Join Harpswell Historical Society and Harpswell Heritage Land Trust for a celebration of traditional handcrafts and subsistence skills on Saturday, Oct. 14 from 12-4 p.m., rain or shine, at the Harpswell Historical Society, 929 Harpswell Neck Road. Parking will be available at the Elijah Kellogg Church. You’ll find lots to see and learn — all free,… Read more
It was a successful, if a bit wet, Nature Day Camp season! 175 young people explored, learned, played, and built life-long connections to Harpswell’s incredible natural habitats and wildlife. Camp parents wrote: “My camper loved every day of camp. She especially enjoyed her time in the water and on the natural playground. She came home… Read more
The middle of August found me wandering around the mud flats in eastern Maine with binoculars plastered to my face. A fair question would be why not slog around in Harpswell’s mud flats? Well, at my age I take any excuse to travel in order to see new habitats and fascinating species. The occasion was… Read more
On Thursday, August 10, 2023, John Goff gave a presentation on the history of steamboats in Harpswell. To view the presentation, recorded by Harpswell Television, click here. The early 19th Century saw the commercial spread of steam engines and steamboats for transportation of both goods and travelers. By the 1840s technological improvements such as the… Read more
We loved these photos that exemplify summer in Harpswell. Thank you to the 23 photographers who sent in 148 photos for our photo project! For more about the project, click here. Read more
This has been a year of travel, allowing me to view large numbers of fascinating species, many of them for the first time. It is my habit to make notes when in the field, both to record numbers of creatures but also species I have seen for the first time so I can do my… Read more
By John Gormley, originally published in the Harpswell Anchor Paul Joyce, at the helm of a 21-foot center-console motorboat, slowly maneuvered the vessel away from the dock at Bowdoin College’s Schiller Coastal Studies Center on Orr’s Island. Standing next to the captain was David Carlon, a professor of biology at Bowdoin who for the last… Read more
Harpswell Heritage Land Trust held its Annual Meeting of the membership on July 18. We elected new trustees and officers and thanked long-time trustee Lynn Knight for all her work on the board, including her time as Board President. Land Trust members elected Judy Wallingford and Ed Robinson as new members of the Board of… Read more
It’s 1926. In Maine, a pioneer forester is completing purchase of several plots of land on Great Island with the plan of managing them for timber production. A Portland politician has just left the governorship, and after years of trying to persuade state government to create a park, he’s determined to buy a mountain and… Read more
Wild turkeys in the backyard again, this time five large gobblers. Normally the birds pick their way along, grabbing a seed or an insect that catches their sharp eyes. This time the smallest tom was either feeling his oats, or he was tired of being picked on by the larger birds. Turkeys always have a… Read more