my name is donna boyles and i am the president of the a founding member of the society i have been working with it for forty one years we feel that how no is a unique little community and we're very proud of the hearse that we have that is being pictured here today but a little bit of history i think needs to be covered first the town of panel celebrated its two hundredth birthday in two thousand and eight the crossroads where we are standing today  how our road or route nine and elmwood road were to a panels earliest roads at the time this hers was purchased they were dirt roads today i'm sure you will hear the traffic as we were filming that's going by but much is changed but much has stayed the same the basic structure of the panel center community has remained the same across the road from where i'm standing we have malad hall mallett hall is poundals second town hall it was built in eighteen eighty six and is now on the national register of historic places as you travel down and we had a one room school where business located across the road we have the first parish congregational church it is celebrating its bicentennial this year as it was a  eleven panos population at its founding was eight hundred and the church of course was the congregational church was required for the establishment of a town so th the formation of our town and the church come at the same time in eighteen twenty four the parishioners asked that they would have a cemetery and so the town purchased a lot of land and incorporated the center cemetery which is behind me and eighteen twenty four and eighteen thirty four by eighteen thirty four the population of pownal was growing rapidly and the church congregation was increasing considerably and it was a time of modernity for many and pownall and the town felt that they needed a hearse so in eighteen thirty four the town voted to purchase its first hers and buy it by buying the hearse they decided that we needed to also have a hearse house so an eighteen thirty four hurst house was erected on the site behind the hearse today and we've dated it as eighteen thirty four although it's not the same building it's on the same site i like to just mention that this was an era when we had no undertakers we had no hospitals to care for the sick and the dying and so it became a home occupation and the hearse became a vital part of living in this period of time heard that the family would care for the deceased would take care of the present patient of the deceased for the funeral the funeral many times were held in the home but a hearse was needed to carry the deceased or the coffin from the home setting to the church or to the cemetery and so the hearse played a vital role made to mince and of the hearse was taken care of by the town and also the purchase of the hearse was taken care of by the town by eighteen fifty six the population grows and we decide we need a second hers twenty two years later and the town perches its second hers in eighteen seventy eight the town purchased its third hers was purchased from george new bedford massachusetts for three hundred and fifty five dollars the town would also purchase a harness the shafts and runners so that the hearse could be used during the winter and then when they purchased this this hers they said that the hearse house needed to be  decided they no longer were using it and it was sold for fifteen dollars to fred noise of freeport and there it remained until nine hundred seventy when the historical society was formed and i are the founder of historical society was marjorie mason and she knew of the hers she knew where she could find it and so she visited fred and first for twenty five dollars she purchased it and brought it back home at the time we had no place to put it so we kept it in a neighboring barn because the hearse house was being used to how's snow fencing and it was in terrible condition so the first job of the historical society was to renovate and restore the hearst house which we did and we put in a cement floor and were able to move the hearse in now the hearse did not look like this when we when we brought it back home it was badly in need of paint it was peeling the paint was mostly removed and the metal showed many signs of rust and deterioration although the structure was intact the glass windows the interior drapes were all here the only thing that was missing was the were the lamp so it remained in that condition until nineteen ninety seven when marjorie mason husband carl mason gave the historical society a significant donation which would allow us to restore the hearse and to purchase the new lamps that you see on the hearse today the restoration was done by volunteers under the direction of conservator ron harvey and it took us one summer we worked very hard he recommended all the treatments that we did to the paint and to the metal work and and then from that point on we have been able to bring it out for town celebrations and when you consider that it's a hundred and thirty more than a hundred and thirty years old  we feel that it's in very good condition and we're so proud to have it  hearse it's very important to preserve these vehicles for future generations to see how everybody got around a hundred years ago and our small towns here in maine and if you ever want to visit we are open every first saturday