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Join us at Peter Trout’s Tavern in Manset for History Happy Hour! Gather over good eats and good times to learn something new about our shared history. Food and drink will be available for purchase.

This month, we take a break from historical trivia, and welcome local artist, writer, and boat designer, Art Paine, to share tales and images in "Regatta in Paradise." Art will share the sixty-four-year history of the Out Islands Regatta of the Bahamas. Wooden boats, cotton sails, handmade hulls, and admirable men, women boys, and girls, sailing beautiful traditional boats. A colorful and warm visual respite from the winter blahs.

Over 40 rough-built wooden sailboats showed up and competed for cash prizes at the first race in 1954, founded as a contest between the Bahamas’ rustic fishing and freight sailing vessels. The Regatta has been running ever since, occurring at the end of Lent, before the beginning of the crawfishing season. Currently upwards of 70 boats show up at what is now called the National Family Island Regatta, still considered the most beautiful sailing event in the world among marine artists

Art Paine has been designing, building, racing, writing about, and painting pictures of boats up and down the Maine coast for over four decades. He is a contributing author for Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors, and Wooden Boat magazines. More about Art: https://artpaine.com/about

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In 1906 Lucy Dodge moved to Mount Desert Rock with her nephew and husband, who was the Second Assistant Keeper of the light. During her time there she photographed the day-to-day lives of the residents of “The Rock.” Libby Bischof, Executive Director of the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, will share her observations and research into this collection and the woman who made it.

Chebacco Chats, our weekly web series, features authors, historians, and others who study and celebrate history, the great place that is Mount Desert Island, and the way the island impacts the wider world.

The Chats are live on Zoom, and recordings are made available the week after they air.

Visit www.mdihistory.org/chebacco-chats for a schedule of upcoming episodes, and links to past episodes.

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 Author and descendant of the Jordan family, Jim Reeverts’ new book is a historical documentary detailing the lives of the first Jordan’s living on the pond that bears their name. Reeverts and host Raney Bench will discuss the challenges of tracking down primary source materials and his process of weaving a story of family saga from those records.

Chebacco Chats, our weekly web series, features authors, historians, and others who study and celebrate history, the great place that is Mount Desert Island, and the way the island impacts the wider world.

The Chats are live on Zoom, and recordings are made available the week after they air.

Visit www.mdihistory.org/chebacco-chats for a schedule of upcoming episodes, and links to past episodes.

REGISTER HERE

 In 1911 a doll is assembled from bits of clothing worn over the years by members of the Carroll family, gathering this family history into her creation. The doll, Lydia, is a gift for the newest member of the family, serving as keeper and narrator of the family history. Author Joan Grant will join Raney Bench to share her experience documenting the family history.   

Chebacco Chats, our weekly web series, features authors, historians, and others who study and celebrate history, the great place that is Mount Desert Island, and the way the island impacts the wider world.

The Chats are live on Zoom, and recordings are made available the week after they air.

Visit www.mdihistory.org/chebacco-chats for a schedule of upcoming episodes, and links to past episodes.

REGISTER HERE

While spending the summer in Southwest Harbor, Historical Archaeologist Jessie Burchett volunteered with the Southwest Harbor Historical Society. While processing some archival papers she came across the records of two local families involved in the coasting trade. Using these records, she pieced together a picture of their lives, which she will share during this program.

Chebacco Chats, our weekly web series, features authors, historians, and others who study and celebrate history, the great place that is Mount Desert Island, and the way the island impacts the wider world.

The Chats are live on Zoom, and recordings are made available the week after they air.

Visit www.mdihistory.org/chebacco-chats for a schedule of upcoming episodes, and links to past episodes.

Downeast Maine has attracted determined smugglers for centuries. The rocky coves, hidden inlets, and remote offshore islands offer ideal cover for the clandestine transport of everything from gypsum and lumber to rum and marijuana.

Town Hill native Audrey Ryan will discuss the modern aspects of smuggling history on Mount Desert Island, exploring marijuana and hashish smuggling in the 70s and 80s. Inspired by her father’s experience dragging up “sea hash,” she has been researching and writing “Downeast Goldmine” since 2011. Her article “Overboard: The Big Catch” was the Boston Globe Magazine’s May 7, 2023 cover story.

MDI Historical Society Director Raney Bench will provide the historic context for Ryan’s talk, explaining Maine’s smuggling history as entrepreneurs dodged tariffs and federal and local laws, navigating both our rocky coastline and changing American politics and culture.

Audrey has a Master's degree and Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology and a Bachelor’s degree in English. Currently, Audrey is a psychiatric consultant, professor, and writer. She lives in Newton, MA with her husband and two children.

Sponsored by the Mount Desert Island Historical Society and Northeast Harbor Library. Free and open to the public.

To reserve your seat, please go to: https://nehlibrary.libcal.com/event/10923144

To join virtually via Zoom, log into Zoom at 6pm HERE

Tim Garrity and Jaylene Roths talk about one of the worst cases of mutiny and mass murder in American maritime history, on board the Berwind, captained by Edwin Rumill of Pretty Marsh. This fascinating story includes Rumill’s history on MDI, conditions on board the Berwind, what happened on that fateful day, and the course of events after the “mutineers” were captured. 

In Garrity’s article in “Chebacco: The Maritime Edition,” he writes, “Of all the stories we tell about Mount Desert Island’s histories, the Berwind mutiny is one of the lesser knowns, appearing rarely in published work or media produced for the tourist trade. The subject’s obscurity is surprising since the episode illustrates so well the hardships endured by mariners and their families at home. The tale of the Berwind is also rare among Mount Desert Island stories in that it features men of color, whose lives at sea were especially difficult and became more so if they fell into the hands of the criminal justice system.”

Jaylene Roths has spent decades studying the fall out of the mutiny on Captain Rumill’s family living on MDI. His widow and children struggled to piece together a life and income in the absence of Captain Rumill, and Roths’ work interviewing descendants provides unique insight into their strength and resiliency. 

Sponsored by the Mount Desert Island Historical Society, Great Harbor Maritime Museum, and Northeast Harbor Library. Free and Open to the public.

Due to space limitations, registration is recommended for in-person attendance. Click here to register for a seat: https://nehlibrary.libcal.com/event/10643899

To join virtually, please log into Zoom at 6pm HERE

About Our Guests

Tim Garrity was executive director and historian of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society from 2010 to 2020. He and his wife, Lynn, reside in Blue Hill. He is Chair of the Advisory Board for the Clement and Linda McGillicuddy Humanities Center at the University of Maine and a volunteer for the Blue Hill Heritage Trust.

Jaylene Roths was the first executive director of the MDI Historical Society.  She has a Master’s Degree in History from the University of Maine with a focus on maritime history.  Growing up on Mount Desert Island her passion for history was nurtured walking in the woods discovering old foundations, rock walls, and cemeteries.  Currently Jaylene teaches middle school social studies at Conners Emerson in Bar Harbor. She encourages students to be curious, ask questions, be solution oriented, and to think about how our past informs who we are as individuals and as a community.  She also works as a costume designer for local theater companies and enjoys sewing period clothing. She lives in Bar Harbor with her husband and two daughters.

In this richly illustrated lecture and discussion, Libby Bischof will feature the Great Harbor Maritime Museum's collection of photographs by Lucy McMullen Dodge, taken when she and her family lived on Mount Desert Rock in the early-1900s. Bischof will contextualize Lucy's life and photographic work in the larger scope of amateur photography at the turn of the century and her life as the wife of a lighthouse keeper. In addition to illuminating daily life on the Rock, these photographs also serve as a visual archive of the life of a lighthouse keeper’s wife, at a time when written archives of many women’s daily lives remain scarce.

Sponsored by the Mount Desert Island Historical Society, Great Harbor Maritime Museum, and Northeast Harbor Library. Free and Open to the public.

Due to space limitations, registration is recommended. Go to https://nehlibrary.libcal.com/event/10643877 to reserve your seat.

Test your knowledge of Mount Desert Island History at the Neighborhood House on August 2, at 5:00pm during History Happy Hour, a regular history game series offered by the MDI Historical Society. The Society will challenge and entertain participants though a series of questions about historical events, people, and places. This program is free and open to the public. Participants can join individually, or bring a team of players. This event will also serve as the annual meeting for the Society. Drinks and light refreshment will be served. Reservations are encouraged by contacting the MDI Historical Society at info@mdihistory.org or calling 207-276-9323.

The format will challenge people to determine fact from fiction. The MDI Historical Society has developed a series of short stories, which will be shared in eight rounds. Each round will feature three short stories, and participants must guess which of the stories really happened. The challenge: each story contains a small bit of truth, but savvy players will tease out which story is the whole truth, and which have been embellished with fictional details. Themes include Police Beat, Weird but True, Maritime History, Island Shenanigans, and more. Players who want to brush up on local history are encouraged to visit the MDI Historical Society’s website and click on Chebacco to review previous editions of the history journal for insights.

The evening will include a short annual meeting closing the books on fiscal year 2023, voting in the slate of officers, and electing new members to the board. New board members include Bob Bell, summer resident of Northeast Harbor, Johnny Hass, summer resident of Northeast Harbor, Oka Hutchins, year- round resident of Bar Harbor, and retuning board member, Kathy MacLeod, from Bar Harbor. Officers for the Society are Ben Pierce, President; Robin Lawton, Vice President; Michael Pancoe, Treasurer, and Julia Gray, Secretary. To reserve your place, or for more information, please contact info@mdihistory.com.

The War of 1812 is shrouded in mystery for many American audiences, lost in the twilight between the American Revolution and the Civil War 80 years later. Locally, we are familiar with the war through the story of the Tenedos raid of 1814. However, the Tenedos case was one rememberable moment in a series of events that reflected the connections Downeast Maine had to a broader set of complex and contradictory sets of international, national, and local interests in the early 19th century. Although geographically isolated, the region played a significant part on the larger stage of history. Examining how British authorities interacted with Mainers in peace and war reveals a different picture of the past when we view local history through British eyes.

Sponsored by the Mount Desert Island Historical Society and the Northeast Harbor Library. Free and open to the public.

Due to space limitations, registration is recommended. The program will be recorded for later viewing on our website. Go to https://nehlibrary.libcal.com/event/10806798 to reserve your seat. This program will be recorded for later viewing on our website.

Dr. Patrick Callaway is a lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Maine, and the Collections Manager at the Mount Desert Island Historical Society. He earned his Ph.D. in Canadian-American History in 2019 from the University of Maine, and was a Fulbright exchange student to Dalhousie University from 2018-19. His research focuses on the economic connections between the United States and British North America in the late 18th-early19th century.