Season 3, Episode 4: Electric Ideas and Trolley Troubles on MDI
Guest: Sean Cox
Air Date: March 24, 2022
Host: Raney Bench
Raney Bench chats with Sean Cox about how discontent with MDI infrastructure, among other factors, led to an early 20th century proposal to install electric streetcars in downtown Bar Harbor.
Find out more about a manipulated photograph that features Bar Harbor on the left, blending into an unknown town on the right.
Season Three of Chebacco Chats explores the theme of this year's Chebacco, Volume XXIII: Imagining What If...?
What if Bar Harbor had installed an electric streetcar rail to Ellsworth? How would that have impacted traffic, tourism, and the island's communities?
About Our Guest
Sean Cox grew up on Mount Desert Island and worked as an Interpretive Ranger in Acadia National Park. Sean graduated from the University of Maine with his B.A. in history in 2015, earned his history M.A. in 2020, and is currently a history Ph.D. student at the University of New Brunswick in Canada. Though his work in environmental history, technological modernity, and commodified tourism of the 20th century have now taken him abroad, Sean continues to find MDI to be a rich source for historical inspiration and investigation.
Chebacco articles by Sean Cox:
Foundation and Founder, 2018
Previous Chebacco Chat appearances:
No. 13: Foundation and Founder