Keywords: Snowshoeing
Item 52061
Contributed by: L.C. Bates Museum / Good Will-Hinckley Homes Date: 1917 Location: Fairfield Media: Photographic print
Item 68453
Contributed by: Mantor Library at UMF Date: circa 1922 Location: Farmington Media: Photographic print
Exhibit
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.
Exhibit
Remembering Mellie Dunham: Snowshoe Maker and Fiddler
Alanson Mellen "Mellie" Dunham and his wife Emma "Gram" Dunham were well-known musicians throughout Maine and the nation in the early decades of the 20th century. Mellie Dunham also received fame as a snowshoe maker.
Site Page
Mount Desert Island: Shaped by Nature - In the beginning, there were the Wabanaki…
"Penobscot snowshoes, ca. 1850Abbe Museum With the Europeans came new diseases and colonial wars. After 150 years of these conflicts, barely 1,000…"
Site Page
Mount Desert Island: Shaped by Nature - …then came the settlers…
"… Indians camping nearby taught him how to make snowshoes, woodsplint baskets, and a scoop net for fishing. Other settlers followed."
Story
Becoming Master snowshoe makers
by Edmond and Brian J. Theriault
Making snowshoes has taken us from novices to world-class craftsmen over 40 years time.
Story
My father's world - the old farm in Richmond, Maine
by Donald C. Cunningham
A story about my father and our family.
Lesson Plan
Grade Level: 3-5
Content Area: Health Education & Physical Education, Social Studies
This lesson plan will introduce students to myriad communities in Maine, past and present, through the universal lens of sports and group activities. Students will explore and understand the history of many of Maine’s recreational pastimes, what makes Maine the ideal location for some outdoor sports, and how communities have come together through team activities throughout Maine’s history.
