Senator Angus King has been a strong advocate for creating coins to honor George and Barbara Bush, a wonderful idea. You probably haven’t heard this because Angus works hard to get bipartisan support, behind the scenes, without fanfare. Senator Susan Collins was a cosponsor of the bill. The coins should be minted and distributed this […]
When I saw the title of Captain Hank Bracker’s book, The History of Liberia & West Africa, I did not think it would be of much interest to me. I could not have been more wrong. Bracker is a graduate of Maine Maritime Academy and has had some very interesting experiences and jobs. In the […]
I enjoyed taping a podcast with Nancy Marshall. We talked about lots of things, from my childhood to my political career to my writing. You can listen to it here: http://prmaven.com/podcast-george-smith/ Nancy owns a major marketing and communications business, and has given me lots of good advice over the years. She came to my house […]
A friend recently loaned me a book of amazing stories from the Rangeley region, focused on the Megantic Fish and Game Club. Most of the stories are from the 1800s. One that shocked me was this: As an illustration of the wanton and wholesale slaughter indulged in heretofore, – also showing, incidentally, the abundance of […]
This summer an exciting new exhibit will open in Greenville, called “Moosehead’s Outdoor Heritage.” You will definitely want to see this exhibit. The exhibit will be in the barn of the Moosehead Historical Society & Museum in Greenville Junction. Linda and I have visited the museum and it has lots of interesting things. The new […]
Fireside Chats offers a fascinating look at life in the early to mid-1900s in rural Waldo County. The interviews, by Jeff Shula, were originally published in the 1990s in the Waldo Independent. And I have to thank Belfast Historical Society and Museum for recently publishing Fireside Chats, the first time all 18 interviews were put […]
Earlene Ahlquist Chadbourne’s book, A Child’s Life 90 Years Ago, is a fascinating look back at the lives of her father Earle and his sister Florence, as they grew up in Scarborough, Maine, on a rural farm from 1923 – 1946. Earlene has a talent for putting you right there, experiencing life without indoor plumbing, […]
Deborah Gould has written two books that help us experience life in rural Maine from 1820 to 1920. Published by Maine Authors Publishing, The Eastern, Books One and Two, focus on rural Pittston, Maine and surrounding towns, where farms were plentiful until the 1900s when kids started moving away for better jobs. Throughout these great […]
Roy Dudley was a real Maine character who hung out at Chimney Pond just below Mount Katahdin from 1890 to 1942. And Roy was well known for his very entertaining stories, many of them focused on a very strange character called Pamola. Pamola was a giant with wings and antlers and the illustration showing him […]
It took a lot of wood to make Great Northern in Millinocket the largest paper mill in the world. And in his new book, Logging Towboats and Boom Jumpers, published by North Country Press, Roger Moody gives us an interesting account of how O.A. Harkness built a specialized inland navy to get all that wood […]
