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Monday 10am - 4pm Tuesday 10am - 4pm Wednesday 10am - 4pm Thursday 10am - 4pm Friday 10am - 4pm Saturday 10am - 4pm Sunday 1pm - 4pm

Castine Historical Society

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Castine, ME
Castine Historical Society

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http://www.castinehistoricalsociety.org/about_us.html

10/17/2026

Brrr it's really starting to feel like winter is nipping on our heels this morning! In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, one of the quickest ways for folks to navigate the towns of the Penobscot Bay was by steamship. Two of the steamers that regularly came to Castine were the Golden Rod and the Silver Star, depicted in the unsent black and white postcard stuck in the ice off of Belfast on March 8, 1907.

📸2009.1.25, Steamers Golden-Rod and Silver Star in ice, 1907
📸2024.36.2, Winter Schedule for the Steamboat Silver Star, 1904
(c) Castine Historical Society

10/16/2026

Happy Friday! It’s been incredibly beautiful in our little slice of Maine this week. While the CHS is now closed for the season, you can view recordings of this season’s programs on our YouTube channel.

10/15/2026

Join us tonight at 6 pm on Zoom for "Castine, Penobscot Bay, and Global Slavery in the Age of Sail" with CHS Executive Director Dr. Kate McMahon. This talk will focus on newly discovered slave ship the brig Baron de Castine and other ongoing research into the communities in Penobscot Bay and connections to global slavery during the mid-19th century. Registration link in the comments below.

This talk is being presented in partnership with Atlantic Black Box as part of the events for The Interco(a)stal Walk: Reading Between the Ribs of Maine’s Maritime History on October 18 in Bath, Maine.

This initiative brings together an extraordinary group of artists, historians, culture bearers, community partners, and others for a three-mile journey through Bath and an afternoon gathering at Maine Maritime Museum. There will be art, music, poetry, performance, augmented reality, storytelling, and a shared meal—all culminating in the unveiling and activation of a collective reimagining of the museum’s monumental Wyoming Evocation sculpture. The event is free and lunch is provided, but registration is required.

For more information and to sign up for Interco(a)stal, see the comments below.

10/14/2026

What a season it was! 2026 was a RECORD BREAKING year for our visitors to the Castine Historical Society, with our highest visitation ever! More than 4,000 people visited Francis Hamabe's Maine: A Life in Art. Over 2,000 people attended one of our summer programs, with highlights like our June printmaking workshop, lectures with experts like Jerome Magnifico and Dr. Liam Riordan, and our Castine history walking tours. In July, we welcomed over 1,400 people to our House & Garden Tour.

We are especially grateful to our volunteers! Behind the scenes, our volunteers help us with our collections, maintain our buildings and grounds, and of course, docent in the Abbott School museum. We are incredibly lucky to have more than 60 regular volunteers each season, who make sure our visitors feel welcomed to the CHS and Castine. We truly could not do it without our village!

Stay tuned for upcoming fall and winter virtual programs, and updates on our plans for next season. Make sure you're signed up to our newsletter for early access to events, special offers from our museum store, and more. And mark your calendars for our annual Sip and Shop on December 10 for all of your holiday cheer!

See you in 2027!

10/12/2026

The CHS staff will be off today in honor of Indigenous Peoples' Day. The Abbott School museum will be open today (our last day of the season) from 10-4. Our final walking tour of the season is today at 10 am.

Please also note that our Collections Manager is on vacation until October 26. Research appointments will be limited during this time. Please contact us for research inquiries and we will respond as soon as possible.

10/09/2026

This the last weekend in 2026 that you can view Francis Hamabe's Maine: A Life in Art! The Abbott School Museum will close for the season on October 13. Our final free regular walking tour will take place Monday, October 12, at 10 am. Our hours this weekend are:

Friday: 10-4
Saturday: 10-4
Sunday: 1-4
Monday: 10-4

If you didn't catch this exhibition this year, don't worry, Francis Hamabe's Maine will be open again Memorial Day Weekend 2027! The exhibition will be refreshed with new artworks and archival materials for you to enjoy, and we'll have a whole slate of programs for 2027 for you to enjoy.

We'll be offering some Zoom programs this winter, so make sure you're signed up to our mailing list to hear more about coming events and gift shop sales!

10/08/2026

One of the worst maritime disasters in Castine's history occurred on September 30, 1867: the wreck of the mackerel-fishing schooner Juliet Tilden off the Magdalen Islands in New Brunswick. All hands were lost, with 16 of the total 18 men hailing from Castine. The deaths left eight widows and sixteen children bereaved.

There are also rumors of at least three spooky premonitions regarding the disaster. These were recalled by Louise Wheeler Bartlett in a heavily dramatized account in "The Trail of the Maine Pioneer" anthology, and later by Charlene Devereux and other Castine history enthusiasts. These accounts hold that the vessel was inadvertently "cursed" from the outset owing to a dispute between sailor Ned Brown and his fiancee Minetta Hodsdon over its naming. Additionally, another of the doomed sailors, Sam Perkins, created a makeshift tombstone for himself before the voyage, possibly as a joke, which was later used as his actual memorial.

According to Bartlett, Abigail (Abbie) Clarke and her daughter-in-law Sarah also predicted the wreck in the form of dreams shortly beforehand. Unfortunately, Abbie's son Will Clarke still signed on to the voyage and was lost with all other hands. Will is memorialized in the Castine Town Cemetery next to the burials of his mother and father.

10/03/2026

It's really starting to look like fall here in coastal Maine. The leaves are nearly at peak color, the days are shorter and cooler, and the town is starting to become quieter. We hope you all enjoy this beautiful fall day in Maine, and maybe enjoy a lobster or two like the Camp family did here.

📸Peter Camp, Harry Camp, Jerry Low. Maine. Oct. '44, 2021.6.32, (c) Castine Historical Society

10/01/2026

It's October 1, and Spooky Season is officially here! Here's one of many "Creepy Castine" tales to kick it off.

Castine was once the seat of Hancock County before it switched to Ellsworth in 1838, and had its fair share of dramatic legal trials, and even some ex*****ons. One of the best known was that of Ebenezer Ball, who was hanged at Fort George in October 31, 1811 (yes, Halloween) for the Murder of John Tileston Downs, a deputy sherrif who had been pursuing Ball for the crime of counterfeiting. This was the first ex*****on for murder in eastern Maine.

Prominent local figures, including minister Jonathan Fisher, wrote broadsides and poems about the ex*****on, warning others to avoid a similar fate. Sadly CHS doesn't hold any originals of this gruesome ephemera, but the copy below is from the Library of Congress.

09/29/2026

We're nearing the end of the season for our Abbott School museum and closing the first season of Francis Hamabe's Maine: A Life in Art. You still have a couple of weeks to visit us!

Through October 5:
Monday through Saturday, 10-4
Sunday 1-4

Closed October 6-8

October 9, 10, 12, 10-4
October 11, 1-4

See you soon! 🍂🎃🍁

Address

13 & 17 School Street
Castine, ME
04421

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 4pm
Tuesday	10am - 4pm
Wednesday	10am - 4pm
Thursday	10am - 4pm
Friday	10am - 4pm
Saturday	10am - 4pm
Sunday	1pm - 4pm

Telephone

+12073264118

Website

http://www.castinehistoricalsociety.org/

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