Fundraiser for Tate House

Tate House Museum is hosting a fundraiser on the afternoon of September 29, 2024 from 2:30-5:30 pm to benefit education and preservation projects. The event features high tea and an illustrated lecture by UK Arboriculturist Clive Mayhew titled “Building British Ships with American Timber,” which will provide context to George Tate’s role as mast agent in 18th century Portland. Mr. Mayhew’s millennium-spanning, global telling of British tree harvesting reaches from ancient Mesopotamia to Maine and from Portsmouth, NH to Portsmouth, England, as well as a myriad of places in between. His talk will include a chapter of this global story that is largely forgotten in Britain, the contribution made by American forests to the British navy in the golden age of sail. As Britain’s navy grew larger and individual ships within it grew bigger, the demand for home grown timber began to outstrip supply. In response, the navy began to look across the oceans in search of new forests to address the shortfall. Supplies of American timber and masts kept the British navy afloat, quite literally, for the best part of two hundred years. This commercial venture formed the foundation of transatlantic trading links between America and Europe still in existence today.

Tate House Museum supporters are also invited to purchase raffle tickets for a chance to win a facsimile of a rare antiquarian map from Tate House Museum’s collections; a beautifully-framed 1720s view of the harbor of Casco Bay by cartographer Cyprian Southack.

Raffle winners need not be present at the event to win.

The fundraiser will take place at The Woodland Club, 39 Woods Road in Falmouth, with registration starting at 2:30 pm, High Tea 3:00- 4:00 pm, Clive Mayhew lecture from 4:00-5:00 pm, and questions, closing remarks, and raffle drawing from 5:00-5:30 pm. Fundraiser tickets are limited and offered at $75 per person and can be accessed at tatehouse.org while availability lasts. Raffle tickets are for sale online until 2:30 pm on Sept 29 and at the event until the winning ticket is drawn ~5 pm. Parking is readily available and free.

FMI: contact Holly K Hurd
hkhurd@tatehouse.org
207-774-6177
Tate House Museum
1267 Westbrook Street
Portland, ME 04102