The character of a region is found in its people, their spirit and the things they accomplish. This presentation focuses on a number of individuals who lived in the lower Kennebec River region from about 1775 to the 1920s. Reading selections from their diaries, journals, personal letters and account books, Warren explores the history of this part of Maine and those who lived here and called it home and finds through their words that we aren’t so different from those who preceded us.

Bud Warren, a native of the coast, knows Maine well. For nearly forty years he’s led heritage tours of the area for Smithsonian Associates, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Road Scholar and other significant groups. He’s studied, written and lectured about the region’s maritime history, its geography, its environment and culture. He works by poking behind the scenes to understand Maine’s people and their way of life and then finding ways to share that appreciation with visitors.

As a youth Warren lobstered some. He’s climbed Maine’s peaks and rowed and sailed along much of its coastline. After Yale, he taught for twenty years in independent schools (Massachusetts, Hawaii, and at Hyde School in Bath), and worked fourteen more at Bath Iron Works. He was active for more than a quarter of a century as a teaching volunteer and staff member at the prestigious Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, where he developed and conducted a successful coastal heritage cruise program. He’s researched and lectured extensively on maritime topics such as the 19th century guano trade, the ships of the Sewall fleet of Bath, and the tide mills of New England. He has been active in several archaeological explorations of Maine’s colonial sites, including the successful verification of Fort St. George, the first English settlement in New England. He was president of “Maine’s First Ship,” the effort to build a replica of the 30-ton vessel built in 1607 at the mouth of the Kennebec, and is now president of TIDE MILL INSTITUTE, a research and educational organization dedicated to advancing knowledge about early coastal tide mills.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Call Kathleen McGee, 666-3598
fomb@comcast.net

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