Students at the University of New England dug up an old building on campus, while state experts looked for a free Black community from the late 1700s.
BIDDEFORD, Maine — When a history class gets to go outside to learn, that’s an accomplishment.
When the lesson is in the ground, now we’re talking.
At the University of New England‘s Biddeford campus, Professors Arthur Anderson and Eric Zuelow led eager students through an archeological dig that originated from some old photos of buildings lost to time.
One building, called “The Wayside,” was built in the 1880s and torn down to expand a growing college campus in 1963. There was little known about what happened in this home.
“It turns out that it’s kind of an exciting story,” Zuelow grinned, while his students dug away behind him. “We have a family turmoil of potential rum running; maybe some illicit activity; a whole host of different things going …