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Log inSleighs bring out the kid in everyone
Sleighs bring out the kid in everyone
by Outspoken on Sun Feb 03, 2008 5:47 pm
Sleighs bring out the kid in everyone
Skyline Farm welcomes drivers and riders for an old-fashioned open-air experience.
By ANNE GLEASON
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
NORTH YARMOUTH — When he was a child, John Sowles often accompanied his father on trips around New England to pick up yet another horse-drawn sleigh or carriage, adding to his father's impressive collection.
Horace "Ken" Sowles, who died in 1997, amassed a collection of about 300 horse-drawn sleighs and carriages.
"He went out and rescued these things from farm fields and barns and people's garages," Sowles said. "We spent weekends traveling with my dad to pick up some new thing that somebody had given him."
John Sowles believes many of the old-fashioned carriages may have deteriorated in someone's barn had his father not developed a passion for collecting them. Today, several remain at Skyline Farm in North Yarmouth, which opened its doors Saturday for its ninth annual Sleigh Day.
Sleigh Day gives people an opportunity to see a "living history" of the horse-drawn transportation era through demonstrations, said Pam Ames, president of the Skyline Farm board of trustees.
It's also a fundraiser for the nonprofit Skyline Farm, an organization formed out of a grass-roots effort in 1999 to save the farm from development. Today, 46 acres of the 56-acre farm are permanently conserved with an easement.
The 150-year-old farm for decades served as headquarters for the 4-H Crop & Canter Club. Ken Sowles purchased it in the 1970s, needing space for his collection of carriages and sleighs. His relatives began thinking about selling the farm after he died, prompting the formation of the grass-roots group and leading to today's Skyline Farm, which operates with a mission to offer open space and history.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=166790&ac=PHnws
Derek Davis/Staff Photographer
Skyline Farm welcomes drivers and riders for an old-fashioned open-air experience.
By ANNE GLEASON
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
NORTH YARMOUTH — When he was a child, John Sowles often accompanied his father on trips around New England to pick up yet another horse-drawn sleigh or carriage, adding to his father's impressive collection.
Horace "Ken" Sowles, who died in 1997, amassed a collection of about 300 horse-drawn sleighs and carriages.
"He went out and rescued these things from farm fields and barns and people's garages," Sowles said. "We spent weekends traveling with my dad to pick up some new thing that somebody had given him."
John Sowles believes many of the old-fashioned carriages may have deteriorated in someone's barn had his father not developed a passion for collecting them. Today, several remain at Skyline Farm in North Yarmouth, which opened its doors Saturday for its ninth annual Sleigh Day.
Sleigh Day gives people an opportunity to see a "living history" of the horse-drawn transportation era through demonstrations, said Pam Ames, president of the Skyline Farm board of trustees.
It's also a fundraiser for the nonprofit Skyline Farm, an organization formed out of a grass-roots effort in 1999 to save the farm from development. Today, 46 acres of the 56-acre farm are permanently conserved with an easement.
The 150-year-old farm for decades served as headquarters for the 4-H Crop & Canter Club. Ken Sowles purchased it in the 1970s, needing space for his collection of carriages and sleighs. His relatives began thinking about selling the farm after he died, prompting the formation of the grass-roots group and leading to today's Skyline Farm, which operates with a mission to offer open space and history.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=166790&ac=PHnws
Derek Davis/Staff Photographer
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
