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Announcing: Rangeley Sporting Museum
 ANNOUNCING THE PLANNED RANGELEY OUTDOOR SPORTING HERITAGE MUSEUM
The Rangeley Lakes Region Historical Society is pleased to announce plans to establish an Outdoor Sporting Heritage Museum. The museum will be located in Rangeley’s village of Oquossoc, the heart of Maine’s fishing and hunting since the mid 1800’s. It promises to be a place where The Rangeley’s rich outdoor sporting history, traditions and personalities come alive.
The rustic museum will be modeled after J. Waldo Nash’s 1890’S taxidermy shop.
The museum will not only honor the past, but will serve as a connection to the region’s exciting outdoors experience and provide for the confluence of our history, our present and importantly, our future. Visitors will also be able to contact local guides and businesses to experience first hand the region’s outstanding hunting and fishing. It will be especially appealing to fishermen who travel in search of trophy brook trout, as well as avid collectors of fly-fishing memorabilia.
Today the voices of Carrie Stevens, Herb Welch, Fly Rod Crosby and Ed Grant still call to sportsmen and visitors …. to reawaken the sense of adventure and excitement of a ten-pound wild brook trout, the beauty of a Carrie Steven’s Gray Ghost Streamer, the lifelike mounted brook trout by Herb Welch or the Maine humor of Ed Grant.
This planned 3,000 square foot log building is dedicated to all those who have contributed so much to the region’s traditions, values and now, to those committed to the future. The Rangeley Outdoor Sporting Heritage Museum, when opened, will house the finest and largest collection of Carrie Stevens flies in the world ….. over 150 different patterns originated and tied by Carrie, her 1925 handwritten letter describing the battle with her prize winning 6 pond 13-ounce brook trout and her personal fly rod.
Visitors will see some of the most outstanding examples of Herb Welch mounted trout and salmon, scores of his wonderful paintings and sketches, his hand tied flies, sculptures, carvings and many personal items. Also on display will be an authentic 1920’s double-ended Rangeley Boat made for the Upper Dam pool, photos and information on the steamships that plied the lakes, transporting guest from the narrow gauge railroad to camp or hotel, some operated by Captain Fred Barker and a gate from the famous Lower Dam upon which the story of the region’s dams and Rapid River will be told.
Visitors will enjoy the ambiance of an early sporting camp when entering the welcome center, featuring a mount of an 11-pound brook trout caught in 1897 at Upper Dam. Then they will begin their journey through the chronological sporting history of the region’s people, places and events, starting with the Native Americans who fished and hunted this area. They will learn about the early role of the Oquossoc Angling Association to develop and protect the area’s fisheries; the continuing effort of Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife to protect the region’s fish and game; the impact of the construction of Upper, Middle and Lower Dams; and the role of the Kennebago Tribe of gentlemen anglers. They will also hear the tall tales of Ed Grant, “The World’s Most Truthful Man” as he discusses his famous “tame trout”. Attend the Madison Square Garden Sportsmen’s Show in 1900 with Ed and Fly Rod Crosby who shocked the audience with her costume that was six inches above her ankles.
The Museum will also serve as a base for educational, artistic and cultural programs, seminars, and workshops. It will provide a context for visitors to support programs that conserve and provide stewardship of the region’s fisheries, wildlife, land, and water resources. After experiencing the journey through Rangeley’s outdoor sporting past, visitors will be presented with the challenge; “Now that you have experienced the region’s traditions and met the people who contributed to our present, WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP INSURE ITS FUTURE?”
Visitors will learn how the Rangeley Lakes Region Historical Society is working to establish partnerships with the Rangeley Region Guides’ & Sportsmen’s Association, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, the Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust, Fly Fishing In Maine and other conservation, sporting and stewardship organizations to honor our past and help insure our future. These partnering organizations will have displays showing their focus on those areas of overlapping interest, where their goals and plans contribute to the museum’s overriding goal by restoring our streams, protecting critical wildlife habitat, improving the quality of our water, protecting the environment against invasive species, encouraging good stewardship, ensuring land and water access for traditional uses, and managing fisheries and wildlife resources for the future. Truly this will be … WHERE RANGELEY’S RICH OUTDOOR SPORTING HISTORY MEETS ITS COMMITMENT TO THE FUTURE.
To accomplish this ambitious project, a Capital Campaign is being established to raise one million dollars. This goal covers the purchase of land, site preparation, the construction of a rustic log Museum and displays, an acquisition fund, and endowment fund to insure financial viability. The initial response has already raised over $400,000 through individual contributions and grants. It has allowed the acquisition of a prime two-acre location in the center of Rangeley’s Oquossoc village. In addition, two major anonymous supporters have offered to match future contributions as an incentive to optimizing personal donations. Several significant
grants are being pursued, in-kind donations have been offered, important artifacts have been donated and other fund raising events including a live auction are planned.
The live auction will be held on August 16 th in Oquossoc and include authentic Carrie Stevens flies, an awarding winning carved loon decoy, guided fishing trips in Rangeley and the Keys for tarpon, a Rangeley boat, commissioned painting by Dave Tibbetts, several limited edition wildlife prints, 22 foot mahogany and brass trim row boat, rustic camp furnishings, antiques and much more.
In addition to the museum’s 501(c)3 status, there are a number of important incentives being offered to encourage donations by the public and businesses. For example, an authentic Carrie Steven fly will be donated to the museum in the name of any donor contributing $1,000 or more. Of particular importance is the opportunity to create a memorial in the name of family members or those individuals who have shared with us their love of the outdoors. A successful fund raising effort will allow a ground breaking in 2008. For more information on how you can become part of this campaign please visit www.rangeleyoutdoormuseum.org or contact Don or Stephanie Palmer at 207 864-5647.
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