2 . What are Nationally Significant Stories , Themes , Or Places Shared across Downeast Maine ?
• The region was the NE point of entry to the United States by many peoples and provided the building blocks for settlement and formation of the American nation .
• Continuous use of land by people – many cultures have inhabited it but importance of natural resources carries through all inhabitations
• Glacial , geologic , and geographic – natural influences on future human society and occupations – how people have adapted and survived on this harsh landscape
• Sea level change is now affecting the coast … land rebounded after glacial melt but is now sinking
• Easternmost point of continental US
• Importance of being Unimportant ( geography has left us undeveloped , uncommercialized ); landscapes still appear as they did thousands of years ago
• Native American history & continued culture ; Passamaquoddy has only written language of indigenous people ; Wabanaki Tribe was not completely displaced from their homeland .
• Early European Vikings and explorers , Basque fishermen – early transportation routes and settlement – St . Croix Island International Historic Site , Eastern Maine Canoe Trail
• Wabanaki / l ’ Acadie / Colonial relationships
• Maritime history – shipbuilding , transportation , trade , battle
• Passamaquoddy helped keep Maine from becoming part of another country ( this should be acknowledged during the bicentennial !!)
Dutch Lion Daalder Coin , Castine - This 1641 Dutch lion daalder coin found at the mouth of the Bagaduce River in Castine indicates the existence of a thriving trade in the 1600s . Present-day Castine was a contested area of overlapping Wabanaki , English and French claims for centuries . In 1674 , during a period of French control , Dutch privateers attacked the fort and took the Baron of Saint-Castin and others hostage for ransom . Photo courtesy of Maine Historical Society .
• Fisheries – prolific waters , human-caused change in species make-up ; current management and conservation that allows interactions with working environment , strengthens natural resources economies ; continue to feed the world ( largest lobster exports )
• Agriculture – Fed eastern cities and soldiers with grains , herring , wild blueberries ; continue
42