Abbe Museum shows off at grand opening

BAR HARBOR – Her billowing skirt and brown hair floating around her, Rhonda Frey brought contemporary American Indian culture to life with a whirling, energetic dance around the Circle of the Four Directions during the grand opening of the Abbe Museum on Saturday.

Frey, who volunteers for the Abbe Museum and who can claim Penobscot and Passamaquoddy descent, danced with Passamaquoddy elder Blanche Sockabasin and with first-time museum visitors, inviting the novices to share in her ancient culture.

More than 800 people took part in the six-hour celebration of Maine’s American Indians at the Abbe’s new downtown home Saturday, said Sharon Broom, development director for the museum.

“People have been waiting a long time to come in and see what we’ve done with the old Y [YMCA], but once they get inside, I think they’re fascinated with the exhibits,” Broom said.

The $5.7 million renovation of the old YMCA building on Mount Desert Street took 16 months to complete, while the public watched and waited.

For Suzanne Bush of Gouldsboro, the new museum’s exhibits were worth the wait. A few hours weren’t enough to take in the whole facility.

“I skimmed a lot, so I know I’ll have to make a second visit,” Bush said. “This is just the beginning for me.”

“The baskets are truly gorgeous, but I especially like the photographs – they’re very touching views of native life today,” said Diane Moongrove of Bar Harbor, referring to an exhibit of photographs by Martin Neptune titled, “Images of the Spirit.”

Mary Newenham, a Micmac basket maker from Steuben, was impressed with the new Abbe, but said she’ll continue to visit the 73-year-old Abbe Museum at Sieur de Monts Spring in Acadia National Park, which will remain open as a seasonal facility.

“I love that place – out underneath the trees, all that peace and quiet outside,” she said.

Newenham was among a dozen or so American Indians who were involved with creating the new Abbe Museum and attended Saturday’s celebration.

“When I came in today, I was wondering how much representation there would be by the American Indian people. I was surprised to see so many people here – it seems like more of a cultural center than just a museum,” said Larry Bechtel of Bar Harbor.

Bechtel brought his 3-year-old son, Colin, to hear traditional Passamaquoddy storytelling and explore the museum’s new learning laboratory.

Madonna Soctomah, a member of the Abbe’s board of trustees and a Passamaquoddy who is originally from Pleasant Point, was among the advisers from Maine’s four existing tribes who helped give the new Abbe its authenticity.

As a representative in the Legislature, Soctomah was shocked at people’s ignorance of American Indian communities in Maine today.

“I was actually asked if we lived in tepees,” she said. “That was the spark for me to get involved.”

“The most important thing, for me, is to have a living museum. It’s not just artifacts behind closed windows. We tell our own stories,” Soctomah said.

Wayne Newall, a Passamaquoddy elder, shared new stories about his people’s interaction with the environment and with one another in “Wisdom of the Wabanaki,” a video that is shown in the Abbe’s orientation gallery.

And Saturday, Newall drummed and sang, sharing the old stories that he heard as a child.

“In the 1950s, we didn’t have electricity and television and all that – so we told stories. Some of us have memories of our grandmothers telling these stories at night, they’re so etched in our minds, they’re so much a part of us that we don’t even realize,” he said.

Preserving the ever-changing stories of his culture is a mission Newall said he shares with the Abbe.

“This museum has embraced the notion of not putting us in glass cases,” Newall said. “It’s not just about looking at artifacts from the past – it’s interacting with other cultures in places like this.”