The stage curtain that once hung on the second floor of the schoolhouse came home today, thanks to the generosity of Brenda Joseph at Steep Hill Farm, in whose barn it had been stored for many years. Lura Wells and E. L. Crosby created a lasting heirloom for Wayne when they painted a vibrant scene of a Roman charioteer urging on his four horses on cloth for the children who attended the North Wayne school.

Left, Eric Morrill lifts the curtain wrapped on its wooden spindle (which was mounted into the stage opening and turned to raise and drop the curtain) off the roof of the SUV that brought it from the Steep Hill barn to the schoolhouse.




Here, it's carried into the front door of the schoolhouse, where it was laid on a table on the first floor and given a quick admiring "peek" before being taken up to the second floor. The Schoolhouse Committee will meet with The Maine Historical Society and other experts for advice on its restoration and care.



Out the door again to be taken upstairs while the first floor gets its final touches -- a newly cleaned and oiled wood floor and a great collection of old-fashioned school desks for the recreation of a one-room schoolhouse classroom now underway.




Now it's up the exterior fire stairs to the second floor, where awaits a new life in a revived schoolhouse.