Commissioner David Levesque uses a quill to sign a document, one of the nods to Pownalborough Court House’s history at the Tuesday, July 7 meeting. (Lily Wasserman photo)
The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners signed payment and purchase authorizations with quills in the courtroom of the Pownalborough Court House in Dresden on Tuesday, July 7.
To celebrate the nation’s semiquincentennial, the commissioners had proposed the idea to host their biweekly meeting in the structure, which was built prior to the country’s founding.
Commissioner Evan Goodkowsky discussed the court house’s history at the beginning of the meeting, highlighting changes in government. The courthouse was originally built in 1761 and over the years functioned as a tavern, dancing school, post office, and more.
Goodkowsky highlighted a story from His Majesty’ Justices of Court of Sessions of the Peace, a precursor to the board of commissioners, which met in the Pownalborough Court House. Goodkowsky tracked the formation of the U.S. through records of the Court of Sessions. Early documents began with lines honoring King George III of England.
“At the September meeting (in 1776), the reference to King George had been removed and replaced with Anno Republica Americana Primo – in the first year of the American Republic,” Goodkowksy said. “And it is today, in the 250th year of the American Republic, that we celebrate and recognize Lincoln County, the place which is older than the state, Maine, older than the United States, and its people, who played an important role in the history of this country.”
The meeting came through partnership with the Lincoln County Historical Association, which preserves the building and hosts a museum within it. Dave Probert, a member of the association’s board of trustees, is on the courthouse’s stewardship committee. He and Executive Director Shannon Gilmore worked with County Administrator Carrie Kipfer to organize the meeting.
Probert said the building’s history as a meetinghouse made the event “appropriate.”
“There’s a lot of people that are here that had never been in the house before, and we’re going to do some tours later, and hopefully people will come back and do it again, and help us out,” Probert said.
During the meeting, commissioners discussed and approved payments for the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, and honored a longtime emergency dispatcher who had been presented with the Phoenix Award by Maine EMS, the state agency that oversees emergency medical services. The award is given to EMS personnel who successfully resuscitate a patient who experienced a nontraumatic and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
The award went to Sonia Lilly, who died in January, for her work saving a patient in September 2025.
The commissioners followed the meeting with a lemonade social on the court house lawn. Probert offered tours of the courthouse to visitors, and the LCSO demonstrated drone technology.
The next board of commissioners meeting will occur at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, July 21 at the Lincoln County Courthouse, at 32 High St. in Wiscasset. For more information, go to lincolncountymaine.me/county-commissioners or call 882-6311.
