Portland Preserved: Winter Edition

Portland, Maine is full of history and culture; from being the state’s first capital to being the birthplace of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, from Portland Mayor Neal Dow (the so-called “Father of Prohibition”) hiding rum in City Hall in the mid-1800’s to being destroyed – then rebuilt (thus our city’s motto, “Resurgam”, which means “I shall rise again”) – by widespread fire multiple times, we’ve got a very passionate past.

In 2016 we’re celebrating that rich history with a new series called “Portland Preserved”: a once a month look into iconic and classic businesses, landmarks, historical sites, and more all located within Portland.


We kicked-off the series with a tour at Allagash Brewing Company. We were led from their brewing equipment to their barrel room to their private VIP bar area where our afternoon concluded with a private tasting of many of their more unique offerings (including, but not limited to: Avance [a sour ale aged in bourbon barrels and finished with strawberries], and Confluence [a fermented and dry-hopped golden ale). Check out the reviews and photos here!
Amanda B: “I love the history and explanation of brewing techniques and all the words I can never remember.  This was a great ‘first’ event for the Yelp Portland Preserved series.  I love history and I love beer. What more could I ask for?”


In February we took a private guided tour of the Maine Historical Society’s Brown Library, which is home – among other rare gems – to an original copy (one of 26 in existence) of the the Dunlap Broadside of the Declaration of Independence. We had the opportunity to look through one-of-a-kind artifacts including old photos, newspapers, diaries, ship logs, an impressive autograph collection, and more. Read through the reviews and take a look at the photos here!

Cookie T: “We were all quite enchanted with the smell of the old books, the water stained atlases, curves of the hand drawn maps, swirled and press blocked letters… and on and on and on. It was quite enchanting getting small glimpses into this library.”


March found us at the Osher Map Library & Smith Center For Cartographic Education at the University of Southern Maine for a private tour of their exhibit “Masterpieces at USM: Celebrating Five Centuries of Rare Maps and Globes.” We saw a variety of interesting items including the first modern printed map (from 1475), while we learned some seriously revelational things about Columbus and the Nuremberg Chronicles. Reviews and photos can be found here!

Courtney C: “Portland Preserved is turning out to be so awesome! I didn’t know what to expect, I had never heard of a map library before. I was truly blown away by the Osher Map Library. We learned how globes are made and how the library is digitizing it’s pieces. Really state of the art stuff!”

Dexter Perkins wrote, “History is a kind of introduction to more interesting people than we can possibly meet in our restricted lives; let us not neglect the opportunity.” There are amazing things to be discovered and rediscovered right in our back yard. So if you want to a glimpse into private collections? Take a walk through places in town usually off-limits to the public? Learn more about the foundation of Maine’s largest city? All you have to do is RSVP!

For more information on the amazing locations we visited:
Allagash • Maine Historical Society • Osher Map Library

Connect with us:
Facebook • Twitter • Instagram