Maine Memory Network

Mount Desert Island: Shaped by Nature - The Indian Encampment

"… skins of seal and deer, baskets of birch-bark, moccasins, bead-work, snow-shows, gulls’ breasts, stuffed birds, clubs, carved sticks, bows and…"

John Martin: Expert Observer - Rustic furniture, Bangor, 1865

"… "These chairs are wholly built of cedar with the bark on and the crooks are more symetrical and handsome than I have drawn them from the reason…"

John Martin: Expert Observer - Alonzo E. Raynes, Bangor, 1849

"… pictures him as he is about to board the bark Suliote on January 24, 1849, sailing from Bangor to California and the Gold Rush."

Mount Desert Island: Shaped by Nature - Northeast Harbor: Rustic to Rusticators

"… from the Natives for amounts of rum, and birch bark deeds were given the buyers. Mt. Desert Island was a wilderness when these early settlers…"

Skowhegan Community History - Abenakis in the Norridgewock/Skowhegan Area

"Spring - They would use tree bark that was peeled from trees to make containers, wigwam sheathing, and moose horns made for calling moose."

Mount Desert Island: Shaped by Nature - …then came the settlers…

"… rum, and documented the deal on a piece of birch bark—which he somehow lost. A “fishy” story, now legendary. In 1761, Somes built his Mt."

Mount Desert Island: Shaped by Nature - Activities for Rusticators

"… a Wabanaki canoe maker was carrying a fleet of bark canoes that he would rent to Bar Harbor's burgeoning tourist population."

Farmington: Franklin County's Shiretown - Measuring Rock

"Here they stopped and stripped some basswood bark to make a chain (the tool used to measure land) that was one rod in length."

Biddeford History & Heritage Project - I. Headwaters of a community: Sowacatuck, Chouacoet, and the sea

"Birch bark box by Mali Agat, ca. 1770Maine Historical Society Whatever the name, these people lived along the Saco River for thousands of years -…"

Mount Desert Island: Shaped by Nature - Beginnings

"They traveled the ocean, rivers, lakes and ponds in birch bark canoes, making seasonal journeys to hunt and gather wild animal and plant foods."

Scarborough: They Called It Owascoag - Maritime Tales: Shipyards and Shipwrecks - Page 1 of 2

"Other ships were the Velzora; a three-masted bark named Horace that was wrecked on Kennebunk Beach in 1838; and the Watchman, which sank fifty miles…"

Mount Desert Island: Shaped by Nature - Guiding Services for Sport Hunters

"… Steamboat Wharf, Bar Harbor, a number of Birch-bark canoes, in which he will take parties to several Islands in the bay and around Mount Desert…"

Historic Hallowell - Whaling

"… to their deaths”, says Bakers, "On that day the bark Anna of Bremen sent a boat to investigate a capsized schooner off Bermuda in a region swept by…"

Skowhegan Community History - Skowhegan: "A Place To Watch"

"Sunken logs, bark, and sawdust damaged the fish population. By the late 1960s, state and federal regulations virtually put an end to a century and a…"

Hamlin Memorial Library and Museum

View collections, facts, and contact information for this Contributing Partner.

Western Maine Foothills Region - Dixfield - Page 4 of 5

"… built a tannery, called by the villagers the “bark mill.” It prospered for many years under both Graves and Hosea Austin before Charles W."

Historic Hallowell - The Vaughan Stream & Sawmills

"Then the logs were de-barked. After that, the head-saw broke the logs into cants, unfinished logs to be further processed."

Blue Hill, Maine - Shipbuilding: An Important Early Industry

"Snow, the bark was shipwrecked off the coast of Ireland; he was the only survivor. Folks near Galway rescued him."

Beyond Borders - Mapping Maine and the Northeast Boundary - Fixing Borders on the Land: The Northeastern Boundary in Treaties and Local Reality, 1763-1842 - Page 3 of 5

"… Francis Joseph Neptune shared with Pagan on birch bark as well as Pagan’s letter to Ward Chipman about his meetings with First Nation people…"

Farmington: Franklin County's Shiretown - Stephen Titcomb and the Settlement of the Sandy River Valley

"Here they stopped and stripped some basswood bark to make a chain. Using a very large boulder as the corner, they measured out six lots and drew lots…"

Blue Hill, Maine - Discover the Story of Blue Hill - Page 2 of 4

"… half of the nineteenth century were three-masted barks and full-rigged ships but most were two-masted brigs and schooners for the coastal trade."

Scarborough: They Called It Owascoag - A Look Inside the Classroom Over Time - Page 3 of 4

"Ink could also be made from swamp maple bark and copperas. Writing with quill pens and ink could be very messy, so the students used blotting paper…"

Surry by the Bay - Nineteenth Century

"… were built in Surry, including 15 schooners, 5 barks and ten brigs. A steamboat even docked at Steamboat Wharf on Contention Cove."

Life on a Tidal River - Four Famous Bangorians

"Once the resin was gathered, the rest was done in Curtis’s kitchen. The resin was thrown, twigs, bark, and all, into a big black kettle and boiled on…"