‘Story of Maine’ returns with new season

BANGOR – A partnership between Maine PBS and the Maine State Museum has culminated into a new season of “HOME: The Story of Maine,” a television series that details the state’s history. It will be shown at 9 p.m. beginning Nov. 25.

The series, which first aired on the Maine PBS television stations in 1999, represents the first significant effort in the state to capture and preserve Maine’s history on video in a comprehensive way.

The first two episodes of the six-part series explore the Wabanaki history of Maine and the European settlement of the land. The first two episodes will air in 2003, with the remaining new shows airing in 2004.

The first, and longest lasting period, of Maine’s history is the world of the American Indian, which stretched from the retreat of the last Ice Age 12,000 years ago to the present. Those years are explored in “People of the Dawn.”

The last 400 years of Maine’s four Indian tribes have been marked by struggle, as disease, war and erosion of tribal traditions have jeopardized their survival. Today, the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Maliseet and Micmac are in a period of cultural renaissance.

Some of the people interviewed are for the segment are John Bear Mitchell, director of the University of Maine’s Wabanaki Center and Penobscot Nation member; Barry Dana, chief of the Penobscot Nation; Bruce Bourque, Maine State Museum chief archeologist and curator of ethnology; David Sanger, University of Maine archeologist; Bernard Jerome, cultural director of Aroostook Band of Micmac Indians; Edward Bassett, Passamaquoddy Tribe member at Pleasant Point and traditional birch bark canoe maker; and Fred Tomah, Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians member and master basket maker.

The segment “Rolling Back the Frontier” details the world of European settlers in the 1600s as they struggled to survive on the frontier. These first colonists left behind everything they knew to take advantage of abundant resources they found in remote areas of what we now call Maine. They faced a harsh climate, cultural challenges and their own fears of the unknown to create a new life. Although their hard work paid off initially, most would flee with just their lives at the end of the century and endure years at a time as war refugees.

Among those included in the production are Emerson Baker, chair of the history department at Salem State College; Ed Churchill, chief curator of Maine State Museum; Alaric Faulkner, University of Maine archeologist; Jay Adams, director and curator of Old Fort Western; Tom Johnson, curator of Old York Village; and Laurel Thatcher, Phillips professor of early American history at Harvard University and 1991 Pulitzer Prize winner for “A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on Her Diary.”

The complete series airs again 1-6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 27.