Future Events:
We look forward to organizing a series of inclusive activities showcasing our Patriots and battles that occurred in Maine. Watch this space for future events and follow us on Facebook at:
October 18, 2025
America from the Ashes: Revolution and the Burning of Falmouth
On Saturday, October 18, 2025, experience a Portland family-friendly trail that connects past and present of a turning point in American history.
Step into the fire that forged a nation. Exactly 250 years ago on October 18, 1775, the British Navy bombarded the town of Falmouth—now Portland—setting it ablaze and igniting revolutionary fervor across the colonies. On Saturday, October 18, 2025, come and walk the path of history in Portland with America from the Ashes, a family friendly trail experience that brings this pivotal moment to life.
The day starts at 10 am featuring programs, activities, and exhibits from seven cultural and historic venues: First Parish Church, Greater Portland Landmarks, Maine Historical Society, Maine Ulster-Scots Project, Osher Map Library, Spirits Alive at Eastern Cemetery, and Tate House Museum. Visitors can begin their trail experience at any venue location to engage with people, places, and perspectives that shaped Maine’s revolutionary journey. Participants of all ages can enjoy hands-on activities, walking tours, historic house tours, and interactive displays that connect past and present.
Join us for a day of discovery, remembrance, and community as Portland commemorates the fire that helped fuel the revolution. Trail maps will be available at venues. Activities range from free to moderate admission. For details on venue locations and admission, please scan the QR code, visit mainehistory.org/events/america-from-the-ashes/
Past Events:
The Maine Ulster-Scots Project, in partnership with the North Yarmouth Historical Society and the Pejepscot History Center began celebrations of the 250th anniversary of American independence with a program recognizing those Ulster-Scots (“Scotch-Irish”) emigrants to the Maine frontier and to the North Yarmouth area in particular who participated in the struggle for independence.
The LECTURE portion of the event featured surveyor, author, and Maine Ulster-Scots Project director, John Mann, who gave us the background of the migration of the Scots and Ulster-Scots to the coast of Maine in the early to mid 1700’s and the engagement of these families in the American Revolution including the Armstrongs, Thomas Means (the 2nd), and other neighbors in the Yarmouth and Freeport area. This wonderful lecture was recorded and we’ll share the link in the near future.
The RECEPTION and social hour included exhibits of period-specific archived town letters, petitions, and Resolves, as well as other relevant artifacts from the period, and a roster of Ulster-Scots patriots of the North Yarmouth area. Period refreshments were enjoyed by all.
Our thanks to event co-sponsors the North Yarmouth Historical Society and the Pejepscot History Center and to John Mann for another delightful and informative lecture.
Congratulations to MUSP Sestercentennial Chairmen Julie Potter-Dunlop and NYHS President, - Katie Murphy, and volunteers for a fantastic day enjoyed by over 75 attendees. With the traditional cheer of 1775, we thank you by saying: HUZZAH, HUZZAH, HUZZAH
A 250th Anniversary reflection on local “Scotch-Irish” participation in the American Revolutionary War.
John Mann gave a talk on the life and times of three generations of the Means family and their kin. From the contested borderlands between England and Scotland to the disputed Eastern Frontier of America, they journeyed in search of a home where family, faith, and freedom could ensure economic rewards and religious tolerance, a home unhindered by the meddling of distant political power centers, a home secured by land ownership and extended family ties. A journey that would ultimately lead them to participate on the battlefields of the American Revolutionary War...a revolution which one Hessian soldier described as nothing more than “…a ‘Scotch Irish’ Presbyterian rebellion.”
April 18, 2025
The Maine Ulster-Scots Project in collaboration with the Tate House Museum and the Stroudwater Neighborhood Association presented: “Birth of the American Revolution” a commemoration of the events of 1775 that marked the beginning of the American Revolution.
The program featured the hanging of two lit lanterns on the flagpole at the Means House to remember the two lanterns placed in the belfry of the Old North Church as a signal that the British were moving to Lexington-Concord by sea (the Charles River).
The Stroudwater location was a fitting place to muster, as many men, including our Scotch-Irish forefathers from the coast of Maine marched by this very spot in front of the Tate house on their way south via the Old Boston Post Road.
The program included a colonial-dressed portrayal of a member of the Tate family, youngest son Robert Tate, who trained as a minuteman of Portland (then Falmouth) and was called up at the Lexington alarm. The program also featured a reading of the Longfellow poem “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere,” and Dave McCausland, representing MUSP, gave a brief account of James Means and fellow Ulster-Scots who served in the American Revolution.