Artifact

"Design for School House in District No. ____ Searsport, Me., Plan of Principal Floor," showing desks, teacher's platform, and boys' and girls' outhouses. Designed by Harding, architect from Portland, Maine. At the time of the drawings, the architect did not know the district number, but the school has always been called the Union School. Today, the school building is divided into condominiums.

Cover of book by Oliver Optic (pseudonym), entitled "Four Young Explorers; or, Sight-seeing in the Tropics." Published in Boston by Lee and Shepard, 1896. Oliver Optic was one of the pen names used by teacher and author William Taylor Adams (1822-1897). A teacher in Boston area schools, Adams wrote 126 books and over 1,000 short stories. These adventure stories had the authenticity that a writer who traveled frequently and read a number of languages could provide, generally with main character(s) overcoming difficult but real challenges.

The Republican Journal has been published in Belfast since 1829. It is the best first-hand source to document the comings and goings of vessels in this area as well as life in Belfast and neighboring communities. This artifact is from 7 September 1837. See bound edition of original newspaper at PMM Library.

The Eastern Steamship Company's Bangor division 1903 brochure includes the schedule, fares, vessel layout, and a route map for the two steamships that sailed from Boston to Bangor, by way of Rockland, Camden, Belfast, Searsport, Winterport, and other Penobscot Bay and River ports on the way to and from Bangor. This was the summer schedule valid from May 4 to October 31, and it included stops in Northport from June 22 to September 5. With two boats, the City of Bangor and the City of Rockland, the company could provide daily service.

The sardine industry was very important in Maine, along with the businesses of making sardine cans and canning sardines. By 1910, there were more than thirty sardine canning businesses in Maine, and each had at least one "line" of sardines, some sardines being cut up into steaks, whole herring, or other snacks.