POLAND — The Poland Historical Society is taking it slow but looks forward to a return to normal following a year that canceled most of its programming.

“We are certainly happy to meeting in person again,” PHS trustee and local historian Dave Smith said.

He said 2020 was a difficult year for the society.

Still, “we were still able to meet virtually some, and we did produce a virtual walking tour of historic South Main Street for our third-graders and of Riverside Cemetery,” he said.

The Poland third-graders didn’t have to rely on videos to learn more about their hometown last month. The historical society was able to give a walking tour outside, featuring many historic locations and portrayals of people who helped build Poland in the early days. The society members wore masks for the presentations.

Smith was one of four PHS members who led a class to the various stops on the tour. He was joined by Larry Baughman, Larry Bartos and society President Laurie Fox.

Dressing the part for the tour were members Joyce Noble as Mary Kirtland Hall at the 1819 Hall-Truesdale home; Debbie Gilbert as Lydia Kirtland Fowler at the 1804 Old Stone Tavern; Chuck Gilbert as Robert Walker at the 1876 Walker House; Regina Rees as Mary McKinley May at the 1845 Village Pantry; Frank Mazzarino as William Augdon at the 1840 Sweeney Augdon house; Ginny Meloy as Martha Arrel at the 1876 Walter Arrel House, now known as the Inn at the Green; and Linda DeLost as Mary “Polly” Potter Kirtland at the 1850s Turhand Kirtland House.

“During the third-grade tour, we had about 125 students,” Fox said. “We held April and May meetings for trustees only, which is 14 people, at the Poland Township administrative meeting room that allowed us more space to maintain a distance between one another. Our June meeting is open to the entire membership and will be held outside.”

That meeting will be 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Poland Township Park Oak Grove Pavilion on Moore Road. If the weather is severe, the meeting will be moved to the Little Red Schoolhouse, 4515 Center Road (U.S. Route 224 and Struthers Road intersection) in the township.

GUEST SPEAKERS

One of the society’s regular monthly programs involved bringing in a variety of guest speakers for each monthly meeting. In January 2020, the society had a list of guest speakers for most of the year, but the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic canceled all those speakers and meetings for the year.

“We don’t have guest speakers lined up yet (for 2021),” Fox said. “Usually we don’t have programs in the summer and we don’t meet in July. Our first meeting with a program will be in September when the program will be presented by members who will talk about the Little Red Schoolhouse and the contents inside the museum. We thought this would be a good way to welcome people back.”

She said the programs committee will work on speakers for October and November.

“As we work on finishing off this year, we will begin scheduling programs for 2022, many of which will be ones we had planned for 2020 but were canceled along with everything else that year.”

SUMMER PLANS

For the summer, the PHS is working on a couple projects.

It will be offering the South Main Street tours, Riverside Cemetery tours and Presbyterian graveyard tours at various times through the summer and into the fall. The unveiling of the new South Main Street historical marker followed by a walking tour is in the planning stages, but the date has not been set for sure. Fox said the hope is to have it July 6.

“The tours will feature re-enactors at various homes and businesses along South Main Street,” Fox said. “Re-enactors will also be a part of the cemetery tours, and we will be accepting donations as a fundraiser.”

Also in the planning stages is a big summer event.

Fox said 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 24 at the Poland Township Park, the PHS and Poland Township are working together to celebrate the 225th anniversary of when the first marker was placed in the Connecticut Western Reserve establishing Poland Township as Town 1, Range 1. Surveyors put in the post July 23, 1796.

“We will have a new historical marker that will be placed in the park commemorating this historical event,” Fox said. “Our program will include a re-enactment of the event and we’ll have people dressed for that time period. The day is meant to be a celebration for a family fun afternoon.

“We’re still working out some details but we plan to have a flag ceremony and historical program; township police, fire, and ambulance vehicles on display; both the historical society and township will have display tents; music by a DJ all day; and food. Many other fun activities are still being discussed and we should have things finalized in a couple weeks. We are definitely looking forward to continuing to expand programs and activities for the public this fall and into 2022.”

jtwhitehouse@vindy.com