MIDDLEBORO — A life-size model of a beloved Middleboro horse will be permanently stabled at the town’s historical museum, 18 Jackson St.

Evenmist Concorde—the name of the horse depicted in the wooden replica—was owned by late Middleboro businessman Henry Tinkham, who created the model himself. His widow, Ginger Tinkham, donated the model to the museum.

“It’s a great piece of Middleboro history,” said Doug Vantran, a member of the Middleboro Historical Museum’s Board of Directors.

The name Evenmist comes from the horse’s lineage, said Henry’s widow, Ginger Tinkham.

Horses were central in the life of Tinkham, who died in 2019. He owned and ran a tack shop—or horse supply store—on Everett Street for years.

Evenmist Concorde was “quite a well-known horse,” according to Vantran. The horse once graced the cover of “Horsemen’s Yankee Pedlar,’’ a now-defunct magazine circulated across New England which covered all things horses.

The replica modeled the merchandise Tinkham sold at the store, and he brought it to trade shows.

Ginger Tinkham decided to donate the model to the Middleboro Historical Museum so residents of Henry’s hometown could see a piece of the town’s—and Henry’s—history.

“It was quite an operation to get him down here,” Vantran said. He and three other people moved the figure from the Tinkham’s house in Norfolk to Middleboro.

“As we were going down I-495, cars would be speeding past us” while moving the replica, Vantran said. “When they got next to us, cars would slow right down and the person in the passenger seat would be taking pictures.”

The museum opens for the season on Saturday, June 3, and will be open on Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and at other times by appointment. 

The replica of Evenmist Concorde will join notable items in the museum including some of the belongings of Deborah Sampson, a woman who lived in Middleboro and dressed as a man to enlist in the U.S. Army during the Revolutionary War, and artifacts that belonged to Middleboro native and circus performer Livinia Warren, her husband Tom Thumb, and their boss, circus founder P.T Barnum.

“This was a win-win for the museum and myself,” Ginger said. “Because I think it’s a lovely addition to the museum, and Concorde has come home to Middleboro.”