Martha Ballard Memorial Unveiled in Augusta, Maine, Honoring 18th-Century Midwife
A statue honoring Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century local midwife, was unveiled on Wednesday at Mill Park in Augusta, Maine. The memorial is situated near the Kennebec River, close to where Ballard’s home stood two centuries ago. Ballard is celebrated for delivering over 800 babies during her lifetime and for meticulously maintaining a diary for 27 years. This diary provides a rare and valuable first-person account of life in the late 1700s and early 1800s, a period when literacy among women in America was uncommon. Her writings detail her life and work, including her practice of crossing the Kennebec River in challenging conditions to provide care. The survival rate for babies under her care was notably high for the era, and she reportedly never lost a mother during childbirth. The memorial is accompanied by a medicinal herb garden featuring plants Ballard mentioned in her diary. 
