When the Wayne Historical Society reproduced an 1851 painting of the town on the cover of the society's 10th anniversary book, the artwork inspired questions.

Society members set out to find the answers recently, publishing a research paper digging into the story behind the painting.

"The Panorama View Reconsidered," explores the background of the painter, a North Monmouth woman named Mary Stanton House, and juxtaposes the painting -- called "Leeds Center and Wayne, Me. Overlooking Great Androscoggin Pond" -- with early Wayne maps.

Download a copy of the research paper.

"Here was a picture that didn't show a road configuration," said Edward Kallop, a historical society member and primary author of the research paper. "So I asked myself, 'Where is this road?' And the road just isn't there. It's still frankly a mystery."

The pastel painting hangs in the Leeds Town Office and, Kallop says, shows a detailed view of Wayne Village. Individual buildings and trees are depicted in the artwork.

Kallop collaborated with Eloise Ault and Theresa Kerchner on the paper.

In its more than 10 years, the Wayne Historical Society has put an emphasis on publishing rather than regular meetings, Kallop said. That's partly because many of the society's members are seasonal Wayne residents.

"Suddenly, everyone woke up and realized that the town had a 200-year-old history," Kallop said of the club's 1998 founding during the town bicentennial. "So the historical society got organized and ... we determined at that time that the monthly meetings that most historical societies had wasn't going to work in Wayne."

The group has published five books and publishes research papers twice a year focusing on different aspects of Wayne history.

"It's a wide, wide spread," Kallop said, referring to research paper topics that have included Wayne's Wing Cemetery, the town's earliest physicians, and the prehistoric people of the Androscoggin Valley.

The society's books also have explored shovel handle manufacturing in North Wayne and the history of the North Wayne Tool Co.

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, ext. 435
mstone@centralmaine.com