Glooscap must be proud.

The Abbe Museum, an organization dedicated to studying Maine’s four remaining Native American tribes – the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Micmac and Maliseet – opens its new 17,000 square foot home in bustling downtown Bar Harbor Saturday (see listing of events, Page 9).

Legend tells that Glooscap, a mythical figure recalled by Wabanaki tribes of Maine and Atlantic Canada, was the first man, an immortal hero who taught people how to love and sing and play.

Native people from throughout Maine will gather at the Abbe this weekend to share all that their ancestors learned during a 12,000-year history. Basket makers, storytellers, musicians and historians will be on hand to celebrate the $6 million museum that has been four years in the making.

A timeline, which begins in the orientation gallery just off Mount Desert Street, asks participants to follow Glooscap back through the circles of time, like rings in an ash tree.

It begins with events in recent memory – the day in 1967 when native people in Maine earned the right to vote in state elections, and the 1950 construction of a bridge to Indian Island in Old Town.

A pair of dirty running shoes are mounted in the three-dimensional exhibit to commemorate Penobscot Nation Gov. Barry Dana’s founding of the Katahdin 100 – an annual race from Indian Island, the Penobscots’ ancient homeland, to Mount Katahdin, their spiritual center.

A video, “Wisdom of the Wabanaki,” will play continuously in the gallery. The 10-minute program features an interview with Wayne Newall, Passamaquoddy elder, in which he discusses the responsibility to preserve his people’s traditions and their connections to the natural environment in Maine.

The film is the first of several cinematic oral history projects, and was edited by Rhonda Frey, a Penobscot-Passamaquoddy intern with the Abbe.

Advisors from all Maine’s tribes were involved with designing the new museum and its exhibits, said Abbe Director Diane Kopec.

“The purpose of this gallery is, really, to tell people the right way that there are Native Americans living in Maine today,” she said. “A lot of what you see in this museum really came from the heart.”‘

“Images of the Spirit,” a display of photography by Martin Neptune, who is of Penobscot-Passamaquoddy descent, showcases ancient traditions being preserved by today’s native people.

A 16-foot etched birch bark canoe on display in the main gallery was constructed using traditional methods by craftsman Steve Cayard – demonstrating a non-native appreciation for Wabanaki arts.

A three-dimensional work in oils and oak by Penobscot artist ssipsis, called “Sweat Lodge,” is placed in the center of the Circle of the Four Directions, which explores the visions of Wabanaki women.

But slowly, as visitors make their way back through the museum’s various galleries toward the Circle of the Four Directions, a towering, wood-paneled circular room that echoes the traditional wigwam, the continuing timeline changes.

Fewer and fewer displays celebrate Wabanaki accomplishments; instead the struggle against total assimilation during the hard years following European contact is revealed through government documents and the history of continuous warfare between French and British forces for control of their homeland.

An exhibit currently under construction in the main gallery will contrast the lives of four Wabanaki women of widely differing eras ranging from World War I to the late 17th century. Called “Four Mollys: Women of the Dawn,” the exhibit will open in the spring of 2002.

On the last rails of the timeline, a few shards of pottery are accompanied by ancient legends to tell all that is known of the first generations – details shrouded by long years, physical artifacts offering as many questions as answers.

Abbe staff are working to answer these questions with a state-of-the art artifact storage and research center located on the new museum’s ground floor. Nearby, a pumpkin-colored learning lab with petroglyphs decorating child-sized benches will be used for the Abbe’s educational programs.

These less glamorous spaces are key for Abbe staff, who have struggled to display and care for a 10,000-artifact collection in the 2,000-square-foot, trailside Abbe Museum, which was built in 1928 at Sieur de Monts Spring within Acadia National Park.

“Sieur de Monts is a jewel of a museum, but it’s really tiny,” Kopec said. The original Abbe will continue to operate as a seasonal museum where displays of the less sensitive artifacts will be staged.

“Now we have the best of both worlds,” she said.

Abbe Museum events

The Abbe Museum will host dozens of special guests at its Sept. 29 grand opening scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. All museum activities will be free throughout the day. A partial schedule for the celebration includes:

. 10 a.m.: Drumming by Blanche Sockabasin, Passamaquoddy.

. 10:15 a.m.: Ribbon cutting ceremony to open the new museum, with speeches by Oscar Remick, president of the Abbe board of trustees, Diane Kopec, Abbe director, Maine Tribal Representative Donald Soctomah, Passamaquoddy, and Robert C. Abbe, grand-nephew of Abbe founder Dr. Robert Abbe.

. 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Basket making demonstration by Donald and Mary Sanipass, Micmacs.

. 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.: Children’s drop-in activity, “Stratigraphy.” Participants will create a miniature archaeology site with an object of their choosing.

. 11 a.m.-3 p.m.: Songs and storytelling by Blanche Sockabasin, Passamaquoddy.

. 1-4 p.m.: Children’s activity, “Beadwork.”

. 1:30-3:30 p.m.: Basket making demonstration by Sylvia Gabriel., Passamaquoddy.

. 2-4 p.m.: Flintknapping ? the traditional method of making stone points ? demonstration by Ron Newcomb.

Parking for all events will be available at the Conners-Emerson School on the corner of Eden Street (Route 3) and Route 233. A free shuttle service will travel between the school and the Abbe. Limited free parking will also be available downtown at the First National Bank of Bar Harbor.

For more information, call the museum at 288-3591 or e-mail at abbe@midmaine.com.