Castine Historical Society

09/02/2026

We always enjoy looking through our collection to see how we can compare the past with the present. This photograph shows Perkins Street at the corner of Pleasant Street looking west. This is one of 22 glass negatives by photographer William George Sargent depicting scenes from Castine and vicinity from the later 1800s.

📸1998.40.1.5, "Perkins Street" by William George Sargent, ca. 1870-1905, (c) Castine Historical Society

09/01/2026

We recently acquired even more collections from Moss Acre, and are finding some real treasures in these archives, including these photographs ca. 1900-1910 of the Porter family. A young Polly poses on the stone porch with a fancy hat, and her brother Bill is depicted in a small rowboat with Moss Acre in the background.

We're so lucky to steward this incredible collection of Castine's history and that of the Porter-Dewson-Bourne families.

📸Ca. 1900-1910 glass plate images of Moss Acre and the Porter family, 2025.21.10, (c) Castine Historical Society

08/31/2026

Happy first day of school to the students and staff at the Adams School! We wish you all a safe and happy school year full of learning and fun.

These kids are now all grown up. Who do you recognize?

📸Adams School students on October 9, 1992 holding pumpkins sold for a CHS benefit plant sale, Gardiner Gregory (c) Castine Historical Society

08/29/2026

Volunteers, join us tonight at 4:30 at the Abbott School for some drinks and nibbles and then come to our traditional bean supper at Emerson Hall at 5!

All are welcomed to join us for our free bean supper at 5!

Join us for our first Bean Supper on Saturday, August 29 at Emerson Hall in Castine! We'll have all your traditional bean supper needs, including beans (of course), red hot dogs, brown bread, and desserts. This is a free event, though donations are gratefully accepted.

We would especially like to welcome our volunteers to join us! Directly preceding the supper, we invite our 2026 volunteers to join us at the CHS lawn at 4:30 for a cocktail party honoring your tremendous support this year!

To attend the bean supper, please RSVP here: https://www.castinehistoricalsociety.org/events/chs-bean-supper-and-volunteer-appreciation/

08/26/2026

Apparently today is National Dog Day! Here's a photo of ever-fabulous Dr. Alice North with one of her Dalmatians, Lucky. We'd love to hear any stories of Dr. North in the comments!

📸Dr. Alice North and dog Lucky, 1998.34.52, (c) Castine Historical Society

08/26/2026

Join us for our first Bean Supper on Saturday, August 29 at Emerson Hall in Castine! We'll have all your traditional bean supper needs, including beans (of course), red hot dogs, brown bread, and desserts. This is a free event, though donations are gratefully accepted.

We would especially like to welcome our volunteers to join us! Directly preceding the supper, we invite our 2026 volunteers to join us at the CHS lawn at 4:30 for a cocktail party honoring your tremendous support this year!

To attend the bean supper, please RSVP here: https://www.castinehistoricalsociety.org/events/chs-bean-supper-and-volunteer-appreciation/

08/25/2026

Great article in the River Observer on our latest object donation - the old Castine Patriot office sign, courtesy of Penobscot Bay Press!

The sign used to hang on the builing at 25 Water Street, which started life as a barber shop before becoming the town telephone office, a real estate office, and finally the Castine Patriot office. It was later converted to a private home.

The weird part of this story? It was completely by chance during our vault tour with PBP that we pulled the Castine Eagle (a short-lived but historically important Castine newspaper from the first decade of the 1800s) out as a "show and tell piece". It was only then that we realized the Patriot logo was a copy of the old Castine Eagle logo! Spooky...

CASTINE—A piece of Castine history returned home on August 13, as Penobscot Bay Press publisher and owner Nat Barrows gifted the Castine Historical Society with the original sign for the Castine Patriot newspaper in a short presentation ceremony. The dark wood and gold-embellished sign hung on Pen...

08/25/2026

We spent one of the last summer weekends up at camp! If you're not from Maine, you may not know about Maine camp culture. According to a recent exhibition from our friends at Maine Maritime Museum, "They are the embodiment of leisure and sport. ...Maine camps are an immense cultural resource deeply intertwined with the state’s natural resources." We love going "upta camp"!

This photo shows that camp culture was alive and well here in Castine in the early 20th century. Can anyone help us ID these women?

📸Webster girls at the camp, Morses Cove, ca. 1920s-1930s, (c) Castine Historical Society

08/20/2026

Join us today at 4 pm for the Castine Historical Society Annual Meeting at the Castine Inn! Learn about major events and successes in the last year for the CHS, and a sneak peek into what we're planning into the future. Light refreshments will be served.

Livestream is available on our Youtube channel (link in comments).

📸35mm slide showing people gathered for the second meeting of the Castine Historical Society, held at Emerson Hall on 21 October, 1980, taken by Gardiner Gregory, (c) Castine Historical Society

08/20/2026

Apparently today is World Photography Day. One of the most prolific photographers in our collection is A.H. Folsom. He spent some time in Castine and created many images of our village in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This is a ca. 1890 photograph of a baseball game at Fort George! So fun to see baseball history here in Castine.

You can view more Folsom photos on our website in our online catalog.

📸A.H. Folsom, Baseball Game in Fort George, ca. 1890 ©️Castine Historical Society