Paris, Maine took ownership of the First Baptist Church building and the surrounding Common. It was an historic conveyance of property. Our mission is to preserve the beautiful church and green as community spaces protected from sale or development. We have a preservation easement and restrictive covenants that will help us protect and preserve this remarkable property in the heart of Paris Hill.

We invite you to support us in our endeavor. As stewards of these historic spaces, we have been working hard to keep the church, dating from 1838, in fine condition. But, we must raise every dollar for the annual maintenance, operations and upkeep of the building and grounds. In the near future this will include, for example, some challenging work on the steeple, which holds the bell cast in 1821 by Paul Revere’s son, Joseph Warren Revere.

Throughout the year there are wonderful community events that we organize or support, such as Founders Day (organized by the Hamlin Memorial Library) and the Hannibal Hamlin Birthday Celebration (sponsored by us, with significant support from local businesses.) In addition, there may be other events, such as concerts on the Common or at the church. These events help us celebrate the history of Paris Hill and this neighborhood we call home.

(Provided by Karen Kothe)

Upcoming Events