For thousands of years, native people lived, loved
and labored on Deer Isle as well as the surrounding islands and
peninsulas of east Penobscot Bay. Then, just over 400 years ago,
their lives were disrupted by the arrival of strangers who, over
the next 150 years, took control of their homeland. But the original
people didn’t just go away. Instead, they survived this
assault by adapting in creative ways to life in a world controlled
by others.
This book is the story of their cultural
survival in one particular neighborhood of the Maine coast over
the past 400 years.
"Haviland's work fills a long void since the last Indian romanticized tales that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Haviland's research breaks barriers in citing the Indian families that continued to live in their traditional manner and gained acceptance as well-respected citizens in their communities during the 19th and 20th centuries." --Nicholas Smith, PhD
"Haviland’s own culture as an
American, a Mainer, a scholar with a lifetime connection to Deer
Isle, all weave together in the tale of a place in Maine and the
native population that occupied that area over time. Although
Haviland is not a Native American, his unique perspective and
open-mindedness have crafted a narrative that honors the Maine
Native American Wabanaki who have historically occupied this place."
From the Foreword by
James Eric Francis, Sr.
Tribal Historian
Penobscot Nation

