BUSHNELL ON BOOKS: ‘Thoreau’s Maine Woods’ and ‘Two Centuries of Maine Shipbuilding’

THOREAU’S MAINE WOODS: A LEGACY FOR CONSERVATION by Dean B. Bennett; North Nation Press, 2021; 144 pages, $29.95; ISBN 978-1-943424-65-8.

THOREAU’S MAINE WOODS: A LEGACY FOR CONSERVATION

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) is a well known American “naturalist, a thinker, a political theorist and a scientist” who additionally wrote greater than a dozen books. One e book everyone is aware of is Walden Pond,” written in 1854. One other e book is one most Mainers by no means heard of, however ought to know: “The Maine Woods” was printed posthumously in 1864.

“Thoreau’s Maine Woods” is Maine creator Dean Bennett’s very good up to date exploration of Thoreau’s three journeys into Maine’s North Woods in 1846, 1853 and 1857, all chronicled in Thoreau’s “The Maine Woods.” Bennett is an award-winning environmental educator, creator of 11 books and an artist (he even performs the banjo).

Utilizing Thoreau’s e book, journals and maps, Bennett has personally retraced Thoreau’s travels on foot and by canoe to really feel, see and study what Thoreau would have skilled on these three backwoods treks within the mid-Nineteenth century. Bennett has organized every journey in chapters and essays, highlighting locations, vegetation and wildlife with Thoreau’s writings, illustrating every quick essay along with his personal stunning watercolor work.

Detailed maps present the land and water routes Thoreau took, the identical routes Bennett took in Thoreau’s footsteps. Bennett makes use of Thoreau’s writings all through, as he describes rivers, lakes, ponds, mountains, islands, forests, animals, vegetation, his touring companions and Penobscot Indian guides, even his worries about changing into misplaced within the wilderness.

Storms, troublesome portage round waterfalls, bogs and boulders made journey difficult. He tells of distant settlements like Chesuncook Village in 1849 and Chamberlain Farm, a logging provide camp in 1857. Thoreau can be happy to know of state and federal conservation measures like state parks, easements, trusts and the Katahdin Woods and Waters Nationwide Monument (2016). Bennett brings Thoreau’s Maine wilderness adventures to life, emphasizing that Maine’s North Woods are a valuable useful resource that must be protected against exploitation.

TWO CENTURIES OF MAINE SHIPBUILDING: A VISUAL HISTORY

TWO CENTURIES OF MAINE SHIPBUILDING: A VISUAL HISTORY by Nathan R. Lipfert; Down East Books, 2021; 530 pages, $60; ISBN 978-1-60893-681-6.

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Maine’s shipbuilding historical past spans greater than 400 years, and there’s no yet one more certified to inform that story than Woolwich creator Nathan Lipfert.

With “Two Centuries of Maine Shipbuilding,” Lipfert describes the final 200 years of Maine’s maritime legacy, specializing in the interval 1820-2020. Lipfert is the curator emeritus of the Maine Maritime Museum in Tub after serving as curator for 46 years. As a maritime historian and archivist, it’s extensively thought that he has forgotten extra about Maine’s maritime historical past than anyone else will ever know.

That is an expansive illustrated historical past of Maine shipbuilding, utilizing detailed narrative and 398 images and illustrations to inform this exceptional story. Within the first chapter, Lipfert briefly covers the primary 200 years starting in 1607 on the Popham Colony, with references to the Wabanaki Indians and colonial vessel building.

His actual focus, nonetheless, is on the final 200 years when Maine was (and in some ways nonetheless is) the premier shipbuilding state recognized around the globe for the prime quality and numbers of vessels constructed. Chapters are divided into 20-year intervals. Lipfert describes shipyards, varieties of vessels, homeowners, women and men staff, the varied trades, phases of wooden-hull and steel-hull building from design to launch, in addition to anecdotes about tycoons, shipwrecks, conventional ceremonies and the various “firsts” of Maine shipbuilding.

He artfully describes the hundreds of wooden-hulled crusing vessels constructed, like schooners, brigs and clippers, in addition to steel-hulled warships, submarines, container ships, tankers, tugs and yachts — even a presidential yacht in-built 1931. Images present shipyard operations and staff like shipwrights, lofters, caulkers, shipsmiths, riggers, welders and riveters, toiling year-round, six days per week for each day wages.

Be taught why a vessel have to be registered, enrolled or licensed, and what a shipyard dubber actually does.

Invoice Bushnell lives and writes in Harpswell.

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