Our Town Leeds

05/31/2026

Bids close at 5pm today!

05/28/2026

Our silent auction is still open - bids close 5pm on Sunday!

05/25/2026

***Bids are now closed***

Our silent auction is still going! We have some wonderful items still available, and bids will be open until Sunday May 31st at 5pm.

To bid:
- comment directly on the photo of the item (ex: if you’re bidding on the Gardener’s Caddy, click that photo and then the comments icon)
- Sort comments by Newest to see the latest bid
- Comment the amount you’d like to bid

Winners will be contacted directly from the Our Town Leeds page.

05/13/2026

Our Town Leeds annual meeting will be held Tuesday, June 2nd at 6pm downstairs at the Town Office.

This year we will have Tori Adams, Director at Turner Public Library, joining us to discuss the value of libraries. We’d love for you to join us! 📚

01/01/2026

https://www.pressherald.com/2025/12/31/11-maine-librarians-share-the-books-they-loved-in-2025/

The recommendations come from librarians in Kennebunkport, Gorham, Portland, Freeport, Lewiston and Brunswick, among others.

12/06/2025

Due to an emergency, the library is CLOSED and all events will be rescheduled!

12/01/2025

Warning.

11/21/2025

11/09/2025

The Book Boat Women of the Mississippi — 1904

In 1904, when river towns along the Mississippi had little access to schools or libraries, a small group of women brought knowledge to the water. They were known as the Book Boat Women — educators, widows, and dreamers who turned old barges into floating libraries that drifted from town to town, delivering books, newspapers, and hope to riverside families.

One of them, Eleanor Finch, a former schoolteacher from Iowa, spent her savings on a decommissioned cargo barge. She and two friends painted it white, filled it with donated books, and christened it The Knowledge Belle. They loaded it with shelves, kerosene lamps, and a hand-cranked printing press that produced small pamphlets of local poetry and news.

As the Book Boat drifted downstream, children would run to the shore, shouting, “The library’s here!” Farmers traded apples, quilts, or cornmeal for borrowed books. In a time when literacy was rare in rural America, the women taught reading lessons right on deck — often by lantern light as river fog curled around the hull.

During one harsh winter, when the river froze, Eleanor refused to stop. She walked miles across icy banks carrying sacks of books on her back, ensuring no child missed their reading. “The river,” she said, “only sleeps. The stories do not.”

By the 1910s, their floating library inspired copycat boats in Minnesota and Illinois, spreading learning through the heartland. The Book Boat Women proved that education could travel — even on restless waters.

11/03/2025

The 5 major Maine newspapers are available at no cost to you through Digital Maine Library! Read the newspapers daily (with a 1-day lag) or search for articles going back years, all without a paywall. The articles are the complete text, though they come without photos. Free online to Maine residents anywhere, anytime. https://digitalmainelibrary.org/