Spend your summer in one of Maine’s most iconic small villages! Nestled on the banks of the Kennebec River, historic Hallowell is a picturesque community offering a vibrant main street and an active culture and arts scene. Vaughan Woods & Historic Homestead is located in the heart of the small city and offers an 8-week summer internship and a 16 week research fellowship for college students or recent college graduates to work in its nature preserve, on its gardens and grounds and in its historic house museum.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Vaughan Woods & Historic Homestead is a non-profit nature preserve and non-traditional house museum that seeks to connect people to place through nature, history and the arts. Vaughan Woods is open to the public daily from dawn to dusk, programs are offered at the Homestead throughout the year, and an effort to catalogue the organization’s collection of historical papers and artifacts is ongoing.

Applications are due April 1, 2025

Tasks fall into three areas and may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Nature Preserve:

• trail maintenance
• invasive plant control
• assisting with educational programming
• organizing volunteers
  

Historic House Museum:

• assisting with house tours
• organizing and cataloguing museum documents and artifacts
• digitizing historic documents and photographs
• working in the gardens (flower and food)
  

General Non-Profit Support (performed by all staff):

• helping to organize programs and events
• office work
• light housekeeping

Interested applicants must be able to perform physically demanding field work, enjoy working with children and the general public, be comfortable multi-tasking in the office, and be interested in historic preservation, Maine history and the natural world.

Independent Research Opportunities: 
The opportunity to conduct independent research projects related to either the historic collections of Vaughan Homestead or to the ecology or recreational use of Vaughan Woods is available to VWHH interns, but is not a requirement of the internship. The range of topics for research within our archive and in the Woods is vast, including, but not limited to, Maine history, early agriculture, women’s history, land conservation, 18th – 20th century art, monarch habitat, water quality, erosion control, invasive species, recreational management issues etc.. Interested students should contact VWHH to discuss their areas of interest. 

VWHH will help students frame research questions and identify areas within the collection to conduct research. We ask that students work with an advisor from their college or university on their independent projects, and that they submit a final report to VWHH upon completion of their summer research.

Final Presentation
Interns and Fellows will be asked to give a final presentation about their experience and/or project to the VWHH Board of Directors and volunteers. Presentations are informal and in a supportive and friendly environment. 

Compensation: 
VWHH provides an intern stipend of $1,000 as well as housing and a fellow stipend of $2500 plus housing. Interns and fellows conducting independent research projects are encouraged to apply for grant funding or work study funds from their college or university to compensate their time with VWHH. Accommodations are offered at Vaughan Homestead’s Guest House, which is adjacent to the historic property, offers a sweeping view of the Kennebec River and is within walking distance of downtown Hallowell. The house will be shared with interns from the Kennebec Land Trust and other local organizations. Roommates (two people/bedroom) may be necessary depending on the number of interns hired each year. 

VWHH Supervision: 
Interns and Fellows both report to Kate Tremblay, Executive Director; however, they will have the opportunity to work with a variety of staff and volunteers. 

Hours: 
Flexible hours; 25-40 hours a week, including some Saturdays and Sundays; June-August for interns and May-August or June-September for fellows. Some weeks will consist of more work hours than others. The ideal start date for interns is the first week in June ; however, this could be flexible for students. The fellowship date range is negotiable. 

Qualifications:

• Minimum of one year of college for interns and three for fellows, with preference to students working towards degrees in education, environmental science, recreation, art, and history or museum studies; other majors will be considered
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Strong organizational and time management skills
• Ability to perform moderately strenuous manual labor
• Comfortable working outside
• Valid driver’s license

How to Apply: Please send a cover letter, resume, and list of two references to the email address below. Please send as a single, multiple page pdf, with your name, in the following way: Tremblay_Kate_Internship_2025. Both academic and prior work references are accepted.

Email full application to:

 katetremblay@vaughanhomestead.org

CONTACT: 

Questions may be addressed to Kate Tremblay at the above email address or via phone at (207) 622-9831.