Gully Oven dedication set for Sunday at 2 p.m.

Rebuilt steps will offer easier, safer access to the Oven. (Lebanon Voice/Harrison Thorp photo)

WEST LEBANON - Music will return to Lebanon's Gully Oven on Sunday when a short ceremony will mark improvements to the town's signature archaeological attraction.

The improvements, including rebuilt steps down the steepest part, a roadside stone marker and an informational kiosk, were made possible by a donation from the Lebanon Historical Society in honor of two sisters who were longtime members of the club, Marjorie Blood and Bea Lord, who both died last year.

"Both belonged to the historical society for a long time," said Nancy Wyman, president of the society. "They spent vast amounts of time creating different chapters on Lebanon's history that the historical society has for sale. And they did a lot of proofreading of those chapters."

Both women also loved the outdoors and Wyman said she and the Conservation Commission which did the work, agreed this would be a fitting tribute to the two women who both cared so much about Lebanon.

The informational kiosk will comprise a plaque and information on geology of the Gully Oven as well as wildlife, forest cover and its storied past.

As written by Geo. J. Varney in a Gazetteer of the State of Maine published by B. B. Russell of Boston in 1886, "The chief natural curiosity of the town is "Gully Oven," situated in a deep ravine. It is on the road from West Lebanon Village to Acton, and one and one-half miles northerly of the former. Six miles south of the cavern, during the old French war, the Indians captured a boy of eleven years of age named Philip Door; and they spent the succeeding night in the Oven. He was detained many years, but finally returned and became one of the first settlers of Lebanon. He said that he was captured by the Indians in the forenoon as he sat astride of a fence singing a popular song of the period,--

"As sure as eggs are bacon,
I'll go to Canada and wont return,
Till Canada is taken,"--

which came true, sure enough."

Later the Gully's claim to fame was solidified as 19^th-century Norwegian violinist impresario Ole Bull, who bought a summer home in West Lebanon, played his violin amid the cavernous confines, finding the acoustics remarkably favorable.

Ole Bull (Courtesy photo)

Descendants of the Bull family still own the home to this day.

Click here for an episode of a Norwegian television documentary series on Ole Bull that features Gully Oven.

Meanwhile, Sunday's dedication begins at 2 p.m. and will feature music by the Lebanon Clovers 4-H club.

According to Conservation Commission Chairman John Bozak, who oversaw the Gully Oven work, a brief talk will outline Lord's and Blood's contributions to the town and information about the improvements.