History

Governor Baxter and the Making of a Historian

Maine State Historian Earle Shettleworth explains how early encounters with Gov. Percival Baxter inspired his career.

Henry Peabody

Henry Peabody took Maine lighthouse photography to a new level.

The Bateau: Forgotten Workhorse of Maine’s Rivers

A utility boat from Maine's logging era.

The Bygone Era of the Prim & Proper Bathing Suit

A look at how people hit the beach in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Rice Brothers’

Of the 15 lightships surviving in the United States, three were built in Maine by the Rice Brothers Corporation in East Boothbay.

A Year in the Life of a Lighthouse

In 1953, Betty Brown and her husband Dude spent a year as keepers of the Pond Island Lighthouse at the mouth of the Kennebec River.

A Wide-Angle View of Maine as it Came of Age

A remarkable exhibition of lithographic landscapes of the Pine Tree State at Bowdoin College provides a panoramic record of Maine’s towns and cities.

Maine’s oldest known ship “photo”

An 1849 daguerreotype of the ship Tempest.

The Strange Tale of Outer Baldonia

Avid sport fisherman Russell Arundel turned a tiny island off the coast of Nova Scotia into its own nation. What began as a lark ended up making headlines.

A Broadway Producer and the Boothbay 33

The story behind the Boothbay 33 and its Broadway theater connections.

Bohndell Sails

A new generation keeps a sailmaking business in the family and moving forward.

Junks and Sampans of the Yangtze

As Inspector General of Chinese Maritime Customs, the author’s grandfather admired the watercraft of the country he called home.

How Herman Melville Still Shapes the Gulf of Maine

Two centuries after his birth, Herman Melville’s writing about the ocean still resonates.

Back When Fat Was Fabulous

Back in the days of sail, fat was a valuable commodity.

During Maine’s great age of sail, several prominent mariners were immortalized in larger-than-life stone sculptures. Today these impressive monuments are poignant reminders of people who helped to shape the state’s maritime economy.

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History