Through Time and Place: A Closeup of Maine History

Local historians Jan Eakins and Megan Pinette share favorite true tales of Maine’s past - among them future president John Adams’ arduous journey through the District of Maine’s war-ravaged wilderness in 1763, Queen Victoria’s recognition of the Maine woman who patented an invention we’ve all used thousands of times, and Belfast’s reign as Chicken Capital of the Northeast. We cap these investigations with a visit to the 1814 home of Blue Hill’s Jonathan Fisher, a polymath once termed “The Thomas Jefferson of Maine.”

The first two sessions will be held at the Penobscot Shores Library from 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM. The third session will be the tour of the Jonathan Fisher House - with tour signup in class (exact time TBD). Time will be set aside to plan carpooling to Blue Hill. The course fee covers admission for the July 31 tour.

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Instructors: Jan Eakins and Megan Pinette

Jan Eakins is a cultural historian who has studied and lectured on Maine in a national context for over two decades. She has taught Maine history, media history, vernacular architecture, and historic preservation, and is currently writing a book on Mainers in the California Gold Rush. Jan has served as director/curator of Fairbanks House in Dedham, Massachusetts and on the boards of Maine Historical Society and the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy. She almost certainly is the world’s only person to work at both Microsoft as manager and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello as docent/trainer.

Megan Pinette is President of the Belfast Historical Society and Museum and serves as museum curator and as the Education Program Coordinator. She has been active with the historical society for the past twenty-five years, and has worked on such projects as “The History of Belfast in the 20th Century,” co-authored by Jay Davis and Tim Hughes, and “The Museum in the Streets,” thirty interpretive panels set along the waterfront, downtown and residential streets.

Photo credit: www.jonathanfisherhouse.org