OAKLAND -- The Oakland Area Historical Society this fall will be putting a new roof on its historic house in downtown -- a case of preserving history one shingle at a time.

Nancy Mairs of the Historical Society said the Macartney House Museum -- located on Main Street by BankNorth-- was built almost 200 years ago and has long been a field-trip destination for school groups in the area.

Mairs said Strictly Roofing of Oakland will replace the roof, which is about 30 years old.

This is not the first time community members have come to the aid of the Macartney House. Thirty-one years ago Waterville Savings Bank donated the house to the Historical Society, which was incorporated that same year, under the condition that the structure be moved farther back from the road -- the move made room for the bank to build an office.

Mairs said the Historical Society plans to present a firsthand account of that community effort at its next meeting 7 p.m. Oct. 6 at Williams Elementary School.

She said the organization hopes to recruit new members at the meeting. Mairs said the Historical Society is about 50 strong but only about a dozen are active on a regular basis.

"You never have as many as you would like," she said. "I don't know that we have set a (recruitment) goal or set a critical mass that we'd like to achieve."