AUGUSTA — The Mayor’s Committee on the Martha Ballard Memorial at Mill Park, in partnership with the Augusta Downtown Alliance, offers a chance to view the memorial site overlooking Bond Brook and the Kennebec River.
The gathering is set for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 27, at Mill Park at 1 Northern Ave.
This location will be the commemorative site for Ballard in Augusta’s Mill Park, including a monument and 18th century garden. The site is close to where she lived and is where she often set off in her canoe to administer her healing to those in peril, according to a news release from Larry Fleury, committee chair.
Ballard delivered more than 800 babies over the 27 years that she wrote in her diary and was present at more than 1,000 births. In addition to this, she mentored untold numbers of young women living in her home, making textiles, weaving and spinning, homemaking, gardening, and sharing herbal medicinal knowledge.
Today, there are more than 10,000 descendants living and passed on stemming from these births.
“Years ago, the city had a parks and recreation plan done. In that plan, there was a learning center for Martha Ballard and it was at Mill Park. Unfortunately, at that time, resources were not available to build it. Then, two years ago, the mayor at the time saw a need to get this rolling again. He created the ad hoc committee, and since then we’ve hit the ground running. Things are now starting to happen to bring this project to fruition,” said Earl Kingsbury, Community Services director for Augusta.
Ballard was made famous in the novel “A Midwifes Tale” and then portrayed in a PBS production. Some special announcements will be shared.
The committee will have light food and beverages as well as a cash bar at the event.
Those who plan to attend are asked to RSVP at facebook.com/marthaballarddelivered or to Fleury at lfleury001@roadrunner.com.
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