Maine Memory Network

Tea at French House, Houlton, ca. 1900

Contributed by: Aroostook County Historical and Art Museum Date: circa 1900 Location: Houlton Media: Glass Negative

French house interior, Houlton, ca. 1900

Contributed by: Aroostook County Historical and Art Museum Date: circa 1900 Location: Houlton Media: Glass Negative

French property, N. Side Island Avenue, Peaks Island, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: Lulu B. French Use: Summer Dwelling

Assessor's Record, 293 Read Street, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: Mary R. French Use: Garage

From French Canadians to Franco-Americans

French Canadians who emigrated to the Lewiston-Auburn area faced discrimination as children and adults -- such as living in "Little Canada" tenements and being ridiculed for speaking French -- but also adapted to their new lives and sustained many cultural traditions.

Les Raquetteurs

In the early 1600s, French explorers and colonizers in the New World quickly adopted a Native American mode of transportation to get around during the harsh winter months: the snowshoe. Most Northern societies had some form of snowshoe, but the Native Americans turned it into a highly functional item. French settlers named snowshoes "raquettes" because they resembled the tennis racket then in use.

Bath's Historic Downtown - The Customs House

"Lambard and C .W King, the son of William King, the first governor of Maine. Before 1852 , King's home was at the site of the Customs House."

Bath's Historic Downtown - Entertainment- Alameda and Opera House

"The Bath Opera House had a raging fire. The inside of the Opera House was wood, while the outside was brick."

A Maine Family's story of being Prisoners of War in Manila
by Nicki Griffin

As a child, born after the war, I would hear these stories - glad they were finally written down

Lloyd LaFountain III family legacy and creating own path
by Biddeford Cultural & Heritage Center

Lloyd followed in his family’s footsteps of serving Biddeford and the State of Maine.