Acadia National Park

PO Box 177

Bar Harbor, ME 04609-0177

Phone: 207-288-3338

Web: www.nps.gov/acad/
The cover image is a

detail of the engraving

shown here in full. The

original appeared in a

1627 volume that

formed part of a

remarkable series of

books illustrating

European voyages to

various parts of the

world. Published by

copperplate engravers

Theodore de Bry &

Sons in Frankfurt am

Main, the series began in 1590 and continued for half a century.

Ultimately comprised of 57 parts, collectively known as the Grands and

Petits Voyages, it featured more than 500 engravings. This particular

image, made by Theodore de Bry’s grandson-in-law Mattheüs Merian

(1593-1650) appeared in Grand Voyages to America, Part 13 (p.15). It is

based largely on a description of Indians hunting moose on Mount Desert

Island found in Sir Ferdinando Gorges’ 1622 Brief Relation of the

Discovery and Plantation o f New England. In this reference to moose on

the Maine coast, Gorges introduced a (briefly used) English place name

for Mount Desert Island — “a great Island upon the Coast, called by our

people Mount Mansell.” For the cover, we trimmed the bottom portion of

the engraving because it depicts corn-growing, which at the time was

practiced by Native peoples in New England, but not on Mount Desert

Island or any other areas east of the Kennebec River.
ASTICOU’S ISLAND DOMAIN:

Wabanaki Peoples at 

Mount Desert Island 

1500-2000 

Acadia National Park 

Ethnographic Overview and Assessment 

Volume 2 

By Harald E. L. Prins and Bunny McBride 

Prepared under cooperative agreement with 

The Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor, Maine 

Northeast Region Ethnography Program 

National Park Service 

Boston, Massachusetts

 2nd Printing, December, 2007 
BRIEF CONTENTS VOLUMES 1 & 2 

VOLUME 1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY . . . . . . . . i 

CONTENTS . . . . . . . . . . v 

FOREWORD by Donald Soctomah . . . . . . . xi 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . xiii 

TIMELINE . . . . . . . . . . xv 

MAP: RESEARCH AREA & ACADIA NATIONAL PARK LANDS . . . xxvii 

CHAPTER 1: MOUNT DESERT AS HISTORICAL & ANTHROPOLOGICAL PROBLEM 1 

CHAPTER 2: ETHNOGRAPHIC BASELINE: WABANAKI CULTURES c.1600 . 15 

CHAPTER 3: EUROPEAN EXPLORERS ON THE WABANAKI COASTS, 1500s 39 

CHAPTER 4: SEAFARING TARRENTINE TRADERS AND RAIDERS . . 63 

CHAPTER 5: THE DOWNFALL OF MAWOOSHEN . . . . 91 

CHAPTER 6: A CONTESTED ISLAND IN THE SHADOW OF FORT PENTAGOET 129 

CHAPTER 7: RISE AND DEMISE OF CHIEF MADOCKAWANDO . . 161 

CHAPTER 8: HEROIC DEFENSE OF THE HOMELAND, 1703-1774 . . 191 

CHAPTER 9: THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION & ITS AFTERMATH . . 231

CHAPTER 10: WABANAKIS AND RUSTICATORS 1840s-1920s . . . 267 

CHAPTER 11: ANTHROPOLOGISTS AND CONSERVATIONISTS AT MDI . 337 

CHAPTER 12: MYTH OF THE VANISHING WABANAKIS 1930-1960 . . 347 

CHAPTER 13: WABANAKI RIGHTS & CULTURAL REVITALIZATION 1960s-TODAY 363 

VOLUME 2

CHAPTER 14: WABANAKI MATERIAL CULTURE USES OF PLANTS & ANIMALS 385 

CHAPTER 15: WABANAKI FOOD USES OF PLANTS & ANIMALS . . 403

CHAPTER 16: WABANAKI MEDICINAL USES OF PLANTS & ANIMALS . . 435 

CHAPTER 17: INVENTORY OF PLANTS USED BY WABANAKIS IN ANP AREA 453 

CHAPTER 18: INVENTORY OF ANIMALS USED BY WABANAKIS IN ANP AREA 505

CHAPTER 19: MAPS & INVENTORY OF INDIGENOUS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES 537

CHAPTER 20: MAPS & INVENTORY OF WABANAKI ENCAMPMENTS ON MDI 549 

CHAPTER 21: MAPS & INVENTORY OF NATIVE CANOE ROUTES TO AND ON MDI 569

ANNOTATED REFERENCE LIST . . . . . . . 577 

*Detailed contents in Volume 1
▪Chapter 14: Material Culture Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

385

CHAPTER 14: WABANAKI MATERIAL CULTURE USES 

OF PLANTS & ANIMALS 

Glooskap turning a man into a tree (Leland 1884)

Three brothers . . . made known their wishes [to Glooskap] . . . . The first. . . . 

asked to become taller than any Indian in all the land. And the second wished that 

he might ever remain where he was to behold the land and the beauty of it, and to 

do naught else. And the third wished to live to an exceeding old age. . . . When 

Glooskap had heard what these visitors wished for, he called Earthquake, and bid him take 

them all three and put them with their feet in the ground. And he did so, [and] they at once 

became three trees.1

Wabanaki identity is embedded in the natural world – as suggested by this legend and 

many others, including a creation story that tells how Wabanaki people sprang out of an 

ash tree when Glooskap shot arrows at the tree. 

Traditional Wabanaki belief held that all of creation was sacred, filled with a 

spiritual force known as manitou (variously spelled). Some plant and animal species were 

especially valued because they were used for food, medicine or to make things needed in 

everyday life. With great inventiveness, Wabanakis utilized an array of flora and fauna as 

raw materials to create a host of items fundamental to their material culture – from sinew 

thread and bone needles to rope made from plant fibers, canoes constructed of birchbark 

or moosehide, snowshoes framed with ashwood and corded with rawhide or gut, deerskin 

clothing decorated with moosehair embroidery, and sealskin or moosehide moccasins 

trimmed with porcupine quillwork. 

 

1

 Illustration and legend excerpt from Leland 1884, pp.94-98. Several variations of this story exist. 
▪Chapter 14: Material Culture Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

386

 Among animal species, the moose (Alces alces) was especially valued for its 

many uses. From food to medicine, from mooseskin clothing, moccasins, boats and sails 

to rawhide straps, moosehair embroidery and moosebone pipe bowls, a moose was a 

veritable department store on hooves. 

Among plants, no species figured more prominently and enduringly in Wabanaki 

material culture than the bark of the white birch (Betula papyrifera). Before, during and 

after European contact it met a vast array of needs. A 1957 study lists 100 distinct and 

ingenious uses of this bark, ranging from canoes, wigwams and burial wraps to maps, 

moosecalls, medicines and magic, plus cooking pots and a great variety of containers and 

utensils. In the words of the authors: “The white birch forest was [the Wabanaki’s] 

supermarket. They depended on it to furnish material for all sorts of permanent and 

temporary equipment and supplies essential to daily living from cradle to grave.”2

 Also, 

because strips of white birch bark had a smooth inner side, they could be embroidered 

with dyed quills or moosehair; or, thanks to this bark’s light and dark layers, it could be 

etched with designs or scenes such as the one on this page. Thus the tree influenced 

Wabanaki art forms. Given its many important roles in Wabanaki life, it is not surprising 

that the white birch is an integral part of Wabanaki mythology. 

In addition to Butler and Hadlock’s detailed publication about Wabanaki uses of 

birchbark, excellent wide-ranging works have been written about Wabanaki material 

culture by Frank Speck, Fannie Hardy Eckstorm, Ruth Whitehead and Wilson Wallis, 

among others. Here we offer just a brief overview of the Wabanaki’s material culture 

uses of flora and fauna. Where possible, we focus on historical records about Wabanaki 

material cultural practices observed in the Mount Desert Island area. However, these are 

relatively rare, except where they concern the making and marketing of certain traditional 

wares utilized by Wabanakis and desired by others – such as ax handles, birchbark 

canoes, moccasins, snowshoes, woodsplint fishing creels and pack baskets. That said, all 

of the plant and animal species mentioned here are present in or near Acadia National 

Park areas. The discussion is divided into categories: Ceremonies, Body Care & 

Adornment, Clothing, Tools & Utensils, Transportation, Shelter, Containers, and Trade & 

Sale Items. More information appears in the flora and fauna inventories of chapters 17 

and 18, describing each species, its habitat and uses, plus related Wabanaki legends. 

 

CEREMONIES 

Certain plants and animals have long figured in Wabanaki ceremonies and rituals. 

Animal fat of various kinds, mixed with charcoal, was used to blacken the face to signify 

mourning.3

 Sweetgrass, braided and dried, was and still is used for smudging and prayer 

fires. (When the new, in-town Abbe Museum opened in 2001, the celebration began with 

a sweetgrass smudging in the building.) In former years Wabanakis also used northern 

white cedar in this way.4

 Tobacco, both wild (Lobelia inflata) and cultivated (Nicotiana 

 

2

 Butler & Hadlock, p.4. 

3

 Champlain 1922-1936, vol.1, pp.442-445; Leclercq, p.98, Lescarbot 1611-1614, vol. 3, p.277. 

4

 Fredda Paul (Passamaquoddy medicine man), personal communication, June 2004. 
▪Chapter 14: Material Culture Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

387

rustia) has had an enduring role in ceremonial events – scattered into a sacred fire and 

traditionally smoked in pipes made of bone, horn or stone.5

 

BODY & HAIR CARE and ADORNMENT 

Animal fat topped the list of traditional grooming needs for Wabanakis. Boiled in water, 

skimmed off, and stored (see containers section on p. 395), it was used as body and hair 

oil. While the grease of various land and sea mammals sufficed, harbor seal oil was 

especially favored, for it could be hunted most of the year and a mature animal yielded 

some 4-5 gallons of oil. Beyond keeping hair shiny and skin moist, oiling one’s skin 

provided protection against cold and rain. 

Photos of 19th-century Indian encampments on Mount Desert Island show seal 

and porpoise skins being stretched and dried. Other records reveal that Indians encamped 

in Bar Harbor went porpoising in Frenchman Bay and seal hunting in the vicinity. But it 

is quite likely that during that era the gutting and oil extraction took place on nearby 

Ironbound Island, since the odor could have discouraged visitors from coming to the 

encampment to buy baskets and other crafts or rent a canoe. 

For hair washing, Wabanakis used ground juniper stems. The berries of this plant 

were crushed and rubbed on skin as an insect repellant.

6

 Animal fat was also used to 

protect against insects. 

Traditional Wabanaki adornment included face and body painting.

7

 Red and 

yellow ochre, charcoal, graphite and clamshells were also used for color, ground in a 

stone mortar and mixed with bear fat or sea mammal oil as a binder for body painting. 

Various berries added to the available palette of colors.8

 Beyond painting themselves for 

adornment and mourning rituals, Wabanaki warriors used paint to distinguish themselves 

in battle: “When they goe to their warres, it is their custome to paint their faces with a 

diversitie of colours, some being all black as jet, some red, some halfe red and halfe 

black, some blacke and white, others spotted with diver kinds of colours, being all 

distinguished to their enemies, to make them more terrible to their foes.”9

For personal ornamentation, Wabanakis hung pendants of birds, beasts and 

fishes, beautifully carved from bone, shells, and stone.10 With shellfish beads they made 

wampum necklaces, bracelets and ear ornaments. Some dangled feathers from their 

pierced ears. Men wove feathers into the topknots they made with their long hair, or they 

made more elaborate headdresses using beads, feathers and dyed moose hair or porcupine 

quills. Sakoms (chiefs) sometimes favored headdresses made of an entire bird – usually 

an aggressive one, such as the eastern king bird – dried and stretched and affixed to a 

topknot. Women tied back their hair with leather cords, sometimes decorated with shell 

 

5 Lescarbot 1611-14, vol. 3, p.252; Denys p.425; Leland 1902, p.182; Rosier, p.142. 6

 Chandler. 

7

 Archer, p.73 (body painting); Brereton (“eiebrowes painted white”); Denys, p.413 (faces “painted in red 

or violet; or...rays of colour...on the nose, over the eyes, and along the cheeks”); Lagrange, p.429, (“blue 

streaks on their faces”); Lescarbot 1611-1614, vol.3, p.150 (face painting in courting); Nicolar, in Eckstorm 

1978, p.241 (re. “‘Tar-la-lar-goo-des-suk’ ‘a place of painting,’ now known as ‘Shad Rips.’ Here the 

women were allowed to stop and paint themselves before entering the village’”). 8

 Among others see Denys p.413; Wiseman, p.90. 9

 Denys p.414. 10 Denys, p.414. 
▪Chapter 14: Material Culture Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

388

beads and/or dyed quills or moosehair. Boys, who commonly wore their hair pulled into 

two side tufts, used similar cords.11 From Speck we have this headdress description: 

The decorated headband with gull, great blue heron, eagle or hawk feathers 

fastened stiffly upright all around was a common article of fancy dress – the 

coronet with rigid feathers. . . . The beaded headband also sometimes had 

partridge wings, one on each side, or a partridge tail in front of behind. The most 

typical ornamental headdress was, however, a circlet of feathers or a single large 

feather upright at the rear.12

CLOTHING 

Traditionally, Wabanakis wore clothing made of animal hides and furs – especially 

moose, caribou, beaver, bear and seal. Usually, before these could be cut and sewn, they 

had to be prepared – stretched, scraped, oiled, washed and smoked to make them supple 

and durable. Fannie Eckstorm, whose grandfather and father were furtraders based near 

the Penobscot reservation at Old Town, wrote that after being stretched and dried on a 

frame, a hide had to be “soaked out” in water. After that, the shaved and scraped hide was 

dried again and then rubbed with oil. What was used in very early times is not 

known, but later cod oil was bought by the gallon for oiling moosehides.... The 

next process was washing in soap suds, after which the hide was wrung to 

squeeze the water out.... by hanging the hide between two posts or trees and 

twisting it.... Then it was washed a second time in soap suds and again dried. 

After this it was ‘beamed,’ as curriers beam leather, by throwing it over a pole 

and working down the skin with a knife to make it of even thickness and pliable. 

The hide was at this stage a white skin, ready for the final process of smoking it. 

It was sewed together, wrong side out, to make a long bag which was stood up 

over a small fire of rotten rock-maple wood long enough to give it a rich goldenbrown color.... Formerly the Indians used a fire of the outer bark of white cedar, 

but the smoke from this had such acridity that the leather never lost the smell of 

it and any quantity of the leather would cause smarting of the eyes. When the 

smoking was done, the stitches were ripped out and the hide was ready for use.13 

Men usually stretched the skins onto drying frames and women often did the 

scraping. If winter clothing was being made, they left the fur on, creating robes of beaver 

and other richly furred animals. The sewing of animal skins was done with gut or sinew. 

A brief inventory of traditional Wabanaki clothes includes 

loincloths of soft, well-worked animal skin (often deerskin) 

with the ends fastened to a belt at the waist. Both men and 

women had a pair of leggings of thicker moosehide or 

sealskin for warmth and to protect the legs from scratchy 

underbrush. Their moccasins were also of moose or 

 

11 Champlain vol.1, pp.444-45; Denys 414; Lescarbot vol.3, pp.133-34. 

12 Speck 1940, p.143. 

13 Eckstorm 1932, pp.51-52; see also Speck 1940, pp.130-132; Denys pp.411-13 (noted that de-haired skins 

were treated with “bird’s liver and a little oil” while “skins dressed with the hair” were “well rubbed by 

hand” with bird’s liver only. He also described the painting of skin clothing). 

Winter moosehide moccasins. 

(Canadian Museum of Civilization.)
▪Chapter 14: Material Culture Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

389

sealskin (or caribou) sewn with very fine stitches to help keep water out. Wintertime 

moccasins, usually made of unshaved skins, were often high – commonly fabricated from 

a long tube of skin from a moose’s hind leg, pulled off whole then sewn up across the 

toe.14 Both men and women wore a pair of sleeves to cover each arm and shoulder. These 

were tied together at the back and front. For winter season, each person had a large robe

of suede-like leather or warm beaver fur (or sometimes marten, lynx or otter fur), worn 

over the shoulders. These were tied rather than sewn, so they could be spread out at night 

as bedcovers. Women had a skin that tied around them like a dress, belted at the waist. 

Boys and girls had similar clothing and babies were wrapped in the soft furs of fox, 

beaver or marten or in feathered skins of swans.15

Also of note are birchbark apparel items. It was “a matter of tradition among old 

people that conical hats of birch bark were worn in rainy weather, and that similarly 

made birch-bark capes went with them. . . . Plain conical bark hats for protection in the 

woods against inclement weather and snow are still occasionally made by hunters.”16

 By the time Mount Desert Island residents began making note of Wabanaki 

apparel, few wore animal hides. In fact, trade cloth began edging out many pieces of 

animal-skin apparel long before Abraham Somes became the first permanent settler on 

the island. His grandchild, Adelma Somes Joy, writing about the Penobscot women who 

camped near her family home in the 1840s, described their dress like this: “These Indian 

ladies always, when they came out to the houses, wore red plaid shawls and shiny beaver 

[hats].” And in 1881, the Mount Desert Herald commented, “One would suppose that the 

gay colors and fantastic costumes, so generally worn by our summer visitors, would 

make the Indians anxious to return to war paint and feathers. Yet they continue to wear 

felt hats, frock coats, and other civilized toggery, and move their household goods about 

in Saratoga trunks.17 

Several years later another writer, mentioning that many Indians at the Bar Harbor 

encampment were Roman Catholic and attended “the little Church of St. Sylvia nestling 

beneath the crest of Malden Hill at Bar Harbor,” recalled how the women dressed for 

Sunday service: “I remember we met an Indian maiden once upon her way home from 

mass, and, in her fashionably-made polonaise of ruby velvet, and Gainsboro’ hat and 

plumages, she looked like a bird-of-paradise in a barn-yard, beside the island girls.”18 

Despite all these changes, remnants of traditional apparel 

continued to be made and worn by Wabanakis, including 

those who spent time on Mount Desert Island. Southwest 

Harbor resident Ralph Stanley recalled one such garment 

from his childhood in the 1940s: “There was an Indian, Mr. 

[Sylvester] Francis, I remember as a boy. He lived up in the 

woods somewhere. . . . He got my father to take him out to 

 

14 Speck mentioned several types of footwear: “the loose slipper worn indoors and when the wet moccasins 

are drying after a day’s journeying, the low heavy shoe-pack or oiled moosehide moccasin worn in the 

woods, and the entire moose hock serving as a boot for winter wear” (1940, p.147). Denys, p.412, noted 

that moccasins were also made of “their old robes of Moose skin, which are greasy and better than new.” 15 Whitehead and McGee, p.28. See also Denys, pp.403, 412; Eckstorm 1932, pp.68-69; Rosier, p.368. 16 Speck 1940, p.147. 

17 MDH 8/6/1881. See also Speck 1940, pp.138-43. 18 Harrison. 

Sealskin belt and attached 

purse (Mi’kmaq/NSARM 250.21)
▪Chapter 14: Material Culture Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

390

Cranberry Island to shoot seal. My father had a sealskin belt he made.19 Similarly, 

Passamaquoddy Frank Tomah (born in the late 1940s) recollected: 

I had a sealskin belt that was given to me by my grandmother. It had the fur 

on, black and shiny, with parts that were gray or white. I remember Joe 

Socoby, [known as] Joe Harry, tanned seal hides. They used to make leggings 

with the hair on they were very warm. Lots of things were made from seal 

hide, belts, hats, and coats.20

TOOLS & UTENSILS

Up until the late 19th century, Wabanakis continued their age-old practice of making 

utensils such as spoons, ladles, dippers, dishes and funnels out of birch bark.21 Before 

obtaining metal cooking pots from Europeans, Wabanaksi boiled food in birchbark 

kettles as well as in hollowed out logs – doing so by placing heated rocks into the water 

with the food. Sometimes a thick bark kettle was soaked and then hung above or even 

placed directly on coals. And throughout the 19th century certain traditional tools, carried 

in traditional ways, continued to comprise part of the traveling kits of most Wabanaki 

men. As described by Eckstorm: 

Every man wore a leather belt girding his long buttonless coat. On this left 

side, at the back of the belt, where it could be drawn with his left hand, hung 

his sheath knife. On his right side, at back, toward the front where he could 

grasp it with his right hand, was stuck his belt-hatchet. On the left side, well 

toward the front was the...long pocket, in which were all his smaller 

necessities, such as flint, steel, tinder, tobacco, money, and the small seal-skin 

pouch in which he carried an awl, a file, bullet-moulds and whetstone.... The 

[long pocket] was made of tanned skin of one of the smaller mammals, a 

sable, mink or woodchuck skinned out through a cut from the back of the head 

to the shoulders, the skin being left entire and the skull cleaned and returned to 

its place. This served as a knob to keep the pouch from sliding under the belt. 

Sometimes a whole skunk skin was used. At one time loons’ skins were in 

such demand that two dollars apiece were paid for them.... For a knife sheath, 

one man used a porcupine’s tail, another the leg of a caribou with the hooves 

cut off.... Probably a plain leather sheath and a [tough] woodchuck skin 

longpocket were the ones most used.22 

 An important Wabanaki tool is the crooked knife, used since time immemorial 

for cutting and shaving woodsplints and a host of other materials. This knife, created with 

a unique grip and bent thumb-rest, is held and used with the blade toward the body. The 

handles are typically made of rock maple, but other woods are also used, as is antler.23 

 

19 Personal communication, Jan. 2004. 

20 In Soctomah, 2003, p.23. This noted hunting guide, b.1880, is on Indian Township’s 1920 federal census 

with wife Agnes (b.1885) and children Jerome (b.1922), Mabel (b.1923), Henry (b.1926), Leona (b.1927). 

21 Butler & Hadlock, p.11; Speck 1940, p.112; Speck & Dexter; Lescarbot 1611-14, vol.3, p.169; Nicolar 

p.144 

22 Nicolar, p142; Eckstorm 1932, pp17-18; see also Speck 1940, pp127-29 and Manville, p394. 

23 Eckstorm 1932, pp18-19; Speck 1940, pp105-106. 
▪Chapter 14: Material Culture Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

391

For sewing, Wabanaki women traditionally used sharp bone awls to pierce leather 

and stitched animal-skin clothing with bone or copper needles. (Joseph Nicolar noted the 

use of sable bone for needles.) Bone awls were also used to sew together birch bark 

pieces, and special, large-bone needles were used to weave the wide-holed, gut mesh of 

snowshoes.24 For stitching bark work, including wigwams, canoes and an array of 

containers, Wabanakis used (and still use) tough plant materials – strands of rolled 

basswood bark, worm-root, cedar root and (especially) spruce root. As Eckstorm noted: 

Both white and black spruce roots and also cedar roots could be used, but the 

white spruce roots were preferred. . . . Root digging was the work of women. . . 

. They dug until they found a good root about an inch in diameter near the butt 

end, worked it out of the ground while still attached to the tree and then cut it 

off and trimmed it of side roots. It was split before being scraped of the outer 

bark. . . . The split root was scraped of its bark and thinned down to the desired 

size by scraping both sides and then wound up in a coil . . . in pieces from 3-5’ 

long. Fresh root was best, but it could be kept dry and soaked. 25

Wabanakis also used sinew, gut or babiche – thread, thong or lacings made of 

rawhide (uncured animal skin). Frank Speck described babiche as “the commonest thong 

material for sewing, snowshoe netting, wood sewing, lines, and wrapping stuff, except 

for splint basket-stuff.” To make it, he wrote, 

the skin is cleaned of hair . . . then spread out on a board and cut with a knife 

around the edge, the cut following the border of the skin all around. Or the cuts 

are made zigzagging in from the side of the skin, a number, often seven, 

parallel to one another, so that when they are cut apart at the ends the whole 

hide is separated into one long strip or thong of the thickness, usually 

somewhat less than a quarter of an inch. The thong is then rolled up into a ball 

or skein and kept green in a receptacle until needed. Before being used, 

however, it is left in a vessel of water and soaked until soft. To stretch the 

thongs, two deer tibia are used as grips for the twisting.26

To weave ropes, straps and tumplines (such as the one pictured above), Wabanakis 

braided the stringy inner bark of basswood, valued for its strength and elasticity.27 

 

24 Eckstorm 1932, p.63; Denys, pp.406, bone needles and spruce root thread. 

25 Ibid. See also Lescarbot 1611-1614, vol.3, p.192; Denys pp.406, 420-21. For a detailed description of 

how basswood bark was harvested and prepared, see Speck 1940, pp.135-37. 

26 Speck 1940, p.132. 

27 Speck 1940, p.136. The strap pictured above is from the “Additional Photographs” section in the back of 

the 1997 reprint of Speck’s 1940 book – identified as photo #13018. 
▪Chapter 14: Material Culture Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

392

TRAPS, WEAPONS, SNARES & LURES 

The inner bark fiber of basswood was also used to weave fishnets,

28 as were the barks of 

elm, cedar and leatherwood, all twisted or braided. Fish lines were also made of 

basswood bark or, according to a 1634 report, of Indian “‘hempe more curiously 

wrought, of stronger materials than ours, hooked with bone hookes.’”29 Joseph Nicolar 

wrote of fishhooks made by using a stone to sharpen one end of a bird’s breast bone (the 

wishbone), tied to a basswood line attached to a hardwood pole.30 And well into the 20th

century, according to Passamaquoddy Frank Tomah, fishhooks were “carved from wood 

or bone or whatever we had” and seal whiskers were used as fishhook ties.

31 

Wabanakis used splints from the brown ash tree (fraxinus nigra) to make fish traps

(especially for catching eel) 3-5’ in length, such as the one pictured above.32 In addition, 

they fashioned fish weirs, typically of willow rods filled in with brush of various sorts.33

As described by Nicolas Denys in the 17th century: 

At the narrowest place of the rivers, where there is the least water, they make 

a fence [weir] of wood clear across the river to hinder the passage of fish. In 

the middle of it they leave an opening in which they place a bag-net. . . . so 

arranged that it is inevitable the fish should run into them. These bag-nets . . . 

they raise two or three times a day, and they always find fish thereon. It is in 

spring that the fish ascend, and in autumn they descend and return to the sea. 

At that time they placed the opening of their bag-net in the other direction.34 

Large fish and sea mammals were usually taken by spears, including leisters and 

harpoons, commonly made of American Beech.35 Like arrows, these were traditionally 

fitted with sharply pointed flint or moose bone tips. Bows were typically fashioned out of 

spruce, rock maple or sugar maple, then polished with oyster shells and strung with 

bowstrings of twisted moose sinew. Arrow shafts, usually made of white ash, young 

alder or northern white cedar, were fitted with eagle feathers as flight stabilizers. French 

 

28 Speck 1940, pp.86-87. In her reminiscences, Adelma Somes Joy recalled her grandfather John Somes 

telling her that during his boyhood years (c1770s) one Indian camped near the family’s Somesville home 

taught him how to make a scoop net for fishing. 

29 William Wood 1634, in Eckstorm 1932, p.11; see also LeClercq, p.139, description of Mi’kmaqs ice 

fishing with fishlines. 

30 Nicolar, p.33. 

31 In Soctomah, 2003. 

32 Image from Speck 1940, p.88. 

33 Lescarbot 1611-1614, vol.3, pp. 236-37; Denys p.437; Leland & Prince, p.63; Speck 1940, pp.88-91. 

34 Denys, p.437. 

35 Denys pp.420, 436-37; Josselyn, p.303; Leland, p.75; Rand, p.201; Rosier, pp.139, 156. 
▪Chapter 14: Material Culture Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

393

observer Marc Lescarbot, writing in the early 1600s, noted that Mi’kmaqs in Nova Scotia 

“‘kept half a dozen tame eagles about their camps, all without tails, which they used to 

pluck to obtain feathers for their arrows.’”36 Knife handles were typically made out of 

rock maple or white ash. 

Common snares consisted of a noose (made of pounded ash strips, rawhide or 

leather) “attached to a tough stick about three-feet long, set in runways of rabbits or other 

small animals.”37 Wabanakis attracted animals to various kinds of traps with castor – 

smearing beaver testicles “raw or preserved in alcohol” on traps as a lure. According to 

Speck, “The castoreum may also be drawn over the ground by a string from some 

distance away leading toward the trap, as a lure.”38

Traditionally, Wabanakis shredded birchbark to make night-hunting torches. 

They also made various instruments or “calls” to lure animals into target range. Among 

these was the muskrat call – two pieces of wood 2-2.5 inches long, “mortised together 

and between them an opening with a shred of birchbark between. Blowing through this 

produces a resonant buzzing which resembles the call of the muskrat.” Birchbark was 

also used to make foot-long moose calls, conically shaped like megaphones.39 

TRANSPORTATION

Summer visitors who came to Mount Desert Island during the Rusticator Era from the 

mid-1850s to the early 1900s were fascinated by birchbark canoes made and used by 

Wabanakis. Many rented canoes from Wabanakis at the Bar Harbor Indian 

encampment(s) (often hiring an Indian paddler-guide). Many others purchased them from 

Indian craftsmen (often with custom-made paddles inscribed with the owner’s initials) 

and joined the Mount Desert Canoe Club, devoted to the fine art of birchbark canoeing. 

Sporthunters of the era, who often hired Indian guides for wilderness adventures, were 

equally enamored with birchbark canoes. Traditionally, these swift, lightweight vessels

Unidentified men in Penobscot canoe. (UPenn.Museum Archives #14282) 

were among the most essential items in Wabanaki culture, making it possible to travel 

Maine’s vast network of inland and coastal waterways and gain access to nature’s 

seasonally shifting bounty. Lightweight and portable, the boat usually had a white cedar 

frame covered with white birch bark (Betula papyrifera), sewn with black spruce root, 

sealed in the seams with spruce gum or pitch, and lined with Northern white cedar slats. 

As noted by Eckstorm in her detailed 1932 description of canoe manufacture, “The best 

canoe barks were those peeled in winter, when the tree was free from sap and the bark 

 

36 Speck 1940, pp.114-16; Eckstorm 1932, pp.12-13. 

37 Speck 1940, p.48. 

38 Speck 1940, pp.50-51. 

39 Speck 1940, p.46; see also Denys, pp.435-36 re. birchbark torches. 
▪Chapter 14: Material Culture Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

394

about as thick and tough as sole leather.” Discussing how Wabanakis sealed the seams of 

these versatile vessels, she wrote, 

Until the whites came, the Indians had no pitch, and Nicholas Denys says that 

they used to fill the seams with spruce gum, which the women chewed until it 

was the right consistency. The French taught them how to ‘box’ pine trees to 

obtain the resin and how to boil it down with grease to make pitch. More 

recently, commercial resin has been used. . . . in summer pitch should be 

harder than in winter; in winter it should be soft enough not to be brittle from 

cold nor to be cut by ice. Pitch for winter use could be made from beaver oil

or tallow.”40 [Tallow is hard fat obtained from cattle, sheep or horses.]

Wabanakis powered their canoes with paddles (usually made of rock maple, spruce 

or American beech)41, 10-foot poles made of various woods or sails made of moosehide 

or birchbark. Also of note are moosehide canoes. According to Speck, in former times 

Wabanakis commonly constructed these “moose crafts” before leaving their hunting 

grounds. These boats, Speck wrote, were made of 

two mooseskins tanned waterproof with grease. The skins were sewed together 

head to tail, and the seams were covered with moose tallow boiled with pitch. 

About a dozen ribs, the keel, thwarts, and gunwales, over which the skin 

covering was stretched, completed the framework. The returning hunters could 

then load their craft with moose meat and peltries from the winter hunt and 

drift down to the village. The canoe could finally be taken apart and the hides 

used otherwise, for moccasins or cut up for rawhide thongs or babiche.42 

Penobscots building a moosehide 

canoe on Indian Island in Old Town, 

Maine, 1911. “The wet dehaired hide 

is being stretched and sewed over 

the elm-pole gunwales. Split cedar in 

the foreground will be used for the 

canoe’s ribs and lining strips. Usually 

made after a hunt to carry home 

game, the canoe would later be taken 

apart and the hides used for other 

purposes.” (Photo by Frank Speck. 

American Philosophical Society Colls.)

 

40 Eckstorm 1932, pp.55-64. Among many other sources see Denys, pp.420-22 and Speck 1940, pp.57-64. 

41 Eckstorm 1932, p.43; Speck 1940, p.64. 

42 Speck 1940, pp.65-68. 
▪Chapter 14: Material Culture Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

395

For Wabanakis, snowshoes were as essential for winter travel as canoes were for 

the rest of the year. The frames (usually made by men) were formed from a single length 

of white ash or American beech bent into shape. The 

shoe’s two cross bars were also typically made of white 

ash – or white or rock maple. The frames were filled 

(often by women) with a mesh of woven rawhide from 

moose or deer (or caribou in earlier days), and it was 

common to decorate the outer edges of the rim with 

several little tufts of dyed moosewool, moosehair or 

leather fringe. Speck noted that while proportions have 

varied slightly among different Wabanaki groups, the 

“type of snowshoe of the whole region occupied by 

Wabanaki tribes is about the same.”43 On average they 

were “about three times long as wide, rounded or square 

at the toes, and having a tail of five inches or more to 

hold down the rear end. . . .”44 The pair held by 

Passamaquoddy George “Big John” Soctomah in this 

photo is typical. (Notably, Soctomah frequented the 

Gouldsboro area, a tradition carried on by his son John 

who went there to gather sweetgrass and to sell baskets 

and other crafts.) Photo: John Soctomah, c1910 (Courtesy 

of his great grandson Donald Soctomah). 

To transport heavy loads over snow and ice in wintertime, Wabanakis used 

toboggans and sleds, pulled with the aid of “drag” or “burden” straps (tumplines), 

traditionally made of braided basswood fiber. Toboggans were of wide flat planks split 

from the trunk of a rock maple tree and curved upward at one end. Sleds had runners and 

were made from rock maple or yellow birch. Equipped with a sled and snowshoes, “a 

person could pull 200 kilograms (440 pounds), or half a moose, on a sled.”45 

 Drag sled for big game, with shoving sticks and snowshoes. (Speck 1940, p72) 

 

43 Speck 1940, p.68. Speck (1940) provides a fairly detailed, illustrated discussion of Wabanaki snowshoes 

on pp.68-72. See also Eckstorm 1932, pp.52-55 

44 Eckstorm 1932, p.52. 

45 Whitehead & McGee, p.40. See also LeClercq, p.202, Rand, n1; Speck 1940, pp.72-74. 
▪Chapter 14: Material Culture Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

396

SHELTER

Traditional Wabanaki homes were covered with sheets of white birch bark (Betula 

papyrifera). Eckstorm described three types: “the rectangular, permanent camp of the 

villages, made of logs and heavy barks; the circular, round-topped camp of heavy bark 

(elm, hemlock, spruce), used by a single family as a hunting lodge in winter, or when 

birch-bark was unobtainable; and the circular, conical, portable lodge of heavy birchbark, which was the ordinary summer camp of the tribe.” Offering details on the latter 

she went on to say: 

The birchbark wigwam resembled the western tepee in shape and type of 

construction. The frame was of long, slender poles, probably by preference 

peeled white cedar saplings or slender young spruce. Both were so easily 

procured that it is hardly likely they were often transported by the family 

when moving, who could easily have another set kept in reserve on their 

favorite camping grounds. Cedars not over two inches in diameter at the butt 

and about 12 feet long . . . would make the foundation. 

 The smaller Penobscot birchbark wigwams were only 6 or 8’ in height 

inside and perhaps 10’ in diameter, and 3 poles, bound together by a strip of 

bark near the top ends and placed equi-distant at the butts would make the 

foundation of the frame work. Two more poles, placed between each of these 

and locked together at the tops, or 9 poles in all, were sufficient for a small 

camp. . . . The covering of the camp was the heavy winter bark of the white 

canoe-birch cut in pieces to fit the places they were meant for and bound 

around with thin strips of white cedar, sewed on with spruce roots to keep the 

bark from curling.46 

 Penobscot birckbark village, World’s Fair, Chicago 1893 (Authors’ coll.)

Besides bark, Wabankis used animal skins or woven mats to cover their dwellings. Wellmatted inside, these wigwams were sometimes lined with “mats made of Rushes painted 

with several colours.”47 For added warmth, they lined their winter abodes with deerskins. 

Adelma Somes Joy of Mount Desert Island described yet another type of wigwam 

in her recollection of Penobscots camped near her childhood home in Somesville in the 

 

46 Eckstorm 1932, pp.64-67. See also Speck 1940, pp.29-31; Denys, pp.405-406. 

47 Josselyn 1833, pp.297-98. 
▪Chapter 14: Material Culture Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

397

mid-1800s: “I loved the Indian when he built his wigwam by the Pond. . . . No canvas 

wigwam had he, But one of boughs.”48 Speck offered details on this type of dwelling: 

The conical wigwam was often made of balsam fir boughs laid upon the 

poles, tips downward. . . . I was also told of an interior lining of deerskin 

between the inner poles and back covering for additional protection during 

the coldest weather. Between this and the bark, quantities of fir boughs were 

packed. In winter camps, besides earth piled up about the edges, fir boughs

were leaned against the outside.49 

Speck also noted the temporary shelter or lean-to, still used by hunters and others 

for short camping stopovers: 

It consists simply of a sloping flat roof, either of slabs of birch bark, or spruce 

boughs piled thickly w/the twig ends down, supported on several pairs of 

crotched supports bearing crosspieces tied on, upon which the roofing is laid. 

The two sides and back are filled in similarly, the high front side is left open 

and the fire is before it.” Simpler still, he noted were windbreaks made of 

“evergreen boughs, head-high, long enough to shelter the party, erected on 

the windward side of the fire, cleared away and banked with snow in winter; 

and then the inverted canoe under which a couple of hunters may bivouac, 

sheltered from frost or rain.50 

Wabanaki usually carpeted the floors of their dwellings with spruce or fir boughs 

covered with tanned skins or woven mats made of basswood or sweetgrass or rushes. 

Topped by fur robes in the cold season, this flooring – along with a hearth in the center of 

the abode – kept them warm and dry. 

CONTAINERS 

Hanging from the poles and tucked around the inner edges of the wigwam’s perimeter 

were containers of various sorts – from seal bladder sacks for storing and carrying oil to 

sealskin gun cases, basswood shoulder bags, and baskets made of woodsplints and/or 

sweetgrass, plus boxes made of birchbark. As mentioned on the second page of this 

chapter, the bark of the white birch tree had many uses, not the least of which was to 

make an array of containers – from cradles to funeral biers, buckets to pack baskets. 

As summarized by Butler and Hadlock, birchbark boxes (made of folded sheets of bark) 

and baskets (made of woven bark strips), “were used for gathering fruit and berries and 

for storage of clothing, maple sugar, and other articles, as well as for carrying possessions 

from one place to another. Gookin said that, using birch-bark, the Indians made ‘several 

sorts of baskets, great and small. Some will hold four bushels, others more, and so 

downward to a pint.” 

Wabanakis constructed a wide assortment of woven items – mats as well as 

containers – with a variety of plant materials beside birchbark, including basswood, 

cattails, spruceroot and sweetgrass, as well as cedar and ash splints. For untold 

 

48 Joy, A. Sect. 24, p1. 

49 Speck 1940, pp31-33. 

50 Speck 1940, pp32-33. 
▪Chapter 14: Material Culture Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

398

generations, the inner bark of the basswood tree seems to have been the most widely used 

weaving material – until woodsplint basketry came to the fore in the early1800s.51 

Penobscot woman weaving a basswood 

carrying bag. “Strips of the inner bark of the 

basswood tree are boiled with wood ashes 

to soften the fiber and shaved down to the 

desired width to be used in weaving. 

(Photograph by Frank Speck, c1911.” 

Anthropology Museum, U of Penn.) 

Wabanakis make woodsplint baskets primarily out of brown ash (Fraxinus 

nigra) – also known as black ash, and often referred to by Wabanakis as “the basket 

tree.” There has been considerable debate about the origins of this craft. Some claim that 

it was introduced by Swedish colonists to Indians in the Delaware valley about 1700, 

spreading northward to Wabanaki peoples by the early-1800s. However, most Wabanakis 

say their people have been making woodsplint baskets since time immemorial. Certainly 

they had the technological wherewithal to construct them much earlier, for they had been 

lining their canoes with narrow, quarter-inch-thick cedar ribs since long before the arrival 

of Europeans.52

Traditionally Wabanakis turned to nature’s storehouse to color their woodsplint 

baskets, as well as the porcupine quills and moosehair with which they embroided 

birchbark crafts and animal skin clothing. Among their dyes, a range of reds came from 

speckled alder bark, bloodroot, hemlock root, stiff marsh bedstraw, Solomon’s seal (eel 

berries) and cranberries (large, mountain and highbush). Low- and high-bush blueberries 

were used to make a (quickly fading) reddish-pink, and hemlock bark yielded a reddishbrown. Beech bark was used for blue, while sugar maple bark produced violet. Several 

plants provided shades of green: princess pine root, Canada yew leaves, and white cedar 

leaves and bark (sometimes combined with American elm bark). Yellow dyes came from 

 

51 Speck 1940, p.135. 

52 McBride 1990, pp.10-11. 
▪Chapter 14: Material Culture Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

399

goldthread (especially strong, clear, enduring) and white ash bark.53 As mentioned 

several pages earlier, ochre, charcoal and clamshells were also used for color, ground in a 

stone mortar and mixed with egg as a binder for painting leather or bark.54

TRADE & SALE ITEMS 

Whatever its origins, in the 19th century woodsplint basketry seized the interest of 

Maine’s year-round and seasonal residents – and nowhere more significantly than on 

Mount Desert Island. There, farmers, fishers and privileged “cottagers” alike found uses 

for a full range of Wabanaki baskets – from utilitarian laundry, pack and picnic baskets to 

“fancy” baskets made to hold everything from combs to embroidery to handkerchiefs and 

hats. According to Rand and Redfield’s 1894 Flora of Mount Desert Island brown ash 

was “frequent” in the island’s swamps and damp woods in the 1800s.55 And other 

accounts make it clear that Wabanakis who sold woodsplint wares on the island also 

made them on location and often gathered the necessary raw materials there.56

 Wabanaki basketmakers Down East, 1943. (By John Wallace.57 Courtesy of Donald Soctomah)

 

53 Eckstorm 1932, pp.24-25; Speck 1940, pp.137-38; Whitehead & McGee, pp.30-31; Wiseman, p.92. 

54 Wiseman, p.50. See also Whitehead & McGee, pp.30-31. 55 Rand and Redfield referred to brown ash as black ash and used the scientific term of the day: Fraxinus 

sambucifolia, p.129. 56 See “Proximity to Resources” section of Chapter 10. 57 In Village Down East, published by Stephen Daye Press, Brattleboro, VT, 1943. 
▪Chapter 14: Material Culture Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

400

 Wabanakis also made and sold sweetgrass baskets, second in demand only to 

those made of wood. Sweetgrass appears to have been even more abundant than brown 

ash on Mount Desert Island. Noting that it grew in “borders of salt or brackish meadows 

and marshes,” Rand and Redfield identified locations where it could be found in the late 

1800s (“Bass Harbor; Southwest Harbor; Little Harbor; Seal Harbor; Northeast Meadow; 

Thomas Bay; Cranberry Isles; Duck Islands and elsewhere”), and mentioned its particular 

importance to Wabanaki basketmakers: “Much used by the Indians for basket work.”58 

 Given its importance for weaving, as well as ceremonial purposes, sweetgrass 

figures in Glooskap tales, such as this: 

As skunk walked through the grass the grass became evil-smelling. 

But Glooskap breathed on the bad-smelling grass and it became 

sweet-smelling – the sweetgrass of today. Since that time Skunk must 

hide in the daytime and is seen about at night. 

As the commercial market for fancy baskets and other Wabanaki goods soared in 

the late 19th century, those who made their living selling handicrafts began using 

commercial dyes. In 1893 a long article about Cushing’s Dyes appeared in the Lewiston 

Journal, making specific note of Penobscots selling crafts in Bar Harbor and providing 

the following overview of craft production and the shift from traditional dyes: 

In all matters relating to Indian life on salt or fresh water, in wood craft, 

hunting, trapping and imitating nature, the Penobscot Indian leads the red 

men of the world. Hiawatha never made a canoe so firm and true as those of 

the Penobscots. They know the fibres of wood as book-keepers know the 

pages of their ledgers, while the women, in basket work of wood are far 

beyond . . . all other workers in these lines. The Penobscots can go into the 

woods and cut ash logs; go to the salt water marshes along the sea coast and 

pull sweet grass, and then with the aid of a pocket knife can produce from 

these materials which they color with Cushing’s dyes, hats that are eagerly 

purchased by the wives and daughters of the millionaires who visit Bar 

Harbor and Kineo in summer; make ornamental pieces such as an anchor and 

shield, picture frames, card and photograph holders, napkin rings and all 

known shapes and styles of basket work. 

 The men even weave fishing nets from roots and they color, with Cushing’s 

dyes, the strands a dark purple, giving them, to the telescopic eye of the fish, 

the exact hue of water. They blend shell and basket work beautifully, 

decorate plain birch bark on the brown inside with animals of the forest and 

fish of the lakes. . . . 

 Once they took alder bark from the shores of the stream for a red color, 

white [sugar] maple bark for purple, sumac for brown, white birch bark for a 

cross between orange and yellow, cedar boughs for green and butternut bark 

for black. . . . [Today they] have the 70 colors of Cushing’s dyes and the 

exhibit which they will make with the colors at the World’s Columbian 

 

58 Rand and Redfield, p.176. Among numerous additional sources, see Joy, B.E., 1974, p.62, and Lerner’s 

interview with Innes MacPike. 
▪Chapter 14: Material Culture Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

401

Exposition at Chicago will astonish visitors. . . . To use the expression of an 

old Indian who first took me to the [Penobscot Indian Agency store in Old 

Town], “you see basket stuff the squaws make. Everything looks like 

peacock.”59

In addition to baskets, Wabanakis sold and traded a range of other goods, finding 

innovative and marketable ways to use the flora and fauna that had sustained them in 

their traditional lifeways before Europeans arrived on their shores. As described in 

Chapter 10 on “Wabanakis and Rusticators,” Indians frequenting the Mount Desert Island 

neighborhood and Maine’s other summer coastal retreats from the mid-1800s onwards, 

also sold birchbox items (including boxes, picture frames, toys and canoes), as well as 

birds, feathers, animal skins, sealskin moccasins and mitts, and seal and porpoise oil. 

In the early 1900s, when the population of fish-consuming seals presented serious 

competition for the ever-growing number of white fishermen, the state placed a bounty 

on the seal, paying $1 for each nose turned in. For Wabanakis, seals became a doubleearning creature, winning them bounty money as well 75 cents per gallon of seal oil, used 

in mixing paint. With mature seals yielding 4-5 gallons apiece, the earning potential of 

seal hunting was pretty good.60 

WABANAKI MATERIAL CULTURE & ECONOMIC SURVIVAL IN THE MDI 

NEIGHBORHOOD: The Phillips Family, 1942-1957 

The following oral history excerpt touches on the typical material culture and economic 

survival strategy of Wabanakis in the Mount Desert Island area during the mid-20th

century. It comes from an interview with the late Elizabeth Phillips (1920-1999), 

grandmother of William Phillips, former chief of the Aroostook Band of Micmacs: 

After our first summer raking [blueberries in Cherryfield, my husband] Noel 

and [his brother] Andrew went to find Irving Layton, the lumberman. Irving 

bought us brand new lumber and tarpaper and we built a camp in Prospect 

Harbor, near Gouldsboro. It was a nice big camp – big enough for one double 

bed and one single. Two rooms. Andrew stayed in the kitchen. One day I said 

to Noel, ‘I can’t stand this; I got to go back to St. John to have the baby.’ 

Well, a Gouldsboro doctor came to our place and said, ‘This place is awful 

nice and big and clean.’ He laughed, and said, ‘You’re healthy and you can 

have that baby right here in this camp. . . . So on Nov. 15, 1942, Billy was 

born right there in that camp.” 

After we had Billy, I told Noel to make a private camp just for us. So we 

and our kids had our own log cabin right by the road. Noel and Andrew cut 

pulp and fire wood all winter for Layton. And they made baskets too. 

 

59 “Colors the World.” 

60 “Seal Hunting,” Bar Harbor Record, 23 Sept. 1904. See also Manville, pp.394-95. To read about the 

“seal nose conspiracy” brought on by Wabanaki economic struggles combined with the state’s bounty on 

seals, see Soctomah 2002, p.89. See also Lillian Loring Trott’s 1904 article “Micmac and Mohawk: in New 

England Magazine vol.30, pp.591-96, which offers details of Passamaquoddy “Lewy Soccotoma” selling 

baskets in Bar Harbor, hunting seals, and participating in the seal-nose conspiracy. 
▪Chapter 14: Material Culture Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

402

Come spring, Noel met Eldon Young, a Gouldsboro road maintenance 

foreman. Eldon told Noel and Andrew, ‘I see you guys make baskets. Why 

don’t you move over to Ashville [on the coast between Sullivan and W. 

Gouldsboro] where you can sell ‘em good by the road. And you can clam and 

also cut pulp. Always jobs for pulp cutters.’ It was nearby, so we moved. 

Eldon found this big shingled garage – part of a rich woman’s house. He 

bought the garage for $60 and give it to us. We made it into two rooms. We 

lived there till 1954. Noel cut pulp for Eldon in the fall and spring, when it 

wasn’t snowing. In the winter he worked on the road maintenance crew. . . . 

During summer months we made baskets, raked berries and dug clams. Our 

camp was next to the water. 

Andrew and Annie [his and Noel’s mother] moved to Newport [25 miles 

west of Bangor], but she would come over when she got lonely. Every time 

she came she sent me to work, saying the place wasn’t big enough for two 

women. So she’d cook and wash and I’d go cut pulpwood for Eldon, or cedar 

for barrels for another guy, or I’d clam. . . . After my father died, my mother 

come over and joined us. Her and Annie’d make baskets. . . . After a while, 

Noel made another camp – the ‘lodging camp’ we called it. We had three or 

four beds in that lodge, and it was right near our garage camp....We did a lot 

of clam digging when we lived there. You can dig clams all year down there, 

but I did it mostly in the summer. . . . [Sold a pail-full for $1.25.]61

◘ ◘ ◘ ◘

 

61 Elizabeth Phillips interview by McBride. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

403

 CHAPTER 15: WABANAKI FOOD USES OF PLANTS & ANIMALS 

All about [the mouth of the Penobscot River] is an infinite number of [islands], of 

varying sizes, but the largest is that of Mount Desert. The fishing for different kinds of 

fish is very good there, as is also the hunting for game (Champlain, 1604, p86). 

There is . . . a certain beast, that the Natives call a Mosse, hee is as big bodied as an 

Oxe, headed like a fallow Deere, with a broad Palme, which hee mues every year. . . . 

his skinne maketh very good Buffe, and his flesh is excellent good food, which the 

Natives use to jerkin and keepe all the yeere. . . . There have beene many of them 

seene in a great Island upon the Coast, called by our people Mount Mansell1 [MDI], 

whither the [Indians] goe at certaine seasons to hunt them; the manner where of is, 

by making of several fires, and setting the Country with people, to force them into the 

Sea, to which they are naturally addicted, and then there are others that attend them 

in their Boates with bowes and weapons of several kinds, wherewith they slay and 

take their pleasure (Gorges 1622, ppD2-3; Etching by Mattheüs Merian in DeBry, 13:15).

The hunting by the Indians in old times was easy for them. They killed animals only in 

proportion as they had need of them. When they were tired of eating one sort, they 

killed some of another. If they did not wish longer to eat meat, they caught some fish

(Denys, 1672, p419). 

Wabanakis relied on a wide variety of wild animals and plants for food and drink. Most 

of the species they turned to for sustenance have long been present in Acadia National 

Park and adjacent lands. Countless references point out the seasonal importance of food 

 

1

 Here Gorges used the English name for Mount Desert Island, as did John Winthrop who made note of the 

island in his journal 9 June 1630. Merian’s engraving was based primarily on Gorges’ description. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

404

resources common in seaside areas such as Mount Desert Island. For instance, Fannie 

Eckstorm’s 1919 article, “The Indians of Maine,” includes a brief summary of traditional 

coastal food collection practices: clambakes; catching eels in weirs and drying them in 

“great quantities;” collecting/drying shellfish to store in birchbox boxes; hunting seal and 

porpoise and extracting/storing the oil in seal “pokes;” the “bold” hunting of whales; plus 

picking, drying and storing berries.2

 Here, we offer an historical overview of traditional 

Wabanaki food and beverage resources found in Acadia National Park areas, highlighting 

references to food collecting activities on and near MDI. Our narrative includes 

information on hunting, trapping, fishing and gathering methods, plus food preparation. It 

also touches on Wabanaki attitudes toward flora and fauna, some of which are revealed in 

legends featuring particular plants or animals. In chapters 17 and 18, annotated and 

illustrated inventories of specific species found in our research area provide additional 

information concerning their nomenclature, description, habitat, use, and related legends. 

OVERVIEW 

Before Europeans landed on their shores, Wabanakis fit themselves entirely to nature’s 

seasonal storehouse, moving as needed to tap into shifting coastal and inland food 

resources. After contact, the arrival of European fishermen and sea-mammal hunters, 

combined with the perils of colonial warfare and opportunities for trade in furs, hides and 

feathers, had to be factored into Wabanaki survival strategies. Yet, overall, their seasonal 

hunting, fishing, and gathering practices continued well into the 19th century – and 

remnants of these practices continue to this day. 

Since traditional Wabanaki homelands cover a vast geographic expanse, from 

Newfoundland south to New Hampshire and from St. Lawrence Valley east to the 

Atlantic seaboard, they include varied habitats. Moreover, there have been ecological 

changes in the course of centuries. Creatively responding to the ecological challenges and 

opportunities of their particular tribal territories, each indigenous community adapted to 

its particular environment. In the process, the various Wabanaki tribal nations developed 

their own unique ideas and practices, albeit within the more general cultural repertoire 

and framework they shared as northeastern Algonquian-speaking groups. 

Based on ethnohistorical, cultural ecological and archaeological information, we 

can try to reconstruct the Wabanaki seasonal cycles and movement patterns for the 

central Maine coast, including Mount Desert Island: Typically, moving up and down 

river passages from inland regions to the sea, the region’s first peoples hunted seal from 

December-February (especially January); moose, deer, caribou, bear, beaver, otter and 

muskrat October-March (especially February-March and September-October). They 

pursued waterfowl (and their eggs) April-June, and picked off fledglings and molting 

adults with relative ease in late July/early August; eels from September-October; and 

anadromous fish such as salmon, sturgeon and alewife from April-June. Usually they 

went after cod, mackerel, flounder and squid during the summer months, but caught 

tomcod and smelt through the ice in the cold season. Shellfish (clams, mussels, crabs, 

lobsters) were consumed primarily April-October. However, since clams could be dug in 

coastal mudflats year-round, they were an important winter food to fall back on in times 

of scarcity. 

 

2

 Eckstorm 1919, p.57. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

405

Plants, like animals, had their seasons. In spring, sugar maples and yellow birch 

trees were tapped for sap to make into syrup and sugar. As the weather warmed an array 

of wild edible plants bloomed. In the course of the summer, Wabanakis harvested and ate 

milkweed pods and flowers, roots/tubers of plants such as Queen Ann’s lace and 

Jerusalem artichoke, and the green leaves of a host of flora, including lambsquarters, 

black mustard and common burdock. Berries were among the most favored plant foods 

and ripened in a series of waves from summer through fall: strawberries matured between 

mid-June and mid-August, followed by raspberries from mid-July-August, blueberries 

August-September and cranberries September-October. Then came various edible nuts 

(acorn, hazelnut, beechnut, etc.), gathered each autumn when they dropped to the ground. 

Numerous plants were steeped to make tea-like beverages: the bark of sugar maple or 

striped maple; the leaves of checkerberry or wild mint, and the fruit of barberry, black 

cherry or many other berry-bearing plants. 

Although regional variations and periodic changes occurred, the chart below, 

based on archaeological and ethnohistorical research on Eastern Wabanaki foraging 

patterns, provides a generalized overview of the seasonal hunting and gathering cycles of 

coastal Etchemins in the Mount Desert Island area.3

 

EASTERN WABANAKI SEASONAL HUNTING & GATHERING CYCLE 

 

3

 Prins 1996, p.26. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

406

ANIMAL FOODS 

 Moose White-tailed deer Beaver, Muskrat Porpoise, Salmon, Flounder Grouse, Clam 

Meat was the primary food for Wabanakis – the meat of land and sea mammals, as well 

as fish (including shellfish). Archaeological evidence and written records show that, 

whatever the species, Wabanakis boiled, smoked or roasted the meat before consuming it. 

As mentioned by Rosier in his account of Waymouth’s 1605 voyage along the Maine 

coast, “‘I noted they would eat nothing raw, either fish or flesh.’”4 

 In addition to fresh-cooked meat, meat preserved by smoking comprised an 

important part of the Wabanaki diet – especially deer and moose, but also fish, clams and 

eels. When Italian botanist Luigi Castiglioni traveled to the United States to study plants 

in 1785, he visited the Penobscot village at Old Town and observed meat being preserved 

“by drying and smoking it.”5 Beyond storing jerky – dried strips of moose and deer meat 

(and in earlier times caribou) – for later eating, Penobscots and other Wabanakis 

commonly pounded the strips, mixing the mash with fat and dried berries to make 

pemmican cakes. Speck, a close observer of Penobscot life during the first half of the 20th

century, made note of meat-smoking practices many generations after Castiglioni. 

Writing about moose and deer meat in particular, Speck said: “Whatever was not 

consumed fresh in camp was cut into strips several inches thick and hung over a 

horizontal pole supported by two upright crotches under which a fire was built 

lengthwise, and smudged. The meat is smoked until it is dried like leather. Sometimes an 

extemporized roofing of birch bark is built over the rack to keep off rain and to confine 

the heat and smoke. This smoked meat . . . can be kept indefinitely. . . . It is called 

gespa’te, ‘dried.’” Continuing this narrative, Speck offered the following first-hand 

description of a meat-smoking camp seen on a Penobscot River island: 

Several moose and deer had been killed nearby, and occasion was taken to 

preserve the surplus flesh on the spot. Some yards in front of the tent, which 

had a banking of logs heaped with earth several feet high around the sides, 

two rows of boulders had been placed about five feet apart. In this enclosure 

a continuous fire of birch bark had been kept going for several days. At each 

end a support, either a tripod or crotched stick, had been erected for a stout 

green sapling extended over the fire bed for not less than ten feet. Over this 

the slices of meat were suspended, hanging close together. The location of 

this camp was in several respects well chosen since it was only a few steps 

 

4

 Rosier, p.10, in Kania, p.26. 

5

 Cited in Calloway 1991, p.250. Other mentions of drying/storing meat: LeClercq, p.119; Smethurst, 

p.372; S. Rand, pp.48, 107; Leland 1884, p.188 (in tale); Mechling, pp.22, 53; Gyles, p.82; Sullivan, p.213. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

407

from the river, where the meat could be loaded into canoes, and water was 

convenient for regulating the smudge and satisfying the thirst of the laborers.6 

Speck also described traditional methods of boiling meat: “Cut portions of meat of any 

kind are boiled in water with fat . . . making a kind of stew [Penobscots] called 

kwa’kw

zu.” Before contact with Europeans, Wabanakis boiled food in watertight buckets 

made of birchbark or great wooden kettles made from hollowed-out logs. French trader 

and entrepreneur Nicholas Denys compared the latter to “a huge feeding-trough.”7

Because the wooden kettles were too heavy to move, they were made and left at seasonal 

campsites frequented by Wabanakis – making them, in Denys’ words, a “chief regulator” 

of Native lives. Boiling was done by using wooden tongs to place fire-heated stones in a 

kettle containing water and meat. As the stones cooled they were replaced with newlyheated ones, until the contents of the pot came to a boil and the stew was well-cooked. 

After contact, metal kettles became available and were prized among Wabanakis 

as portable, fire-proof cooking pots.8 According to Denys, writing in 1672, “At the 

present time. . . they have good axes, knives more convenient for their work, and kettles 

easy to carry. This is a great convenience for them, as they are not obliged to go to the 

places where were their kettles of wood, of which one never sees any at present, as they 

have entirely abandoned the use of them.”9

 

In traditional Wabanaki life, animal fat was valued nearly on a par with meat, and 

it was commonly extracted by boiling. Another method was to melt chunks of fat on a 

grooved stone heated in the fire and then catch the grease in a birchbark box held at the 

end of the groove.10

Roasting techniques typical of all Wabanakis included skewering meat or fish on 

a sharp stick and positioning it near the fire, or placing small pieces on a grill of green 

wood atop a bed of coals. Larger pieces were cooked on a spit comprised of a stick laid 

across the forks of two split sticks planted in the ground (or suspended from the poles of 

the wigwam when cooked indoors). The stick could be hand-turned or a rotisserie could 

be made by wrapping it with spruce root in such a way that it turned as the twine 

unwound. In some cases, as in roasting porpoise steaks, the chunks of meat were laid 

directly on the coals.11

 

6

 Speck 1940, pp.103-104. 

7

 Denys, pp.401-402. Describing how such kettles were made, Denys wrote: “To make it they took the butt 

of a huge tree which had fallen; they did not cut it down, not having tools fitted for that, nor had they the 

means to transport it; they had them ready-made in nearly all the places to which they went. For making 

them, they employed stone axes, well-sharpened, and set into the end of a forked stick well tied. With these 

axes they cut a little into the top of the wood at the length they wished the kettle. This done they placed fire 

on top and made the tree burn. When burnt about four inches in depth they removed the fire, and then with 

stones and huge pointed bones, as large as the thumb, they hollowed it out the best they could, removing all 

the burnt part. Then they replaced the fire, and when it was again burnt they removed it all from the 

interior and commenced again to separate the burnt part, continuing this until their kettle was big enough 

for their fancy.” Of course, these great wooden pots have all disappeared in the course of time, leaving 

Wabanakis and archaeologists with no remnant of a piece of cooking ware vital to traditional culture. 8

 Speck 1940, pp.95, 101. See also Lescarbot 1611-1614, vol.3, p.222; Denys, pp.402, 422; LeClercq, 

pp.120-121; Gyles, p.99; Nicolar, pp.55-56 (in tale). 

9

 Denys, p.406. 

10 Stoddard, p.4. 

11 Speck, 1940, p.95.
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

408

Before fauna could be prepared, it had to be caught. To obtain the animals they 

consumed, Wabanakis used a variety of hunting and trapping methods: weapons, nets, 

weirs, snares, deadfalls (crushing traps) and even bare hands. Traditional weapons 

included bows and arrows, bone-tipped spears and harpoons, stone knives, axes and clubs 

(and slingstones, mentioned only by Speck12). Europeans traded iron harpoon and arrow 

heads, as well as sword blades which Wabanakis fitted to short wooden pikes to hunt 

moose and other big game. Guns, introduced by Europeans in the early 17th century 

gradually eclipsed use of spears and bows. Decoys and torches were used to attract some 

species in night hunting. Weirs – fences made of stakes driven into the floor of the ocean, 

lake, or watercourse and twined together with brush and/or twigs – were used to capture 

salmon, sturgeon and other fish, as well as porpoises. Some fish were caught with baited 

bone gorges (and later with hooks) and sea mammals were often slain with arrows, spears 

or harpoons by hunters in birchbark canoes. Game birds and small mammals were 

commonly caught by children in snares typically made of basswood or brown ash strips. 

Children also gathered the eggs of nesting wild fowls.13 

Notably, Wabanakis often hunted with domesticated dogs, described by 

Denys as “a kind of Mastiff, but more lightly built,” having “the head of a Fox” 

and “long sharp teeth.”14 The importance of these hunting companions is evident 

in Joseph Nicolar’s recounting of the journey in which the Wabanaki culture hero 

“Klose-kur-beh” (Glooskap) learned about food. The story begins when he awakes to the 

sound of a barking dog, which comes to him “shaking its tail . . . and having in his mouth 

large fragments of meat which he laid at the feet of [Glooskap], and said, ‘I have come to 

say with you. . . . When you are in hunger I will find game for you to kill that you may be 

filled. . . . I know where you and I are going this day, although the food I have brought is 

only enough for a little while, yet it will last during our goings, though long it be. And as 

there is a spirit in all things, the united spirit of myself and those that have sent me will 

have power in this matter. I fear not hunger.”15

In the next few pages, we offer details on several hunting and trapping methods in 

descriptions of specific animal food sources found in the MDI area. But before doing so, 

it is important to say a bit more about the traditional Wabanaki belief that all life is 

infused with a spirit, as mentioned by Glooskap’s dog. Given this belief and their 

absolute dependence on wild fauna and flora for food (and numerous other needs), it is 

not surprising that Wabanakis had a distinct respect for the creatures and plants that 

shared their habitat. This is reflected in the way most Wabanaki kin-groups or clans are 

symbolically identified by “totem” animals (n’tutem meaning “relative of another kind”). 

For example, these Penobscot families have aquatic totem animals: Francis/sculpin, 

Mitchell/lobster, Neptune/eel, Nicola/otter, Penewit/yellow perch, Sockalexis/sturgeon, 

Stanislaus/whale, and Susup/crab. Summing up Wabanaki attitudes toward other life 

forms, Mi’kmaq scholars Whitehead and McGee wrote the following: 

They thought of these plants and animals – and even some minerals – as 

persons with whom they could communicate. This belief affected the manner 

 

12 Speck, 1940, pp.46-47. 

13 Denys, p.434. 

14 Denys, pp.429-431 

15 Nicolar, pp.45-46. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

409

in which they hunted and used animals and plants. For instance, . . . animals . 

. . killed for food and for skins were believed to be giving up their lives so 

that the people could live. The Micmac developed rituals and an etiquette to 

show their respect for this exchange of lives. One such ritual was to hang the 

bones of slain animals in trees or place them in rivers and thus prevent dogs 

from gnawing on them. The Micmac believed that the souls of animals 

honoured in this way would choose to be reborn near their bones. If the bones 

were shown any disrespect, the souls would leave the region and the people 

would go hungry.16 

This given, it makes sense that traditionally Wabanakis “never made an accumulation of 

skins of Moose, Beaver, Otter, or others, but only so far as they needed them for personal 

use.”17 Of course, this changed with the onset of fur trade with the Europeans. 

MAMMALS 

From rabbits to moose and muskrats to whales, land and water mammals have comprised 

a vital part of the traditional diet of Maine’s indigenous peoples. Some were much valued 

for their fat content, as well as their flesh. Flavorful stews were made by boiling meat 

and/or vegetables with one fat or another – especially that of moose, raccoon and harbor 

seal. Certain fats were treats in and of themselves: raccoon and bear grease were kept in 

bark vessels to be eaten at any time, sometimes mixed with maple sap; even more special 

(and very rich in vitamin D) was a creamy fat boiled out of crushed moose bones.18 

Moose, Deer & Caribou 

In the centuries following Wabanaki-European contact, numerous newcomers penned 

descriptions of Native ways of hunting large game, in particular moose, the biggest of 

them all. Among these is Sir Ferdinando Gorges’ 1622 account of seasonal moose 

hunting practices on Mount Desert Island, featured in the illustrated box at the start of 

this section. The large-scale moose hunts he wrote about were not unlike those of more 

recently-described sub-arctic indigenous groups such as the Inuit, who engage in seasonal 

hunting of caribou, killing these large herbivores at traditional water-crossing places. 

Typically, individuals who observed and wrote about Wabanaki moose hunts noted 

seasonal differences in techniques used to pursue the animal. In the warmer months, 

Wabanakis stalked the prey, wounded it and then endeavored to drive it as close to camp 

as possible before it dropped. In September, when moose retreated to lakes and rivers to 

escape bothersome flies, Wabanaki hunters followed them, often “still-hunting” from 

their canoes at night. During mating season (mid-September through mid-November), 

hunters lured bulls into spearing or shooting range by imitating the cry of the cow with 

birchbark moosecalls. In the winter, the hunters used dogs and wore snowshoes when 

stalking a moose. The more snow the better, since the heavy animal sank in the snow 

with each step and grew weary while the lightweight dogs and snowshoed hunters could 

move with relative ease. In the spring and summer, when the quality of moose hide and 

meat were less appealing and Wabanakis were busy going after other game, active pursuit 

 

16 Whitehead & McGee, pp.7-8. 

17 Denys, p.426. 

18 Speck, 1940, pp.95-96. Concerning Wabanaki food uses of fat, see also Denys, p.403; LeClercq, pp.188-

119, 291; Pichon, p.102; Prince 1906, p.113; S. Rand, p.107. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

410

of moose was uncommon – although no hunter would ignore an opportunity to take a 

moose any time of year if in need of food.19 One reason why there are so few early 

written records about Wabanakis at Mount Desert Island is that the European market for 

moose hides resulted in thinning the Maine coastal herds. This not only forced 

Wabanakis to abandon these large-scale moose drives, but also may have affected their 

seasonal hunting patterns. In the late 1600s, for example, moose hunting at MDI seems to 

have turned into a small-scale enterprise in the winter months. During that season, of 

course, European fishermen and merchants were rarely on the Maine coast and, 

accordingly, very little of such wintertime activities at MDI are documented. 

Several early writers noted creamy white “moose butter,” stored in birchbark 

containers and used to season food or eaten alone. Denys described how it was made: 

[Women] collected all the bones of the Moose, pounded them with rocks 

upon another of larger size, [and] reduced them to a powder; then they placed 

them in their kettle and made them boil well. This brought out a grease which 

rose to the top of the water, and they collected it with a wooden spoon. They 

kept the bones boiling until they yielded nothing more, and with such success 

that from the bones of one Moose, without counting the marrow, they 

obtained five to six pounds of grease as white as snow, and firm as wax. It 

was this which they used as their entire provision for living when they went 

hunting. We call it Moose butter; and they Cacamo.20

In addition to this much favored fat, Wabanakis considered moose noses to be a 

delicacy and relished the rich marrow found in the animal’s bones.21 The bones figure in 

a Glooskap legend linked to MDI and told in various versions, including the following:

At Moose-tchick [“moose rump” – Cape Rosier] he killed a moose; the 

bones may be seen at Bar Harbor turned to stone. He threw the entrails 

of the Moose across the bay to his dogs, and they, too, may be seen 

there to this day, as I myself have seen them; and there, too, in the rock are 

the prints of his bow and arrow.22

Beaver 

Wabanakis ate beaver and thought of its tail as an especially tasty tidbit.23 As with 

moose, their methods of hunting this animal varied seasonally. Denys wrote the following 

description of traditional beaver-hunting practices observed among Mi’kmaqs: 

The hunting of beaver took place in summer with arrows, when they were 

taken in the woods, or else in the lakes or ponds, where the Indians placed 

themselves in canoes at a proper spot to watch until they came to the surface 

 

19 Denys, pp.428-430; Speck, 1940, pp.35-36. 

20 Denys, pp.423. See also S. Rand, pp.261; LeClercq, pp.114. 

21 LeClercq, pp.119-20; Diereville, pp.124. 

22 Leland 1884, pp.65. See also Speck 1935, pp.8-9. Varied versions of this legend have been connected to 

landscape features in numerous places. Among other versions, see Jack 1895 (Maliseet); Leland 1884, 

pp.48-49 (Passamaquoddy); Speck 1918, pp.204 (Penobscot); and Varney 1886 (Penobscot). 

23 Mechling, 1914, p.2, n.2. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

411

of the water to take air. But the commonest and most certain way was to 

break their dam, and make them lose water. Then the Beavers found 

themselves without water, and did not know any more where to go; their 

houses showed everywhere. The Indians took them with blows of arrows and 

of spears; and, having a sufficiency, they left all the rest. . . . 

In winter the hunting of them was done differently, the dams and the lakes 

being all frozen. Then the Indians have their Dogs, which . . . smelled the 

Beavers through the ice. Having found [the beaver house], the Indians cut 

through the ice and made a hole large enough to let through a Beaver. Then 

they made another hole 25 or 30 paces away, on the open surface of the lake. 

In this place an Indian or two took their stand with a bow and an arrow which 

has a harpoon of bone at the end, made like a barbed rod, like that which was 

used in fishing the Sturgeon, but smaller. It has also a cord to which it is 

attached at one end, and the Indian took hold of the other. Everything being 

ready, another Indian went to the other hole near the house of the Beavers. 

Lying down on his belly upon the ice, he placed his arm through the hole to 

find the Beavers’ opening, that by which they place their tail in the water. 

There they are all arranged one against the other. . . . Having found them, the 

Indian passed his hand very gently along the back of one several times, and, 

approaching little by little to the tail tried to seize it. 

I have heard it said by the Indians that they have kept the arm so long in the 

water that the ice froze all around the arm. When they once seized the tail 

they drew the Beaver all at one swoop out from the water upon the ice, and at 

the same time gave it the axe upon the head. . . . Having thus drawn one out, 

they tried to obtain another, which they did in the same way, rubbing them 

gently. That does not put them to flight, for they imagine they are touching 

one another. But nevertheless three or four of them having been removed, the 

remainder take flight and throw themselves into the water. Not being able to 

remain long without breathing, the daylight which shows over the hole out on 

the surface leads them to go there to get the air. The other Indians who are 

there in ambush, so soon as they appear, give them an arrow shot; the 

harpoon, which has teeth, holds in some part of the Beaver from which it 

cannot be drawn out. The cord is then pulled and the Beaver is drawn out 

through the hole; then they raise it upon the ice and kill it. Some time after 

there comes another which is taken in the same way.”24

Muskrat 

Muskrats, Speck wrote, “are hunted and trapped in the spring and fall; their pelts are sold, 

and every portion of their flesh is eaten with great relish by the Indians, who esteem 

muskrat meat most highly.” Indeed, muskrat, like moose, continues to be a favored food 

among Wabanakis. Even when living in the culinary paradise of Paris in the 1930s, the 

famous Penobscot dancer Molly Spotted Elk wrote in her diary that she longed for 

muskrat stew. Speck described this stew, sikpe’su, as “a staple diet in the spring when the 

ice has gone out of the rivers and quantities of muskrat are brought in by the hunters. 

When eating, they say whoever takes the muskrat head from the dish has to tell a story.” 

 

24 Denys, p.433. See also LeClercq, p.356. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

412

Listing other ways of preparing this aquatic rodent, he wrote: “Muskrats, when skinned 

and cleaned, are stuck on a forked stick, the forks being pushed into the legs so that the 

carcass hangs down, while the end is stuck into the ground near the fire. The carcass is 

turned until it is nicely roasted. The entrails of muskrats and other animals eaten in camp 

are thrown on the smoldering ashes and raked off when brown. They are then washed and 

eaten.” Finally, he noted, “A favorite tidbit is muskrat tails fried between layers of fat. 

The tails become soft and juicy and are very sweet.”25

 Like moose, muskrats were sometimes hunted with the aid of a calling devise. 

Short blows on a “muskrat-call” (made of a strip of birchbark sandwiched between two 3-

long rectangles of wood), mimic the buzz-squeak call of this animal. According to Speck, 

“By paddling along the banks of the river near deadwater, where muskrats are plentiful, 

the animals can be lured out to the canoe by manipulating the calls. When they are near 

enough they are hit with the paddle.”26

Harbor Seal 

Among sea mammals hunted by Wabanakis (including grey seal, porpoise, walrus and 

small whales), the harbor seal was an especially significant food source. Wabanakis 

found the meat tasty, and the fat provided valued food flavoring and drink. Boiled in 

water, its fat floated to the surface as an oily substance that could be ladled into bladder 

skins for storage. Writing about harbor seals, Denys noted, “They are good to eat. An oil 

is obtained form them unlike that of any of the other seals. This oil is to the Indians a 

relish at all the feasts they make among themselves.”27 Relatively easy prey, large herds 

of harbor seals congregated in coves, “hauling out” in pleasant weather to sun themselves 

on sandy beaches or rock slabs. In 1672 Denys described how Wabanakis hunted them: 

This kind of seal comes out on land in all kinds of season. . . . in good 

weather they are found ashore on a sandy coast, or indeed upon the rocks 

where they sleep in the sun. . . . There are places where they land with two to 

three hundred in a band. If they find rocks along the land, or in cul-de-sacs 

where they usually resort, one finds them thereon asleep in the sun. It is there 

they are easy to kill, being but two or three on a rock, without a sentinel. 

They are easily approached with a canoe. If they are mortally injured they fall 

into the water and thrash about, and there they are taken. But if they are killed 

instantly, and fall into the water they go to the bottom like a stone. . . . all the 

oil they can yield is about their bladder-full, and in this the Indians place it 

after having melted it. This oil is good to eat fresh and for frying fish.28 

Porpoise 

Denys wrote that porpoise was “good to eat.” Speck gave a more nuanced assessment 

that Passamaquoddy were “extremely fond of it,” while “many Indians, especially the 

Penobscot,” disliked it due to its “rank greasy smell.” To cook it, he noted, Indians cut 

the meat into steaks and put them on “the embers of a fire” until “partly roasted.” While 

hunted for food, porpoise was valued especially for the quantity of oil it yielded, “almost 

 

25 Speck, 1940, p.95. 

26 Speck, 1940, p.46. 

27 Denys, pp.349-350, 403. 

28 Denys, pp.349-350. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

413

a barrel to each one,” according to Denys in 1672.29 Two centuries later, a Bangor paper

reported, “An average porpoise yielded six to seven gallons of oil; a half-pint of prime 

watchmaker’s oil dripped out of the jaws.”30 Valued as a lubricant for clockworks and 

fuel for lamps (in great demand for lighthouses), porpoise oil sold for 90 cents a gallon in 

1880, providing Wabanakis with money to purchase other kinds of food.31 

 Numerous descriptions have been written of porpoise hunting, usually marveling 

at the Wabanakis’ ability to haul these unwieldy animals into their canoes. For example: 

I made inquiries about the porpoises and the [Passamaquoddy’s] mode of 

catching them. . . . Their custom is to shoot them with a rifle, and, before they 

have time to sink, paddle up and make fast with a lance, when the creature is 

dead taking him into the canoe. I afterwards saw them at their work. One 

Indian sat at the stern of the canoe, using his paddle as easily as a fish does 

his fins, and another, rifle in hand, stood at the bow. 32 

Porpoises were shot with a long barreled gun loaded with a handful of 

powder and a heavy charge of double B shot. In high seas the shooter had to 

fire while standing. The wounded porpoise was then killed with a longhandled spear. The feat of safely wrestling a slippery, 300 to 500-pound 

porpoise corpse into a canoe, especially if the canoe was already well laden 

with others, almost defies belief. Sharks were often about, and the water was 

always cold.33

The Porpoise Fishery, 1887. Indian porpoise hunters of Passamaquoddy Bay 

canoe, rifle, and lance for capture of porpoise. From a photograph by T. W. 

Smillie. (NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Collection) 

 

29 Denys, p.352. See also Speck, 1940, p.96; Eckstorm 1919, p.57. 

30 Industrial Journal, 16 Sept. 1898. 31 Industrial Journal, 16 Sept. 1898; See also MIA vol.10, p.4. 32 DeCosta, 1871, pp.262, 268-269. 

33 Bunting, 2000, p.52. For a detailed description of porpoise hunting, see Ward.
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

414

Typically, porpoises were butchered on the beach and the oil “tried” (extracted) 

there as well. The bones and whatever else was left of the carcasses were picked at by 

gulls and washed out to sea in the tide, leaving no trace of the processing of the animal. 

According to an account by a man who spent six summers porpoise-hunting in both 

Penobscot and Passamaquoddy bays with Passamaquoddy men in the late 1860s/early 

1870s: 

When ashore, the porpoises are pelted off, by being first split down the back. 

Skin and blubber are removed together, the under jaw usually being left 

attached to the pelt. In the summer the pelt is about 2 inches thick. Porpoise 

pelts look like immense split salmon. They are laid over poles raised on 

crotches and left for several days to dry the water out of the blubber. Then the 

pelt is cut into pieces 8 or 10 inches square for convenient handling; these 

pieces are laid on a board and cut into cubes not over 1⁄4 of an inch in 

diameter. Then this hash is put into a kettle and rendered over a slow fire. A 

porpoise in summer usually affords about 2 gallons of light straw colored oil, 

which in oil lamps used to burn about as well as sperm oil. It was used for 

oiling wool in woolen factories. The Indians sometimes mixed seal oil with 

it, which though lighter colored, is sticky and would gum up the wool so that 

it was difficult to cleanse it. What is known as porpoise jaw oil does not 

come from the jaw, but from a fatty mass at the root of the lower jaw. The 

lower jaw is hung up in the sun, and the oil, which the sun dries out, is the socalled jaw oil much used by watchmakers.34 

Passamaquoddies alongside drying porpoise skins. Indian Beach, Grand Manan. (Photo 

from “Afternoon with the Indian Porpoise Hunters of Grand Manan” by Sarah Moses Smith, Lewiston 

Journal Magazine, 1 January 1908.) 

 

34 Eastport Sentinel 6/1/1904. In Soctomah, 2002, pp.92-94. See also Ward. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

415

Whale

One night Glooskap’s magician-giant 

friend Kitpooseagunow said, “‘Let us go 

on the sea in a canoe and catch whales by 

torchlight;’ to which Glooskap, nothing 

loath, consented, for he was a mighty 

fisherman, as are all the Wabanaki of the 

seacoast. . . . Then Glooskap asked, ‘Who 

shall sit in the stern and paddle, and who 

will take the spear?’ Kitpooseagunow said, 

‘That will I.’ So Glooskap paddled, and 

soon the canoe passed over a mighty whale 

. . . [and] he who held the spear sent it like 

a thunderbolt down into the waters, and as 

the handle rose again to sight he snatched it 

up, and the great fish was caught. . . . Then, 

taking him from the point, the fisher tossed 

him into the bark as if he had been a trout. And the giants laughed. . . . [Next,] the host 

took a stone knife and split the whale, and threw one half to the guest Glooskap, and they 

roasted each his piece over the fire and ate it.”35

Beyond legends such as this, the historic record shows that Wabanakis killed and 

ate whale, especially whale blubber. A vivid description of Wabanakis harpooning a 

whale comes from James Rosier in his account of Captain Weymouth's 1605 voyage to 

Monhegan Island and on to St. George's River on the west side of Penobscot Bay. There, 

meeting Indians belonging to the same ethnic group as those at MDI, Isle au Haut and 

Schoodic Point, at the time, Rosier heard how the Indians went about killing a whale: 

One especiall thing is their maner of killing the Whale, which they call 

Powdawe;36 and will describe his forme; how he bloweth vp the water; and 

that he is 12 fathoms long [72 feet]; and that they go in company of their 

King with a multitude of their boats, and strike him with a bone made in 

fashion of a harping iron fastened to a rope, which they make great and 

strong of the barke of trees, which they veare out after him; then all their 

boats come about him, and as he riseth aboue water, with their arrowes they 

shoot him to death; when they haue killed him & dragged him to shore, they 

call all their chiefe lords together, & sing a song of joy: and those chiefe 

lords, whom they call Sagamos, divide the spoile, and giue to euery man a 

share, which pieces so distributed they hang vp about their houses for 

prouision: and when they boile them, they blow off the fat, and put to their 

peaze, maiz, and other pulse, which they eat.37

If Rosier’s Wabanaki informant did not exaggerate the size and Rosier did not 

misunderstand what he was being told, this would have been a fin whale. Common in the 

 

35 Leland 1884, pp.74-76, including illustration. 

36 Putep in Passamaquoddy, bootup in Mi’kmaq. 37 Rosier, p.33, in Kania, p.72.
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

416

MDI area, fin whales swim the inshore waters and grow to lengths of 60-70’. If 

exaggeration or misunderstanding did occur, the true story would have involved one of 

several smaller whale species that come at least seasonally to inshore waters and estuaries 

in the region – most likely the beluga, but possibly the pygmy sperm or long-finned pilot 

whales (both under 20 feet long), or perhaps the minke and killer (orca) whales (under 30 

feet long). The humpback whale, which also swims the inshore waters, is another 

candidate for the story told to Rosier, particularly if it had not yet reached adult size of 

40-50 feet in length. Yet another possibility is that two stories were conflated here: one 

about hunting smaller whales and another about slaying and feasting on a larger whale 

found stranded in shallow water.38 

 Nicholas Denys’ mention of Mi’kmaqs eating whale may suggest that they 

feasted on these great creatures primarily on occasions when they found one of them 

stranded along the shore: “[They] ate the Whale which frequently came ashore on the 

coast, and on the blubber of which they made good cheer. Their greatest liking is for 

grease; they eat it as one does bread, and drink it liquid.”39 

Also noteworthy is a Wabanaki legend about Glooskap tricking a whale into 

shallow water where it runs aground. Told in abbreviated form below, it may imply that 

Indian hunters in canoes surrounded whales that entered waters too shallow to dive and 

then drove them ashore – a kind of reverse version of the way they drove moose into the 

water: 

When the time had come [for 

Glooskap] to pursue the enemy, he 

took his dogs and went to the shore 

and looked far out to sea over the 

waves and sang the magic song 

which whales obey. . . . [Then] 

there came the largest, a mighty 

female, and she bore him well and 

easily over to Kes-poog-itk. But she 

was greatly afraid of getting into 

shoal water, or of running ashore, 

and this was what Glooskap wished 

her to do that he might not wet his 

feet. So as she approached she 

asked him if land were in sight. But he lied, and said “No.” So she went on 

rapidly. . . . and suddenly found herself high on the shore. Then she lamented. 

. . . But Glooskap sang: “Have no fear, noogumee, you shall not suffer, you 

shall swim in the sea once more.” Then with a push of his bow against her 

head he sent her off into deep water. And the Whale rejoiced greatly. But ere 

she went she said, “Oh my grandson . . . Has thou not such a thing as an old 

pipe and some tobacco?”. . . So he gave her a short pipe and some tobacco. . . 

. And the Whale, being of good cheer, sailed away, smoking as she went.40

 

38 Eckstorm 1919, p.57. See also Reeves et al. 

39 Denys, p.403 (emphasis added). 

40 Leland 1884, pp.33-36, including illustration. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

417

Looking at comparative, cross-cultural examples of indigenous whale hunters, we 

see that trapping or driving whales into waters where they cannot dive or maneuver was 

an established hunting strategy. For instance, concerning the Inuit of Quebec, we read of 

“the existence of marine traps for bowhead whales, like that adjoining Ukiivik Island, 

which is a small bay almost closed at low tide, of which the entrance was blocked so that 

whales trapped inside could be safely harpooned. . . . from kayaks. . . .[with] calves and 

sleeping whales [being] easier to approach.” These Inuit also hunted beluga whales which 

“stayed in shallow water, preferring river estuaries, small bays, and the proximity of the 

shore. The Inuit made use of these habits, trapping entire herds inside bays that turned 

into lakes at low tide, where remarkable hunts then took place.” In addition, “hunters in 

kayaks forced bowhead whales into coastal shallows where they were more easily 

harpooned, killed, and butchered at low tide.”41

SHELLFISH 

From coastal mudflats, shallows and tidepools, Wabanakis harvested an array of 

shellfish, including clams, mussels, oysters, whelks, crabs, lobsters and periwinkles. 

Soft-shell Clams & Oysters 

Penobscot legend has it that Wabanakis learned about eating clams from dog. As told by 

Nicolar, after woodpecker led Glooskap on a long journey to show all that he and his dog 

could eat among animals and plants, the bird flew away into the night. The next morning, 

the dog got up and shook himself and said, ‘I have eaten the last of my 

food, I took it while you were in your sleep, and this day my work for 

your sake begins; whatever you want I shall find, but you must prepare 

it to your own liking – Give me not of it, but give me the crumbs, that 

is my portion.’ Straightway the dog went until he came near to the edge of 

the water and there put his head down and began to dig the wet earth with his 

two paws, and soon brought out of it a shell fish and brought it to the man 

and laid it as his feet saying, ‘Take and eat, and be filled,’ and [Glooskap] did 

break the shell and did eat the Aiss – Clam.42 

However Wabanakis discovered the clam’s food value, it became a staple in their diet, 

along with several other shellfish, especially oysters. Clams were harvested on beaches 

during low tide, but oysters were often “hand-tonged” from the water, sometimes through 

the ice. In 1672 Denys described Mi’kmaqs catching and cooking oysters in the winter: 

They are a great manna for the winter when the weather does not permit 

going on the hunt. They are in the coves or on the shore near the land. To 

obtain them the ice is broken and a large opening is made. Then one has little 

poles long enough to reach to the bottom of the water. Two of them are tied 

together about half-way up; then this [arrangement] is opened and closed like 

pincers. The Oysters are drawn from the water and thrown upon the ice. Men 

 

41 Bernard Saladin d'Aglure, pp.489, 479. See also Robert F. Spencer, North Alaska Eskimo: Introduction, 

pp.278-308 about specialized whale-hunting groups among the Nunamiut; and Margaret Lantis’ Aleut, 

pp.161-184, re. baleen-whale hunting in the Unalaska area. 

42 Nicolar, pp.52-53. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

418

never go to this fishery except there are several of them. Some fish, another 

makes the fire, another shells Oysters for a fricassee [stew], others place them 

upon the coals, two or three in a large shell with their water, crumbs of bread 

and little pepper or nutmeg. . . . When the men are sated, each one takes a 

load; and the dogs, harnessed like horses, draw each one a bagful on a little 

sledge which is made very light. 43

Two centuries later, Nicolar wrote about gathering and preparing oysters – and clams – 

along the Maine coast, noting their plentitude and describing how they were preserved: 

These oyster beds were so productive that . . . the shells of this food fish were 

piled up almost mountain high on the shore of a river bank for a long 

distance. And the oyster period was enjoyed to within quite recently, so that 

the mounds of these shells can now be plainly seen on the coast of Maine. 

Clam beds were also found later, pretty near the spot of the oyster beds, a 

little toward the direction of the rising sun. . . . The oysters and clams were 

dried in the sun, and when they have been sufficiently dried are packed in 

‘Mik-nur-queh – birch bark packing box,’ in which they can be kept until 

winter. The ‘Ar-nass-cum-nal’—acorns, were also gathered in their season 

and dried; and in the winter time, a family wishing to have a fashionable 

dinner, cooks the dried oysters in water, well seasoned with the bear or seal 

oil, and after the oysters are well soaked and boiled, the pounded acorns were 

added enough to give it good flavor. The clams were secured, cooked and 

served precisely the same way.44 

Speck echoed these descriptions, based on observations in the first decades of the 

20th century: “Oysters and clams,” he wrote, “are gathered and dried either in the sun or 

in smoke and put away in bark vessels. To be used they are simply soaked or boiled and 

eaten in the shape of the usual stew or soup.” Then, tying past to present, he added, “The 

shell heaps in Penobscot Bay are universally said by the older Indians to be the 

accumulations where oyster- and clam-drying operations were carried on in former 

days.”45 

Later that century, based on archaeological finds at Mount Desert Island’s Fernald 

Point, archaeologist David Sanger noted that soft-shell clams “were probably opened by 

steaming them on the rock hearths we found at the site; there are few signs of damage to 

shells resulting from deliberate breakage. While most shellfish were probably eaten 

almost immediately, some may have been dried for future use, although there is no 

evidence for that practice in the archaeological record.”46 Despite the apparent absence of 

shellfish-drying practices at the Fernald Point site, evidence from other sites, along with 

written and oral history records, establish that the practice was common. 

 

43 Denys, p.359. 

44 Nicolar, p.118. See also Eckstorm 1919, p.57. Most extraordinary in size were the shell heaps of 

Damariscotta, described by Wilson (pp.28-29) as “a serpent’s tail of shallowly-mounded oyster shells [that] 

twisted and turned for nearly a mile along the riverbank. . . . the head of the serpent was a massive mound . 

. . nearly four hundred feet long, one hundred and twenty-five feet wide, and as much as thirty feet high.” 45 Speck, 1940, p.96. 

46 In McMullen and Kopec 1994, pp.10-11. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

419

FISH 

Speck, and many others writing before and after him, made it clear that Wabanakis ate an 

array of fresh and saltwater fish. 47 In shallow coastal waters they found flounder, smelt, 

shad, sculpin and skate. For sturgeon and swordfish, they ventured farther from shore.48

Passamaquoddy Wayne Newell, now in his sixties, speaks reverently of fish and has 

memories of fishing to put food on the family table as a youngster in the early 1950s: 

Our culture has a special reverence for fish. To this day, although I am a full 

grown man, my mother will still remind me of this reverence by speaking of 

the haddock. It is very difficult to express in English what our 

Passamaquoddy name for haddock says. It refers to the markings at the 

haddock’s head. I suppose the word means ‘picked up by,’ or the ‘imprint left 

when something has been picked up.’ Implicit in the word, partly from the 

intonation when it is spoken, is that the markings show that the fish was 

picked up by the hand of the creator, a reminder that the fish are given to us 

by the creator. The reminder applies more broadly, but everyone agrees the 

haddock is the sweetest fish. 

 I started to fish when I was twelve years old or so. My mother would send 

me and my younger brother out to fish for dinner. We didn’t have a boat, but 

we would use one that belonged to someone else, that was understood to be 

ok, as long as you took care of the boat and put it back where it belonged. I 

learned how to catch flounder just by being down along the shore and 

watching. I remember too just taking a pan down to the beach when the 

whales would come into the Bay and chase the fish towards the shore. We 

would gather them from the beach, or someone would stand in the shallows 

and toss fish onto the beach. Flounder was a staple food for us. Haddock and 

pollock were the prize fish. Cod was the last choice, but it would be used for 

a stew, often cooked with heads and all.49 

After being cleaned and split from head to tail, fish were also roasted, smoked, dried and 

sometimes salted. For smoking they were typically hung on a horizontal pole over a fire. 

For roasting, wrote Speck, “Fresh fish are planked on a flat piece of wood by a peg 

through the head [and] leaned before a hot fire. . . . ”50 Roland Newell, now in his fifties, 

has personal and passed-down recollections of Passamaquoddy families drying fish: 

In the fall of each year, we all knew that we needed to dry fish if we were 

going to survive the winter. Every household was drying fish. That was our 

survival for the winter. We dried flounder by just taking the heads off, gutting 

the fish out and nailing it to the side of a building, to dry in the sun. Pollock 

and cod were split whole and dried on clotheslines. Herring were salted down 

for winter in a barrel. 51

 

47 Speck, 1940, p.82. 

48 See Haviland 2003 (np); and Sanger 1989, in McMullen & Kopec, p.11. Prehistoric remains of swordfish 

at Blue Hill Bay, MDI and Isle au Haut show that Wabanaki maritime hunting skills were impressive. 

49 Quoted in Soctomah, 2003, pp.20-21, 14. 

50 Speck, 1940, p.96. 

51 Quoted in Soctomah, 2003, p.20. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

 420

Salmon 

Each spring, salmon (and various other anadromous fish) left coastal waters and swam up 

rivers through rapids and over small falls to lay their eggs in fresh water. They were 

trapped at fish weirs or speared in the pools where they rested – sometimes at night, by 

torchlight. Then they were split and roasted for immediate eating or hung on smoking 

racks above a smoldering fire to be preserved for later consumption. Plentiful and easy to 

catch during spawning season, salmon were considered a source of bountiful culinary 

pleasure. Speck noted that children would “greedily . . . suck the raw fish for the spawn.” 

Among numerous descriptions of traditional salmon hunting/trapping methods is the 

following, written by Speck about Penobscots: 

To these Indians, practically all of whom lived near the Penobscot River, the 

spearing of salmon in their annual run up-stream in June, July, or Aug, was 

one of the great seasonal events. When the lightning bugs begin to appear in 

June, they say it is the sign for salmon spearing. The Penobscot salmon 

sometimes attain a weight of 40 lbs. During the run, just above falls or rapids, 

the men would occupy some ledge and spear the fish as they came by. Camps 

were established in such vicinities. At other times they went in canoes, the 

bow man with a spear watching for fish. At night a torch consisting of a 

green stave, split at the end to hold a bundle of folded birch-bark strips 

wound with splints and frayed at the ends, was fastened in the bow of the 

canoe. These methods of catching salmon were practiced until about 1912, 

when spearing was prohibited by the makers of the game laws.51

Birchbark Torch

Passamaquoddy Joe Mell night-fishing, c1910. (In Carle, p.3) 

Leister 

About 250 years before Speck wrote the above, Denys penned a similar description about 

Mi’kmaqs and the annual salmon run: 

The Indians used [birchbark torches also for fishing the Salmon.... [which] 

 

51 Speck, 1940, pp.82-83. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

421

come from the sea and ascend the rivers in spring. There occur many pools in 

these rivers, in which the Salmon play after having ascended, which they 

have trouble in doing because of the falls which are found there. . . . Having 

remained there some time they ascend again still higher. To these places of 

rest the Indians went at night with their canoes and their torches. . . . The 

Salmon . . . seeing the fire which shines upon the water, come wheeling 

around the canoe. He who is standing up has in his hand a harpoon . . . and 

soon as he saw a fish passing he speared at it, and rarely missed. . . . taking a 

hundred and fifty to two hundred in a night.53

In the mid-1800s a newspaper article about Passamaquoddy life also described 

taking salmon by torchlight, making particular note of the spear commonly used – a 

leister: “[It] was from two to three fathoms long, and had an iron spike in the center, with 

two spreading jaws of wood fastened with a string, that closed and held the fish to the 

spike.”54 Leisters were also used to spear other fish, including flounder, a tasty and 

relatively easy catch found in coastal shallows in low tide.55

Most chroniclers of Wabanaki life also wrote about the catching salmon (and other 

fish) in weirs. In the words of Denys: 

They make use also of another device. At the narrowest place of the rivers, 

where there is the least water, they make a fence of wood clear across the 

river to hinder the passage of the fish. In the middle of it they leave an 

opening in which they place a bag-net . . . so arranged that it is inevitable the 

fish should run into them. These bag-nets . . .they raise two or three times a 

day, and they always find fish therein. It is in spring that the fish ascend, and 

in autumn they descend and return to the sea. At that time they placed the 

opening of their bag-net in the other direction.56

Eel 

Another favored meat came from eels, also caught in weirs as they made their “fall 

exodus . . . down to salt water.” Speck described eeling parties in which hundreds of 

these fish were taken in a night. “In places where weirs are set for eels,” he wrote, “pits 

are dug along the shore some three or four feet wide and about three deep, the number of 

the pits depending upon the quantity of eels caught. These pits are made for the freshly 

caught eels to be thrown into, so that they will free themselves of slime, for otherwise 

they could not be handled conveniently.” Usually, the eels were split, dried or smoked at 

the site. In Speck’s words: “Eels are split open, the backbones being taken out and saved 

to put into corn soup, and the carcasses hung up on a frame like the smoking rack to dry 

or to be smoked. In winter they are frozen. Boiled over again they make excellent soup.57 

Speck also recounted one particularly interesting eye witness account of a weeklong eeling party of five families at Sunkhaze Meadow (slightly northeast of Indian 

 

53 Denys, p.436. 

54 Eastport Sentinel, 18 Sept. 1851. 55 Denys, p.355. 

56 Denys, p.437. See also Speck, 1940, p.90. 

57 Speck 1940, p.96. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

422

Island, Old Town) in the fall of 1900 – interesting because it describes preparing and 

spreading a poisonous flora compound in the stream to render the eels torpid: 

They began by poisoning the stream with decoctions of pokeberry and Indian 

turnip root. The Indians’ time for securing enough eels to last a year is at low 

water in August. Then the Indian turnip root, which grows in moist ground 

along streams, and the berries of the poke plants are richest and contain the most 

poison, which stupefies the fish. The party carried bags of berries and baskets of 

salt, depending upon game and fish for their sustenance during the trip. The first 

two days were spent in digging the roots and crushing them with the purple 

pokeberries upon the surface of flat stones. When a sufficient quantity of the 

mixture had been prepared, they stripped to the skin and, distributing themselves 

along the stream for a distance of a mile, plunged into the water, strewing the 

poisoned pulp thickly upon the surface and diving to the bottom, where they 

stirred up the muddy sediment with sticks and poles. When the water was so 

strongly impregnated with the juices that the workers were driven ashore with 

inflamed and smarting skins, half an hour was spent in dressing and rubbing the 

inflamed spots with fresh plantain leaves. By this time the agitate water had 

settled. Torpid eels began to appear upon the surface, and before an hour had 

passed the top of the water was spotted with the bodies of dead or dying fish, 

which floated belly up, unable to escape. The children of the party, having 

recovered from their hurts, were then forced to enter the water and bring the fish 

ashore, where they were skinned and salted by the women. After this the eels 

were placed upon dead limbs and laid in the sun to dry for two days. Then they 

were hung up in a tent and smoked until there was no drip from the suspended 

bodies.58

Sturgeon 

Larger fish were taken by harpoon. This included the sturgeon, a large fresh and saltwater 

fish, described by Denys as up to “12 feet in length . . . as thick in body as a sheep . . . 

[with] flesh is as good as beef.” The challenge of sturgeon hunting from a canoe seems to 

have been even greater than porpoise hunting. As relayed by Denys: 

That fish comes to the entrances of the rivers. It throws itself in a leap its height 

above the water. It is taken with a harpoon, which is made like a barbed rod, of 8 

to 10” long, pointed at one end and with a hole at the other in which is attached 

a line.Then it is fastened at the end of a pole so that it may be used as a dart. The 

fishery is made in the night. Two Indians place themselves in a canoe; the one in 

front is upright, with a harpoon in his hand, the other is behind to steer, and he 

holds a torch of birch bark, and allows the canoe to float with the current of the 

tide. When the Sturgeon perceives the fire, he comes and circles all around, 

 

58 Speck, 1940, p.89. Linked to the Penobscot River, Sunhaze Stream was part of a favored inland canoe 

route between Indian Island and points eastward, including Union R and Mount Desert Island. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

423

turning from one side to the other. So soon as the harpooner sees his belly, he 

spears it below the scales. The fish, feeling himself struck, swims with great 

fury. The line is attached to the bow of the canoe, which he drags along with the 

speed of an arrow. It is necessary that the one in the stern shall steer exactly as 

the Sturgeon goes, or otherwise it will overturn the canoe, as sometimes 

happens. It can swim well, but with all its strength it does not go with fury more 

than a hundred and fifty or two hundred paces. That being over, the line is 

drawn in, and it is brought dead against the side of the canoe. Then they pass a 

cord with a slip-knot over the tail, and they draw it thus to land, not being able 

to take it into the canoe because it is too heavy.59

BIRDS & BIRD EGGS 

For Wabanakis, birds were a significant food source that children helped secure. From 

the nests of larger birds, youngsters collected eggs, which were “much relished raw or 

boiled.”60 Also, using loop snares, children seized smaller birds such as the ruffed grouse. 

According to Denys, they even managed to take wild geese, sneaking up on the birds as 

they grazed and then clubbing them. Adults, he wrote, usually hunted geese at night: 

“Two or three men in a canoe would drift silently into the middle of a flock of sleeping 

birds; then they would light birchbark torches and make a lot of noise. The startled geese 

would awaken and fly into the air. In their confusion they would circle around the bright 

torches. The men would club the birds, then wring their necks. The Micmac could fill a 

large canoe in a night in this way. After feasting on fresh roast goose, they would smoke 

the rest.” They also took ducks this way.61 As noted earlier in this section, Wabanakis 

would come to the seashore for fowling during molting season in late July and early 

August, when young seabirds are not yet able to fly and adults are hampered in flight 

because they are molting – losing their old feathers and getting new ones. 

Josselyn described how Wabanakis hunted cormorants, another food source: 

“[The birds] roost in the night upon some rock that lies out in the sea; thither the Indian 

goes in his birch canoe when the moon shines clear.” After quickly identifying and 

killing “the watchman” bird, the hunter could then, by “walking softly” among the birds, 

pluck them one-by-one and wring their necks.62

Speck’s older Penobscot informants told him that waterfowl of various kinds were 

also taken with “slingstones attached to a leather line”: 

These slingstones were, it is claimed, carried in the canoe ready to be thrown 

at birds or other small animals when espied in the water. The plummetshaped stones found commonly throughout New England and numerous also 

in the Penobscot valley are identified by the Indians as the slingstones. 

Several were obtained, one having been fixed to a thong to illustrate the 

complete object. They average from 2.75” -3” long and l.25-1.75” wide. The 

pear-shaped stones, or slingstones, as they probably were, must have formed 

part of the paraphernalia of almost every man.”63 

 

59 Denys, pp.353-354. Illustration from Speck, 1940, p.87. 

60 Speck, 1940, p.96. 

61 Denys, pp.109, 435. 

62 In Conkling, 1981, p.132. 

63 Speck 1940, pp.46-47. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

424

Among seabirds, gulls were especially valued for meat and eggs. Commonly, they 

nested on offshore islands, and Wabanakis canoed to these sites seasonally to harvest the 

birds at various stages of development. One description of a late-1860s outing to Grand 

Manan Island reveals that even hatchlings were seen as valuable food sources: “Around 

the cliffs on the Southern Head is a favorite nesting place for gulls. . . . The Indians take 

the young gulls and carry them away. I saw several of them at Pleasant Point that had 

been thus torn from the parental nest at Grand Manan. They were tamer than chickens, 

and were being fattened on porpoise oil for some future feast.”64 

REPTILES 

While nearly every animal was fair game in starvation times, snakes and frogs were 

generally not eaten. Turtles, however, comprised part of the Wabanaki diet – although 

clearly not a favored part. Painted and snapping turtles were boiled, skinned, cut into 

pieces and served as stew. As Speck put it, “Turtles are boiled until tender, although it is 

rarely that they get so, and eaten.”65 

PLANT FOODS 

 Wild Carrot Raspberry Beaked Hazelnut Sugar Maple Sarsparilla

When woodpecker led Glooskap on a long journey to show what he and his dog 

could eat among animals and plants, he pointed out the roots of the groundnut and 

the Canada lily, plus various berries – strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, 

huckleberries, and gooseberries.

66 

Taken on the whole, the plant world figured modestly in the traditional diet of Wabanakis 

compared to the animal world. Nonetheless, vegetation provided valued and significant 

nutrition sources, including numerous kinds of berries, nuts, roots and tubers, as well as 

leaves and flowers, most of which are present in the Mount Desert Island area. 

Various species of blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, raspberries and cherries 

were relished fresh or dried. These, according to Speck, “were spread out and dried, then 

put away in baskets or bark vessels and kept until wanted. Thus in all seasons a fine dish 

of stewed fruit was possible, either to be eaten alone or mixed with meat and vegetables. 

Or dried fruit could be soaked in water until soft again and eaten raw.”67

 

64 DeCosta, 1871, p.262. 

65 Speck, 1940, p.96. See also Denys, p.359. 

66 Nicolar, pp.46-48. 

67 Speck, 1940, p.94; Nicolar, p.48. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

425

Nuts – acorns, beechnuts and beaked hazelnuts – were gathered and stored when 

they fell to the ground each autumn.68 The bulbs of Jerusalem artichokes and several 

other species, in addition to groundnuts and wild lilies, were eaten, as were the roots of 

wild carrots and the leaves of wild lettuce.69 Interestingly, although young, unfurled 

ostrich ferns (“fiddleheads”) were common greens in the Wabanaki diet, they have never 

been recorded in any parts of Acadia National Park or anywhere on Mount Desert, 

apparently due to the island’s acidic soil.70

 Tea-like beverages were made by steeping various plants – roots of sweetflag and 

sarsaparilla; leaves of hemlock, spruce, sweetfern, willow herb and wintergreen; twigs of 

fir balsam, birch (black and yellow), labrador tea, maple (striped and sugar), sassafras, 

wild cherry and witch hazel. Other plants were used as seasonings – such as wild mustard 

seed and berries. Most chronicles that touch on food habits among Wabanakis have a fair 

amount to say about the white or sugar maple, noting that the sap was used as a beverage 

and also boiled down to a liquid sweetener or sugar.71 

 Numerous other edible plants located on Mount Desert Island were probably used 

by Wabanakis, even if not noted by observers who apparently were more interested in 

medicinal than nutritional uses. These include lambsquarters greens, the young leaf stems 

and peeled stalks of seaside angelica, the young roots/leaves/leaf stems of common 

burdock, and the young leaves and stalks of willow herb.72

WABANAKI FOOD COLLECTION ON AND NEAR MOUNT DESERT ISLAND 

Archaeological data, especially several hundred shell middens scattered along the coast 

and offshore islands between Penobscot and Gouldsboro bays – including on Mount 

Desert Island and its neighbor islands – make it clear that Wabanakis utilized food 

resources all across this region for thousands of years. The plentitude and size of certain 

shellfish species impressed early explorers, including Captain John Smith, whose account 

of his 1614 survey of the Maine coast included this observation: “You shall scarce find 

any Baye, shallow shore, or Cove of sand, where you may not take many Clampes or 

Lobsters, or both at your pleasure; and in many places load your boat if you please.”73 

Of particular note for this study is the fact that Wabanaki names for Bar Harbor 

translate as “clam gathering place” or “clambake place.”74 In 1913 some 75 shell middens 

were mapped within a 15-mile radius of the town by archaeologist Warren Moorehead,75

and some of these sites were excavated in the years that followed. In 1985 archaeologist 

Diane Kopec of the Abbe Museum led a survey focusing on Mount Desert Island, 

Trenton and smaller off-shore islands, visiting a total of 62 middens. Half of these had 

been previously recorded, and the other half were “located ‘in route.’” The survey 

 

68 Nicolar, pp.19, 118; Denys, p.396, Stoddard, p.7. See also Haviland, 2003 (np). 

69 Eckstorm, 1919, p.57; Nicolar, pp.46-47, 92; Speck, 1940, pp.92-94; Stoddard, p.7. 

70 Personal communication, Linda Gregory, ANP botanist. 

71 S&D, B&G, LeClercq, p.122; Leland, p.118; Lescarbot 1611-1614, vol.3, p.194; Mechling 1914, pp.10, 

80; Speck 1940, pp.35, 94, 98, 104-105; Denys, pp.380-81. 

72 Angier, pp.41, 96, 130. 

73 Smith in Arber, vol.1, p.207.

74 Eckstorm 1978, p.207. 

75 Moorehead, 1913, pp.326-327. Moorehead was with the Robert S. Peabody Foundation for 

Archaeological Research at Phillips Academy. 
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reported that many sites noted in the past had become barely visible or vanished 

altogether due to “severe erosion, compounded by human activity.” Of the 62 sites Kopec 

visited, 52 percent were less than 25 meters long, but a few ranged in size from 80 to 

160m – and the largest was located in Northeast Harbor.76 

Maine archaeologist David Sanger led the 1977 excavation of Mount Desert 

Island’s Fernald Point – the area where Chief Asticou and many other Etchemin chiefs 

gathered in early 1600. Reporting on the results of this work, Sanger stated that the site 

was occupied seasonally (likely by ancestors of today’s Wabanakis) for about 2300 years 

(from 3000–700 years ago) and “quite heavily” for 1300 years (from 2000–700 years 

ago).77 Discussing diet indicators found at the site, Sanger wrote: 

Buried in the various shell layers at Fernald Point are bones of sea and land 

mammals, birds, and fish. Not represented, perhaps due to preservation 

factors, were the results of gathering wild vegetable foods, like berries, roots, 

and nuts. Simply because evidence of these foods is not present does not 

mean that they were not consumed. We assume that they were part of the diet 

of the Fernald Point people.78

Sanger went on to list and describe 48 species of animal remains found at the site, 

indicating “a diet that balanced land and sea species.” Among shellfish, soft-shell clam 

remnants were most plentiful. “Strangely,” he noted, Native inhabitants “seem to have 

avoided lobsters; we have found only one claw in twenty years of excavation in coastal 

Maine sites.” Flounder and sculpin bones topped the list of fish remains; seals “and a few 

porpoises” were also present. “Birds, while not common,” were “mostly sea-oriented 

species, such as eiders and great auk” (a penguin-like bird, now extinct). Among the 

bones of land species found at the site, were beaver, deer, bear “and an occasional 

moose.” While present, muskrat remains were “rare, probably due to the lack of a 

suitable local habitat.”79

 DeCosta’s Rambles on Mount Desert offers a peek at shell middens about 1870 

– and reveals how these storehouses of information concerning Wabanaki eating habits 

were being destroyed by amateur weekend diggers using tools such as clam rakes. 

Writing about Gouldsboro (east of MDI, north of Schoodic), he noted: 

The chief interest gathers around the shell-heaps, the relics of multitudinous 

dinners eaten during the old times by the Indians who dwelt around the 

harbor. These shell-heaps are often several feet deep, and sometimes cover 

acres of ground. They are mixed more or less with earth and ashes and 

contain antiquities such as arrowheads, stone hatchets and chisels, together 

with pieces of rude pottery, and the bones of birds and animals that were used 

as food. At the mouth of the harbor, the banks on either side are whitened by 

them. A sort of clam rake with long teeth is the best thing to use in turning 

over the shells. In heaps like these may be found the bones of moose, the deer 

and the bear, with those of birds. . . . 

 

76 Kopec, 1987. See Spiess maps in Chapter 19 for more details on sites in the area. 

77 In McMullen and Kopec, p.10. 

78 In McMullen and Kopec, p.10. 

79 In McMullen and Kopec, pp.10-11. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

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Describing middens nearer MDI, DeCosta wrote: “The most accessible heaps from Bar 

Harbor are those on Bar Island and at Hull’s Cove, and all of them require much patience 

and perseverance on the part of the digger, as the relics are not so plenty as some 

suppose; though in the cart-track at the former place I found a spot where the natives 

evidently made their arrows, as the half-shaped fragments were dug out all around it. The 

stone used was a variety now found near Katahdin, from where it was brought.”80 

In contrast to archaeological records, written records 

concerning pre-19th-century Native hunting and gathering 

practices pertaining specifically to Mount Desert Island 

are relatively rare. Among early notations of Wabanakis 

securing food on MDI is Champlain’s 1604 mention of 

encountering two Indians (probably Newport Cove) when 

he followed the smoke of what turned out to be a 

campfire. Making note of the men in his journal, he wrote 

that “they had come to hunt beaver and to catch fish, some 

of which they gave us.”81 (Drawing at left: Native men fishing in a Mi’kmaq-style canoe, 

early 1600s. From Les Raretés des Indes by Bécard de Granville. 

Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma.) 

 The French missionary Biard, writing in 1613 about the site of Chief Asticou’s 

early summer village on the west side of Some’s Sound, commented on the plentitude of 

fish to be found in Mount Desert Island’s streams: “His place is a beautiful hill, sloping 

gently from the sea-shore, and supplied with water by a spring on each side. The ground 

comprises from twenty-five to thirty acres, covered with grass. . . . It fronts the south and 

east, towards Pentegoet [Penobscot] Bay, into which are discharged the waters of several 

pretty streams, abounding in fish.”82 Nicholas Denys’ 1672 description of the Penobscot 

Bay area, including MDI, revealed one of many fish species available to Wabanakis as a 

food source: “In front of the entrance of the [Penobscot] river there are many islands a 

little way off, around which the English take a great number of Mackerel as well as at the 

mouth of the river, where lies the Isle des Mont Deserts.”83 Some three centuries later, 

DeCosta noted that “At Mount Desert [Indians] occasionally find a good-sized shark or 

horse mackerel . . . [in] the weir.” And in 1940 anthropologist Frank Speck reiterated the 

ongoing importance of fish harvested from the Penobscot Bay: “The Penobscots at all 

times depended to a large extent upon the many fish of their lakes, river, and bay for a 

food supply. Some of the old capturing devices are at times still employed.”84

In 1677 a young Englishman was taken to Mount Desert Island by his Wabanaki 

captors, who usually hunted there during the winter months. One 19th-century recounting 

of this story, reads as follows: 

 

80 DeCosta, 1871, pp.146-149. 

81 Champlain, edited by Biggar, 1922-26. 

82 Decosta, p.29. 

83 Denys, p.109 of Ganong’s 1908 English edition. 

84 Speck, 1940, p.82. While published in 1940, Speck’s book was based primarily on his 1909-14 research. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

428

In coming here [to MDI] the Indians simply followed the custom of their 

ancestors. The old chroniclers occasionally mention their visits, as is the case 

with Hubbard who connects it with the captivity of young Cobett, son of the 

minister at Ipswich, Massachusetts, who was taken prisoner by the Indians, near 

Portland, in 1677. He was afterwards taken by his ‘pateroon,’ or master, to 

Mount Desert, where he was accustomed to spend his winters, and arrange his 

hunting expeditions. Hubbard says: ‘In that desert-like condition was the poor 

young man forced to continue nine weeks in the service of a savage miscreant 

who sometimes would tyrannize over him, because he could not understand his 

language, and for want thereof might occasion him to miss his game, or the 

like.’ At the end of nine weeks ‘on a sudden he took a resolution to send this 

young man down to Penobscot to Mr. [Jean Vincent d’Abbadie de St.] Casteen 

to procure more powder to kill moose and deer, which it seems is all their way 

of living at Mt. Desert.’ This journey led to his ransom, which was finally 

effected by being exchanged for a good coat. Hubbard tells us how that on one 

occasion while a prisoner on the island he went out to hunt, and was so 

overcome by the cold that he became senseless, and that the Indians were 

obliged to take him on their shoulders and carry him to the nearest wigwam. 

Formerly, also, the beaver was plenty here [on MDI], as is still attested by the 

remains of their dams.85 

In 1831, the well-known Penobscot Lt. Governor John Neptune (1767-1865) sent a 

letter to the state governor complaining that settlers were obstructing Native use of three 

islands commonly used by his people as stopovers in the much traveled Eggemoggin 

Reach route between the Penobscot River and Mount Desert Island: 

There are three islands westerly of Mount Desert, not far from Naskeag point in 

Sedgwick called White Island, Black Island and Wawkeag Island, which the 

Indians have always used for landing, stopping and fishing. But lately some 

white men have come upon the Islands, built one house there and say to us they 

will not let the Indians haul up their canoes there, nor camp, nor do anything in 

these any more. We pray that all white people may be told to go away from 

these three Islands, let the Indians use them as their fathers have always done.86

We have not been able to identify Wawkeag Island, but it is interesting to note that in 

1786 White and Black islands were granted by treaty to the Penobscots in return for 

surrender of certain claims on the Penobscot River.87 Shell middens there, in addition to 

Neptune’s comment about fishing, show that these islands were food stations for 

Wabanakis in their regular coastal migrations. 

Virginia Somes-Sanderson’s memoir about Somesville offers a peek at Wabanaki 

hunting and gathering activities on MDI in the 18th and 19th centuries. Her summarizing 

narrative draws heavily from an account by her “Aunt Dell” (Adelma Somes Joy), 

great grand-daughter of Abraham Somes who became the town’s first settler in 1761: 

 

85 DeCosta, 1871, pp.97-98. For more on this, see Chapter 7. 

86 25 Jan. 1831 letter to “His excellency Governor Smith...” from John Neptune, Lt. Gov. & Joseph 

SocBasin, delegate.” MSA, Box 36, folder 29. For more on this, see Chapter 9. 

87 MHS, Farnam Papers, cited in McLane & McLane, p.331. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

429

For years the Penobscots had made Mount Desert Island their special place. In 

the mountains of the Island they had hunted bear, wildcats, [moose], and deer; in 

the meadows and marshes, beaver, otter, and musquash (muskrats); in the 

waters, alewives, bass, salmon, and shad; on the shores, they dried clams, 

oysters, and cod for winter use. It was their custom to spend late spring and 

summer on the Island hunting and fishing. . . . To Abraham Somes and his 

family, the Indians were both friends and teachers. . . . It was from the Indians 

that he learned that the looping together of flax fibres could be used to make a 

‘netting’ to catch fish and to hold many objects too large to slip through the 

meshes. . . . ‘Aunt Dell’ recalled her grandfather, John, telling her that when he 

was a boy, one of the Indians taught him how to make a scoop net for fishing.88

 Penobscots were still hunting deer and other game on Mount Desert Island in 

1871 when DeCosta published his Rambles in Mount Desert: “Deer are still found in the 

mountains [on MDI],” he wrote. “The Oldtown Indians resort here every season to hunt 

them in connection with the otter, fox, wild-cat, muskrat and mink. The law allows the 

deer to be hunted for three months, ending with the fifteenth of December.” But in 1887, 

a new law passed further restricting deer hunting. As the Mount Desert Herald reported 

on the first day of that year, “The Fish and Game Laws of Maine state the following laws 

now enforce Game Chap.30; Fish Chap. 40, Special Act for the protection of deer on the 

island of Mt. Desert. No person, except during the months of November and December, 

shall in any manner, hunt or kill any deer on the island of Mt. Desert. Indians are liable to 

the foregoing penalties the same as any other person.” 

 Various historic records note the importance of fowl (and their eggs) in the diets 

of Wabanakis who frequented Maine’s coastal islands. In the 17th century Rosier wrote of 

“the remnants of an Indian encampment on the shores of Allen Island in Muscongus Bay 

– where ‘fire had been made; and about the place were very great egg shells.’” In 1724 

fisherman Ebenezer Hall of Matinicus Island was killed by a group of Indians when he 

ignored a Massachusetts Court order prohibiting him from burning over nearby Green 

Island at the outer reaches of Western Penobscot Bay. Hall, who supplemented his 

fisherman’s livelihood by selling hay, burned the island to stimulate a flush of new 

growth and thereby wreaked havoc on a traditional Wabanaki fowling and egg collection 

site.89 Further east, on Isle au Haut, at the southern end of Mount Desert Island’s 

offshore island neighborhood, Wabanakis drove ducks up the narrow head of Duck 

Harbor, killing them “by the hundreds in the molting season, and then smok[ing] them for 

winter provisions.”90 And right on the doorstep of MDI, according to an 1889 newspaper 

notice, “John Bear [Mitchell] and Peal Sockose came home from Ar-bes-son-nuck, ‘Mt. 

Desert,’ with one hundred sea gulls as the result of a four weeks hunt.”91 No doubt, these 

 

88 Somes-Sanderson, pp.67-71. See also A. Joy Sect.13:1-3 and Sect.14. 

89 Both records cited in Conkling, pp.130-132, 199-120. 

90 Caldwell. 

91 Oldtown Enterprise, 6/1/1889. Ar-bes-son-nuck is one of various spellings of words that translate 

“clambake place,” referring to MDI, but especially to Bar Harbor. John B. Mitchell (Penobscot, b.1851) is 

listed on the 1880 Federal census for Indian Island as married to Maria Newell (Penobscot, b1858) with 

one child, Martha (b.1878). On the 1900 census he appears with 4 children in addition to Martha – 

Elizabeth (b.1889), Theodore (b.1890), Clara (b.1892) and Sabattis (b.1897). By this time he had remarried 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

430

Penobscots of Indian Island, Old Town, were hunting for the gull feather market, but it is 

likely they also ate the birds and their eggs during this spring hunting expedition. Perhaps 

they even brought home a few live young birds, for Passamaquoddy were known to keep 

young gulls and fatten them on porpoise “for some future feast.”92 

During this time Wabanakis continued age-old traditions of fishing and clamming 

along the coast and offshore islands. Penobscot Ted Mitchell (b.1919), whose father, and 

great-grandparents, as well as his grandfather John Bear Mitchell (noted just above) spent 

summers on Mount Desert Island in the 19th and early 20th centuries, recalled that in 

addition to being there during the summer, “they went there for fish and clams during 

wintertime. They would salt the fish and bring it home for winter.”93 

A late 19th-century survey of Hancock County94 includes details about natural 

resources, including fish and shellfish, in that era. From it we learn the plentitude of 

marketable fish in the region, which gives us a window on species available to 

Wabanakis as sources of both food and income at the time. Codfish and mackerel top the 

list of deep-sea fishes, netted by the tons from commercial vessels. In addition, cod, 

haddock and hake were being taken by countless men and women living on outer and 

offshore islands and engaged in line-fishing from small, open, hand-powered boats. 

Locals set harbor weirs for herring (“scarcely second to any in commercial importance”) 

and also pursued these fish in wintertime at Grand Manan (in the Bay of Fundy) and in 

summertime at the Magdalen Islands (in the Gulf of St. Lawrence about 65 miles north of 

Prince Edward Island). Other harbor fish noted in the survey included flounder, smelt, 

frost-fish and eels, as well as clams, scallops and lobster. Porgy were also found (“in 

illimitable numbers”) in harbors; however, this migratory fish was caught not for food but 

for oil and “chum” (the “residuum left after expressing the oil), which had been 

recognized as a “fertilizer without a peer.” 

The survey noted that the demand for the “luxurious flesh” of lobsters had soared 

by 1878, and numerous canning factories had been established from Castine to 

Gouldsboro, including on Mount Desert Island. Smelt fishing through the ice, carried out 

by individual fishers, each typically situated in a “‘seven by nine’ cotton cloth covered 

fish-house, with a floor and a stove,” usually yielded a day catch worth about $2.50 – 

twice factory wages of the day. Concerning salmon, the survey noted: “Until a 

comparatively recent period, the rivers of this country fairly swarmed with them,” and 

Union River was a “favorite haunt” for the species. But commercial “salmon fishing is 

now confined to the Penobscot and Bagaduce rivers.” Moreover, river fishing of salmon, 

as well as alewives and shad, “is almost confined to weirs.” Weirs yielded anywhere from 

50 to 1600 pounds of salmon per year. Also significant was the growth of fish farming at 

this time. The Penobscot Salmon Breeding Works was established on Spofford’s Brook 

in Bucksport in 1872. Three years later, 2 million salmon eggs were distributed from 

these works into various waters in Maine. “Fish-farming,” proclaimed the Hancock 

Survey, “is big with promise. It is said that four Indians took 2,000 pounds of pickerel 

from Scammon’s pond in Eastbrook [12 miles northeast of Ellsworth], in one week.” 

 a young woman named Mary (b.1873). He was the grandfather of Ted Mitchell (b.1919) and great great 

grandfather of John Bear Mitchell (b.1968). 

92 DeCosta, 1871, p.262. 

93 Ted Mitchell, interview by McBride, 23 June, 2004. 

94 Wasson, 1878, pp.38-43. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

431

Numerous reports of porpoise hunting in waters near Mount Desert Island can be 

found for the period between the mid-1800s and early 1900s. According to one local 

account, “In the olden days, or from about 1860 to 1900, I well remember that in the 

early Spring, Indian encampments or ‘villages’ were the order of things in Bar Harbor, 

and indeed, when we saw the first of their little tents being set up, and the hunters racing 

in the Bay for porpoises, we were sure that the ‘season’ had really begun.”95

DeCosta also noted Wabanaki 

porpoise-hunting in Frenchman Bay 

during that era: “At Mount Desert 

they occasionally find a good-sized 

shark or horse mackerel, but oftener 

the porpoise thus comes into the 

weir. Schools of these continually 

gambol about the bay for the 

edification of visitors, or as a prize 

for the Indians who hunt them for oil. 

I started once across Frenchman’s 

Bay for their camp on Iron-bound 

Island to see them at home, paddling 

with an old trapper in his bark canoe; 

but when we got halfway over, a hard rain-storm set in, and we thought it best to return at 

once. Still the trip afforded an opportunity of testing the qualities of the ‘bark’ on the 

long ocean swell. No boat could have behaved more admirably.”96 Another mention came 

from the Passamaquoddy Indian agent in 1875: “Quite a number of the tribe who live at 

this place [Calais] are away for the summer. . . . About 20 families are at Bar Harbor, 

selling their wares and catching porpoises.”97

Residents of Eagle Island (in East Penobscot Bay between Acadia National Park 

conservation easements on Butter and Bald islands) reported that Passamaquoddies and 

Penobscots visited various islands in the area during the 1880s and 90s. Arriving by 

canoe and landing at Lighthouse Cove, they came to collect shellfish and gull’s eggs, and 

also to hunt sea mammals. Among the visitors were Passamaquoddy Joe Dana (b1852) 

and the well-known Penobscot chief and showman, Frank Loring, known as “Big 

Thunder.” Typically, Loring (b1827) went to the light and asked the keeper, Captain John 

Ball, for permission to camp. The group set up camp near Lighthouse Beach close to a 

spring that marked the boundary line of the lighthouse property and Samuel Quinn’s 

farm. Although Capt. Ball granted permission, the site was actually on Quinn’s property. 

Ball’s son Harold (Howard?), who took over as keeper in 1898, remembered how the 

Wabanaki visitors speared seals that basked on the rocky shore or nearby ledges. He also 

recalled their porpoise hunting activities, as did another resident, Laura Dodge Brown, 

who said she was told by eye-witnesses that the Indians added to their food supply by 

shooting porpoises from their canoes while paddling along the shore.98 In addition to 

 

95 Higgins, 1934. 

96 DeCosta, 1871, p.172. 

97 Hobart, Passamaquoddy Agent. Letter to the Hon. Governor and Council. 15 Sept. 1875. MSA Coll. 

RG1,267 (21080705). 

98 Enk, p.327. 

Passamaquoddy Porpoise Hunters, 1887. (Goode, 

Plate 213)
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

432

animal food sources, berries grew in abundance on the island – strawberries, raspberries, 

and cranberries.99 

 Eagle Island Light, 1870s. (U.S. Coast Guard Photo/ www.lighthouse.cc/eagleisland)

 

Along with pursuing porpoise and seal for their own food and oil needs, in the 

latter 1800s Wabanakis commonly took white residents on hunting outings or shot 

significant numbers of the animals to obtain oil and pelts for sale – as indicated in these 

historical excerpts: 

[Advertisement] Louis Mitchell [b1847], of the Passamaquoddy tribe of 

Indians, will have during the season, at the shore between Suminsby’s and 

Steamboat wharf, Bar Harbor, a number of Birch-Bark Canoes, in which he 

will take parties to the several Islands in the bay and around Mount Desert 

island. Carrying sporting parties to places where porpoise and seal may be 

shot. Guns and ammunition furnished when desired. Reliable and 

experienced paddlers will be provided. Lewis Mitchell recently paddled his 

canoe entirely around the island of Mt. Desert, a distance of sixty miles, in 

twelve hours.100

Mitchell Polesusep and John Mitchell returned home [to Indian Island] 

Tuesday, from their two weeks seal hunt among the islands in the Penobscot 

bay. They killed thirty-five, cured and brought home the pelts with them. 

These pelts are to be dressed and tanned, after which will meet with a ready 

sale at the seaside resorts.101 

 

99 “History.” Eagle Island Lighthouse website. www.lighthouse.cc/eagleisland/ Joseph Dana listed in 1900 

Federal census for Pleasant Pt. as “Tribal Governor,” b.1852. 

100 Recurring ad in the Mount Desert Herald from late July through early Sept. 1881, p.3. 101 Oldtown Enterprise, 7 July 1888. Mitchell Susep appears on the 1900 Federal census for Indian Island 

living with his mother Alice Susep (b.1836), his sister Mary (b.1865) and her child Margaret (b.1897). John 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

433

There was an Indian, Mr. [Sylvester] Francis [b1879], I remember as a boy 

[c.1940]. He lived up in the woods somewhere [in Southwest Harbor]. . . . He 

got my father to take him out to Cranberry Island to shoot seal.102

While Wabanaki porpoise and seal hunting in the Mount Desert Island area 

diminished in the course of the 20th century, clamming continued. Among various 

recorded recollections of the practice is that of Penobscot Frank Loring’s granddaughter 

Hattie Loring Gordius (b.1892). Hattie lived in Bass Harbor and worked in Underwood’s 

Cannery there beginning in 1907. Widowed after giving birth to nine children, she relied 

on nature’s storehouse to help feed her brood. “If you have nine children, you have to do 

something,” she said, so she put food on the table by tapping into “fish in the ocean, clam 

on the shore, and potato in the field.”103 Passamaquoddy Susan Snow Holmes (b.1919) 

has similar memories. The daughter of well-known basketmakers Alice Sockabasin 

Francis and John Snow, she grew up in Northeast Harbor and well remembers how her 

family’s diet included lots of seafood – and wild plants. In her words: 

We lived on seafood quite a bit. Us children...used to go over at the 

steamboat wharf, sit there and go fishin’. We had this old fishing line – we 

never had the warden [catch us] – and we used to get cod and haddock. We 

had a lot of haddock for our meals. We had every kind of fish. [Mother] 

would fry it or make fish chowder.... My father used to go clamming right 

down there where the steamboat wharf was when the tide was out. It was for 

our use. . . . I used to pick strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, 

so my mother could make pies [for us.] They were all right near us, just a 

little ways up town...a little ways up the hill from where we lived.... [And] I 

used to pick a lot of dandelion greens. My mother used to boil ‘em [with] salt 

pork. In those days Native Americans practically lived on salt pork.104 

Numerous other recollections of food collection in the Mount Desert Island area in 

the 20th century can be found among contemporary Wabanakis. For example, Penobscot 

John Bear Mitchell recalled his grandfather Ted Mitchell telling him that when he was a 

boy in the 1920s he left the reservation with his father to “go down to MDI and spend a 

couple of days just eating clams and mussels.” That tradition continues in the Mitchell’s 

extended family today; at least once a year they all drive to MDI for a picnic of 

(purchased) seafood at Seawall.105 According to Ted, whose grandparents and greatgrandparents clammed in the area in the 19th century, the annual family trip to MDI is 

 Mitchell is likely John B. Mitchell (b.1851), listed on Indian Island’s 1880 Federal census with wife Maria 

Newell (b.1858) and child, Martha (b.1878). On the 1900 census John B. Mitchell appears with 4 additional 

children: Elizabeth (b.1889), Theodore (b.1890), Clara (b.1892) and Sabattis (b.1897). By this time he had 

remarried a young woman named Mary (b.1873). 

102 Ralph Stanley, interview by McBride, Jan. 2004. This must be Sylvester Francis, on the 1920 Federal 

census for SWH as a laborer living with his wife Fannie (also b.1879) on Stage Rd. He appears as a private 

estate gardener on the 1930 SWH census, living with a different wife, Lillian, (b.1892) and daughters 

Welphar N. (b.1918) & Lottie N. (b1920). Sylvester also appears on the 1900 Fed.census for Perry/Pleasant 

Pt., age 21, living with his parents Lewy (b.1851) and Mary (b.1858), and brother William (b.1889). 103 Cartwright, July 1982, pp.1, 8. 104 Susan Snow Holmes, interview by McBride, Jan. 2004. 105 John Bear Mitchell, interview by McBride, Jan. 2004. 
▪Chapter 15: Food Uses of Plants & Animals▪ 

434

about “roots. My people were always on MDI in the summer. Returning there is like 

going to your second house.”106

Another recollection came from Mi’kmaq Elizabeth (“Lizzie”) Lafford Phillips 

(1920-1999). Lizzie and her Mi’kmaq husband Noel Phillips (1914-1959) harvested 

clams for personal use and to sell from 1944-1954, when they lived in Ashville (near 

West Gouldsboro, just east of MDI, above Schoodic Point). As she recalled, “During 

summer months we made baskets, raked berries and dug clams. Our camp was next to the 

water. . . . We did a lot of clam digging when we lived there. You can dig clams all year 

down there, but I did it mostly in the summer.”107 Mi’kmaqs Mary Lafford Sanipass 

(1935-) and her husband Donald Sanipass (1928-2000) remember clamming nearby in 

Sullivan in the early 1950s and meeting up with the Phillips family. In Donald’s words: 

We could get 10-12 bushels in low tide in one-and-a-half hours. Sometimes 

you’d get two tides a day. . . . I also cut pulp [wood] in Gouldsboro. Noel 

[Phillips] and his brother and sons were also there working in the woods. And 

they dug clams there. They were just a step away from us. You could see Bar 

Harbor from there. We’d go sight seeing at Bar Harbor and Schoodic.108

Mi'kmaqs Sarah & Abe Harquail (center) clamming with family members, c1948. While 

taken at Eel River Bar reservation in New Brunswick, this photo helps us imagine other 

Wabanaki families of that era clamming together on other shores. (McBride/Prins Collection) 

 Today, restrictions abound in Maine when it comes to hunting, fishing and 

gathering – ranging from strict prohibition in protected park lands to laws designating 

what species can be pursued during which time of year in which areas. That said, 

Wabanakis now have both tribal and private land parcels – a tiny fraction of their 

aboriginal range – where they set their own hunting and fishing codes. 

◘ ◘ ◘ ◘

 

106 Ted Mitchell, interview by McBride, June 2004. 107 Personal communication, 1982. 108 Personal communication, 1982 and summer 2002. 
▪Chapter 16: Medicinal Uses of Plants & Animals▪

435

CHAPTER 16: WABANAKI MEDICINAL USES 

OF PLANTS & ANIMALS 

 

Ulnooie N’pesoon 

(Indian Medicine) 

 

We look to nature 

To cure our ills, 

From the bark of tree 

That is doopsi* 

Bugosi* that is steeped 

To drink as tea, 

The curing root 

Growing free. 

Wes-ou-tej-kul*

The gold threads 

Bearing a cure 

The heart and our breath. 

There are many 

As this book tells, 

N’pesoon* 

We Ulnoo use always, 

And pass onto you.

 

*Doopsi (or tupsi) – Alder 

*Bugosi – Root (usually refers to 

water lily/cow parsnip root) 

*Wes-ou-tej-kul – Gold thread 

As this poem by the noted Mi’kmaq writer Rita Joe1 (1932-2007) suggests, Wabanakis 

traditionally used, and still use, a wide variety of flora for medicinal purposes. They also 

used parts of several animal species in their treatments. A vast majority of these flora and 

fauna are found within and around Acadia National Park. Here, we offer an historical 

overview of traditional Wabanaki medicinal practices, ending with a commentary about 

such activities on and near Mount Desert Island. In chapters 17 and 18, annotated and 

illustrated inventories of specific species found in our research area provide additional 

information concerning their nomenclature, description, habitat, use and related legends. 

TRADITIONAL WABANAKI APPROACHES TO TREATING ILLNESS 

Early European observers of Wabanaki peoples made particular note of their relative 

health and the absence among them of many illnesses that were common in Europe 

(where higher human population densities and close association with domesticated 

animals facilitated the multiplication and spread of diseases). However, Wabanakis were 

not without suffering. Common ailments among them included rheumatism, arthritis, 

 

1

 In Lacey 1977, p.v. 
▪Chapter 16: Medicinal Uses of Plants & Animals▪

436

digestive disorders and intestinal worms, along with skin and eye irritations and 

accidental problems such as burns, cuts, wounds, bruises and broken bones. Illnesses that 

had a clear physical cause warranted treatment in the form of herbal medicines, prepared 

and administered by both women and men. Illnesses without an apparent physical cause 

were viewed as supernatural – brought on by sorcerers, spirits of the dead or other 

unearthly forces. Considered more serious, they called for shamanic intervention, which 

usually included herbal treatment along with shamanic actions (described below). Almost 

invariably, shamans were men.2

 

In addition to various cures for existing ailments, Wabanakis also practiced 

preventive medicine – dancing to maintain health, carrying charms and amulets thought 

to protect them from accidents and illness, and taking long sweats to purify the body as 

well as to treat some specific problems. Among several accounts of traditional sweats is 

one by French trader Nicholas Denys, describing what he observed among Mi’kmaqs in 

the first half of the 17th century. “In old times,” he wrote, “their general remedy was to 

make themselves sweat, something which they did every month and even oftener.” For 

this, he explained, they constructed a small round bark wigwam “entirely closed up with 

the exception of a little opening for entering, and the whole was covered besides with 

their garments. Whilst this was being done, large rocks were gathered and placed in the 

fire, and made red-hot. After this those who wished to sweat placed themselves wholly 

naked in the wigwam, seated on their buttocks on the ground.” Then the heated rocks 

were brought inside along with a “big dish full of water and another small dish for 

pouring the water upon the rocks, which were placed in the middle of the circle. This 

water which they poured upon the rocks made a steam which filled the cabin.” With new 

hot rocks brought in as needed, people stayed in the sweat lodge “as long as they could 

and they stuck to it an hour and a half or two hours. During this time they chanted songs, 

and told stories to make themselves laugh.” Upon exiting, they jumped into the sea or a 

river, then came out of the water and donned their robes.3

Shamanic Treatments 

Having the ability to manipulate unseen forces made Wabanaki shamans invaluable in 

solving a range of problems – from illness to a shortage of game. Individuals recognized 

as having shamanic powers or motewolon (magic) gained that power in various ways: “by 

inheritance through a long family line of shamans; in a dream; as a gift bestowed by 

another shaman; from a power spirit within a ‘mystic herb’ or plant; or through a ‘power 

quest’ which involved going and living by oneself in the forest and fasting until a spirit 

helper appeared and bestowed the seeker with shamanic powers. . . . Upon receiving 

power, Micmac shamans usually adopted an animal or some natural object as a 

benefactor and ally of physicians in their work. . . . represented by fetishes, which the 

shaman kept hidden in a sack.”4

 

 As noted by Nicholas Smith in his short article on Wabanaki herb medicines, nonexceptional problems – from cuts to burns and skin irritations – were treated with 

 

2

 Vogel, p.161; Biard 1616, in JR, vol. 3, pp.119, 125; Denys, pp.417-418; Jouvency, p.261; LeClercq, 

pp.216-218. 

3

 Denys 1675, p.416. See also Gyles, pp.91-92; Jouvency, p.261; LeClerq, 206; Lescarbot 1614, vol.3, 

pp.185-86; Speck 1917, p.312. 

4

 Lacey, p.12. See also LeClercq, pp.221-122. 
▪Chapter 16: Medicinal Uses of Plants & Animals▪

437

medicine plants. A shaman was not called for such problems unless infection set in, 

which was seen as a signal that “bad spirits had entered the ailing one. . . . To retain his 

coveted position as a doctor, [a shaman] had to prove that there was something more to 

healing than an herb. This was a special something which he and only he was able to add 

through the preparation and presentation of the brew. If one medicine man’s power 

couldn’t cure, perhaps another’s could. There were always the personal spirit-helpers 

backing up each wizard. In some cases when an important man or chief became ill, 

several shamans might be called to work their magic at the same time.”5

 Several Europeans wrote early, first-hand descriptions of Wabanaki shamanic 

curing rituals, each mentioning common elements such as chanting, dancing, and sleight 

of hand. The following excerpt comes from a 17th-century account by Jesuit priest 

Chrestien LeClercq: 

[The shaman] chants some song in praise of the Ouhaiche [spirit helper], and 

makes some postures and frightful contortions: he comes near to, and draws 

back from, the sick man; he blows several times upon the affected part; he plants 

and drives deep within the ground a stick, to which he attaches a cord, and 

through this he passes his head as if he would strangle himself. Here he makes 

his invocations until he has worked himself all into a sweat and lather, making 

believe that, because of all these shameful and violent contortions, the Devil has 

at length come out, and that he even holds him bound in order that he may grant 

health to the sick person. He then calls the Indians and makes them enter the 

wigwam; and he shows them the cord, which, says he, holds the Devil 

enchained. He cuts from it a piece, and thus lets him escape, promising that the 

sick man will infallibly get well.6

 

Herbal Treatments 

In contrast to shamans, Wabanaki physicians who treated ailments thought to be brought 

on by purely physical causes did so with medicine prepared out of wild plants, sometimes 

used in compounds with animal parts. Frank Speck, like other chroniclers of Wabanaki 

cultures through the centuries, noted “the widespread use of herbs as medicines apart 

from the practice of magic.”7

 A person who healed in this way was known as a “maker of 

medicine” or “one who cures with ‘medicines.’” Over the years, various inventories have 

been made of the plant and animals species used by Wabanakis to make medicine. These 

catalogs are informative, but tend to be incomplete – typically listing species as having 

medicinal value for treating a particular problem, but commonly excluding detailed 

information about which part of the plant was used or how it was prepared. Nonetheless, 

it is clear that since time immemorial Wabanakis have had what Speck referred to as “an 

extensive pharmacopoeia” drawn from nature’s storehouse.8

 

The origin of these medicines is told in several versions of a Wabanaki legend 

about a strange child (usually a boy). In one account, the child wanders into a 

 

5

 Smith 1966, p.2. 

6

 LeClercq, pp.216-218. 

7

 Speck 1917, p.303. 

8

 Speck 1917, p.307. 
▪Chapter 16: Medicinal Uses of Plants & Animals▪

438

Penobscot village and moves in with a woman and her husband. In another, he 

metamorphoses from a rare medicinal root hidden in his mother’s bosom. Once the child 

is present, other children in the village begin to die. One after the other, they are found 

dead, with their tongues cut out (in some versions, it is the liver). Some people notice that 

the strange child wanders at night and returns to the wigwam to roast a small piece of 

meat on the fire. When they realize that the meat is the tongues (or livers) of the dead 

children, it becomes apparent that the strange child is the murderer. The villagers then try 

to do away with him, first by drowning, then by burning him to ashes. Both times, the 

child returns alive. In one version, he promises to stop the murders if recognized as a 

great chief. In another, women in the village step forward, offer the child gifts and beg 

him to stop. Once an agreement is reached, the child lies down for a rest, removing the 

bones from his body. While he rests, medicine plants grow under his body. 

In Penobscot Joseph Nicolar’s version of the 

story (included in his 1894 book, The Life and 

Traditions of the Red Man), before resting the 

child announces: “I want seven young maidens 

to attend me during my rest, each maiden shall 

attend me for one year . . . and at the end of 

seven years, all the seven maidens will come 

together and turn my body so I may lay on the 

other side of my body for another seven years. 

In turning my body in the first seven years, 

you shall find where my body laid, seven 

sprouts of plants starting from the ground; let 

them grow seven moons, when the young 

maidens shall name what disease each plant 

shall cure; then they shall gather the seed from 

them and shall scatter it to the four winds . . . 

and the seed shall grow all over the land, and it 

will be the medicine for the sick”9

 Joseph Nicolar, c1887(Courtesy Charles Shay) 

The main character in Nicolar’s telling of the story is referred to as “Bone Handler.” In 

other accounts, including one recorded by Frank Speck, he is called “Turn Over.” In 

Speck’s rendition, when the child is rolled over, “various herbs are found beneath him, 

and any Indians who go to visit him . . . may obtain the gift of healing and the knowledge 

of the herbs by asking for them and rolling him over on his other side.”10 

Among Wabanakis, general knowledge concerning medicinal plants was common, 

but women especially were long regarded as effective herbal healers. Telling an old story 

about how winter came to Wabanaki Country bringing certain ailments, Nicolar wrote: 

Many [were] made sick by undergoing the long exposure, but these were 

soon made comfortable by the mothers who took care [of] the medicinal 

 

9

 Nicolar, p.75. 

10 Speck 1935, pp.79-81. See also See also Jack, p.193; Speck 1917, pp.307-308; Smith 1966. 
▪Chapter 16: Medicinal Uses of Plants & Animals▪

439

plants that had been gathered by the maidens previous to the changing of the 

color of the plants [winter]. The gathering of the medicinal plants and putting 

them in the care of the mothers made the people look upon them as the 

healers of the sick, who when called upon went to their work with willing 

hands. . . . Thus having conducted the medical department so faithfully and 

well, the duty of dealing out medicine fell to the women, therefore there was 

no man doctor among them. This arrangement continued until the coming of 

the white man. To deal out medicine to the sick was looked upon as below 

the sphere of man; surgical profession was not known and the practice of 

surgery was not needed, because those who dealt out medicine were able to 

heal all kinds of diseases, bones and flesh were healed alike. Men’s minds 

were entirely absorbed in the art of spiritual works. A good hunter was also 

considered useful, more so when the country became thickly populated. But 

the spiritual men were considered indispensable beings. No matter how great 

a hunter man may be, he is bound to consult these men upon all occasions; 

therefore the services of them were constantly sought after and were always 

busy.11 

An intriguing entry in the 1910 Register of the Towns of Sedgwick, Brooklin, Deer 

Isle, Stonington and Isle Au Haut, suggests Wabanakis may have kept herb gardens for 

medicinal purposes: “Not far from ‘The Oakland House,’ Herricks, now within the limits 

of Brooksville, though formerly a part of Sedgwick, may be seen still a few plants and 

herbs alien to the soil, marking the location of an ancient Indian garden.”12 Other 

remnants found in the vicinity (shellmiddens, stone artifacts) also establish Native 

presence there. 

IMPACT OF EUROPEAN CONTACT ON WABANAKI MEDICINAL PRACTICES 

Before Europeans arrived on the shores of northeast America, Wabanakis used healing 

herbs to treat common ailments noted above, including sprains, burns, frostbite, broken 

bones, skin and eye irritations, as well as respiratory problems and stomach ailments. 

While there is no doubt that herbal treatments changed over the generations, particularly 

after contact, which introduced new forms of illness as well as imported medicinal plants, 

clearly certain herbal treatments were used before, during and after contact. Among 

early-mentioned medicinal plants still in use today are two that are basic to Wabanaki 

curing traditions and present in Acadian National Park: balsam fir and sweet flag. In the 

17th century, Denys described balsam fir gum as the Mi’kmaqs “greatest remedy” for 

wounds.13 In the same century French colonist and author Marc Lescarbot mentioned the 

medicinal value of Calamus odoratus – surely referring to sweet flag (Acorus calamus), a 

Wabanaki panacea used for general health and to treat a host of problems. 

Confidence in the far-reaching effectiveness of sweet flag even carried over to the 

treatment of illnesses brought from abroad, as evident in this story recorded by Speck: 

 

11 Nicolar, pp79-80. 

12 Chatto & Turner, courtesy of Wm. Haviland. 

13 Denys, p449. 
▪Chapter 16: Medicinal Uses of Plants & Animals▪

440

Long ago all the people were dying off with a kind of cholera.... All 

medicines failed. One night during these times a man had 

a dream. He dreamt that a person came to him and said, 

‘All the people are dying and nobody can cure them. But I 

will show you a cure. I am Muskwessuwesk, Muskrat 

Root, and when you take me and steep me in water for 

medicine, you and everyone who drinks me will be cured. 

Now come with me and I will show you where I am to be 

found.’ So he took the man to a swamp and showed him the 

root; then disappeared. When the dreamer awoke he went to the place he had 

visited in his dream. As he knew just where to go he found the root, took it 

back and made medicine. The people took it and were cured.14 

During the contact era, Wabanaki faith in shamanism suffered due to missionizing 

and the failure of shamans to cure the mysterious diseases brought on by alien pathogens 

carried across the ocean from Europe. In the wake of the “great dying” of the 1600s, 

which claimed the lives of 75-90% of their people, Wabanakis gradually came to rely 

more extensively on the expert herbalists among them when it came to treating longfamiliar ailments, as well as the new infectious diseases, which included cholera, 

diphtheria, measles, scarlet fever, smallpox, typhoid, syphilis and gonorrhea. 

WABANAKI MEDICINAL TREATMENTS: CONTENT & PREPARATION 

Plant-based Treatments 

By the time Speck wrote his 1917 article on Native medicinal practices, traditional 

Wabanaki pharmacopoeia had expanded and also included an array of non-Native plants 

(such as barberry, dandelion, lamb’s quarters, yarrow and tansy) carried across the ocean 

by the newcomers and gradually naturalized in and beyond Maine. 

Barberry Dandelion Lamb's Quarters Yarrow Tansy 

In addition to sweet flag, plants having a wide range of medicinal applications 

among Wabanakis include(d) boneset, goldthread, pipsissewa, purple pitcher plant, sheep 

 

14 Speck 1935, p..95. See also Smith 1966. 
▪Chapter 16: Medicinal Uses of Plants & Animals▪

441

laurel, spikenard, sweet fern, and the white water lily, as well as several tree species – 

speckled alder, striped maple, white cedar and white pine. 

Boneset Goldthread Pipsissewa 

 

Purple Pitcher Sheep Laurel 

Some plants were used green, while others were dried. Typically, medicine makers 

kept a supply of dried plants, roots, leaves and bark on hand. The plant material was 

prepared in various ways. Some species, such as sweet flag root, could be dried and 

chewed. Others required more extensive preparation to be turned into various medicinal 

forms: decoctions (liquid made of plant material boiled in water), infusions (tea made of 

plant material steeped in boiled water), tinctures (alcoholic solutions containing low 

concentrations of the active principles of herbs and plants), poultices (compresses made 

of plant material prepared in various ways), salves (balms/liniments made of plant 

material boiled with oil/fat/ointment of some kind), and powders (dried plants or roots 

reduced to powder with mortar and pestle). Abenaki Fred Wiseman summarized 

preparation as follows in his book Voice of the Dawn: 

The customary practice to prepare plants is to handpick and clean or rinse the 

leaves, twigs, bark to remove any extraneous plant parts, insects, dirt, etc. The 

plant material is usually added to a specific amount of water and boiled or 

steeped in hot water. The theory is that the power in the plant is liberated and 

transferred to the hot water. The herbal tea can be drunk or applied to the 

offending element. Another technique is to mash or shred the plant material, 

perhaps mix it with a little water or sap, and apply it as a poultice to the affected 

area, where the spirit will pass directly from the plant to the body. Occasionally 

the plant is chewed, releasing more of the power directly. The Penobscot people 

use another technique: sweet flag is steamed through the house to keep away 

disease. . . . External medicinal plant treatments usually consist of poultices of 

crushed leaves, or saps applied directly to the affected area. However, an 

infusion is sometimes used, as in the case of common juniper needles, which are 

steeped to make an antiseptic.15 

Animal-based Treatments 

Overall, fauna played a relatively modest role in Wabanaki medicinal practices compared 

to flora. That said, Wabanakis commonly used animal fat/oil as a lubricant and as a 

 

15 Wiseman, pp201-203. 
▪Chapter 16: Medicinal Uses of Plants & Animals▪

442

healing balm for such problems as rheumatism or chest colds. Often, liniments were a fat 

and plant(s) mixture. For example, Old Town pharmacist Horace Burham wrote in 1916 

that Wabanakis made an ointment of fir balsam and animal fat. Other than salves, the 

most widely used animal-based cures featured beaver parts and eelskins. Burnham noted 

the use of beaver castor, mentioning that an Indian woman told him it was given “mostly 

to young women from fifteen to eighteen years of age [as] an emmenagogue.”16 

According to Speck17: “Beaver castor (testicles) is a 

panacea for all kinds of female troubles. For such use it 

is steeped and often mixed with brandy. In cases of 

measles, the Indians used to fix a half-dried castor on 

the end of a needle and stick it up each nostril to relieve 

the congestion and inflammation. Merely to carry 

beaver castor about with one is beneficial, they think. . . 

. Others put a little scraped castor into nearly every medicine brew to add to its efficacy.” 

Beaver gall bladder also figured in the Wabanaki pharmacy – its contents imbibed to treat 

“stones,” according to a Mi’kmaq informant.18 And the gall bladder content of any 

animal was used as a massage lubricant for rheumatism.19 

As for eelskins, Wabanakis wrapped them around troubled parts 

of the body to cure (or prevent) cramps, rheumatism and headaches. In 

Speck’s estimation, the skins may have served largely in the way of 

amulets – providing the sort of psychological relief that sometimes translated into 

physical relief. Writing about Mi’kmaqs, Speck also noted that the “lixivium from the 

ashes of deers’ bones is drunk as an astringent. The yolk of eggs and turpentine, equal 

parts, or vary the proportion with the nature of the sore, applied as a salve, is said to have 

effected cures in desperate cases of ulcers.”20 Among a handful of other fauna-based 

treatments: rubbing skunk grease on the scalp was thought to stimulate hair growth; 

imbibing grease extracted from moose leg bones through boiling was considered good for 

the chest; and applying goose fat to the chest and/or throat was believed to relieve the 

common cold.21 

Compound Treatments 

Often, Wabanaki treatments consisted of more than one species. Of special note are those 

comprised of seven herbs. The significance of this number has been noted by various 

writers of Wabanaki culture, including Joseph Nicolar in his telling of the origin of 

medicine. In this story, “Bone Handler” refers to seven as the “true number,” and the 

figure appears repeatedly in the story. For instance: “The young maidens went through 

the task of turning the body of No-chi-gar-neh [“Bone Handler”], and in doing so did see 

the seven plants coming through the ground in the place where the boy’s body had been 

laying which they left to grow. And when the seven moons have passed and after 

 

16 Burnham, p.70. 

17 Speck 1917, p.312. 

18 Lacey, p.56. 

19 Wallis, p.28. 

20 Speck 1917, p.317. 

21 Lacey, pp.42, 57; Van Wart, p.574. 
▪Chapter 16: Medicinal Uses of Plants & Animals▪

443

gathering the seed and having named each plant and what disease they will cure, did cast 

the seed in the four winds, which ended the work of the seven maidens.”22 

Among the seven-species compound medicines is one that, according to Speck, was 

used by Penobscots to treat gonorrhea, as well as for kidney trouble “spitting up blood.” 

It consisted of a decoction of wintergreen, wild indigo, cleaver’s vine, spikenard root, 

solomon’s seal, moosewood and boneset. Speck also mentions a “concoction of seven 

herbs . . . taken as a sudorific [sweat inducement] before entering the [sweat lodge].” 

However, he follows this statement with a list of eight species rather than seven: “sweetflag, fir-twigs, lambkill, alder-bark, witch-hazel twigs, cedar-boughs, prince’s pine, and a 

kind of brake” (all present in Acadia National Park). This error may be explainable by 

Speck’s comment that “the components were found to vary a little” – perhaps he inserted 

one of the variables in the primary list by mistake. Whatever the explanation for the 

miscount, Speck elaborated that after drinking the compound sudorific, 

The patient seats himself, usually indoors (in former times in a specially 

constructed bark hut), over a vessel of water into which heated stones have been 

dropped by an assistant, and a blanket is put over him, reaching to the floor all 

round. With the draft in his stomach and the heat confined under the blanket, a 

profuse sweat is soon induced; after a short period the patient goes to be in his 

blankets and sleeps. This they do to break up fever.23 

NOTABLE WABANAKI HERBAL DOCTORS 

Knowledge concerning plants remained common among Wabanaki peoples into the 20th

century. Speck, writing in the early 1900s, commented that “an almost unexhaustible 

[sic] fund of knowledge exists on the subject” in the Native community. Beyond the 

mundane use of basic traditional medicine in most Wabanaki households, by the mid1800s, a significant number of Wabanaki women, as well as men, had come to the fore as 

professional herbal practitioners. Wabanakis and Euramerican settlers alike turned to 

them in times of illness. Perhaps the best known forerunner of these individuals in the 

historical memory of today’s Mainers is Molly Ockett (c1740-1818). She is often referred 

to as “the last of the Pigwackets,” a Wabanaki group traditionally based along the Saco 

River. Numerous signposts of her presence are scattered about the state in the form of 

places carrying her name: Molly Ockett’s Cave, Molly Ockett Mountain, Molley Ockett 

Trail, Moll’s Rock, Mollywocket Brooke. But many others whose names and lives have 

disappeared in the minds of contemporary Mainers were well known in their day, as 

revealed in various 19th-century publications. For example, Reverend Elijah Kellogg, 

who lived with the Passamaquoddy at Pleasant Point as a Protestant missionary in the 

1820s, noted in his journal that the Governor’s Joseph Neptune Francis’ “eldest daughter, 

a doctress, speaks good English.”24 An 1833 Maine newspaper article offered more 

information about another healer – “Mary, an Indian Doctress of the Penobscot Tribe.” 

The following excerpt is relevant for this particular study: 

 

22 Nicolar, p.80. See also Rand, pp.211, 424. 

23 Speck 1917, p.311. 

24 22 Sept. 1821. 
▪Chapter 16: Medicinal Uses of Plants & Animals▪

444

[This] is a representation of the everyday dress of a 

female Penobscot. It is well known that a remnant of 

that once powerful tribe of Indians still occupy the 

island in the Penobscot river. Their principal residence 

is the ancient village, now called Old Town, from 

whence they annually set forth, in summer, to the 

ocean. . . . Mary, whose portrait is very correctly given, 

was a grave Doctress well skilled in roots, herbs and 

HUMAN NATURE. In their medical practice they of 

course have no great [discrimination?] of dis-eases, but 

they seldom do harm, and oftentimes much good. 

Compelled by necessity to resort to the vegetable 

kingdom for their supplies of medicine, they have 

ascertained the properties of many vege-tables before 

unknown, and which might be advantageously used by Doctors of a higher 

grade. Faith, however, is a valuable auxiliary to them, and they well know the 

reliance which many have on ‘Indian doctors and Indian specialties’ and make 

use of it accordingly.25 

Although Wabanaki healers such as the pipe-smoking “Mary” pictured above were 

typically self-appointed, certain individuals were viewed as “gifted.” For instance, 

tradition held that a seventh son or daughter possessed special healing power and 

knowledge of medicines. Also, although general knowledge about herbal treatments was 

common, such individuals were recognized as having uniquely powerful healing abilities, 

which often included secret cures that were self devised, purchased or handed down to 

them. The very secrecy of these cures was thought to strengthen their potency.26

One Wabanaki thought to possess such power was Philomene Saulis Nelson 

(1888-1977), mother of the famous Penobscot dancer known as Molly Spotted Elk (who 

performed in Bar Harbor at the Abbe Museum in August 1935 after garnering fame in 

New York and Paris). Philomene was the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, and her 

healing gift became apparent early in life. When she was just a child, her mother 

frequently pulled her from play to take her to someone’s sickbed. Philomene used 

psychic insights and the laying on of hands in her healings, and gradually took up 

collecting wild herbs and preparing various concoctions to heal a range of ailments from 

stiff joints and headaches to gall stones.” Her youngest daughter Eunice (1915-2004) 

recalled going out with Philomene to gather flag root and balsam blisters. And her eldest 

daughter Molly, who kept diaries during much of her life, sometimes mentioned her 

mother’s healing activities on those pages—such as successfully treating one of her 

children for peptitus, another for a severe burn, and yet another for tuberculosis. 

Philomene continued using traditional methods with her grandchildren, as noted by Molly 

in a diary entry about her own daughter’s bout with whooping cough and influenza in 

1934: “Mama resorted to Indian medicine.... applied onions and pork on Gee-gis’ chest 

and head.”27

 

25 Maine Farmer, July 1833, vol.1:24, p.192. 26 Speck 1917, pp.307-308. 

27 McBride 1995, pp.296, n.22, pp.20-21, 25, 219. 
▪Chapter 16: Medicinal Uses of Plants & Animals▪

445

Well before Philomene Nelson’s birth, Indian agent records showed that many 

Wabanaki “doctors” were using mainstream medicines acquired through the agents or 

directly from doctors. For example, Penobscot agent Hayford’s 1848 records include lists 

of payments made to various white doctors covering a range of medicinal aids for 

members of the tribe: especially sweet oil, camphor, liniment, salts & senna, and various 

alcohols – brandy, gin, wine. Also noted were plasters, Richardson’s Bitters, and 

nondescript items such as “pills” and “bot. of medicine.” 

Indian doctors also appear on agent books as being paid for treating fellow tribal 

members. For instance, Agent Hayford’s 1847 records show that he requested and 

received authorization to provide small pox vaccinations for tribal members – and hired a 

Penobscot doctor for the task. Six months later Penobscot Governor Joseph Attean 

submitted a $25 bill for “the vaccination of 100 persons, men, women and children at 

.25,” noting, “This is to certify that Doctor Newel has done our vaccination to our entire 

satisfaction and that the above account is correct and it is our request that the Indian 

Agent pay the above bill.” Similarly, Passamaquoddy Indian Agent Nutt’ 1859 report 

mentioned the need for a special “appropriation” of funds to pay Passamaquoddy “Doct 

Joseph Lolar Selmor” for his “kind and careful treatment” of 17 tribal members inflicted 

with small pox. Furthermore, in the 1860s and ‘70s, the receipts of the Penobscot Agent 

Dillingham include many signed by Penobscot men and women identified as doctors and 

paid for giving “medical attendance on Penobscot Indians.” These Native caretakers 

include Lewy (jackquatis) Mitchell (b.1799), Sabattis Mitchell (b.1824), Francis 

Neptune, Newell Nicolar (b.1828), Joseph Sockbesin (b.1808), Mary Sockbesin (b.1832), 

Sapiel Sockalexis (b.1817), and Sarah Tomer. Some of these individuals, as well as 

various others, including Sockalexis Classian (b.1828), Attean Lola(r) (b.1813)28, and 

Peale Nicola (b.1812)29, have “Dr.” written by their names on tribal censuses. 

Other Penobscot doctors of the day are identifiable by 

surviving copies of their calling cards, placards, or newspaper ads. 

Among them were Joseph Newell and John Porus (a.k.a. Polis, 

b.1830), whose calling card is pictured right (authors’ collection). At 

times, Porus associated with the Newell family (described below) 

as they traveled around Maine and other New England states in the 

1850s, setting up camp on the edge of towns to practice medicine, 

sell crafts and offer “entertainments.” He became less mobile after 

losing his leg in the Civil War.

Passamaquoddy agent reports include similar information, 

although the number of Native doctors mentioned is notably 

smaller than among Penobscots. Among several illustrations, is 

this excerpt from the Passamaquoddy agent’s 1892 annual report to the State of Maine: 

I have continued through sub-agent Gove the service of Dr. Rodgers at Pleasant 

Point and at the same salary, $150 per year. . . . We have also paid one Indian 

doctor, Sabattis Joseph, whom many of the Indians have confidence in, five 

dollars per month for his services, and believe the results have been good. 

 

28 Also spelled Attien or Atien and Lola or Loler, he was married to Sarah Polasses, daughter of the famous 

pair, Molly “Molasses” Nicola and Lt. Gov. John Neptune. 

29 Also appears on tribal censuses as Pielis and Peter. Brother of Joseph Nicolar. 
▪Chapter 16: Medicinal Uses of Plants & Animals▪

446

WABANAKI HERBAL DOCTORS IN THE MOUNT DESERT AREA

Although historical records are thin concerning Indian doctors in the Mount Desert Island 

area, several specific names have been located. Earliest among them is Joseph Cook, 

mentioned in a September 1796 letter to the Hancock County Sheriff from one Thomas 

Phillips Clark: “We command that you summon Joseph Cook of said Blue Hill, Indian 

man & physician . . . to appear before the Justices of the Court . . . at Castine” to give 

evidence on the trial of William Fletcher, William Fletcher jr., and James Fletcher.”30 As 

discussed in an earlier chapter, in all likelihood, Cook was an Iroquois who married into 

one of several Penobscot families living (seasonally) on the margins of the Blue Hill 

community. His medicinal skills were noted by the town’s first resident pastor, Jonathan 

Fisher, who moved there in 1795. Rev. Fisher was interested in herbal medicine and 

sometimes treated locals himself. “‘Dr. Cook,’” he wrote, was “‘very skilful as a 

physician’” who “could write and ‘cipher a little,’” and “concocted efficacious remedies 

from cedar twigs for sores and bruises.”31 

East of Blue Hill, according to descendents of Abraham Somes, founder of 

Somesville on Mount Desert Island, the village’s first white doctor, Kendall Kittredge, 

arrived there in 1799 and learned many of his medicinal “formulas and mixtures” from 

“the Indians.” His great grandson relayed that Dr. Kittredge was convinced that some of 

the Indian panaceas were more effective than treatments he learned in medical school.32

Abraham Somes’ grand-daughter, Adelma (“Dell”) Somes Joy, recounted fond 

memories of Indians encamped on her family’s property alongside Lily Pond (now 

Somes Pond). Born in 1837, she had childhood recollections reaching back to the 1840s: 

“Indians used to come and camp around the ponds for the purpose of trapping mink and 

muskrat. They made baskets too, and did beautiful work. . . . The camps were made of 

spruce boughs and the women told fortunes.” In particular she noted “Mary Ann the 

fortune teller,” who may well have also practiced herbal medicine since fortune-telling 

was often done in tandem with herbalism among Wabanaki women involved in 

traditional healing arts at the time. She also mentioned a Penobscot woman named “Mrs. 

Glassene” [Glossian] and her son Newell who were connected to the Somes family 

during Adelma’s growing up years. Apparently this mother and son were more than 

summer visitors to the area, for the boy and Adelma attended the same little red school. 

Adelma noted skills that her grandfather, John Somes, learned from Indians – including 

how to make woodsplint baskets and scoop nets for fishing. According to another 

descendent of Abraham Somes, the Indians encamped by the pond were 

both friends and teachers [and] it is reasonable to suppose that [the Somes 

family] gained some knowledge of [medicinal plants from] them. The Indian 

woman who lived in the Abraham Somes household, presumably to work there 

and help in the care of the children must have taught Hannah Somes something 

of Indian remedies. Did Hannah learn that elderberry leaves, cleaned, dried, and 

made into a tea with wild peppermint leaves would help in cases of baby colic; 

that an ointment made from the leaves of the elderberry was good for sprains 

 

30 MSA, Hancock County Court of Sessions, Box 2, folder 58.

31 In Chase, M.E. pp.56-57. 

32 Somes-Sanderson, p.69. See also Pugh et al, p.42. 
▪Chapter 16: Medicinal Uses of Plants & Animals▪

447

and bruises; that the dried inner bark was a purgative; that an infusion of the fine 

dried leaves of the wild strawberry was of special use for diarrhea in children?33 

Adelma Somes Joy’s reminiscences of Somesville also 

include mention of a winter-time Indian “exhibition” 

presented in the local woolen mill circa 1855. In her words, it 

featured the “Indian chief from Old Town and fifteen or 

twenty members of the Tribe. . . . dressed like real savages, 

fringes, beads, feathers and painted faces, arms and legs. The 

war dance was awe-inspiring and crowds from everywhere 

came to see the show.” In all likelihood, the event was 

organized by Penobscot Frank “Big Thunder” Loring (pictured 

left, c1900/authors’ collection). Loring became one of the most 

familiar Wabanakis on and around Mount Desert Island – 

known as a provider of “Indian entertainments,” as well as hunting guide services, canoe 

lessons in Bar Harbor, and medicinal treatments wherever he happened to be. According 

to historical notes collected by Joy’s niece, Barbara Ellen Joy: 

Professional doctoring was hard to come by, so the mothers had their own 

remedies. At one time they had help from an Indian, Big Thunder, who had a 

camp [on Mount Desert Island]. For a sore throat, he would put pepper in a pipe 

and blow it down over the tonsils. Tansy worn in a bag around the neck was a 

good preventative for worms. The children gathered and dried pennyroyal, good 

for many troubles. Baked onions in a bag on the chest were used for pneumonia. 

Skull cap was used for medicinal tea.34 

Two generations later, Big Thunder’s grand-daughter Hattie Gordius, who lived her long 

lifetime on Mount Desert Island, told a journalist that her father gargled with goldenseal 

for a sore throat. In the same interview she touted the virtues of tansy with an enthusiasm 

that echoed that of Big Thunder: “Dry tansy will ‘drive out the measles’ she said. ‘I wish 

someone would use my tansy; I’ve got a whole field of it.’”35 

 Something else significant in the story of the c1855 performance organized by 

Big Thunder is the mention of a “handsome young man” who “could play the violin with 

considerable skill” and stole the heart of a white girl. Various accounts of this incident 

identify the young man as Johnny Newell, son (or nephew) of the well-known Penobscot 

doctor, Joseph Newell. Several members of the Newell family were doctors at the time, 

and others were known as fine fiddlers. They went town to town, practicing medicine, 

hawking baskets, and giving musical performances. Johnny Newell’s love interest was 

identified in the Palmer [Mass.] Journal as the “daughter of a wealthy merchant living in 

Harrison square” and belonging to the “upper ten.” It seems that Johnny encountered her 

when encamped in East Boston as well as when on Mount Desert Island. A relationship 

between the two was clearly unacceptable to her father. It was also against Maine’s 

 

33 Somes-Sanderson, pp.69-70. 

34 Joy, vol. 3, p.63 

35 Cartwright. 1982. “‘When the Lord’s ready for me, I’ll go’ Penobscot woman packed sardines 75 

years,’” Wabanaki Alliance, July. 
▪Chapter 16: Medicinal Uses of Plants & Animals▪

448

miscegenation laws at the time, which forbade marriages between Indians and whites. It 

was the stuff of gossip and ballads, and in fact gave birth to the ballad, “The Indian 

Elopement.” Several versions were collected by Fannie Hardy Eckstorm, including one 

from Mrs. Rose Robbins of Northeast Harbor.36 While the story of these star-crossed 

lovers is fascinating for numerous reasons, what is significant for this discussion of 

Wabanaki medicinal practices is the fact that the story points to the likelihood that the 

Newells practiced their medicinal, musical and basketry arts on MDI. 

Often, upon coming to a new location, Indian doctors and entertainers posted 

placards or newspaper ads announcing their arrival and services and programs. Although 

these historical placards (such as those pictured center and right below) are exceedingly 

rare, the Acadia National Park Archives has one that Big Thunder had printed to 

announce his 1884 performance in Bar Harbor (see Chapter 9). A local placard or 

newspaper ad by one of the Newell doctors has yet to surface for the MDI area – but the 

newspaper ad pictured and transcribed below appeared in The Union and Eastern Journal

of Biddeford in 1855: 

 Newspaper Ad 1851 Placard 185137 Placard c1850-6038

[Ad transcription:] Dr. Joseph Newell, the NATIVE INDIAN DOCTOR most 

respectfully offers his services in the Original Indian Healing Art, to the sick and 

afflicted in this vicinity. Dr. Newell may be consulted at the Indian Encampment 

in this place, where he will remain for a short time and furnish those in want of 

Medicine enough to cure them. Dr. N’s healing skill is original, having come 

down many generations. Should Physicians speak evil of the Doctor’s practice, 

pay no attention to what they say, for in so doing they speak evil of what they do 

not understand. What does the white man know of the original Indian practice as 

it existed 400 years ago, and as it now exists! They know but little. . . . 

The center placard pictured here may have a link to Mount Desert Island. It announces an 

“Indian Exhibition” featuring “Newell Glassion, of the Penobscot tribe of Indians,” 

 

36 Eckstorm, 1960. 

37 Image courtesy of Maine Antique Digest, where it appeared Dec. 1989, p.23A. 38 Special Collections, Fogler Library, UMO. 
▪Chapter 16: Medicinal Uses of Plants & Animals▪

449

presenting dances and “many Indian relics,” including moosehide and birchbark canoes, 

watertight bark boxes, and snowshoes. Appearing with them was “Dr. Peales, the 

celebrated Indian doctor of the Penobscot Tribe,” rendering “his services in the Original 

INDIAN HEALING ART.” Anyone who has read Adelma Somes Joy’s memoir cannot 

help but wonder if Newell Glassion, the lead player in this 1851 performance, was related 

to “Mrs. Glassene,” who, with her son Newell, associated with the Somes family. The 

man identified as Dr. Peales is likely Peal Nicola (b1812), identified as “Dr.” on the 1868 

Penobscot census (and in some records referred to as Pielis or Peter Nicola39). This 

placard, like others, has a blank space in which the location and date of the event were 

written by hand. The place noted on this particular copy of the placard is difficult to read 

(perhaps Waltham, Mass.), but no doubt other copies of the poster were inscribed with 

towns in Maine. 

Turning from placards to anthropologists, one especially interesting 

account of Wabanaki doctors on Mount Desert Island comes from the 

well-known folklorist, Charles Godfrey Leland (see profile of Leland in 

Chapter 10). In the early 1880s, Leland went to Bar Harbor to gather 

Wabanaki legends among Penobscots and Passamaquoddies. Like many 

others, he was aware that they spent summers on MDI making and 

selling crafts. He wrote the following about an unnamed Indian doctress 

he encountered there who had motewolon (magic or spirit power): 

Women are sometimes m’teolulin. There is one at Psesuk (Bar Harbor) now, 

this summer. You have met her. She is _____’s wife.40 If you offend her she 

can hurt you in strange ways. She is a good doctor. Once she cured a man. 

When he got well he could not pay her for the medicine. His name is 

Louis____. She asked for her money . . . many times; she could not get it. He 

was going to the woods, far away, to trap; he said he would pay her when he 

returned, but she wanted it then. She said, ‘I will never forget this; I will be 

revenged.’ He went far up the St. John River with his traps; he set them in the 

stream for beaver. All he caught that winter was sticks, and sometimes an eel. 

Then at the end of the day he would say to his man, ‘It is of no use.’ And then 

they could hear the witch laughing behind the bushes, and tittering when he 

came home. So it went on long. Then he was sorry, and said, ‘I wish I had 

paid that woman what I owed her.’ And at once they heard a voice from the 

bushes, or rocks, say, ‘Louis, that will do. It is enough.’ And the next day 

they caught two beaver, and every day two, and so on, till the season was 

over. This happened in 1872, in the Miramichi Waters.41 

It should be mentioned that summers on Mount Desert Island were not always 

healthy for Wabanakis in the latter half of the 19th century when they lived in restricted 

and crowded encampments with poor sanitation. Reports of illness were common. For 

example, in his 1892 report for the state, the Penobscot Indian Agent noted that the tribal 

 

39 See entry 295 of the 1971 Penobscot census, which lists him as Dr. Peter Nicola, age 59. 

40 The two name deletions in this excerpt are Leland’s. 

41 Leland 1884, pp.342-43. 
▪Chapter 16: Medicinal Uses of Plants & Animals▪

450

community had suffered from measles brought back from Bar Harbor. The disease, 

combined with a winter flu epidemic (referred to as the “grippe” in those days), had 

claimed the lives of 10 members of the community. 

Among the most respected Indian doctors of the period was Sabattis Mitchell, 

trained in conventional medical methods of the day in addition to traditional Penobscot 

herbal practices. He also spent time on Mount Desert Island, and one of his visits earned 

this mention in the Mount Desert Herald in September 1886: “Dr. Mitchell, the only 

Indian college graduate in New England is stopping for a few days at the Indian 

encampment. Dr. Mitchell graduated from the Portland medical school two years ago, 

and has practiced in Portland since that time.”42

Horace Burnham, an Old Town pharmacist who often supplied Indian doctors 

with mainstream medicines that they used in conjunction with traditional ones, wrote a 

paper on the pharmacy of the Native healers he had come to know in the course of 40 

years of association with Penobscot doctors such as Mitchell. Read before the Maine 

Pharmaceutical Association in 1916 (and published two years later in Sprague’s Journal 

of Maine History), Burnham’s paper offers a useful overview that places in historical 

context Wabanaki medicine as practiced between 1875-1916: 

In the case of the Indian, the Physician and Pharmacist are one, as prescribing 

and preparing medicine are done by the medicine man or woman. The Indian 

believes that certain [individuals] are endowed by nature with qualities not 

possessed by all which enable them to diagnose and treat disease with greater 

success than their fellows. There is a tradition that in early days before the 

coming of the white man it was necessary for the would-be medicine man to 

undergo some trying ordeal to prove his fitness for the office. . . . They had 

infusions, decoctions, poultices, ointments and plasters. Oils and fats were 

also used as liniments. Boiling was done in dishes of birch bark placed on 

coals, hot ashes, or stones heated by fire beneath or heated stones were 

dropped into the liquid. In the case of infusions and decoctions, the drugs 

were steeped singly or in combination. . . . Today both male and female 

attend and prepare medicine for the sick, but the campfire has given way to 

the cook stove and the bark dish to those of earthen and metal. . . . Although 

at the present time the treatment of disease among the Indians is largely in the 

hands of regular practitioners and medicines of the white man are generally 

used, there are those of the tribe who prefer and employ the native doctors 

and their old time remedies. 

General awareness of basic traditional medicinal practices remained quite common 

among Wabanakis into the 1930s when Penobscot Roland Nelson (b.1895) put together a 

written list of some 120 medicinal plants used by Indians in Maine. Among other places, 

 

42MDH, 9/10/1886, p.3; also in The Daily Herald 9/3/86, p.3. [Note: This is not Sabbatis Mitchell, born in 

1824 and identified as “Dr” in the 1868 Penobscot census. Rather it is Passamaquoddy Joseph Mitchell, 

profiled a year earlier as follows: “A Pleasant Point Indian, named Joseph Mitchell, is practicing medicine 

in Portland, Maine. He graduated recently from the Lewiston Eclectic Medical College. This is the first 

instance of a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe entering one of the learned professions” (Eastport 

Sentinel 2/19/1885. In Soctomah 2005). 
▪Chapter 16: Medicinal Uses of Plants & Animals▪

451

Nelson worked as the “resident Indian” at Pinewood Camps, a swanky resort on 

Anasagunticook Lake in Canton, Maine. Known as Needahbeh (friend), he had – and 

used – numerous showman skills. Like many the Wabanaki who frequented MDI, he 

guided fishing and hunting parties, sold various crafts and demonstrated how to make 

them. In addition, he could be coaxed to dance and sing for a fee. His lengthy medicine 

list suggests that he also practiced and taught traditional medicine. But intricate 

knowledge of the full range of age-old remedies was fading, and before long only a 

handful of individuals had what one might call significant know-how in the art of 

traditional healing. Among those who stayed well-versed on the subject was 

Passamaquoddy Fred Tomah, who traveled to Bar Harbor in the summer of 1979 

specifically to share his knowledge about traditional healing methods. His trip was 

chronicled by the Wabanaki Alliance: 

Fred says he is excited about an invitation to display 

his knowledge [about the art of Indian medicine] at a 

Bar Harbor fair this month. ‘Did you know flagroot 

cures coughs, colds, the flue and blood poisoning? 

Rockbrake, a moss, is good for kidney trouble.... Lady 

slipper plants can stop convulsions.... Did you know 

that balsam fir pitch speeds healing of wounds? A pine 

pitch plaster well-cooked, can mend a broken bone 

when applied for a period of time. I’ve had a broken 

rib a number of times and sore back. The pine pitch 

works,’ Fred says. Fred boasts that Sonja Dana, a 

Passamaquoddy Nurse asked him to cure a sore throat. 

‘Use the roots of golden thread,’ he said.... ‘Everyone knows about arthritis, but 

what to do? Boil cedar boughs a minute or two, then you let it steep. You strain 

it and drink it three or four times a day. You’ve got nothing to lose but your 

arthritis,’ Fred says, adding, ‘I’ve been taking it right along.’43 

Wabanaki herbal traditions continue today, with most tribal members still aware of a 

few basic remedies (such as flagroot) and a handful of individuals committed to retaining 

the wider knowledge of the age-old healing art. Among them is Passamaquoddy herbalist 

Fredda Paul at Pleasant Point. He began the effort as a boy, gaining foundational 

knowledge for his practice from his grandmother, Grace Lewey. In his words: 

As a child, I used to go out and pick dandelions and blossoms and took them 

to my grand-mother. I did it to show appreciation for the things she did for 

me. I didn’t know until later what dandelion was for—that it was good for 

eating and medicine. My mom would tell me some things about medicines 

and I’d go talk about it to my grandmother and she’d think I was smart, so 

she’d send me out to get it. Then I’d get the wrong thing. By the time I was a 

teenager I was aware of what plants were. When people weren’t well, I’d say, 

oh, you have this problem; my grandmother says this is what you need to heal 

 

43 Cartwright, 10 July 1979, p.10. 
▪Chapter 16: Medicinal Uses of Plants & Animals▪

452

that. And they’d say, well, go get it. I’ve been harvesting and preparing wild 

plants for medicine for 40 years now. 

◘ ◘ ◘ ◘
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

453

CHAPTER 17: INVENTORY OF PLANTS USED BY WABANAKIS 

IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK AND ADJACENT AREAS 

This inventory lists over 125 plant species in Acadia National Park and adjacent areas that 

Wabanakis have used for food, material culture purposes, and/or to treat internal and external 

illnesses. A good number of these plants are still used by Wabanakis today. The catalog is based 

on a variety of Wabanaki-specific sources (listed below), including: notes made by early 

explorers/travelers/missionaries in Wabanaki territories, inventories and narratives by 

anthropologists working among Wabanaki tribes, reminiscences of residents in the Mount Desert 

area, and lists made by 20th-century and contemporary Wabanakis who practice(d) traditional 

medicine. 

Compiling such a list presented numerous problems. Notably, source materials are 

sometimes frustratingly incomplete, citing certain flora as having medicinal or food value, but 

not delineating which part of the plant was used, how it was prepared and/or what particular 

problem it was used to treat. Moreover, scientific names have shifted over the generations as 

botanists have reclassified species, and common names change with time and vary across 

regional and sometimes ethnic lines. Such tangles were sorted out with the aid of some key 

general sources (historical and contemporary) that discuss medicinal plants in the region (listed 

below under “General Sources”). These general sources have been used for clarification and fact 

checking purposes only; rather than imposing modern-day Western knowledge concerning 

medicinal properties and uses of the plants noted in this inventory, we feature only information 

definitely attributed to Wabanaki from their own lists or those compiled by anthropologists and 

others based on interviews with tribespeople. 

Born of a comparative review of multiple lists, descriptions, drawings, and commentaries 

concerning flora used by Wabanakis, this inventory is alphabetized according to the scientific 

name appearing in the Acadia National Park 2003 species list. The preferred common name and 

synonyms are noted, along with medicinal uses and (when mentioned in Wabanaki-specific 

sources) the portion of the plant used and the form of treatment. The source(s) noting these uses 

are indicated by their author’s/authors’ initials. The inventory also notes food and material 

culture uses and features a verbal description and thumbnail illustration of each plant, its degree 

of frequency in the park and adjacent areas, and its habitat. Because historic mentions of wild 

fruits such as strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, are often done in a broad stroke as simply 

“berries,” the some specific species on this list have few author initials cited after them as 

sources indicating their use. But, obviously, they were all consumed in volume. 

Various medicinal forms are mentioned: decoctions (liquid made of plant material boiled 

in water), infusions (tea made of plant material steeped in boiled water), poultices (compresses 

made of plant material prepared in various ways), salves (balms/liniments made of plant material 

boiled with oil/fat/ointment of some kind), and powders (dried plants or roots reduced to powder 

with mortar and pestle). Not appearing on the list are tinctures (alcoholic solutions containing 

low concentrations of the active principles of herbs and plants). Curiously, these are missing 

from the Wabanaki-specific sources, even though financial records of 19th-century Penobscot 

and Passamaquoddy Indian agents frequently mention various alcohols among the supplies sold 

to Indian doctors, which suggests that these traditional tribal healers made tinctures. Their 

absence in inventories consulted for this study may be because the sources were biased against 

alcohol-based medicines as “non-traditional.” 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

454

Warning: The plants in this inventory need to be prepared and applied in particular ways 

and dosages not delineated here. Thus, readers should not attempt to use any of them for 

medicinal purposes without the guidance of experts. Several generic (non-Wabanaki specific) 

books provide actual recipes and at least one Wabanaki traditional healer in Maine offers 

workshops on the subject—Passamaquoddy Fredda Paul in the town of Perry. 

General (non-Wabanaki-specific) Sources

Acadia National Park Species List. 3 July 2003. National Park Species Report 

(BA) Angier, Bradford. 1974. Field Guide to Edible Plants. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books. 

(B&B) Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and 

Canada, Second Edition. New York: Hafner Press (source for thumbnail illustrations). 

(H&V) Haines, Arthur, and Vining, Thomas F. 1998. Flora of Maine. Thomas Co., Bar Harbor, ME 

(1998). 

(R&R) Rand, Edward L. and Redfield, John H. 1894. Flora of Mount Desert Island, Maine: A 

Preliminary Catalogue of the Plants Growing on Mount Desert and the Adjacent Islands. Cambridge, 

MA: John Wilson & Son. 

(WT) Thomson, William A.R., M.D. 1978. Medicines from the Earth: A Guide to Healing Plants. New 

York: McGraw-Hill. 

Wabanaki-specific Sources

(HB) Burnham, Horace M. 1918. Pharmacy of the Red Man. Sprague’s Journal of Maine History Vol.6

(Aug-Oct) No.2, pp69-71 (by an Old Town pharmacist well acquainted with Penobscot doctors 1875-

1920). 

(B&H) Butler, Eva L. and Wendall S. Hadlock. 1957. Uses of Birch-Bark in the Northeast. The Robert 

Abbe Museum Bulletin VII..

(FC) Chandler, R. Frank, Lois Freeman and Shirley N. Hooper. 1979. Herbal Remedies of the Maritime 

Indians (pp49-68). Journal of Ethnopharmacology 1. 

(ND) Nicolas Denys. 1672. The Description & Natural History of the Coasts of North America (Acadia). 

Translated and edited, with a memoir of the author, collageral documents, and a reprint of the original, by 

William F. Ganong. 1908. Toronto: The Champlain Society. (Contains detailed account of 17th-century 

Mi’kmaq culture. Chapter 24 discusses healing traditions.) 

(BC) Church, Benjamin. 1897. The History of the Eastern Expeditions of 1689, 1690, 1692, 1696, and 

1704 Against the Indians and French. Boston: J.K. Wiggin and Wm Parsons Lunt, 1897:113). 

(FE) Eckstorm, Fannie Hardy. Index Cards of Medicinal Plants/Practices. Unpub. (Abbe Museum)

(FE2) Eckstorm, Fannie Hardy. 1932. Handicrafts of the Modern Indians of Maine. (Reprint). Bar 

Harbor: Abbe Museum. 2003. 

(WH)Haviland,William. 2005. Indians, Porpoises& Crockett’s Cove. Island Ad-vantages. Dec. 22&29. 

(JJ) Josselyn, John. 1833. An Account of Two Voyages to New England (1675). In MaHS Coll., Series 

3, vol.3, pp211-354. Cambridge. 

(BK) Kavasch, Barrie. 1977. Native Harvests. New York: Vintage Books/Random House. (General 

work but mentions medicinal herbal practices of specific tribes, including Wabanaki groups.) 

(LL) Lacey, Laurie. 1977. Micmac Indian Medicine: A Traditional Way of Health. Antigonish, NS: 

Formac Limited. (Draws on numerous Mi’kmaq specific resources past and present, including written 

works and oral history gathered by the author.) 

(CGL) Leland, Charles Godfrey. 1885. Algonquin Legends.

(CGL2) Leland, Charles Godfrey. 1902. Koloskap.. 

(ML) Lescarbot, Marc. 1911-1914. The History of New France (1609-1612). (3 vols). Toronoto: The 

Champlain Society. 

(JL) Lonecloud, Jerry. 2002. I Am the Only Medicine Man in Nova Scotia (75-81). In Whitehead, Ruth. 

Tracking Doctor Lonecloud: Showman to Legend Keeper, Including the Memoir of Jerry Lonecloud. 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

455

Halifax: Goose Lane Editions and Nova Scotia Museum. (Born in 1854 in Belfast, Maine, to Mi’kmaq 

parents from Nova Scotia, Lonecloud became known as a medicine man, hunter and storyteller.) 

(FL) Frank Loring, referenced in Joy, Barbara Ellen. Historical Notes on Mt. Desert Island Vol. III. Bar 

Harbor: 5/1/1979, p63. (See also Part II, vol. 1, no. 51, p30) (Copy at Maine State Library.) 

(WM) Mechling, W.H. 1959. The Malecite Indians with Notes on the Micmacs. Anthropologica 8:239-

63. 

(WM2) Mechling, W.H. 1914. Malecite Tales. Ottawa: Canada Geological Survey, Dept. of Mines, 

anthropology Series 4. 

(RN) Roland Nelson (Chief Needahbeh). 1934. “Medicinal Plants of Our Maine Indians According to 

Chief Needahbeh, Librarian Penobscot Tribe (1934)” (96-102) In Maine Writers Research Club. 1952. 

Maine Indians in History and Legends. Portland, ME: Severn, Wylie, Jewett Co. (Uncle of noted 

Penobscot dancer Molly Spotted Elk, Roland Nelson worked in Maine camps as the “resident Indian,” 

telling Wabanaki stories, teaching archery, giving talks about traditions, including medicinal practices. 

His medicine list notes floral species and uses without details concerning preparation or plant parts used.) 

(JN) Nicolar, Joseph. 1893. Life and Traditions of the Red Man. Bangor: C.H. Glass. (Reprinted with 

introduction by James D. Wherry. 1979. Fredericton: Saint Annes Point Press.) (A grandson of Lt. Gov. 

John Neptune and well acquainted with Penobscot traditions, Nicolar was also formally educated in white 

schools. His book is rich with information and insights on Wabanaki cultural practices, conveyed through 

the legendary Glooskap. Eckstorm describes it as “the best account” available on the epic of Glooskap.) 

(FP) Paul, Fredda and Paul, Leslie Wood. 2004. Nipsun [biz-un] Indian Traditional Medicine. 

Unpublished. (Copy at Waponahki Museum & Resource Center, Pleasant Point, Perry, Maine.) 

(PB) Biard, P. 1616. Relation. In Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents: Travels and Exploratons of the 

Jesuit Missionaries in new France, 1610-1791. (73 vols.) 63: 27-99 

(JR) Rousseau, Jacques. 1948. Ethnobotanique et Ethnozoologie Gaspesiennes. Archives de Folklore 

3:51-64. 

(FS) Speck, Frank G. 1917. Medicine Practices of the Northeastern Algonquians, (303-321)

Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Americanists (1915), ed. by W.F. Hodge, Washington. 

(FS2) Speck, Frank. G. 1940. Penobscot Man. (Reprint). Orono: University of Maine Press. 1997. 

(S+D) Speck, Frank G. and R.W. Dexter 1951. Utilization of Animals and Plants by the Micmac 

Indians of New Brunswick. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 41:250-259 

(MSE) Spotted Elk, Molly (Mary Alice Nelson Archambaud). 2003. Katahdin: Wigwam’s Tales of 

the Abnaki Tribe. Northeast Folklore vol. xxxvii. Orono: Northeast Folklife Center

(VSS) Somes-Sanderson, Virginia. 1982. The Living Past: Being the Story of Somesville, Mount Desert, 

Maine, and its Relationships with other Areas of the Island. Mt Desert: Beech Hill Publishing. 

(HT) Thoreau, Henry David. 1950. The Maine Woods. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 

(FT) Tomah, Fred. Nd. “Fred Tomah’s Indian Medicines.” Peter Dana Point, Indian Township.

Unpublished. (List noting plants and uses, and in some cases preparation. See also: “Youth Show Little 

Interest in Native Medicine,”a profile on Fred Tomah in Wabanaki Alliance, July 1979, p10.) 

(VV)Vogel, Virgil J. 1970. American Indian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. (This 

comprehensive volume discusses more than 500 medicinal plants found in North America, noting which 

tribes used which species to treat which ailments. Summarizing the contributions that Native American 

groups have made to Western medicine, the author provides historical and theoretical overviews, along 

with an alphabetical and annotated list of botanic (and nonbotanical) remedies used by American Indians. 

An exhaustive index includes diseases, specific tribes, and plants listed by scientific and common names.) 

(WW) Wallis, Wilson D. 1922. Medicines Used by the Micmac Indians. American Anthropologist 24:24-

30. 

(W&W) Wallis, Wilson D. and Ruth Sawtelle Wallis. 1955. The Micmac Indians of Eastern Canada. 

Minneapolis: University of Minnesota. 

(FW) Wiseman, Frederick Matthew. 2001. The Voice of the Dawn: An Autohistory of the Abenaki 

Nation. Hanover & London: University Press of New England. (An insider’s view of tribal history and 

traditions, including a chapter on medicinal practices.) 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

456

COMMON NAMES KEY TO FORMAL NAME LISTINGS IN FLORA INVENTORY 

Since many of the plants inventoried here are referred to by more than one common name in the 

literature, we have catalogued each species by its formal name. To find the formal name that 

corresponds to a particular common name, use the key below 

Ague Weed: Eupatorium perfoliatum

Alder, Speckled: Alnus incana

Alder, Tag: Alnus incana 

Alder, Gray: Alnus incana

Angelica, Seaside: Angelica lucida

Arbor Vitae: Thuja occidentalis

Arbutus, Trailing: Epigaea repens 

Ash, American Mountain: Sorbus americana

Ash, Basket: Fraxinus nigra

Ash, Black: Fraxinus nigra

Ash, Brown: Fraxinus nigra

Ash, Swamp: Fraxinus nigra

Ash, White: Fraxinus americana

Ash, Yellow: Fraxinus Americana 

Aspen, Golden: Populus tremuloides 

Aspen, Trembling: Populus tremuloides

Aspen, Quaking: Populus tremuloides

Avens, Chocolate: Geum rivale

Avens, Purple: Geum rivale

Avens, Water: Geum rivale

Avens, Yellow: Geum aleppicum

Baked-apple Berry: Rubus chamaemorus

Balm of Gilead: Populus balsamifera

Balsam Fir: Abies balsamea 

Balsam, Wild: Impatiens capensis

Barberry, Common: Berberis vulgaris

Basswood: Tilia Cordata

Bast-tree: Tilia Cordata

Bear-vine Apples: Rubus chamaemorus

Bedstraw, Catchweed: Galium aparine

Bedstraw, Dye: Galium tinctorium

Bedstraw, Stiff Marsh: Galium tinctorium

Beech, American: Fagus grandifolia

Beech, Gray: Fagus grandifolia

Beech, Red: Fagus grandifolia

Beech, Winter: Fagus grandifolia

Beggar’s Buttons: Arctium minus

Birch, Canoe: Betula papyrifera

Birch, Gray: Betula populifolia

Birch, Paper: Betula papyrifera

Birch, Yellow: Betula alleghaniensis

Birch, White: Betula papyrifera

Bitter Berry Wood: Prunus virginiana

Bittersweet: Solanum dulcamara 

Bitterwood: Populus tremuloides

Blackberry, Dwarf Red: Rubus pubescens var. 

pubescens 

Blackberry, Low: Rubus Canadensis 

Blackberry, Running Swamp: Rubus hispidus

Blackberry, Smooth: Rubus Canadensis 

Blacksnake Root: Sanicula marilandica

Blooming Sally: Epilobium angustifolium

Blueberry, Highbush: Vaccinium corymbosum

Blueberry, Low: Vaccinium angustifolium 

Blueberry, Lowbush: Vaccinium angustifolium

Blueberry, Low Sweet: Vaccinium angustifolium

Bogbean, Common: Menyanthes trifoliata

Blueflag: Iris versicolor

Boneset, Common: Eupatorium perfoliatum

Bracken, Eastern: Pteridium aquilinum

Bracken Fern: Pteridium aquilinum

Brake: Pteridium aquilinum

Bramble, Smooth: Rubus Canadensis 

Buckbean: Menyanthes trifoliata

Bulrush, Panicled: Scirpus microcarpus

Bulrush, Redtinged: Scirpus microcarpus

Bulrush, Small-fruited: Scirpus microcarpus

Bunchberry: Cornus canadensis

Bunchberry, Dwarf Bog: Cornus sericea 

Burdock, Common: Arctium minus

Buttercup, Common: Ranunculus acris

Buttercup, Meadow: Ranunculus acris

Buttercup, Tall: Ranunculus acris

Cabbage, Skunk: Symplocarpus foetidus

Calamus: Acorus calamus 

Canker Root: Coptis trifolia

Cardinal Flower: Lobelia cardinalis

Carrot, Wild: Daucus carota

Cat Pine: Picea glauca

Cattail, Common: Typha latifolia

Cattail, Narrowleaf: Typha angustifolia

Cedar, American: Thuja occidentalis

Cedar, Northern White: Thuja occidentalis

Cedar, White: Thuja occidentalis 

Cedar, Yellow: Thuja occidentalis

Celery, Wild: Angelica lucida

Checkerberry: Gaultheria procumbens

Cherry, Bird: Prunus pensylvanica

.
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

457

Cherry, Black: Prunus serotina

Cherry, Fire: Prunus pensylvanica

Cherry, Pin: Prunus pensylvanica

Cherry, Rum: Prunus serotina

Cherry, Wild: Prunus serotina

Chokecherry: Prunus virginiana

Cleavers: Galium aparine

Clivers: Galium aparine

Cloudberry: Rubus chamaemorus

Club Moss, Bristly: Lycopodium annotinum

Club Moss, Common: Lycopodium annotinum

Club Moss, Prickly Tree: Lycopodium 

dendroideum

Club Moss, Stiff: Lycopodium annotinum

Coolwort: Tiarella cordifolia

Cornel, Northern Dwarf: Cornus sericea 

Corydalis, Pink: Corydalis sempervirens 

Crampbark: Viburnun opulus

Cranberry, Bog: Vaccinium macrocarpon

Cranberry, Highbush: Viburnun opulus

Cranberry, Large: Vaccinium macrocarpon

Cranberry, Mountain: Vaccinium vitis-idaea

Cranberry, Northern Mountain: Vaccinium vitisidaea

Cranberrybush, European: Viburnun opulus

Cucumber Root: Streptopus amplexifolius

Cure-all: Geum rivale

Dandelion, Common: Taraxacum officinale

Day Star: Nymphaea odorata

Deergrass: Rhexia virginica

Dewberry, Bristly: Rubus hispidus

Dock, Curled: Rumex crispus

Dock, Yellow: Rumex crispus

Dogberry: Sorbus americana

Dogwood, Bunchberry: Cornus canadensis

Dogwood, Redosier: Cornus sericea

Dwarf Mulberry: Rubus chamaemorus

Elder, American: Sambucus nigra ssp. canadensis 

Elder, Red: Sambucus racemosa

Elder, Redberry: Sambucus racemosa

Elder, Red Berried: Sambucus racemosa

Elder, Stinking: Sambucus racemosa

Eldberberry: Sambucus nigra ssp. canadensis 

Elderberry, Red: Sambucus racemosa

Elderberry, Scarlet: Sambucus racemosa

Elm, American: Ulmus americana

Elm, Soft: Ulmus americana 

Elm, White: Ulmus americana

Everlasting, Pearly: Anaphalis margaritacea

Eyebright: Euphrasia Nemorosa

Fern, Bracken: Pteridium aquilinum

Fern, Christmas: Polystichum acrostichoides

Fern, Eagle: Pteridium aquilinum

Fern, Polypody: Polypodium virginianum

Fern, Rock Cap: Polypodium virginianum

Fern, Sweet: Comptonia peregrina

Filbert: Corylus cornuta

Fireweed: Epilobium angustifolium

Flower-of-the-Rainbow: Iris versicolor

Foam Flower: Tiarella cordifolia

Foam Flower, Heartleaf: Tiarella cordifolia 

Ghost Plant: Monotropa uniflora

Ginseng: Aralia nudicaulis

Gold Buttons: Tanacetum vulgare

Golden Locks: Polypodium virginianum

Goldthread: Coptis trifolia

Gooseberry: Ribes hirtellum

Goosberry, Currant: Ribes hirtellum

Gooseberry, Hairy-stem: Ribes hirtellum

Goosefoot, White: Chenopodium album

Gravel Plant: Epigaea repens 

Groundberry: Rubus hispidus

Ground Hemlock: Taxus canadensis

Groundnut: Apios Americana 

Groundpine, Round-Branch: Lycopodium 

dendroideum

Groundpine, Tree: Lycopodium dendroideum

Groundsel, Golden: Senecio aureus 

Hackmatack: Juniperus communis

Hackmatack: Larix laricina 

Haircap Moss: Polystichum acrostichoides

Handsome Harry: Rhexia virginica

Hardhack: Spirea tomentosa

Hazelnut, American: Corylus cornuta

Hazelnut, Beaked: Corylus cornuta 

Hemlock, Canadian: Tsuga canadensis

Hemlock, Eastern: Tsuga canadensis

Hemlock, Spruce: Tsuga canadensis

Hemlock, Ground: Taxus canadensis

Holy Grass: Hierochloe odorata

Huckleberry, Black: Gaylussacia baccata

Hurtleberry: Vaccinium corymbosum

Impatiens fulva: Impatiens capensis

Indian Chocolate: Geum rivale

Indian Cucumber-root: Medeola virginiana

Indian Cup: Sarracenia purpurea

Indian Dipper: Sarracenia purpurea

Indian Pipe: Monotropa uniflora
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

458

Indian Pipe, One-Flower: Monotropa uniflora

Indian Pitcher: Sarracenia purpurea

Indian Potato: Apios Americana 

Indian Root: Aralia racemosa 

Indian Sage: Eupatorium perfoliatum

Indian Tobacco: Lobelia inflata

Indian Turnip: Arisaema triphyllum

Jerusalem Artichoke: Helianthus tuberosus 

Jerusalem Sunflower: Helianthus tuberosus

Jewelweed: Impatiens capensis

Jug Woman’s Baby: Arisaema triphyllum 

Juniper, Common: Juniperus communis

Juniper, Dwarf: Juniperus communis

Juniper, Ground: Juniperus communis

King’s Cureall: Oenothera biennis

Labrador Tea: Ledum groenlandicum

Lady’s Slipper, Common: Cypripedium acaule

Lambkill: Kalmia angustifolia

Lambsquarters: Chenopodium album

Larch: Larix laricina 

Larch, Eastern: Larix laricina

Lavender, Sea: Limonium carolinianum

Lettuce, Canada: Lactuca canadensis

Lettuce, Wild: Lactuca canadensis

Life-of-Man: Aralia racemosa

Life Root: Senecio aureus 

Lily, Canada: Lilium canadense

Lily, Bullhead: Nuphar advena

Lily, Cow: Nuphar advena

Lily, Horse: Nuphar advena

Lily, Meadow: Lilium canadense

Lily, Sweet-Scented Water: Nymphaea odorata

Lily, Wild Yellow: Lilium canadense

Lily, Yellow Pond: Nuphar advena

Lime, Common: Tilia Cordata’ 

Lime, English: Tilia Cordata

Lime, Small-leaf: Tilia Cordata

Lingonberry: Vaccinium vitis-idaea

Linkum Piny: Chimaphila umbellata

Live-Forever: Sedum telephium

Maiden Hair: Geum rivale

Maidenhair Spleenwort: Asplenium trichomanes

Maiden’s Hair, Golden: Polypodium virginianum

Maple, Mountain: Acer spicatum

Maple, Red: Acer rubrum

Maple, Striped: Acer pensylvanicum 

Maple, Sugar: Acer saccharum

Mayflower: Epigaea repens 

Meadow Beauty: Rhexia virginica

Mentha Canadensis: Mentha arvensis

Milfoil: Achillea millefolium

Mint, American: Mentha arvensis

Mint, Canada: Mentha arvensis

Mint, Field: Mentha arvensis

Mint, Wild: Mentha arvensis

Mocassin Flower: Cypripedium acaule

Moss, Club (See Club Moss) 

Motherwort: Leonurus cardiaca

Mulberry, Dwarf: Rubus chamaemorus

Mullein, Common: Verbascum thapsus

Muskrat Root: Acorus calamus

Mustard, Black: Brassica nigra

Nightshade, Bitter: Solanum dulcamara

Nightshade, Climbing: Solanum dulcamara

Nightshade, Deadly: Solanum dulcamara

Oak, Northern Red: Quercus rubra 

Papoose Berry: Gaultheria procumbens

Parsley, Chinese: Conioselinum chinense

Parsley, Hemlock: Conioselinum chinense 

Parsnip, Cow: Heracleum maximum 

Partridgeberry: Mitchella repens 

Pickerel Weed: Pontederia cordata

Pigeonberry: Cornus canadensis 

Pigweed: Chenopodium album

Pine, Pitch: Pinus rigida

Pine, Deal: Pinus strobus

Pine, Eastern White: Pinus strobes 

Pine, Northern: Pinus strobus

Pine, Soft: Pinus strobus

Pine, White: Pinus strobus

Pipsissewa: Chimaphila umbellata

Pitcherplant, Purple: Sarracenia purpurea

Pitcher Plant, Northern: Sarracenia purpurea

Polypody, Common: Polypodium virginianum

Polypody, Rock: Polypodium virginianum

Polypody Fern: Polypodium virginianum

Poplar, Balsam: Populus balsamifera

Potato Bean: Apios Americana 

Primrose, Evening: Oenothera biennis

Puccoon, Yellow: Coptis trifolia

Prince’s Pine: Chimaphila umbellata

Queen Anne’s Lace: Daucus carota

Ragwort, Golden: Senecio aureus 

Raspberry, American Red: Rubus idaeus

Raspberry, Common Red: Rubus idaeus

Raspberry, Dwarf: Rubus pubescens var. 

pubescens 

Raspberry, Dwarf Red: Rubus pubescens var. 

pubescens 

Raspberry, Running: Rubus hispidus

Raspberry, Wild Red: Rubus idaeus

Rock Harlequin: Corydalis sempervirens
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

459

Sanicle: Sanicula marilandica

Sanicle, Maryland: Sanicula marilandica

Sarsaparilla, Wild: Aralia nudicaulis

Scullcap, Marsh: Scutellaria galericulata

Senecio, Golden: Senecio aureus 

Sheep Laurel: Kalmia angustifolia

Shinleaf: Pyrola Elliptica Nutt 

Shinleaf, Waxflower: Pyrola Elliptica Nutt 

Skullcap, Hooded: Scutellaria galericulata

Skullcap, Marsh: Scutellaria galericulata

Skunk Cabbage: Symplocarpus foetidus

Smooth Bramble: Rubus Canadensis 

Snake Berries: Mitchella repens

Snakehead: Chelone glabra

Snakeroot, Maryland: Sanicula marilandica

Solomon’s Seal, False: Maianthemum racemosum

ssp. racemosum 

Solomon’s Seal, Feather: Maianthemum 

racemosum ssp. racemosum 

Spikenard: Aralia racemosa

Spinach, Wild: Chenopodium album 

Spruce, Canadian: Picea glauca 

Spruce, Black: Picea mariana

Spruce, Bog: Picea mariana

Spruce, Cat: Picea glauca 

Spruce, Hemlock: Tsuga canadensis 

Spruce, Pine: Tsuga canadensis

Spruce, Skunk: Picea glauca

Spruce, Swamp: Picea mariana

Spruce, White: Picea glauca

Squaw Berry: Mitchella repens

Squaw Bush: Salix lucida

Squawbush: Viburnun opulus

Squaw Plum: Mitchella repens 

Squaw Vine: Mitchella repens

Squaw Weed: Senecio aureus 

Squaw Weed, Swamp: Senecio aureus 

Steeplebush: Spirea tomentosa

Stickywilly: Galium aparine

Strawberry, Virginia: Fragaria virginiana

Strawberry, Wild: Fragaria virginiana

Sumac, Staghorn: Rhus hirta

Swampberry: Rubus hispidus

Sweetflag: Acorus calamus

Sweetgrass: Hierochloe odorata

Tacmahac: Populus balsamifera

Tamarack: Larix laricina

Tansy, Common: Tanacetum vulgare

Teaberry: Gaultheria procumbens

Tea, Bog: Ledum groenlandicum

Tea, Labrador: Ledum groenlandicum

Thoroughwort: Eupatorium perfoliatum

Throat Root: Geum rivale

Touch-Me-Not, Spotted: Impatiens capensis

Tree of Life: Thuja occidentalis

Turtlehead: Chelone glabra 

Twisted Stalk, Clasping-leave: Streptopus 

amplexifolius

Twisted Stalk, Claspleaf: Streptopus 

amplexifolius

Valerian, Wild: Senecio aureus 

Verbena, Blue: Verbena hastata

Vervain, Blue: Verbena hastata

Violet, Blue: Viola adunca

Violet, Hooked: Viola adunca

Violet, Hookedspur: Viola adunca 

Violet, Sand: Viola adunca 

Virgin Mary’s Sock: Sarracenia purpurea

Water Cabbage: Nymphaea odorata

Waterlily, American White: Nymphaea odorata

Waterlily, Fragrant: Nymphaea odorata

Water Nymph: Nymphaea odorata

Waxweed: Senecio aureus 

Whippoorwill’s Moccasins: Sarracenia purpurea

Whortleberry: Vaccinium corymbosum

Willow Herb: Epilobium angustifolium 

Willow, Glossy: Salix lucida

Willow, Shining: Salix lucida

Willow, Yellow: Salix lucida

Wintergreen: Chimaphila umbellate 

Wintergreen: Gaultheria procumbens

Witch Hazel: Hamamelis virginiana

Witch’s Moneybags: Sedum telephium

Woodfern, Toothed: Dryopteris spinulosa

Yarrow: Achillea millefolium 

Yellow Stems: Coptis trifolia 

Yew, American: Taxus canadensis

Yew, Canada: Taxus canadensis 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

460

Abies balsamea (L.) P. Mill. 

Balsam Fir. Pinaceae (Pine Fam.) 

Other names: Fir Tree, Fir Pine, Blister Pine, Balm of Gilead 

Description: 40-60’ tree. Aromatic needles, about 1” long, whitish below. Tip 

often notched. Cones 2-4”, erect, dark purple. Smooth bark with resin 

blisters/buds. 

Location: In park and adjacent lands, Common. Coniferous woods. [As per R&R 

1894: “Common.”] 

Medicinal Uses: 

1) Cones, and inner bark used for diarrhea (CF). 

2) Sap smeared as salve over burns, sores, wounds, cuts, chapped skin. (FC, ND, 

FE, RN, FP, FS, FT, WW). Sap boiled with fat to make salve for general use (HB, LL). 

3) Sap steeped in boiled water as tea for sore throat and colds (FC, FS, FT). 

4) For coughs (RN). Sap boiled with black cherry bark and honey used as cough syrup (LL). 

5) Cones used for colic, stomach problems (CF, LL). 

6) Twigs steeped in boiled water as tea for healing the stomach and colon (FP). 

7) Buds used as a laxative (CF). 

8) Gum used for fractures and torn ligaments (Cook pitch, boiling out water until it thickens enough to 

harden when cool; apply to affected area (CF, FT). 

9) Bark used for gonorrhea (CF). 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Bark steeped to make a beverage (LL, FS+RD) 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Boughs used to make beds, mats (S&D) and to make a “fir-bough wigwam” (FS2). 

2) Wood used for kindling and fuel (S&D). 

Acer pensylvanicum L. 

Striped Maple. Aceraceae (Maple Fam.) 

Other Names: Moosewood, Northern Maple, Deer Wood 

Description: 10-20’ tree. Greenish bark marked with whitish vertical stripes. 3-

lobed, coarsely-toothed leaves. 

Location: In park and adjacent lands, common. Moist woods. [As per R&R 1894: 

“Common in woodlands.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Antihemorrhagic: Wood used for “spitting up blood” (CF, FS). 

2) Bark used for colds (CF). Bark pounded with Indian turnip and steeped to 

make a tea for colds (WW). 

3) Bark used for coughs (CF). 

4) Wood used for kidney trouble (CF). Compound infusion of plant taken for kidney trouble (FS). 

5) Bark used for "grippe" (CF). 

6) Unspecified plant parts used for "trouble with the limbs" (CF). 

7) Wood used for gonorrhea (CF) Compound infusion of plant taken for gonorrhea (FS). 

8) Poultice of steeped bark applied to swollen limbs (FS, LL). 

9) Compound infusion of plant taken as a tonic (FS). 

10)Bark steeped in water to soothe sore eyes (LL). 

11) Gathered/used by JL, purpose not noted. 

Food Uses:

1) Bark used to make a beverage (FS, W&W). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

461

Acer rubrum L. 

Red Maple. Aceraceae (Maple Fam.) 

Other Names: Swamp Maple, Scarlet Maple 

Description: 60-90’ tree. Leaves opposite 2.5-4” with 3 short-pointed, saw-toothed 

lobes, turning red, orange and yellow in autumn. 

Location: Common in park and adjacent areas. [As per R&R 1894: “Common in 

swamps and damp ground.”] 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Used to make basketware (S&D). 

Acer saccharum Marsh. 

Sugar Maple. Aceraceae (Maple Fam.) 

Other Names: Rock Maple, Sugar Tree, White Maple. 

Description: 50-80’ tree. Leaves opposite, 5-lobed, 4-6” long, sparingly toothed, 

turn yellow in autumn. Greenish-yellow flower clusters. Winged fruit. 

Location: Common in park and adjacent areas. [As per R&R 1894: “Infrequent. 

Sargent Disctrict, etc. Seal Harbor, etc; Near Bar Harbor.”] 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Bark steeped to make a beverage (S&D). 

2) Sap drunk as a beverage (ND, ML3). Maple sugar mixed with water as 

beverage (FS2) 

3) Sap boiled to make maple syrup and maple sugar (S&D, B&H, CL) (CGL2) (WM2) 

4) Listed in BA: In addition to sap uses noted above, the seeds (hulled and boiled) are edible, as are the 

young leaves. The inner bark can be a survival food, raw or cooked. 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Used to make bows and arrows (S&D) 

2) Used to make a “light blue” dye (FE). Bark used to make violet dye. (FW).

Acer spicatum Lam. 

Mountain Maple. Aceraceae (Maple Fam.) 

Other Names: Moose Maple. 

Description: Spreading shrub 1-24’H. Bark thin, dull, reddish- to grayish-brown, 

smooth or slightly grooved. Twigs slender, yellowish-green to reddish-brown, 

coated with very short gray hairs. Leaves opposite, simple, 21⁄2-3 1⁄4” long, 3-

lobed, coarsely/irregularly toothed, yellowish-green above with soft, whitish hairs 

below; stalk slender, reddish. Small, yellowish-green flowers in dense upright 

clusters at branchlet tips, blooming May/June. Winged fruit. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Cool moist woods. 

Medicinal Uses: 

1) Bark used for sore eyes (FC). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

462

Achillea millefolium L. 

Yarrow. Asteraceae (Aster Fam.) 

Other Names: Milfoil, Common Yarrow 

Description: 1-3’H plant with flat-topped clusters of 1⁄4”-wide flowers atop a graygreen, usually hairy, stem with fernlike 6” leaves. Flowers June-Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Old fields and roadsides. [As per 

R&R 1894: “Dry soil; common in settlements, and often remote from 

dwellings.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Dried, powdered stalk or green leaves rubbed over swellings, sprains, or 

bruises (BK, WW). 

2) Decoction of plant taken with milk to cause a sweat for colds (WW, FC). 

3) Herb used for colds (FC). 

4) Plant steeped for fever medicine (FE). 

Acorus calamus L. 

Sweetflag. Acoraceae (Sweetflag Fam.) 

Other Names: A. Americanus, Calamus, Muskrat Root

Description: Stiff, light-green, sword-like leaves 1-4’ long with an outwardjutting, 2-31⁄2”-long, tapered cluster of densely-grouped, greenish to yellowish or 

brownish 1/8” flowers, blooming May-August. 

Location: In park, abundance unknown. Swamps and along streams. [As per 

R&R 1894: “Low grounds; rare. Near head of Doctors Creek. Near Otter Creek. 

On the ‘Overflow Brook,’ Somesville.”] 

Medicinal Uses: 

1) Root used for colds and coughs (FC). Root chewed or steamed as tea for sore 

throats and colds (FP) 

2) Root steeped for cholera, smallpox and other epidemics (FC, FE). 

3) Root used for lung ailments, pneumonia and pleurisy (FC). 

4) Root and herb used for the prevention of disease in general (HB, FC). Roots chewed for general 

medicinal use and disease prevention (FS). 

5) Roots boiled in water and steamed through house to keep disease away (FE, LL, FS, FS) 

6) Dried roots chewed or reduced to powder and drunk in warm water to relieve indigestion (LL). 

7) Root used for flatulence [gas] (RN). 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Steeped to make a beverage (S&D). Root steeped with sarsaparilla root as beverage (FS, FS2). 

2) Listed in BA: Stalk bases, sliced, boiled in several changes of water to moderate the strong taste and 

then simmered and sweetened, make a sweet, gingery treat. In springtime, the partially-grown flower 

stems are edible raw, as are the “interiors of the young stalks, crammed with half-formed leaves.” 

Alnus incana (L) Moench ssp. rugosa (DuRoi) Clausen 

Speckled Alder. Betulaceae (Birch Fam.) 

Other Names: Tag Alder, Gray Alder 

Description: Shrub (sometimes a small tree) up to 20’H, with smooth gray bark, 

ovate, saw-toothed, dark green leaves, 1⁄2” long blackish cones. Flowers bloom 

early spring before leaves—male yellowish in drooping catkins 1.5-3” long, 

female reddish in cones 1⁄4” long. 

Location: In park and adjacent lands, common. Wet soils along streams and lakes 

and in swamps. 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

463

[Alnus incana/Speckled Alder cont’d]

Medicinal Uses:

1) Bark used for ulcerated mouth (FC). 

2) Decoction of bark taken for cramps (FC, FS, FE, LL). 

3) Decoction of bark taken for retching (FC, FS, FE). 

4) Decoction of bark used for rheumatism (FC). 

5) Decoction of bark used as a physic (FC). Boiled and mixed with porcupine fat used as a physic (WW). 

6) Poultice of bark and leaves used for wounds and festers (FC, WW). Compound poultice of bark and 

castor oil used for sores, wounds, etc. (LL). 

7) Bark used for hemorrhaging (FC). 

8) Bark used for hemorrhaging of the lungs (FC). 

9) Decoction of bark used for diphtheria (FC, WW). 

10) Bark used for dislocations and fractures (FC). 

11) Fever remedy (RN). Bark and leaves used for fevers (FC). 

12) Bark boiled and mixed with porcupine fat as laxative 

13) Decoction of twigs taken for impure blood (FE). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Bark yields a dark red dye (FS2). Brown dye made “from steeped alder bark, set with copperas” 

(FE2). Bark used to make a dye (S&D). Bark used to dye quills red (FW).

Anaphalis margaritacea (L.) Benth. & Hook 

Pearly Everlasting. Asteraceae (Aster Fam.)

Description: Erect 1-3’H plant with white wooly stem bearing clusters of white 

1⁄4”-wide, rayless flower heads that bloom July-Sept. Leaves alternate, 3-5” long, 

narrow, greenish-white above, dense white wool below. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. [As per R&R 1894: “Dry soil, 

clearings, etc.; common.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Dysentery, headaches, sore mouth, fever, pectoral, bruises, sprains, ulcers 

(RN). 

Angelica lucida L.

Seaside Angelica. Apiaceae (Carrot Family) 

Other Names: Seacoast Angelica, Sea-Watch Angelica, Wild Celery, 

Coelopleurum lucidum, Coelopleurum actaeifolium (Michx.) Coult. & Rose. 

Description: 11⁄2-41⁄2’ H plant with erect, hollow stem topped with umbels of 

yellowish-white flower, blooming June-Sept. Compound leaves form groups of 

toothed, ovate leaflets. Leaf stalks have inflated bases that sheathe the stem. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Coastal beaches, rocks, borders of 

woods. 

Medicinal Uses: 

1) Infusion of roots & spikenard roots for head colds, coughs, sore throats (WM). 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Listed in BA: Tender young leaf stems and peeled stalks edible raw and cooked when older. 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

464

Apios Americana 

Groundnut Leguminosae (Pea Fam.) 

Other Names: Wild Bean, Indian Potato, Potato Bean 

Description: Climbing/twining plant 4-11’ long. Leave alternate, compound, made up 

of 3-9 broadly oval, pointed leaflets 1-3” long. Fragrant clusters of numerous 1⁄2”, 

brownish-purple flowers. Fruit is a beanlike pod 2-3” long. Roots feature tubers strung 

together, each on average 1.5”long. 

Location: In park, rare. Moist woods; margins of ponds, swamps, marshes. 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Root tuber eaten (JN). (Listed in various “edible plant” sources.) 

Aralia nudicaulis L. 

Wild Sarsaparilla. Araliaceae (Ginseng Fam.) 

Other Names: Ginseng 

Description: 3-20”-long stalk dividing into 3 sections, each with 3-5 ovate, finelytoothed leaves. A shorter, leafless stalk is topped with rounded 1.5-2” clusters of 

greenish-white flowers that bloom July-Aug. Purple-black clustered berries. 

Location: Common in park and adjacent areas. Upland woods, roadsides, 

meadows. [As per R&R 1894: “Rich rocky wood; common.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Roots used as a cough medicine (CF). 

2) Root dried, crushed to powder, and steeped with sweetflag to treat coughs (FS). 

3) Roots boiled in water until soft and applied to wounds (WW). 

4) Roots steeped and liquid mixed with animal fat to make salve for general use (LL). 

5) Roots dried and pulverized for medicinal teas taken internally to treat colds and the effects of 

rheumatism and applied externally for skin disorders (BK). 

6) Tonic (RN). 

7) Gathered/used by JL, purpose not noted. 

Food Uses: 

1) Used to make a beverage (S&D) 

2) Aromatic flavoring (RN). 

Aralia racemosa L. 

Spikenard. Araliaceae (Ginseng Fam.) 

Other Names: American Spikenard, Indian Root, Life-of-Man 

Description: Growing from a thick nodular rootstock, this plant’s partly woody 

stems form a bush 4-5’H. Leaves ovate, leathery, 4-8” long. Numerous tiny, 

greenish-white flowers growing in clusters, blooming July-Aug. Clusters of 

berries dark purple when ripe. 

Location: Present in park, rare. Upland woods, meadows. [As per R&R 1894: 

“Woods; infrequent. Little Harbor Brook Notch. Intervale Brook. Hadlock 

Valley. Southwest Valley road. Wild Cat Valley. Roadside east of Seal Harbor. 

Bubble Pond.”] 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

465

[Aralia racemosa/Spikenard cont’d]

Medicinal Uses: 

1) Root used for headaches and menstrual cramps (CF). 

2) Root used for spitting blood/hemorrhaging (CF). 

3) Root used for colds (CF). Infusion of roots and angelica roots used for head colds (WM). 

4) Root used for coughs (CF). Infusion of roots and angelica roots used for coughs (WM). 

5) Root used for wounds (CF). 

6) Root used for sore eyes (CF). 

7) Root used for kidney troubles (CF). Compound infusion of plant taken for kidney trouble (FS) 

8) Root used for fatigue (CF). 

9) Root used for sore throats (CF). Infusion of roots and angelica roots used for sore throats (WM) 

10) Root used for consumption (Tuberculosis) (CF). 

11) Root used for gonorrhea (CF). Compound infusion of plant taken for gonorrhea (spikenard root with 

boneset, cleavers, wintergreen, wild indigo, Solomon’s seal, moosewood) (FS) 

12) Compound infusion of plant taken as a tonic (FS). 

13) Stomach troubles (RN). 

14) Used to make salve to put on cuts and wounds (WW). 

15) Gathered/used by JL, purpose not noted. 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Berries used to make wine (RN) 

2) Berries edible, as are cooked leaves and roots (Plants for a Future: www.pfaf.org) 

Arctium minus Bernh. 

Common Burdock. Asteraceae (Aster Fam.) 

Other Names: Lesser Burdock, Bardane, Beggar’s Buttons 

Description: Large (1-5’H) bushy plant with broadly ovate leaves, prickly tipped, 

upperside green, underside with matty downy hairs. Rayless 3⁄4” flowerheads are 

prickly, pink to lavender, blooming July-Oct. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. [As per R&R 1894: “Common 

in waste places, especially about old dwellings.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Roots used for boils and abscesses (FC). Poultice of mashed, heated root 

applied to boils and abscesses (FS). 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Listed in BA: First-year roots “deliciously nutricious” peeled/sliced/simmered. Early spring leaf stems 

edible raw or cooked, losing bitterness if peeled. Young leaves edible as greens if boiled. Flower stalk 

gathered before the swelling of buds and opening of leaves edible if peeled and cooked. 

Arisaema triphyllum (L.) Schott 

Jack-in-the-Pulpit. Araceae (Arum Fam.) 

Other Names: Indian Turnip, Jug Woman’s Baby 

Description: A perennial herb, 1-3’ H. Stems tipped with an overarching greenand-purple spathe (the “pulpit”) enveloping an erect club-shaped spadix (“Jack”) 

beneath large leaves. Flowers April-June. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, uncommon. Damp woods and swamps. [As 

per R&R 1894: “Rich woods, boggy places, and meadows; infrequent. Jordan 

Pond trail from Northeast Harbor. The Barcelona meadow. Northeast Meadow. 

Roadside, north of Doctor’s Creek.”] 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

466

[Arisaema triphyllum/Jack-in-the-Pulpit cont’d]

Medicinal Uses:

1) Parts of plant used for boils and abscesses (CF). 

2) Infusion of plant used as a liniment used for external use (CF, FE, FS). 

3) Root bulb used to treat Tuberculosis (LL). 

4) Root bulb used as a general stomach medicine (LL). 

5) Bulb pounded together with bark of striped maple steeped in boiled water to make tea for colds (WW). 

6) Plant poisonous in green state (FS, FE, LL). 

7) Gathered/used by JL, purpose not noted. 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Listed in BA: Acrid roots edible and nutritious if dried/roasted. 

2) Decoction of crushed root and pokeberries used to make poison that stupefies eels, bringing them to the 

surface for harvesting (FS2). 

Asplenium trichomanes L. 

Maidenhair Spleenwort. Aspleniaceae Fam. 

Description: Tiny, everygreen fern with 5”-long leaves comprised of about 20 pairs 

of 1⁄4” leaflets. 

Location: In park, rare. Moist, shaded rock crevices. 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Pectoral (RN). 

Berberis vulgaris L. 

Common Barberry. Berberidaceae (Barberry Fam.) 

Description: A spiny, gray-twigged shrub 3-10’ H with clustered ovate leaves 

(shiny, bristly, 1-3” long) and hanging clusters of 1⁄4”-wide yellow flowers, 

blooming May-Jun. (Naturalized from Europe) 

Location: In park, uncommon. Thickets. [As per R&R 1894: “Roadside N of Seal 

Hbr; clearing, Canada Valley; roadside near Norwood Cove; Ox Hill, Seal Hbr] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Bark and root pounded to a mash and applied to ulcerated gums (CF, FE, FS). 

2) Pounded bark and root used for sore throat (CF, FE, FS) 

Food/Beverage Uses: 1) Listed in BA: Cooling drink made of berries. 

Betula alleghaniensis var. alleghaniensis 

Yellow Birch. Betulaceae (Birch Fam.) 

Other Names: Betula alleghaniensis (B&B) 

Description: A canopy tree up to 100’ H. Shiny, peeling, paper-like, yellowish 

bark. Leaves oval, saw-toothed, dark green above. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Mixed woodlands. 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Inner bark chewed or steeped to combat diarrhea, indigestion, stomach cramps, 

and rheumatism (LL). 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Listed in BA: inner bark edible raw or cooked as a survival food; spring sap 

drinkable and can be boiled down into a syrup about half as sweet as maple sap. 

Material Culture Uses: 1) Wood used as a hot-water bottle (CF). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

467

Betula papyrifera Marsh. 

Paper Birch. Betulaceae (Birch Fam.) 

Other Names: White Birch, Canoe Birch 

Description: 60-80’ tree, grows singly or in groves. Bark chalky white, peeling; 

scaly on old trees. Oval leaves 2-4” long, coarsely toothed, pointed. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Mixed woods. 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Inner bark chewed or steeped to combat fever, dropsy, rheumatism, and as a 

tonic (RN). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Bark used to make baskets, boxes, containers, incl. coffins (EB, ND, JJ, ML3, 

JN, CL, FS2, S&D,) 

2) Bark used to make house coverings (EB, S&D, CL). biard (d)77, Rasle (b)24 

3) Bark used to make dishes and cooking utensils (EB, S&D). 

4) Bark used to make canoes (EB, FE2, FS2, JR) 

5) Bark used to make trumpets for calling game (EB, S&D). 

6) Bark used to make torches for night fishing (EB, S&D). 

7) Numerous other uses (see narrative). 

Betula populifolia Marsh. 

Gray Birch. Betulaceae (Birch Fam.) 

Description: Small (up to 30’H) often shrubby tree. Leaves alternate, arrowheadshaped, toothed, turn yellow in fall. Bark gray. Smooth, furrowed at trunk base. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Old fields, dry sandy soils. 

Medicinal Uses: 

1) Inner bark used for infected cuts (CF) 

2) Inner bark used as an emetic (CF) 

Brassica nigra (L.) W.D.J. Koch 

Black Mustard. Brassicaceae (Mustard Fam.) 

Description: Widely branched 2-3’ H herb with deeply lobed lower leaves 11⁄2-3” 

long and narrow clusters of 1⁄2”, yellow, 4-petaled flowers near top of stem. 

Brown-black seeds in 4-sided, 1⁄2” pod closely pressed to stem. Flowers Jun-Oct. 

(Non-Native/European immigrant) 

Location: In park and adjacent lands, occasional. Fields and waste places. [As per 

R&R 1894: “Old fields and waste places; frequent. Northeast Harbor; High Head; 

beach, Greening Island; Southwest Harbor.”] 

Medicinal uses:

1) Leaves bound on skin to relieve headache or on gums for toothache (FE). 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Listed in BA: Young greens well boiled are edible and nutritious, and the young golden flowers, 

simmered for just several minutes “make a broccolilike dish.” The seeds make an excellent seasoning. 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

468

Chelone glabra L. 

Turtlehead. Scrophulariaceae (Figwort Fam.) 

Other Names: White Turtlehead, Snake head (JL) 

Description: A smooth, 1-3’H plant with 3-6” leaves that are opposite, lanceolate, 

sharply toothed. Flowers, resembling turtle heads are white (often lavendertinged), tubular, 2-lipped, 11⁄2-2” long, and bloom July-Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, uncommon. [As per R&R 1894: “Wet 

places, along brooks and rills; frequent.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Contraceptive: Herb used to prevent pregnancy (CF). 

2) Bladder and kidney (RN). 

3) Gathered/used by JL, purpose not noted 

 Chenopodium album 

 Lambsquarters. Chenopodiaceae (Goosefoot Fam.) 

 Other Names: Pigweed, Lambsquarters Goosefoot, White Goosefoot, Wild Spinach 

 Description: 1-6’H branching plant with 1-4”-long coarsely-toothed leaves that are 

 triangular or diamond-shaped and mealy white beneath. Cluster spikes of minute, 

 greenish flowers that bloom June-Oct.. 

 Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Cultivated land, disturbed sites, 

 roadsides. [As per R&R 1894: “Common weed in cultivated ground and on sea 

 beaches.”] 

 Food/Beverage Uses:

 1) Listed in BA: Entire young plant edible. Among “the best of the wild greens,” 

 having “no harsh flavors” and rich in calcium and Vitamin A even when cooked. 

 Berries, raw or cooked, are edible/nutritious, but rather “flat and tasteless.” 

Chimaphila umbellata (L.) W. Bart. 

Pipsissewa. Pyrolaceae (Wintergreen Fam.) 

Other Names: Prince’s Pine, Linkum Piny, Wintergreen, Pyrola umbellata 

Description: Evergreen perennial herb. Stem 6-8”, nearly erect, woody at base. 

Narrow, tapered leaves 2-3” long. Flowers terminal, white/pink, 3⁄4” wide, bloom 

July-Aug. 

Location: In park, rare. Dry woods, often under or near pines. [As per R&R 1894: 

“Dry woods; frequent”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Herb used for rheumatism (CF, FE, RN). 

2) Herb used as a blood purifier (CF). 

3) Infusion of plant applied to blisters (CF, FE, FS). 

4) Herb used for stomach trouble (CF). 

5) Herb used for smallpox (CF). 

6) Herb used for Tuberculosis (CF). 

7) Herb used for "cold in bladder" (CF). Water troubles (RN). 

8) Herb used for kidney trouble. (CF, JR) 

9) Infusion of roots, hemlock parsley and curled dock used for colds in the bladder (WM). 

10) Boiled and drunk to induce sweating (FE). 

11) Scrofula [form of TB affecting lymph nodes, especially the neck] (RN). 

12) Gathered/used by JL, purpose not noted. 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

469

Comptonia peregrina (L.) Coult.

Sweet Fern. Myricaceae (Wax Myrtle Fam.) 

Other Names: Ant Wood, Comptonia asplenifolia (L.) Ait. [R&R] 

Description: 2-4’ H, densely branched deciduous shrub with sweet-scented fernlike leaves 2-4” long and 1⁄2” wide, and tiny catkin flowers—females have short 

rounded catkin with reddish bracts, males elongated, yellow-green catkins, in 

clusters at twig ends. Flowers April-May. Round, bur-like cluster of ovoid 

nutlets, brown when mature in late summer. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Dry soil, hillsides, along roads 

and trails. [As per R&R 1894: “Dry hills, fields, and borders of woods; 

common.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Root used for headache and inflammation (CF). 

2) Leaves steeped and rubbed on skin to treat poison ivy (FS, FE, LL). Fresh leaves an antidote to poison 

ivy when applied to skin immediately after contact. Also acts as insect repellent when rubbed on skin 

(BK). 

3) Leaves used externally for sprains, swellings, and inflammation (CF). 

4) Leaves used for catarrh (inflammation of mucous membranes, esp. of the nose and throat) (CF). 

5) Berries, bark and leaves used as an "exhilarant" and beverage (DF). 

6) Leaves steeped and tea taken as a general tonic (LL). 

7) Leaves and flowering tips brewed into a nutritious tea to treat diarrhea and other stomach disorders 

(BK) 

8) Gathered/used by JL, purpose not noted. 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1)Listed in BA: Nutlets edible and the leaves, fresh or dried, make “a very pleasant tea.” 

Conioselinum chinense (L.) B.S.P. 

Hemlock Parsley. Apiaceae (Carrot Fam.) 

Other Names: Chinese Hemlock Parsley 

Description: 1-5’H herb with broad, triangular, lacy leaves 4-8” long, divided 

into separate leaflets and subleaflets. Upper leaves of the flowering stem are 

nearly stalkless. Terminal 1-5”-wide umbel of white flowers blooms Aug-Sept. 

Location: Historically present in park. Swamps, mossy coniferous woods or 

swales, seepy slopes near coast. 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Infusion of plant with Prince's Pine [Pipsissewa] and curled dock used for 

colds in the bladder (WM). 

Coptis trifolia (L.) Salisb. 

Goldthread. Ranunculaceae (Buttercup Fam.) 

Other Names: Canker Root, Three-leaf Goldthread, Yellow Puccoon, Golden 

Thread, Yellow Stems 

Description: 3-6” H plant with 1 white flower 1⁄2” wide, and lustrous, evergreen, 

basal leaves rising from thread-like, yellow, underground stem.Flowers May-July. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Cool woods, swamps, and bogs. 

[As per R&R 1894: “Common in damp woods”] 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

470

[Coptis trifolia/Goldthread cont’d]

Medicinal Uses:

1) Herb used for sore and diseased mouth (CF). Yellow stems/threads chewed or steeped for canker sores, 

chapped or cut lips, and mouths irritated by tobacco smoking (FE, FS, LL). For canker (RN). 

2) Threads may be chewed or steeped in water to treat sore eyes (LL).

3) Threads steeped in water used as stomach medicine (including ulcers, cancer) (LL) 

4) Threads steeped in water to combat diarrhea (LL) 

5) Roots steeped in water used for diabetes (LL). 

6) Roots chewed for medicinal use (FS). 

7) Sore throat (RN, FT). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) “Foot of the gold-thread” used as dye, yielding an enduring “strong, clear yellow” (FE2) 

Cornus canadensis L.

Bunchberry Dogwood. Cornaceae (Dogwood Fam.) 

Other Names: Pigeonberry, Bunchberry 

Description: Dwarf member of the dogwood family. An erect 3-8” herb growing 

from creeping roots and topped by yellow/green flowers surrounded by 4 white, 

petal-like bracts about 11⁄2” wide above a whorl of 11⁄2” long ovate, pointed 

leaves. Flowers May-July. Tight clusters of red, berry-like drupes form in Aug. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Cool, coniferous woods and damp 

openings. [As per R&R 1894: “Very common; woods and everywhere.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Berries, roots and leaves used for convulsions (CF). 

2) Plant steeped to make tea to treat kidney ailments, bedwetting (LL). 

3) Leaves chewed to soften and then applied to wounds (WW). 

4) Plant steeped for paralysis (FE). 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Listed in BA: Berries edible raw or cooked, but rather dry and tasteless. 

Cornus sericea ssp. sericea

Redosier Dogwood. Cornaceae (Dogwood Fam.) 

Other Names: Northern Dwarf Cornel, Dwarf Bog Bunchberry 

Description: Similar to C. Canadensis, but has small purple flowers surrounded 

by 4 white bracts. 

Location: In park, abundance unknown. Cool woods and damp openings. 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Herb used for headache (CF). 

2) Herb used for sore eyes (CF). 

3) Herb used for catarrh [inflammation of mucous membranes, esp. of the nose 

and throat] (CF). 

4) Herb used for sore throat (CF). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

471

Corydalis sempervirens (L.) Pers. 

Pink Corydalis. Fumariaceae (Fumitory Fam.) 

Other Names: Pale Corydalis, Rock Harlequin 

Description: 5-24”H plant with branched, leaf-bearing stems topped with clusters 

of drooping, sac-like, 4-petaled, 1⁄2”-long, pink & yellow flowers, which bloom 

May-Sept.. Leaves 1-4” long, pale bluish green, pinnately divided into mostly 3-

lobed leaflets, each about 1⁄2” long. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, uncommon. Rocky clearings. 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Scrofula [form of TB affecting lymph nodes, especially the neck] etc. (RN) 

Corylus cornuta Marsh. var. cornuta 

Beaked Hazelnut. Betulaceae (Birch Fam.) 

Other Names: Corylus rostrata, Filbert, American Hazelnut 

Description: Multi-trunked shrub up to 9’H. Leaves 2-4” long, alternate, oval, 

with round base & pointed tip, toothed, bright green above, paler below. Flowers 

April-May before leaves; male flowers in slender catkins 3-4” long, female in 

clusters in scaly bud. Fruit a brown ovoid nut 1⁄2-3⁄4” diameter, enclosed in two 

bristly, hairy bractlets united to the tip and lengthened into a tubular beak about 

twice the length of the nut. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common 

Medicinal Uses: 

1) Filbert used as body builder (RN). 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Nuts “good” to eat (ND). 

2) Listed in BA: Nuts edible. 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Branches made a yellow dye (FW). 

Cypripedium acaule Ait.

Common Lady's Slipper. Orchidaceae (Orchid Fam.) 

Other Names: Pink Lady’s Slipper, Moccasin Flower, Pink Moccasin Flower, 

Partridge Moccasin Flower, Stemless Lady’s Slipper [R&R] 

Description: A leafless stalk rising 8-12” from a pair of 8” long, oval, basel leaves 

and topped with 1 (sometimes 2) flowers having a distinctive pink, slipper-like 

petal about 21⁄2” long, 3 sepals and 2 upper petals. Flowers April-July. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Sandy or rocky woods, 

especially pine woods. [As per R&R 1894: “Common in woods.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Infusion of root taken as a sedative for nervousness (HB, CF, FS,FE). 

2) Can stop convulsions (FT). 

3) Gathered/used by JL, purpose not noted. 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

472

Daucus carota L.Queen Anne's Lace. Apiaceae (Carrot Fam.) 

Other Names: Wild Carrot 

Description: A 1-3 1⁄2’H plant with a lacy, flat-topped, 3-5” wide compound 

umbels of tiny cream-while flowers with 1 dark reddish flower usually at center 

of each umbrel. Leaves 2-8” long, very finely cut, fern-like. Flowers May-Oct. 

Ancestor to the garden carrot, its long, first-year taproot can be cooked and eaten. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Dry fields, waste places. [As per 

R&R 1894: “Old fields; occasional. Long Pond. Sea Wall. Bar Harbor.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Leaves used as a purgative (CF). 

Food/Beverage Uses: 1) Root can be cooked, eaten. 

Dryopteris spinulosa (O.F. Muell.) Watt 

Toothed Woodfern. Dryopteridaceae (Woodfern Fam.) 

Other Names: Dryopteris carthusiana (Vill.) H.P. Fuchs, Spinulose Woodfern, 

Description: Lance-shaped, much-cut leaves rising up to 30” in circular clusters 

from central, coarse, and scaly rootstock in isolated bouquets. Leaves comprised 

of lance-shaped leaflets and subleaflets. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common 

Medicinal Uses: 

1)Used to expel intestinal worms (RN). 

Epigaea repens L. 

Trailing Arbutus. Ericaceae (Heather Fam.) 

Other Names: Mayflower, Gravel Plant 

Description: Creeper stemming to 16” long with 3⁄4-3”-long leathery, oval leaves 

and sweet-scented, pink or white 1⁄2”-long flowers in leaf axils and at ends of 

hairy stems. Flowers Feb-May. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, uncommon. Sandy or rocky woods, 

especially in acidic soil. [As per R&R 1894: “Frequent in woodlands, but very 

seldom abundant.”] 

Medicinal Uses: 1) For gravel and other kidney and bladder problems (RN). 

Epilobium angustifolium L. 

Willow Herb. Onagraceae (Evening Primrose Fam.) 

Other Names: Blooming Sally, Fireweed 

Description: 2-5’H planting having branching stems topped with 4-petaled, pink 

flowers about 1”-wide. Leaves 11⁄2”-4” long, mostly opposite, lanceolate or 

oblong, sharply toothed. Flowers July-Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. [As per R&R 1894: “Common, 

especially in clearings and in burnt ground.”] 

Medicinal Uses: 1)Intestinal, cramp, dysentery (RN). 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Listed in BA: Edible stems, boiled, taste a bit like asparagus. Older stalks can 

be peeled and their whitish pith eaten raw or simmered. Tender young leaves can be boiled into 

“satisfactory” greens. Green or dried, the leaves can be brewed as tea. 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

473

Eupatorium perfoliatum L.

Common Boneset; Asteraceae (Aster Fam.) 

Other Names: Indian sage, Thoroughwort, Ague weed 

Description: A 2-4’ H, hairy-stemmed perennial herb with dense, slightly-convex 

flowerheads or 10-20 white florets. Lance leaves 4-8” long, finely toothed, rough 

above and downy and resinous beneath, are united at the base. Flowers July-Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Low woods and wet meadows. 

[As per R&R 1894: “Low grounds and wet roadsides; common.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Parts of plant used for kidney trouble (CF). Compound infusion of plant taken 

for kidney trouble (FS). 

2) Parts of plant used for persons spitting blood/hemorrhaging (CF). Compound 

infusion of plant taken for "spitting up blood" (FS). 

3) Parts of plant used for gonorrhea (CF). Compound infusion of plant taken for gonorrhea (boneset with 

cleavers, wintergreen, wild indigo, spikenard root, Solomon’s seal, moosewood) (FS). 

4) Infusion of leaves/flowers used for cold remedy, to reduce fever, relieve stomachache and pain (BK). 

5) Roots and other parts of plant steeped and liquid taken to treat ulcers (LL). 

6) Compound infusion of plant taken as a tonic (FS) and as a general medicine (LL). 

7) Small pox, coughs (RN). 

Euphrasia Nemorosa (Pers.) Wallr. 

Eyebright. Scrophulariaceae (Snapdragon Fam.) 

Other Names: Common Eyebright, Euphrasia officinalis auct. Non L.

Description: 4-15”H plant with spike-like terminal clusters of pale lavender 

flowers 3/8-1⁄2” long on a hairy stem and its branches. Leaves 1⁄4-3⁄4” long, coarsely 

toothed. Flowers June-Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. [As per R&R 1894: “Dry ground; 

common in southern part of MDI and on neighboring islands. Also Bar Harbor.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) For eye problems (RN). Flowering plant steeped to produce tea used internally 

or externally, primarily for ophthalmic (eye) disorders (BK). 

Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.

American Beech. Fagaceae (Beech Fam.) 

Other Names: Winter Beech, Gray Beech, Red Beech 

Description: 50-80’ tree with smooth gray bark, oblong/ovate leaves 21⁄2-5” long. 

Edible brown nut encased in bur. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Well-drained soils. 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Leaves used for chancre (early symptoms of syphilis) (CF). 

2) Leaves steeped and drunk with honey to treat Tuberculosis (LL). 

3) Bark and leaves steeped to make a tonic, antiseptic, and all-round tune-up 

medicine (LL). 

4) The leaves are soothing to the nerves, stomach and help stimulate appetite. 

5) The bark and leaves combat ulcers and intestinal infections and improve the action of the liver, kidney, 

bladder and stomach. 

Food/Beverage Uses: 

1) Listed in BA: Nut edible raw or cooked and can be roasted and ground and steeped to make hot drink; 

young leaves can be cooked as a green in spring. 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

474

[Fagus grandifolia/American Beech cont’d] 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Used to make snowshoe frames (S&D). 

2) Used to make lances and inner canoe slats (ND). 

3) Used to make canoe paddles (ND). 

4) Bark used to make blue dye (FW). 

Fragaria virginiana Duchesne

Virginia Strawberry. Rosaceae (Rose Fam.) 

Other Names: Wild Strawberry 

Description: A low creeper with 3-6” H stalks bearing 3⁄4” white flowers, 3-

parted, toothed, basal leaves 1-11⁄2” long, and red edible berries. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Meadows, edges of woods, 

roadside. [As per R&R 1894: “Very common everywhere.”] 

Medicinal Uses/Micmac:

1) Abortifacient: Parts of plant used for irregular menstruation. 

2) Leaves, roots, berries mixed with boiling water as blood builder, purifier (LL) 

3) A strong tea of leaves or roots sweetened with honey used for diarrhea, 

dysentery, intestinal weakness, urinary infections, and night sweats. Used as a 

gargle, it strengthens the gums (LL). 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Plant steeped and liquid drunk for pleasing taste as well as tonic purposes (LL, RN). 

2) Berries eaten (JN). 

3) Listed in BA: Edible, nutritious berry, rich in Vitamin C. Leaves steeped in hot boiled water to make 

“tasty tea” that is also Vitamin C rich. Stems and stalks are also “tasty.” 

Fraxinus americana L. 

White Ash. Oleaceae (Olive Fam.) 

Other Names: Yellow Ash 

Description: 50-80’ tree. Opposite compound leaves usually with 7 leaflets, 

turning purple in fall. Narrow winged fruit is 1-21⁄2” long; often persist in winter. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Moist forests. [As per R&R 

1894: “Moist woods; common.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Strong decoction of leaves taken by women after childbirth for cleansing (CF, 

FE, FS, LL). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Used to make axe and knife handles (FS). 

2) Bark and bark ashes yield a yellow dye (FS2). 

3) Bark used to dye quills yellow (FW).

Fraxinus nigra Marsh. 

Black Ash. Oleaceae (Olive Fam.) 

Other Names: Brown Ash, Basket Ash, Swamp Ash 

Description: Treeing reaching up to 60-70’, light gray bark. Leaves opposite, 

compound with 7-11 fine-toothed, oval leaflets blunt at base tapered to long 

slender tip. 

Location: In park, rare. Grows in marshy areas. [As per R&R 1894: “Swamps and 

damp woods; frequent.”] 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

475

[Fraxinus nigra/Black Ash cont’d]

Medicinal Uses: 1) Bark used for worms (JL). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Used to make basketware (FE, FS2, S&D). 

2) Snares made of pounded ash strips (JN). 

3) Splints used to make fish traps (especially for catching eels) (ND, CL, ML, FS2) 

Galium aparine L.

Cleavers. Rubiaceae (Madder Fam.) 

Other Names: Clivers, Catchweed Bedstraw, Stickywilly 

Description: Weak-stemmed, sprawling plant with backward hooked bristles on 

stems 8-36” long. Lanceolate leaves, 1-3” long, in whorls of 6-8. Tiny (1/8” 

wide) white flowers. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Woods, thickets, waste places. 

[As per R&R 1894: “Rare; yet in abundance on beach, Fish Point, Great 

Cranberry Isle.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Parts of plant used for persons spitting blood/hemorrhaging (CF). Compound 

infusion of plant taken for "spitting up blood" (FS) 

2) Parts of plant used for kidney trouble (CF), “water troubles” (LL) 

3) Parts of plant used for gonorrhea (CF). Compound decoction of plant taken for gonorrhea (cleavers 

with wintergreen, wild indigo, spikenard root, Solomon’s seal, moosewood, boneset) (FS). 

4) Compound infusion of plant taken as a tonic (FS). 

Galium tinctorium (L.) Scop.

Stiff Marsh Bedstraw. Rubiaceae (Madder Fam.) 

Other Names: Dye bedstraw 

Description: Branched, spreading stems up to 11⁄2’ long, often matted. Leaves up to 

1” long in whorls of 5 or 6, linear to oblanceolate, rounded at tip, tapering to the 

base. Tiny white flowers with 3-4 petals (rarely 5), often in clusters of 3, with 

many clusters at the ends of branches. Seeds borne in pairs, smooth, black at 

maturity, about 1/16” in diameter. 

Location: In part and adjacent areas, uncommon. Swamps, wet meadows, wet 

woods, roadside ditches. 

Material Culture Uses: 1) Roots used to make a red dye for porcupine quills (FE2, S&D, FW). 

Gaultheria procumbens L. 

Checkerberry. Ericaceae (Heather Fam.) 

Other Names: Teaberry, Eastern Teaberry, Wintergreen, Papoose Berry 

Description: Low, evergreen, creeping shrub with 2-6”H upright branches bearing 

3/8”-long, white, bell-shaped, nodding flowers, singly or in groups of 2-3 in leaf 

axils. Leaves 1-2” long, oval, slightly toothed. Flowers April-May. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. In woods, under evergreens, 

especially in sandy sites. [As per R&R 1894: “Common everywhere in woods, 

shady places, and clearings.”] 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

476

[Gaultheria procumbens/Checkerberry cont’d]

Medicinal Uses:

1) Indigestion (RN) 

2) Flavoring (RN). Oil used to flavor other medicines (BK). 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Tea beverage made out of “wintergreen steeped in water (FS2). 

2) Listed in BA: Leaves steeped in boiled water to make tea. Berrylike fruit “tasty and sustaining raw” 

and can be crushed and used as flavoring. 

Gaylussacia baccata (Wangenh.) K. Koch 

Black Huckleberry 

Other Names: Huckleberry 

Description: Shrub, 1-3’’H. Small leaves alternate, oblong to elliptical, turning red 

in autumn. Panicles of fragrant tiny, bell-like flowers, violet or white, blooming 

May-June. Fruit is round, purplish-blue berry. 

Location:In park & adjacent areas, common.Woodland/sunny edge,dappled shade. 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Berry eaten (JN). (Not in BA, but listed in various other “edible plants” 

sources.) 

Geum aleppicum Jacq.

Yellow Avens. Rosaceae (Rose Fam.) 

Description: 4-5’H. Hairy stem. Toothed compound leaves, larger leaflets 

interspersed with smaller. Flowers, solitary at end of branches, are yellow with 5 

broad petals and numerous stamens; bloom July-Aug. 

Location: Presence in park unconfirmed. Swamps, low grounds, thickets. 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Roots used for coughs and croup (CF). 

Geum rivale L.

Purple Avens; Rosaceae (Rose Fam.) 

Other Names: Water Avens, Chocolate Root, Indian Chocolate, Throat Root, 

Cure-all, Maiden Hair 

Description: Typically 1-3’ H. Toothed compound leaves with the end segment 3-

fingered and broader than the others. Purple and yellowish flowers atop branched 

stalks, usually in groups of three, bloom May-Aug. 

Location: In Park and adjacent areas, uncommon. Swamps and low grounds. [As 

per R&R 1894: “”Comon in wet fields and meadows in the north and the west of 

MDI. Also Long Pond meadows; meadow at Schooner Head; Cold Brook.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Root used for diarrhea or dysentery (FC). Decoction of root, especially by children, for dysentery (FS). 

2) Decoction of root taken, especially by children, for colds (FS). 

3) Decoction of root taken, especially by children, for coughs (FS). Strong decoction of roots used for 

coughs and sore throats (BK). 

4) A styptic; also used for colic, dyspepsia, debility (RN). 

5) Gathered/used by JL, purpose not noted beyond “great medicine.” 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

477

Hamamelis virginiana L. 

Witch Hazel. Hamamelidaceae (Witch Hazel Fam.) 

Description: 10-15’H shrub/small tree. Clusters of spidery, yellow, 3⁄4”-long 

flowers in leaf axils or on branches. Leaves 3-6” long, ovate, wavy-edged. 

Flowers Sept-Nov. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Dry or moist woods. [As per R&R 

1894: “Occasional in woods and by roadsides.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) An astringent. Soothes and counteracts poison (RN). Antiseptic used as 

astringent to wash wounds, bruises, muscular aches (BK) 

2) Gathered/used by JL, purpose not noted. 

Helianthus tuberosus L. 

Jerusalem Artichoke; Asteraceae (Aster Fam.) 

Other Names: Jerusalem Sunflower 

Description: Stout, rough, branching stems bearing ovate-lanceolate leaves that 

are 4-10” long, thick, rough-toothed. At stem ends are single, golden yellow 

flowerheads up to 3” wide with 10-20 rays—blooming Aug.-Oct. 

Location: In park, abundance unknown. Fields, roadsides, fencerows. 

Food Uses:

1) Tubers eaten (FS, FS2). 

2) Listed in BA: Peeled tubers edible, dug after first frost, simmered/roasted/raw. 

Heracleum maximum Bartr.

Cow Parsnip. Apiaceae (Carrot Fam.) 

Other Names: Heracleum lanatum, Common Cow Parsnip, American Cow 

Parsnip 

Description: 4-9’H plant with lobed & toothed leaves (3-20” wide) at stalk base. 

Thick, succulent, strong-smelling stems topped with flattened umbels 4-8” wide 

having numerous, 5-petaled white flowers up to 1⁄2” wide, blooming May-July. 

Location: Historically present in park and adjacent lands. Wide variety of forested 

habitats, wet open places, along intermittent streams. [As per R&R 1894: 

“Frequent, especially near sea beaches. Somesville. Fernald Point. Southwest 

Harbor. Sea Wall. Great Cranberry Isle. Baker Island.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Root used for smallpox and cholera (FC). 

2) Root steeped or worn about the neck to ward off illness (LL). 

3) Roots cooked and mashed as salve for wounds, infections, bruises, tumors, exzema, psoriasis, etc.(FP). 

4) Vapor from tea made from root used for sinus infection and to purify air (FP). 

5) When green & light in color, considered medicine for women; when dark & ripe, for men (WW). 

6) Powerful. Dangerous if overused internally (FP). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

478

Hierochloe odorata (L.) Beauv.

Sweetgrass. Poaceae (Grass Fam.) 

Other Names: Holy grass 

Description: Perennial grass with flat leave blades and smooth, hollow, erect stalks 

(now) typically 12-24” H. Stalks shrivel soon after spring flowering. Fragrant 

when dried. Regenerated by creeping, often deep, rhizomes, rarely by seed. 

Location: In Park and adjacent areas, uncommon. Wet meadows, bogs, shaded 

streambanks and lake shores, in upper areas of tidal marshes. [As per R&R 1894: 

“Borders of salt or brackish meadows and marshes. Bass Harbor. Southwest 

Harbor. Little Harbor. Seal Harbor. Northeast Meadow. Thomas Bay. Cranberry Isles. Duck Islands, and 

elsewhere. Much used by the Indians for basket work.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Plant hung in a room to prevent illness (W&W). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Used to make baskets (FS). 

2) Used to make mats, rugs, bedding (FS). 

Misc. Uses:

1) Braided and dried for smudging and other ceremonial uses. 

Legends: “How the Sweetgrass Came to Be” (MSE). 

Impatiens capensis Meerb.

Jewelweed. Balsaminaceae (Balsam Fam.) 

Other Names: Spotted Touch-Me-Not, Wild Balsam, Impatiens fulva, Nutt. 

Description: 2-5’ H leafy plant with succulent translucent stems bearing nodding, 

1”-long flowers, usually golden-orange with reddish-brown splotches. Leaves 

11⁄2-3 1⁄2” long are alternate, thin, ovate, toothed, pale beneath. 

Location: In Park and adjacent areas, occasional. Shaded wetlands, woods. [As 

per R&R 1894: “Moist places, common.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Herbs used for jaundice (FC). 

2) Juice of mashed leaves and root stalk used for poison ivy, poison oak, eczema, piles (BK). 

Iris versicolor L.

Blueflag. Iridaceae (Iris Fam.) 

Other Names: Harlequin Blueflag, Flower-of-the-Rainbow (RN) 

Description: 2-3’H plant having several violet-blue flowers (21⁄2-4”-wide) with 

veined yellow sepals on a sturdy smooth stalk rising above 8-31”-long, sword-like 

leaves rising from a basel cluster. Flowers May-Aug. 

Location: In Park and adjacent areas, common. Swamps, marshes, wet shorelines. 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Root and herb used for wounds (FC). 

2) Crushed and mixed with flour to make a poultice for “any sort of pain” (LL) 

3) Plant used for emetic purposes (to promote vomit) (LL). 

4) Indigestion, goiter (RN). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

479

Juniperus communis L.

Ground Juniper. Cupressaceae (Cypress Fam.) 

Other Names: Common Juniper, Hackmatack, Dwarf Juniper 

Description: 12-30’ evergreen shrub or tree—low and spreading or upright. Trunk 

bark shreddy, reddish-brown. Needles straight, sharp, ridged and nearly at right 

angles to branchlets. Dark purple fruit is round, fleshy, berrylike, 1⁄4” diameter. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Dry soils, wide variety of open to 

semi-open situations, including sandy shores, gravely banks, old fields. [As per 

R&R 1894: “Common in dry ground, on rocky cliffs, etc.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Part of plant used internally for rheumatism (FC). Roots sometimes referred to as “rheumatism roots” 

because effective in treating that ailment (LL). 

2) Gum used for wounds, sprains (FC). Gum used to treat cuts, wounds, burns, sprains (LL). 

3) Cones used for ulcers (FC). Underbark and juice were used to treat stomach ulcers (LL) 

4) Plant used as a urinary tract medicine (LL, WW, W&W). 

5) Root or bark used for tuberculosis (FC). 

6) A general medicine and tonic (LL, WW, W&W). 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Tips of juniper steeped to make a beverage (LL). Stems, leaves, berries brewed into a warming tea 

drink (BK). 

2) Listed in BA: Berries dried and ground for cake or mush, or crushed and sieved when ripe to use like 

butter. Nibbled raw to take edge off hunger, but irritating to kidneys if too many eaten. Berryless sprigs 

boiled and simmered and drunk in small amounts is a vitamin-rich tea.

Misc. Uses:

1) Oil from crushed berries rubbed on skin as insect repellent (BK). 

2) Stems used in hair wash (FC) 

Kalmia angustifolia L.

Sheep Laurel. Ericaceae (Aster Fam.) 

Other Names: Lambkill 

Description: Evergreen shrub 1-3’H. Its deep-pink, 5-petaled, 1⁄2”-wide flowers 

grow in dense clusters around the stem, mostly below oblong leaves that are 11⁄2-

2” long and grow in whorls of 3. Flowers May-Aug. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Old fields, bogs, deciduous 

woods, rocky places, and dry or wet, sandy or sterile soil. [As per R&R 1894: 

“Hillsides, pastures, and thickets in dry or damp ground; common. Also abundant 

on the mountains.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Herb used for pain, swellings, and sprains (FC). 

2) Poultice of crushed leaves bound to head overnight for headache (FE, FS). 

3) Compound poultice of lambkill, cedar bark, and salt applied "for all kinds of trouble” (FS) 

4) A very small quantity is steeped and drunk for colds and backache (FE). 

5) Infusion of leaves considered valuable as a "non-specific remedy" (FS). As a non-specific remedy, a 

small dose—not more than a spoonful—of tea made from a few leaves is considered valuable (FE). 

6) Infusion of leaves to relieve stomach complaints (FS). 

7) Leaves known for their poisonous properties (FE). Very poisonous if infusion too strong. 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

480

Lactuca canadensis L.

Wild Lettuce. Asteraceae (Aster Fam.) 

Other Names: Canada Lettuce 

Description: 2-10’H plant with an elongated cluster of 1⁄4”-wide flowerheads. 

Leaves up to 1’ long, nearly toothless and lanceolate to deeply lobed, stalkless; 

exude milky sap when crushed. Flowers July-Sept. 

Location: Historically present in adjacent park areas. [As per R&R 1894: 

“Roadside and clearings; frequent.”] 

Medicinal Uses: A nervine (RN). Lactuca ssp’s milky juices used in medicines 

for hypnotic, sedative and diuretic properties (BK). 

Food/Beverage Uses: Listed in BA: Small, tender plants “excellent” eaten raw. 

Larix laricina (Du Roi) K. Koch

Tamarack. Pinaceae (Pine Fam.) 

Other Names: Eastern Larch, Hackmatack 

Description: 40-80’ deciduous tree with thin, scaly, reddish-brown bark. 1” 

needles in whorls on spur twigs and scattered/alternate on leader twigs, are light 

blue-green turning yellow in autumn before shedding. Cones, 1⁄2”-3⁄4’-long are 

upright, rose red turning brown. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Wet peaty soils of bogs and 

swamps, also in drier upland loamy soils. [As per R&R 1894: “Common. Also on 

Cranberry Isles.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Bark used for colds (FC). 

2) Bark used for "suppurating wounds" (FC). 

3) Bark used for physical weakness (FC). 

4) Bark used for consumption (Tuberculosis) (FC). Combination of tamarack, skunk cabbage, and brandy 

used to treat TB (WW). 

5) Bark used for gonorrhea (FC). 

6) Used to treat festering wounds (LL). 

Medicinal Uses: 

7) Plasters made by evaporating a decoction of the barks of tamarack and winter beech to consistency of 

an extract and combining with spruce pitch (HB). 

Material Culture Uses: Wood used for kindling and fuel (FS). 

Ledum groenlandicum Oeder 

Labrador Tea. Ericaceae (Heath Fam.) 

Other Names: Rhododendrun groenlandicum, Ledum latifolium, Ait.[R&R, FS], 

Bog Tea 

Description: A low (1-4’) evergreen shrub with densely hairy twigs and rounded, 

terminal clusters of white, 1/2”, 5-petaled flowers blooming July-Aug. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Bogs, swamps, moist woods. [As 

per R&R 1894: “Common in bogs and often in dry ground. Not very abundant in 

the southern part of MDI, but common on the Cranberry Isles.”] 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

481

[Ledum groenlandicum/Labrador Tea cont’d]

Medicinal Uses:

1) Leaves used for the common cold (FC, FE). 

2) Leaves steeped for kidney trouble (FC, LL). 

3) Leaves used for scurvy (FC). 

4) Leaves used for asthma (FC). 

5) Decoction of leaves taken as a diuretic (FS). 

6) Leaves and twigs steeped and runk to purify blood (FE). 

6) Infusion of leaves taken as a tonic "beneficial effect on the system" (FS, LL). 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Leaves used to make a beverage (FC, LL, S&D). 

2) Listed in BA: Spicy leaves steeped in boiled water “make a palatable and refreshing, if somewhat 

invigorating bitter and astringent, beverage.” Can have a cathartic effect if drunk in too large quantities. 

Leonurus cardiaca L. 

Motherwort. Lamiaceae (Mint Fam.) 

Other Names: Common Motherwort 

Description: 2-4’ H plant with 1⁄2”, pale lavender flowers clustered around a 

square stem in axils of opposite, lobed leaves; several clusters together forming a 

long, interrupted terminal spike. Flower June-Aug. 

Location: Historically present in park and adjacent areas. Waste places, roadsides 

Medicinal Uses: Part of plant used for obstetric cases, menstrual disorders (FC). 

Lilium canadense L.

Canada Lily. Liliaceae (Lily Fam.) 

Other Names: Wild Yellow Lily, Meadow Lily 

Description: One to several long-stalked, nodding flowers ranging in color from 

yellow to orange-red with dark spots, atop a 2-5’ H stem with whorled, 6”, 

lanceolate leaves. Bulb 1.5”. Flowers June-Aug. 

Location: Historically present in park and adjacent areas.Wet meadows, 

woodland borders. 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Parts of plant used for irregular menstruation (FC). 

2) Bulb edible (JN – refers to it as “red lily”). (Not in BA, but listed in other 

“edible plants” sources). 

Limonium carolinianum (Walt.) Britt.

Sea lavender. Plumbaginaceae (Leadwort family) 

Description: A smooth salt marsh plant 1-2’H with tiny, pale purple flowers along 

one side of stems and forming a loose branching cluster. Lanceolate leaves 2-10” 

long with broadest part toward tip. Flowers July-Oct. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, uncommon. Salt marshes. 

Medicinal Uses: Roots pounded, ground, added to boiling water and used for 

consumption (Tuberculosis) with hemorrhage (WM). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

482

Lobelia cardinalis L. 

Cardinal Flower. Campanulaceae (Bellflower Fam.) 

Description: 2-4’H plant with many brilliant red, tubular, bilatterly symmetrical 

flowers in an elongated cluster on an erect stalk. Leaves up to 6” long, lanceolate, 

toothed. Flowers July-Sept. 

Location: Historically present on adjacent park lands. [As per R&R 1894: “Rare 

and local. Borders of streams, Somesville and vicinity. Also on brook flowing 

into Seal Cove Pond.”] 

Medicinal Uses: A nervine, etc. (RN). 

Lobelia inflata L.

Indian Tobacco. Campanulaceae (Bellflower family)

Description: 1-2’H plant having unbranched or branched slightly hairy stems with 

several tiny, 2-lipped, lavender or blue-violet, bilaterally symmetrical flowers in 

terminal, leafy, elongated clusters. Leaves 1-21⁄2” long, thin, light green, ovate, 

wavy-toothed. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. [As per R&R 1894: “Dry fields 

and roadsides; common.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Hydrophobia, hernia, whooping cough (RN). 

2) Asthma (RN). Leaves dried & smoked (in moderation) as asthma remedy (BK) 

3) A dangerous emetic (RN). Can be poisonous if used in quantity (BK). 

4) Smoke blown in ear to stop earache (FS). 

5) Gathered/used by JL, purpose not noted. 

Lycopodium annotinum L. 

Bristly Club Moss. Lycopodiaceae (Clubmoss Fam.) 

Other Names: Common Club Moss, Stiff Club Moss 

Description: Small light-to-darkgreen evergreen with horizontal, surface-running 

stems and upright stems that are single or branched. From base to tip, stems bear 

stiff and prickly lanceolate leaves 1/3” long and semi-whorled. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, uncommon. Moist woods and cool, damp, 

shaded thickets. [As per R&R 1894: “Wood and deamp thickets; frequent. Also 

Sargent Mt.”] 

Medicinal Uses: Herb used for fever (FC). 

Lycopodium dendroideum Michx.

Round-Branch Groundpine. Lycopodiaceae (Clubmoss Fam.) 

Other Names: Lycopodium obscurum, Tree Groundpine, Prickly Tree Club Moss 

Description: Erect clubmoss up to 10”H resembling a coniferous tree. Stems and 

branches densely clothed wiith needlelike leaves 1/8” long, lance-shaped, sharptipped. 

Location: In park, occasional. Moist coniferous forest. [As per R&R 1894: 

“Woods; common.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Unspecified—plant thought to have "some medicinal value" (FS). 

2) Used for open surface sores because of its drying attributes (FE). 

3) Boiled and drunk as a purgative in case of biliousness/yellowness (FE). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

483

Maianthemum racemosum ssp. racemosum 

False Solomon's Seal. Liliaceae (Lily Fam.) 

Other Names: Feather Solomon’s Seal, Smilacina racemosum 

Description: 1-3’H. Arching stem with alternate, elliptical, 3-6”-long leaves. 

Stem tipped with a pyramidal panicle of many 1/8”-long white flowers. Berry 

initially green speckled with red, becoming ruby red. Flowers May-July. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Woods and clearings. 

Medicinal Uses: Leaves and stems used for rashes and itch (FC). 

Medeola virginiana L.

Indian Cucumber-root. Liliaceae (Lily Fam.) 

Description: 1-21⁄2”H plant with several nodding, yellowish-green, 1⁄2”-wide 

flowers emerging from a center whorl of 3 leaves atop a slender, woolly, 

unbranched stem; flower stalk sometimes bending dawn below leaves. Flowers 

May-June. Leaves ovate to lanceolate, in 2 whorls; those in whorl atop stem 1-

3” long; those in whorl at midstem 21⁄2-5” long, 6-10 per whorl. 

Location: In adjacent park areas, uncommon. Moist woodlands [As per R&R 

1894: “Frequent in rich woods.”] 

Medicinal Uses: Dropsy (RN). 

Food/Beverage Uses: Root good to eat raw (p.c. Wm. Haviland 10/16/05) 

Mentha arvensis L.

Wild Mint. Lamiaceae (Mint Fam.) 

Other Names: Mentha Canadensis, Canadian Mint, American Mint, Field Mint 

Description: 6-24” H. Tiny (1/4”-long) bell-shaped, pale lilac, pink, or white 

flowers clustered in circles around a square stem in axils of opposite leaves that 

are 2” long, smaller toward top of plant, ovate to lanceolate, tapering at both ends. 

Strongly aromatic. Flowers July-Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Damp to wet places. [As per 

R&R 1894: “Roadside ditches and moist ground; infrequent, but not rare about 

Southwest Harbor. Also Great Cranberry Isle and field above Long Pond.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Herb used for children with an upset stomach (FC). 

2) Herb used for croup (FC). 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Listed in BA: Fresh leaves immersed in hot water and steeped overnight as beverage “abundant in 

Vitamins A & C.” Cut bits of fresh young leaves used to flavor other foods. 

Menyanthes trifoliata L. 

Buckbean. Menyanthaceae (Buckbean Fam.) 

Other Names: Common Bogbean 

Description: Height (above water) 4-12”. Stout stalks topped by a trio of 11⁄2-5”- 

long, broadly lanceolate leaves or by narrow clusters of white or purple-tinged, 

star-like flowers. Flowers May-August. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, uncommon. Bogs and shallow lakes. [As 

per R&R 1894: “Bogs; rare. Northeast Harbor. Somes Pond. Great Duck Island. 

Mt. Desert.”] 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

484

[Menyanthes trifoliate/Buckbean cont’d]

Medicinal Uses:

1) Strong decoction of root taken for unspecified purpose (FS). 

2) Infusion of leaves used as a medicine for unspecified purpose (FS). 

Mitchella repens L. 

Partridgeberry. Rubiaceae (Madder Fam.) 

Other Names: Squaw Plum, Squaw Vine, Squaw Berry, Snake Berries 

Description: 4-12”-long trailing evergreen herb with white, fragrant, tubular, 1⁄2-

5/8”-long flowers in pairs. Leaves 1⁄2-3⁄4” long, opposite, roundish, shiny, green, 

w/ white veins. Red berry-like fruit at joint of opposite leaves. Flowers June-July. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Dry to moist woods. [As per R&R 

1894: “Thickets and woods, especially under Coniferae; frequent.”] 

Medicinal Uses: 

1) Berry-bearing branches cooked into a jelly and used for fever (FE). 

2) “Somewhat non-specific” medicine – “to be steeped” (FS). 

Food/Beverage Uses: 

1) Plant steeped to make a beverage (FS, FE) 

2) Listed in BA: “Although seldom available in quantity,” the berries “make a good emergency food as 

well as a pleasant woodland snack.” 

Monotropa uniflora L.

Indian Pipe. Monotropaceae (Indian Pipe Fam.) 

Other Names: One-flower Indian Pipe, Ghost Plant 

Description: 3-9”H waxy plant. Thick translucent stem covered with scaly bracts 

and topped with 1 nodding flower, 1⁄2-1” long, white or pink with 4-5 petals. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. [As per R&R 1894: “Damp 

woods; not uncommon.” 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Eye troubles (RN). Entire plant pulverized and resulting glutinous fluid mixed 

with water for eye inflammations and other irritations (BK). 

Nuphar advena (Ait.) Kartesz & Gandhi

Cow Lily. Nymphaeaceae (Water Lily Fam.) 

Other Names: Nuphar lutea ssp. advena, Yellow Pond Lily, Horse Lily, 

Bullhead Lily (misnamed Castalia odorata by FS) 

Description: An aquatic with plate-sized, heart-shaped leaves, usually floating, 

and single, yellow, globe-shaped flower atop fleshy stalk. Sepals & fruit are 

reddish-purple (in contrast to the yellow-green sepals & fruit of N.variegata ) 

Flowers May-Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, abundance unknown. [As per R&R 1894: Common in ponds, slow 

streams, and bog holes.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Poultice of bruised root with flour or meal applied to swellings and bruises (FS). 

2) Poultice of mashed leaves applied to swollen limbs (FC, FS, FE) 

3) Leaves steeped for colds (FC). 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Listed in BA: Starch-rich roots can be boiled or roasted and then peeled and eaten. Seeds gathered in 

late-summer/autumn, cooked and shelled, are edible. 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

485

Nymphaea odorata Ait.

Sweet-Scented Water Lily. Nymphaeaceae (Waterlily Fam.) 

Other Names: Castalia odorata Ait., Fragrant Waterlily, American White 

Waterlily, Water Cabbage, Day Star, Water Nymph 

Description: Aquatic. Fragrant, white or pink flowers and flat floating leaves that 

are rounded to heart-shaped. Flowers 3-5” wide, leaves 4-12” wide, shiny green 

above, purplish-red beneath. Flowers June-Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Quiet water of ditches and 

ponds. [As per R&R 1894: “Common in ponds and meadow streams.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Juice of root taken for coughs (FS). 

2) Poultice of boiled root applied to swellings (HB). 

3) Leaves used for grippe (FC). 

4) Leaves used for limb swellings(FC).Compound poultice of mashed leaves applied to limb swellings 

(FS) 

5) Leaves used for colds (FC) 

6) Roots used for suppurating (draining) glands (FC). 

7) A styptic and blood purifier (RN). 

Oenothera biennis L. 

Evening Primrose. Onagraceae (Evening Primrose Fam.) 

Other Names: Common Evening Primrose, King’s Cureall 

Description: Lemon-scented, 1-2”-wide yellow flowers atop a stalk with 4-8”-

long slightly toothed, lanceolate leaves. Stem hairy, often purple-tinged, 2-5’ H. 

Flowers June-Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent lands, occasional. Fields and roadsides 

Medicinal Uses:

1) For spasmodic asthma, gastritis, bladder irritation, chronic diarrhea (RN) 

Picea glauca (Moench) Voss

White Spruce. Pinaceae (Pine Fam.) 

Other Names: Canadian Spruce, Skunk Spruce, Cat Spruce, Cat Pine, Picea alba 

(Ait.), Link. [R&R] 

Description: 40-100’ H evergreen tree with rows of horizontal branches forming a 

conical crown. Blue-green needles 1⁄2-3⁄4” long, stiff & sharp, exuding skunklike 

odor when crushed. Bark gray or borwn, thin, smooth to scaly. Twigs orangebrown, slender, rough, with peg-like bases. Cones 11⁄2-21⁄2” long, cylindrical, shiny 

light brown, hanging at end of twigs. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Coniferous forests; sometimes in 

pure stands. [As per R&R 1894: “Common. More common near the coast than black spruce.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Bark used as a cough remedy (FC). 

2) Bark used to prepare a salve for cuts and wounds (FC). Combination of bark and animal fat as salve for 

general use—probably by steeping the bark and mixing the liquid with the grease (LL). 

3) Gum used for scabs and sores (FC). 

4) Parts of plant used for stomach trouble (FC). 

5) Bark, leaves, stems used for scurvy (FC). Beverage made of bark probably used to treat scurvy (LL). 

6) Beverage made from bark may have been used as a tonic drink (LL). 

7) Twigs steeped to make beverage for “generally beneficial effects” (FE). 

8) Spruce beer used to prevent vitamin deficiency. 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

486

[Picea glauca/White Spruce cont’d]

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Bark steeped for beverage(S&D, LL). Twigs and cones boiled in maple syrup and drunk hot (BK, LL). 

2) Listed in BA: Roots gathered “the first year, before the plant blossoms” and boiled are “nutritious, 

tasty, somewhat nutlike.” 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Boughs used for Mats, Rugs & Bedding (ND, S&D). 

2) Wood used for kindling and fuel (S&D). 

3) Roots used as thread (except for sewing clothing), although black spruce preferred (ND, FE, ML) 

3) Young limbs bent to us “trap poles” – lobster traps, etc. (pers.com. Donald Sanipass, 2003) 

Picea mariana (P. Mill.) B.S.P.

Black Spruce. Pinaceae (Pine Fam.) 

Other Names: Bog Spruce, Swamp Spruce, Picea nigra (Ait), Link [R&R] 

Description: 20-60’H, evergreen tree with open irregular, conical crown of short, 

horizontal or slightly drooping branches. Needles 1⁄4-5/8 long, stiff, sharp. Bark 

gray or blackish, thin, scaly, brown beneath. Twigs brown, slender, hairy, rough, 

with peg-like bases. Cones 5/8–11⁄4” long, egg-shaped or rounded, dull gray. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Wet soils and bogs—peats, clays 

and loams; in coniferous forests, often pure stands. [As per R&R 1894: 

“Common.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Poultice of soft gum applied to boils and abscesses (FE, FS, FP). 

2) Chewing gum said to keep teeth in “good condition” (FS2). 

3) Inner bark chewed for laryngitis (LL). 

4) Twigs boiled to make a “broth that is good for a cough” (FE). 

5) Bark used to make a tonic, considered a pleasing tea as well (W&W). 

6) A medicine from this tree may have been used to treat scurvy (LL). One of the best cures for scurvy—

needles, high in vitamin C can be used as a tea or nipple (FP). 

7) Tea made from the needles used as antiseptic and to loosen mucus in throat and chest (FP). 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Bark used to make a beverage (S&D, W&W). 

2) Gum extensively chewed as a "pastime" (FE, FS). 

Material Culture Uses: 

1) Boughs used for mats, rugs, bedding (S&D). 

2) Roots used as sewing material for canoe birch bark products (ND, FE, ND, ML, S&D). 

3) Wood used for kindling and fuel (S&D). 

4) Gum used to fill canoe seams (ND, FE). 

5) Bark used to dye quills black (FW)

 

Pinus rigida Pitch Pine. Pinaceae (Pine Fam.) 

Description: Tall tree up to 100’H. Bark red-brown, deeply and irregularly 

furrowed. Red-brown buds ovoid, resinous, 1⁄2”-3/4” long. Yellow-green leaves 

straight, twisted, 4-6” long, 3(-5) per fascicle. Seed cones 11⁄4-33⁄4” long. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Sterile, dry to boggy soils. [As per 

R&R 1894: “Barren soil; not uncommon, but local. Browns Mt., etc. Very 

abundant on Newport [Champlain] Mt.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Needles cooked to make poultice to mend a broken bone or aid a sore back (FT). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Resinous buds boiled down with grease to make pitch (ND, FE). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

487

Pinus strobus L. 

White Pine. Pinaceae (Pine Fam.) 

Other Names: Eastern White Pine, Soft Pine, Northern Pine, Deal Pine 

Description: 40-50’ H evergreen tree with short trunk and broad, rounded crown of 

annual rows of stout branches nearly down to ground. Needles, 5 in a bundle, with 

sheath shedding first year; 2-31⁄2” long, slender, pointed, light or dark green with 

white lines on all surfaces. Bark light gray and smooth, becoming dark brown and 

furrowed into scaly ridges or rectangular plates. Twigs slender, very tough, 

flexible. Cones 3-6” long, egg-shaped, yellow-brown. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Dry, rocky slopes and ridges of 

high mountains up to timberline. [As per R&R 1894: “Frequent.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Bark, leaves and stems used for colds (FC, WW). Needles boiled in water or maple syrup to make 

beverage to treat colds (BK). 

2) Coughs, bronchitis (RN). Bark, leaves and stems used for coughs (FC). Needles boiled in water or 

maple syrup to make beverage to treat coughs (BK). 

3) Bark used for wounds(FC).Bark scraped, boiled till soft, then mixed w/ grease to salve wounds (WW). 

4) Sap used for hemorrhaging (FC). 

5) Bark, needles and stems used for grippe (FC). 

6) Inner bark, bark and needles used for scurvy (FC). Needles boiled in water or maple syrup to make 

beverage for preventing scurvy (BK). 

7) Plant parts used for kidney trouble (FC, WW). 

8) Boiled inner bark boiled to treat sores and swellings (FS). 

9) “My grandmother’s favorite medicine. She cooked the sap down all day to make a paste for healing 

and comforting torn ligaments, sprains, back pain, split discs, and for drawing out infections, throns and 

splinters. Tea made of inner bark will relieve pain, coughs, colds, asthma, sore throats, kidneys, and is 

also a good medicine for diarrhea” (FP) 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Bark used to make a beverage (S&D, WW). 

2) Listed in BA: One of the “most vital” wild edibles. Inner bark can be eaten raw or cooked. Needles 

pleasantly nutritious to chew upon. Spike-like flower clusters can be boiled to flavor game. Young cones 

can be ground and used to flavor meat sauces. Green needles, especiall young green tips, steeped in boiled 

water, makes a good tea. 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Wood used for kindling and fuel (S&D).

Polypodium virginianum L.

Rock Polypody. Polypodiaceae Fam. 

Other Names: Common Polypody, Polypody Fern, Rock Cap Fern, Golden 

Maiden’s Hair, Golden Locks, Polypodium vulgare L. var. virginianum (L.) Eat. 

Description: Vigorous evergreen fern growing in matlike form over rocks. Single 

leaves on stalks growing from 1⁄4” thick rootstalk densely covered with cinnamon 

colored scales. Leaves typically about 12” long, oblong, lance-shaped or 

triangular, leathery, deep green on both sides, but often lustrous goldon cover 

above. Leaflets nearly opposite, widest at lower end of leaf stalk. Red-brown fruit 

dots on leaflets, but rarely on the lower ones. Ripe Aug.-Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Rocky woods, cliff crevices, along water courses. [As 

per R&R 1894: “Rocks; very common.”] 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

488

[Polypodium virginianum/Rock Polypody cont’d]

Medicinal Uses:

1) Infusion of plant used for urine retention (JR). 

2) Roots used for pleurisy (inflammation of the pleura membrane enveloping the lungs) (FC). 

3) Asthma, catarrh, a purgative and expectorant (RN). 

4) Gathered/used by JL, purpose not noted

Polystichum acrostichoides (Michx.) Schott

Christmas Fern. Dryopteridaceae Fam. 

Other Names: Haircap Moss, Aspidium acrostichoides (Mx.), Swz. [R&R] 

Description: Evergreen fern with tapering leaves typically 3’ long, growing in 

bouquet-like clusters cascading from a central rootstock. Leaflets lanceolate, spinytoothed, holly-like, 20-30 pairs per leaf. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Rocky, shaded slopes, wooded 

streambanks, ravines, sometimes in swamps. [As per R&R 1894: “Deep rocky 

woods; frequent.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Throat Aid: Roots used for hoarseness (FC). 

Pontederia cordata L.

Pickerelweed. Pontederiaceae (Pickerelweed Fam.) 

Description: An aquatic herb with a creeping, submerged rhizome and stalks topped 

with violet-blue flower spikes reaching 1-2’ above water wurface. Leaves 4-10” 

long, basal, heart-shaped, extending above water. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Freshwater marshes, edges of 

ponds, lakes, streams.[As per R&R 1894: “Streams and muddy pond shores; 

common.”] 

Medicinal Uses: 1) Herbs used to prevent pregnancy (FC). 

Populus balsamifera L. 

Balsam Poplar. Salicaceae (Willow Fam.) 

Other Names: Balm of Gilead, Tacamahac 

Description: 60-80’ tree with narrow, open crown of upright branches and 

fragrant, resinous buds with strong balsam odor. Leaves 3-5” long, ovate, pointed 

at tip, shiny dark green above, whitish, often with rust-colored veins beneath. 

Leafstalks slender, round, hairy. Bark light brown, smooth, becoming gray and 

furrowed into flat scaly ridges. Twigs brownish, stout, with large gummy or 

sticky buds producing fragrant, yellowish resin. Catkin flowers 2-31⁄2” long, 

brownish. Fruit 5/16” long, egg-shaped capsules, pointed, light brown, hairless, 

maturing in spring and splitting into 2 parts containing many tiny, cottony seeds. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, uncommon. Moist soils of valleys, mainly 

stream banks, sandbars, and flood plains, also lower slopes; can be in pure stands. [As per R&R 1894: 

“Frequent about dwellings. Oak Hill. Southwest Harbor. Seal Harbor and elsewhere. At Somesville . . . 

and east of Town Hill, remote from dwellings.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Buds and other parts of plant used as salve for sores (FC). 

2) Buds and other parts of plant used as salve for chancre [early symptoms of syphilis] (FC, BA). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

489

Populus tremuloides Michx.

Quaking Aspen. Salicaceae (Willow Fam.) 

Other Names: Trembling Aspen, Golden Aspen, Bitter Wood 

Description: 40-70’ H tree with narrow, rounded grown of thin foliage. Leaves 

11⁄4-3” long, nearly round, abruptly short-pointed, finely saw-toothed, shiny green 

above, dull green beneath, turning yello in autumn before shedding. Bark whitish, 

smooth, thin; on very large trunks becoming dark gray, furrowed, thick. Twigs 

shiny brown, slender, hairless. Catkin flowers 1-21⁄2” long, brownish. Fuirt 1⁄4” 

long capsules, narrowly conical, light green, maturing late spring and splitting in 

2 parts with many tiny, cottony seeds. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Many soil types, especially sandy and gravelly slopes; can 

be in pure stands. [As per R&R 1894: “Frequent in woods.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Bark used for colds (FC). Infusion of bark taken as a diaphoretic (to produce sweat) for colds (FS). 

2) Bark used to stimulate the appetite (FC). 

3) Inner bark good for sore eyes (HT). 

Prunus pensylvanica L. f.

Pin Cherry. Rosaceae (Rose Fam.) 

Other Names: Fire Cherry, Bird Cherry 

Description: Small tree or shrub up to 30’ H with horizontal branches, a narrow, 

rounded, open crown. Leaves 2 1⁄2 - 4 1⁄2 long, broadly lance-shaped, long-pointed, 

finely and sharply saw-toothed, shiny green above, paler beneath, turning bright 

yellow in autumn. Bark reddish-gray, smooth, think, becoming gray and fissured 

into scaly plates. Flowers 1⁄2”-wide, 5 rounded white petals bloom in spring with 

leaves. Red cherries, 1⁄4” diam. with sour pulp and large stone, ripe in summer. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Moist soils, does well in burned areas. [Note: In contrast 

to various tree guides, ANP literature says this grows on mountain tops, dry rocky places, and deciduous 

woods.] [As per R&R 1894: “Rocky soil, woods and thickets; very common.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Wood used for chafed skin and prickly heat (FC). 

2) Bark used for erysipelas (FC). 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Listed in BA: Berries edible. Sour when raw, but “thirst-quenching and sustaining.” Can be boiled 

down in water, strained and sweetened as drink or syrup. 

Prunus serotina Ehrh.

Black Cherry. Rosaceae (Rose Fam.) 

Other Names: Wild Cherry, Rum Cherry 

Description: Tree up to 80’H with tall trunk, oblong crown. Bark dark gray, 

smooth, with horizontal lines, becoming irregularly fissured and scaly, 

exposing reddish-brown inner bark. Twigs reddish-brown, slender. Leaves 2-5” 

long, elliptical with 1-2 dark red glands at base, finely saw-toothed with curved 

or blunt teeth, shiny dark green above, light green and often hairy along 

midvein beneath, turning yellow or reddish in autumn. Flowers, 3/8” wide with 

5 rounded white petals, abundant along spreading or drooping axis at end of 

leafy twig, blooming late spring. Fruit 1/8” diameter, a dark red skin turning 

blackish, with slightly bitter, juicy, edible pulp and elliptical stone. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, rare. Can grow in variety of habitats, except very wet or very dry 

soils. [As per R&R 1894: “Not uncommon about Somesville; Bar Harbor.”] 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

490

[Prunus serotina/Black Cherry cont’d]

Medicinal Uses:

1) Bark used for colds (FC). 

2) Bark used for coughs (FC). Bark steeped and drunk for cough (FS). 

3) Bark used for smallpox (FC). 

4) Fruit used as a tonic (FC). Berries steeped to make a "fine bitter tonic" (FS). 

5) Bark used for consumption (Tuberculosis) (FC). 

6) Bark used for tonic and pulmonary troubles (RN). 

7) Gathered/used by JL, purpose not noted. 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Edible fruit (ND). Listed in BA: Edible berry eaten raw or simmered to make drink. 

Prunus virginiana L. 

Chokecherry. Rosaceae (Rose Fam.) 

Other Names: Common Chokecherry, Eastern Chokecherry, Bitter Berry Wood 

Description: Shrub or small tree up to 20’H, often forming dense thickets. Bark 

brown or gray, smooth or becoming scaly. Twigs brown, slender, with 

disagreeable odor and bitter taste. Leaves 11⁄2-3 1⁄4”, elliptical, finely and sharply 

saw-toothed, shiny dark green above, light green and sometimes slightly hairy 

beneath, turning yellow in autumn. Flowers 1⁄2”-wide, with 5 rounded white petals, 

in unbranched clusters to 4” long, bloom in late spring. Fruit 1⁄4-3/8” diameter, 

shiny dark red or blackish skin, juicy, astringent or bitter pulp, ripe in summer. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Moist soils, especially along streams in mountains and 

clearings and along forest borders and roadsides. [As per R&R 1894: “Waysides and thickets; frequent. 

Salisbury Cove, etc. Somesville. Squid Cove. Bar Harbor, etc.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Bark used for diarrhea (FC). Bark steeped and drunk for diarrhea (FS). 

2) Gathered/used by JL, purpose not noted. 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Listed in BA: Berry refreshing/sustaining when one is thirsty/hungry. Pits to be avoided because of 

poisonous content, although entire berry with pit edible if crushed and cooked to leach out the poison. 

Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn

Eastern Bracken. Dennstaedtiaceae Fam. 

Other Names:Brake, Bracken, Bracken Fern, Eagle Fern, Pteris aquiline(RN, R&R) 

Description: Rugged, prosperous fern with 1⁄2-thick, creeping rootstocks 15’ or 

longer. Rigid, smooth stalks up to 3’H, topped with leaves, ave. 3’x3’, triangular or 

ovate, almost horizontal to ground, coarse texture. Leaves usually divided into 3 

about equal parts: 2 lower parts, almost opposite and cut into oblong leaflets with 

narrow subleaflets on lower ends; upper part ovate, cut into leaflets and subleaflets. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Mountain tops, dry rocky places, 

deciduous woods. [As per R&R 1894: “dry soil; very common.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Fronds of plant used as stimulant for weak babies and old people (FC). 

2) Tapeworm (RN). 

Food/Beverage Uses: Listed in BA: Young unfurled fronds (“fiddleheads) are edible raw and cooked.” 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

491

Pyrola Elliptica Nutt.

Shinleaf. Pyrolaceae (Wintergreen Fam.) 

Other Names: Waxflower shinleaf 

Description: 10” H plant with elongated cluster of waxy, fragrant, greenish-white, 

5-petaled flowers, 5/8” wide on a red stalk rising above evergreen basal leaves 

that are 23⁄4” long, oblong. Flowers June-Aug. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Dry to moist woods. [As per 

R&R 1894: “Common in woodlands.”] 

Medicinal Uses: Plasters (RN). 

Quercus rubra 

Northern Red Oak Fagaceae (Beech Fam.) 

Description: 60-80’H tree. Leaves 5-8” long with 7-11 evenly spaced, bristle tipped 

lobes, lustrous green, turning red in autumn. Bark gray to reddish-brown with vertical 

fissures. Acorn 1” long, oval with shallow hairy cup. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, frequent. Bottomlands, slopes, uplands on welldrained loam. 

Food/beverage Uses: Acorn eaten and ground to use as flavoring (JN) 

Ranunculus acris L.

Tall Buttercup. Ranunculaceae (Buttercup Fam.) 

Other Names: Common Buttercup, Meadow Buttercup 

Description: 2-3’ H, erect, branching plant. Basal leaves 1-4” wide, long-stalked, 

blades deeply and palmately cut. Upper leaves smaller. 5-petaled, yellow flowers 

1” wide , blooming May-Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Meadows, old fields, disturbed 

areas. Thrives in moist sites. 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Leaves used for headaches (FC). Scent of leaves inhaled to relieve headache 

(W&W). Leaves crushed and inhaled from the hands to relieve headache (FE). 

2) Plant laid over diseased area(s) to treat cancer (WW). 

Rhexia virginica L. 

Meadow Beauty. Melastomataceae (Meadow Beauty Fam.) 

Other Names: Handsome Harry, Deergrass 

Description: 1-2’ H, 4-sided stem topped with several 4-petaled pink flowers1-11⁄2” 

wide, blooming July-Sept. Leaves spaced along length of stem are 3⁄4-2 1⁄2” long, 

opposite, ovate to elliptical, toothed, rounded at base, with 3 prominent veins. Urnshaped fruit 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Moist open places. 

Medicinal Uses: Leaves and stems used as a throat cleanser (FC). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

492

Rhus hirta (L.) Sudworth

Staghorn Sumac. Anacardiaceae (Cashew Fam.) 

Other Names: Rhus typhina L. 

Description: 3-30’ H shrub or small tree with branches and twigs covered with 

velvety hairs and small green to brownish flowers in pyramidical clusters up to 8” 

long—flowering June-July.. Leaves compound, pinnately divided into generally 

11—25 opposite, lanceoloate, toothed leaflets, each 2-5” long, dark green above, 

paler below. Berry-like fruit, reddish brown, covered with bright red hairs. Milky, 

yellowish sap. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Fields, clearings, dry soil. [As per 

R&R 1894: “Hillsides, etc. Frequent, but rather local.”]

Medicinal Uses:

1) Berries and roots used for loss of appetite (FC). 

2) Parts of plant used for sore throats (FC, WW). 

3) Tea made from staghorn sumac poured into ear to treat earache (WW). 

4) Berries boiled in water, made into syrup by adding sugar, is a good cough syrup (FT). 

5) Seeds pounded and mixed with grease used for hemorrhoids (VSS) 

Food/Beverage Uses: Listed in BA: Berries make a fine tea when mashed and steeped in boiled water, 

then strained “to remove fine hairs.” 

Ribes hirtellum Michx. 

Gooseberry 

Other Names: Currant Gooseberry, Hairy-stem Gooseberry, 

Description: Shrub growing to 1’H. Inconspicuous flowers, green with pink 

flushed petals, borne singly or in tiny clusters in leaf axils. Leaves 1-3” 

long, alternate, single, deeply lobed, pale gray-green. Stems bristly. 

Smooth-skinned berry, pale gray-green, ripening to pinkish hue. 

Location: In park, uncommon. Woodland/sunny edge, dappled shade

Food/Beverage Uses: Berry eaten (JN). (Not in BA, but listed in various other 

“edible plants” sources.) 

Rubus Canadensis 

Smooth Blackberry. Rosaceae (Rose Fam.) 

Other Names: Smooth Bramble, Low Blackberry 

Description: Slender, prickly stem, procumbent or trailing several yards upon the 

ground. Leaves petiolate of three (or pedately 5 or 7) leaflets that are 

elliptical/oval and toothed. Flowers large, white, nearly solitary, on slender, 

prickly pedicels. Fruit large, black, sweet, juicy. 

Location: Historically present in park. [As per R&R 1894: “Dry fields and 

roadsides; frequent.”] 

Medicinal Uses: Root used for dysentery (RN) 

Food/Beverage Uses: Listed in BA: Berry, rich in Vitamin C, can be eaten raw or 

made into a drink. Young peeled sprouts and twigs are “pleasant and nutritious toe each.” 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

493

Rubus chamaemorus L.

Cloudberry. Rosaceae (Rose Fam.) 

Other Names: Baked-apple Berry, Dwarf Mulberry, Bear-vine Apples (JL) 

Description: herbaceous perennial forb 4-12”H, prostrate to erect in form with 

slender, creeping, woody rhizomes. Leaves 1-3” long. Aggregate fruit composed 

of 6-18 large drupelets 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, rare. Wet meadows, bogs, marshes, favors 

acidic soil. [As per R&R 1894: “Rare. The Heath, Great Cranberry Isle. Said to 

grow in abundance near Prospect Harbor, Gouldsboro, on mainland.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Roots used for cough (FC). 

2) Roots used for fever (FC). 

3) Roots used for consumption (Tuberculosis) (FC). 

4) Good for kidney trouble (JL). 

Food/Beverage Uses: Listed in BA: Berry, rich in Vitamin C, can be eaten raw or made into a drink. 

Young peeled sprouts and twigs are “pleasant and nutritious toe each.” 

Rubus hispidus L. 

Bristly Dewberry. Rosaceae (Rose Fam.) 

Other Names: Swampberry, Dewberry, Groundberry, Running Raspberry, 

Running Swamp Blackberry 

Description: Trailing, woody stems bearing weak, backward-curving bristles. 

Erect branches 4-12” H, usually 3-parted. Leaves shiny, ovate, toothed, 2” long. 

White, 5-petaled flowers, 3⁄4”-wide, in loose, terminal clusters or in leaf axils, 

blooms June-Sept. Edible fruit, red or blackish. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Moist thickets, open woods and 

clearings. [As per R&R 1894: “Low grounds and by waysides; common.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Roots used for cough. 

2) Roots used for fever. 

3) Berries steeped and drunk as a vermifuge” [medicine that expels intestinal worms] (FE). 

Food/Beverage Uses: Berry sour but edible 

Rubus idaeus (Michx.) Maxim

Wild Red Raspberry. Rosaceae (Rose Fam.) 

Other Names: American Red Raspberry, Common Red Raspberry 

Description: Arched, often-tangled reddish-green “canes” 3-5’ H, bristly hairy to 

slightly prickly. Leaves 5-8” long, alternate, pinnately compound, 3-7 serrated 

leaflets green above, whitish beneath. Flowers greenish with tiny white petals, 

appearing June/July. Fruit juicy, red, multiple of drupes, maturing July/August. 

Location: In park and adjacent lands, common. Moist, well-drained soil, sunny 

edges or dappled sunlit woodlands. 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Plant used as stomach medicine to treat diarrhea (LL). 

2) Leaves steeped to make tea for colds 

Food/Beverage Uses: Edible berry “of a very good taste” (ND). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

494

Rubus pubescens var. pubescens 

Dwarf Raspberry. Rosaceae (Rose Fam.) 

Other Names: Dwarf Red Blackberry, Dwarf Red Raspberry 

Description: Deciduous shrub up to 19”H. Compound, trifoliate leaves; individual 

leaves diamond-shaped, points tapered, margins sharply toothed. Loose cluster of 1-

3 white (sometimes pink), 5-petaled flowers on slender stalks from branch ends, 

blooming May/June. Fruit is a dark red, roundish raspberry, ripening July-Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Damp slopes, rocky shores, 

thickets, sunny woodland edges. 

Medicinal Uses: Parts of plant used for irregular menstruation (FC). 

Food/Beverage Uses: Berry edible 

Rumex crispus L. 

Curled Dock. Polygonaceae (Buckwheat Fam.) 

Other Names: Curly Dock, Yellow Dock 

Description: Stout plant 2-4’ H with 1/8”-long, reddish or greenish flowers in a 

long slender branching cluster atop a stem bearing 6-10”-long leaves that are 

oblong to lanceolate. Flowers June-Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. [As per R&R 1894: “Common 

in cultivated and waste ground.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Infusion of roots used as a purgative (FC, WM). 

2) Urinary Aid: Roots used for "cold in bladder" (FC). Infusion of roots, hemlock, parsley and Prince's 

pine used for colds in the Bladder (WM). 

Food/Beverage Uses: Listed in BA: Leaves edible raw or cooked, having a “delicately bitter, lemonish 

flavor.” Brown seeds, separated from their thin leaves, used for flour/meal. 

Material Culture Uses: Root used to make a green dye (FW). 

Salix lucida Muhl.

Shining Willow. Salicaceae (Willow Fam.) 

Other Names: Glossy Willow, Yellow Willow, Squaw Bush (FS) 

Description: 9-18’ H small tree/shrub with glossy, lanceolate leaves, yellow 

catkin flowers. 

Location: Historically present in park. Shrubby wetland, wet meadow, swamp, 

bog. [As per R&R 1894: “Wet places and borders of brooks and ponds; frequent. 

Otter Creek Brook. Great Pond. Northwest Cove. Bubble Pond. Jordan Pond. 

Long Pond meadows.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Bark used for hemorrhaging (FC). 

2) Bark used for asthma (FC). Bark smoked for asthma (FS). 

3) Bark of Salix sp steeped, drunk in quantities for cold (FS). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

495

Sambucus nigra ssp. canadensis (L.) R. Bolli

American Elder. Caprifoliaceae (Honeysuckle Fam.) 

Other Names: Sambucus Canadensis, Elderberry 

Description: Smooth-stemmed 3-12’H shrub. Leaves opposite, with 5-11 elliptical 

to lanceolate toothed leaflets, each 2-6” long. Tiny white, fragrant flowers in 

clusters 2-10”-wide, blooming June-July. Fruit purplish-black, berry-like, 

clustered drupes—edible. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Low ground, wet areas, borders 

of fields and thickets. [As per R&R 1894: “Frequent in rich soil, but nowhere 

very abundant. Somesville. Northeast Harbor. Southwest Harbor. Gilmore 

Meadow. Long Pond meadows. Bar Harbor.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Berries, bark, and flower used as a purgative and bark (FC). Tea made of bark is an “excellent 

purgative” (FE). 

2) Flowers made into tea to treat babies with colic (FE). 

3) Constipation (RN). Bark used as an emetic (FC). Tea made of bark scraped upward from the branch 

acts as an emetic (FE). 

4) Bark used as a physic (FC). Tea made of bark scraped downward from the branch used as physic (FE). 

5) Berries, bark and flower used as a soporific (sedative) (FC). 

6) Rheumatism, cancer, dropsy, nervous ailments (RN). 

Food/Beverage Uses: Listed in BA: Berries edible, having a “very acceptable” taste when dried and 

cooked. Flowers also edible. 

Sambucus racemosa L. 

Scarlet Elderberry. Caprifoliaceae (Honeysuckle Fam.) 

Other Names: Sambucus pubens, Sambucus racemosa ssp pubens, Red 

Elderberry, Redberry Elder, Red Berried Elder, Red Elder, Stinking Elder 

Description: 2-10’H shrub with downy twigs and leaves and concave or 

pyramidal clusters of small white flowers. Leaves opposite, pinnately compound, 

with 5-7 oval or ovate-lanceolate, sharply-toothed leaflets, each 2-5” long. 

Flowers white, 5-petaled, 1⁄4” wide, blooming April-July. Fruit bright red, berrylike, clustered drupes. clusters 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Rich woods, clearings. 

Medicinal Uses: Herbs used as an "emetic (with round wood)" (FC). 

Sanicula marilandica L.

Blacksnake Root. Apiaceae (Carrot Fam.) 

Other Names: Maryland Snakeroot, Maryland Blacksnake Root, Sanicle, 

Maryland Sanicle 

Description: 1-4’ H plant with inconspicuous, greenish-white flowers in small 

uneven compound umbels on glabrous, light-green, stalks of unequal length. 

Flowers have 5 narrow, lanceolate sepals, each 1/16” long and extending 

beyond 5 tiny white petals. Leaves palmately divided into 3-5 wedge-shaped to 

narrow, oblong, sharply toothed leaflets, each up to 3” long. Fruit small, oval, 

covered with hooked bristles. A pair of curved styles at the apex of the fruit 

extend well beyond the bristles (in contrast to Sanicula canadensis/Canada 

Blacksnake Root/Short-styled Snakeroot which has styles no longer than bristles of the fruit). Flowers 

June/July. 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

496

[Sanicula marilandica/Blacksnake Root cont’d] 

Location: Historically present in park and adjacent areas. Open woods, moist to slightly dry. [As per R&R 

1894: “Wet woods and meadows; infrequent. Little Harbor Brook Notch. Cold Brook. Long Pond 

meadows.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Roots used for irregular menstruation (FC). 

2) Roots used for menstrual pain (FC). 

3) Anti-rheumatic (Internal): Roots used for rheumatism (FC). 

4) Roots used for kidney trouble (FC). 

6) Roots used as a snakebite remedy (FC). 

Sarracenia purpurea L.

Purple Pitcherplant. Sarraceniaceae (Pitcherplant Fam.) 

Other Names: Northern Pitcher Plant, Indian Cup, Indian Dipper, Indian Pitcher, 

Whippoorwill’s Moccasins, Virgin Mary’s Sock 

Description: Carnivorous plant bearing a 2”-wide, purplish-red flower atop a 

leafless 10-20” stalk rising above a rosette of reddish-green “pitcher” leaves, each 

4-12” long, curled, and hollow. Flowers May-Aug. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional-common. Peat bogs. [As per 

R&R 1894: “Common in peat bogs.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Strong decoction of root taken for "spitting blood" (hemorrhaging) and other 

pulmonary complaints (FS). Herbs used for spitting blood (FC). 

2) Infusion of root taken for sore throat (FS). 

3) Kidney (RN). Herbs for kidney trouble (FC). Infusion of plant "supposedly" for kidney trouble (FS). 

4) Herbs used for consumption (Tuberculosis) (FC). 

5) Smallpox (RN). Roots used for smallpox (FC). Leaves steeped for medicine for smallpox (FE). 

6) Herbs used for consumption [Tuberculosis] (FC). 

7) Indigestion (RN). 

Scirpus microcarpus J.& K. Presl

Panicled Bulrush. Cyperaceae (Sedge Fam.) 

Other Names: Small-fruited Bulrush, Redtinged Bulrush, Description: Stout 

sedge, triangular stems up to 4.5’growing from thick, oblong, edible rhizomes. 

Sharp-edged leaves, usually in sets of threes, branch from both the base and the 

stems. Leaf sheaths a distinct purple or red hue. 2”-long clusters of flowers 

extend upwards from tip of main stem. Flowers June-Aug. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Wetlands. 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Roots used for abscesses (FC). 

2) Herbs used for sore throats (FC). 

Scutellaria galericulata L.

Marsh Scullcap. Lamiaceae (Mint Fam.) 

Other Names: Marsh Skullcap, Hooded Skullcap 

Description: Square stems 6-18”H. Opposite, downy leaves, oblong and tapering, 

heart-shaped at the base, 1⁄2-21⁄2” long, toothed. Bright-blue, paired flowers about 

1⁄2” wide, grow from axils of upper, leaf-like bracts, bloom July-Sept.

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. [As per R&R 1894: “Common 

on sea beaches and banks by the shore; more rarely on pond shores.”] 

Medicinal Uses: A nervine (RN). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

497

Sedum telephium L. 

Witch's Moneybags. Crassulaceae (Stonecrop Fam.) 

Other Names: Live-Forever, Hylotelephium telephium ssp. telephium, Sedum 

triphyllum 

Description: Flowers red-purple to white in rounded clusters on end of 1-2’ tall 

smooth stem arising from leaf axils. Fleshy, succulent leaves are coarsely toothed 

and slightly curled. Flowers Aug-Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, uncommon. Fields, roadsides. 

Medicinal Uses: Dermatological Aid: Leaves used for boils and carbuncles (FC). 

Senecio aureus L.

Golden Ragwort. Asteraceae (Aster Fam.) 

Other Names: Packera aurea (L.) Golden Groundsel, Golden Senecio, Life Root, 

Squaw-weed, Swamp Squaw-weed, Waxweed, Wild Valerian. 

Description: 1-21⁄2’ H with 1 to several erect flowering stems. Slender, heartshaped basal leaves 1-6”, often purplish beanth. Lance-shaped stem leaves 

variously cleft. Composite, daisy-like flowers, yellow, bloom April-June. 

Location: Historically present in park and adjacent lands. Along streams, ravines, 

other moist areas. [As per R&R 1894: “Rare. Meadow, High Head.”] 

Medicinal Uses: Roots for pulmonary ailments, hemorrhages, women’s nerves 

(RN). 

Solanum dulcamara L. 

Climbing Nightshade. Solanaceae (Nightshade Fam.) 

Other Names: Deadly Nightshade, Bitter Nightshade, Bittersweet 

Description: A climbing 2-8’-long vine with loose flattish clusters of drooping, 

star-shaped, 1⁄2” wide flowers that are blue or violet, with yellow centers. Leaves 

up to 31⁄2” long, ovate, long-pointed, with two basal lobes. Fruit shiny, green, 

tomato-like berry turning bright red. Flowers May-Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Thickets and clearings. [As per 

R&R 1894: “Near dwellings and in low grounds. Hulls Cove. Breakneck Road. 

Bar Harbor.”] 

Medicinal Uses: Roots used for nausea (FC). 

Sorbus americana Marsh.

American Mountain Ash. Rosaceae (Rose Fam.) 

Other Names: Dogberry, Pyrus Americana, Pirus Americana, 

Description: A smooth-barked, deciduous shrub or small tree up to 30’ H with 

short trunk, slender, spreading branches, and a narrow, round-topped crown. 

Leaves alternate and compound with 13-17 elliptic, serrate (or doubly serrate) 

leaflets 2-4” long. White, 5-petaled, tiy flowers in showy round clusters 2-6” in 

diameter, blooming June/July. Fruit bright orange-red berries in clusters, ripening 

Aug/Sept., acidic but edible 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Moist habitats from swamp 

borders to rocky hillsides, wooded or open areas, roadsides; stunted forms in 

dryer soils. [As per R&R 1894: “Rocky woods; common.”] 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

498

[Sorbus Americana/American Mountain Ash cont’d] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Bark used for "mother pains" (FC). 

2) Bark used for boils (FC). 

3) Bark boiled and decoction drunk to “stimulate appetite and purify the blood” (FE). 

3) Parts of plant used as an emetic (FC, FE, FS). 

4) Infusion of root taken for colic and for other unspecified purpose (FS). 

5) Bark chewed to ease stomach pain (WW). 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Berries “good for people to eat (FE). 

2) Infusion of bark used as a tea (FS) 

3) Listed in BA: Although “somewhat bitter in tannin,” berries eaten fresh or dry, sometimes boiled. 

Spirea tomentosa L.

Hardhack. Rosaceae (Rose Fam.) 

Other Names: Steeplebush 

Description: Erect, 2-4’H shrub. Pointed branched clusters of tiny pink flowers 1⁄4” 

wide. Leaves 1-2” long, oblong, toothed, wooly beneath. Flowers July-Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Old fields, meadows, and sterile 

low ground. 

Medicinal Uses: Dysentery (RN) 

Streptopus amplexifolius (L.) DC.

Claspleaf Twisted Stalk. Liliaceae (Lily Fam.) 

Other Names: White Mandarin, Clasping-leaved Twisted-stalk, Cucumber Root 

Description: 12-40”H lily notable for the twisted appearance of its elbowed 

stems. Leaves 1-3” long, alternate, ovate, sharp-pointed, with clasping stem. Belllike, greenish-white flowers, 3/8” long, usually appearing singly on slender, 

kinked stalk from the lower side of each leaf, blooming in June/July. Dark 

yellowish to red berries, oval-oblong, many seeded. 

Location: In Park, uncommon. Moist forests, streambanks, thickets, shade. [As 

per R&R 1894: “Frequent in deep woods, especially along mountain brooks.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) For spitting blood (hemorrhaging) (FC).Compound infusion of plant taken for "spitting up blood" (FS). 

2) Parts of plant used for kidney trouble (FC). Compound infusion of plant taken for kidney trouble (FS). 

3) Parts of plant used for gonorrhea (FC). Compound infusion of plant taken for gonorrhea (FS). 

4) Herbs used for headache (FC). 

5) Compound infusion of plant taken as a tonic (FS). 

Food/Beverage Uses: Listed in BA: Tender young shoots and leaves edible raw. 

Symplocarpus foetidus (L.) Salisb. Ex Nutt

Skunk Cabbage. Araceae (Arum Fam.) 

Description: Mottled green and brownish-purple, shell-like spathe 3-6” long 

emerges early spring, enclosing knob-like, yellowish to dark red-purple spadix 

covered with tiny flowers. In late spring dark green leaves 1-2’ long and up to 1’ 

wide unfurl beside spathe on stalks rising directly from ground. 

Location: In park, rare. Open swamps/marshes, wet woodlands and streamsides. 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Asthma, whooping cough (RN) 

2) Tied in bundle and inhaled to treat headache (WW). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

499

Tanacetum vulgare L.

Common Tansy. Asteraceae (Aster Fam.) 

Other Names: Tansy, Gold Buttons 

Description: Erect, 2-3’H perennial. Flat-topped clusters of orange-yellow, buttonlike flowerheads 1⁄2” wide, bloom July-Sept. Aromatic leaves 4-8” long, pinnately 

divided into linear, toothed segments. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Field edges, shorelines, waste 

places, roadsides. [As per R&R 1894: “Near old dwellings and by waysides; 

frequent. Jordan Pond. Beech Hill. [Somes] ‘Sound’. Great Cranberry Isle. Bass 

Harbor Head. Somesville. Mouth of Duck Brook.”] 

Medicinal Uses: 1) Herbs used to prevent pregnancy (FC). 

2) Leaves used for kidney trouble (FC). 

3) Soaked with yarrow in cold water and taken as an appetizer and for the stomach (FE). 

4) Tansy worn in a bag around the neck used to prevent worms (FL). 

Taraxacum officinale G.H. Weber ex Wiggers

Common Dandelion. Asteraceae (Aster Fam.) 

Description: A slender 2-18”H stalk containing milky sap and bearing a single 

11⁄2”-wide flowerhead composed of numerous yellow rays. Basal leaves 2-16” 

long, deeply and irregularly toothed and lobed. Flowers March-Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Fields, roadsides, waste places, 

lawns. [As per R&R 1894: “Becoming common; roadsides and wasteplaces, 

sometimes even in woods. Naturalized from Europe.”] 

Medicinal Uses: 

1)Steeped for physic (FE). 

2) Roots and leaves used in tea decoctions for heartburn and digestive problems (BK). 

Food Uses:

1) Leaves used as greens in food (S&D). 

2) Listed in BA: Boiled roots are edible, as are the white crown portions of the perennial between the 

roots and surface of the ground. Raw greens especially rich in vitamin A. 

Taxus canadensis Marsh.

Canada Yew. Taxaceae (Yew Fam.) 

Other Names: American Yew, Ground Hemlock [R&R] 

Description: Evergreen, coniferous shrub up to 55’ H, branches dense, spread. 

Bark nearly smooth. Leaves flat evergreen needles forming flat sprays along the 

branches, attached in a spiral to twig on twisted stalks. Flowers tiny, cone-like, 

inconspicuous in the leaf angles, appearing in May. Fruit fleshy, red-orange, cuplike aril surrounding a single seed, appearing in July. 

Location: In park, rare. Shaded forest areas in fresh/moist, mineral or organic soil 

types. [As per R&R 1894: “Common in deep moist woods and glens.”] 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Parts of plant used for afterbirth pain (FC). Infusion of bark & milk used as childbirth medicine (WW). 

2) Parts of plant used for blood clots (FC). 

3) Parts of plant used for fever (FC). 

4) Bark used for bowel and internal troubles (FC). Plant steeped and liquid mixed with whiskey to treat 

bowels and other internal problems (WW) 

5) Parts of plant used for scurvy (FC). 

6) Infusion of twigs taken for colds (FS). Infusion of bark used to treat coughs, colds, and grippe (WW). 

Food Uses: Twigs used to make a beverage (FS, FS2) 

Material Culture Uses: Very strong, concentrated decoction of leaves used to make a green dye (FS). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

500

Thuja occidentalis L.

Northern White Cedar. Cupressaceae (Cypress Fam.) 

Other Names: Arbor Vitae, Tree of Life, White Cedar, Yellow Cedar, American 

Cedar. 

Description: Evergreen tree, 25-40’H, branching near the base with dense 

pyramidal crown. Bark reddish-brown or grayish-brown, fibrous, fissured. 

Branches mostly grown upright. Fragrant leaves small, scalelike, giving a 

strongly flattened appearance to twigs. Seed cones ellipsoid, 4-6” long, brown. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Moist-wet soils, stream banks, 

seashore. [As per R&R 1894: “Very common.... called White Cedar on MDI.”] 

Medicinal Uses: 1) Stems used for headaches (FC). 

2) Inner bark, bark and stems used for dressing burns (FC). 

3) Compound poultice of bark used on cuts to treat pain (FS). 

4) Compound poultice of cedar bark, lambkill, and salt applied "for all kinds of trouble” (FS) 

5) Leaves made into a poultice for swollen hands or feet (FE, FS). 

6) Inner bark, bark and stems used for cough (FC). 

7) Leaves used for swollen feet and hands (FC). Poultice of leaves applied to swollen hands or feet (FS). 

8) Gum used for toothache (FC). 

9) Inner bark, bark and stems used for consumption (Tuberculosis) (FC). 

10) Twigs or green tips made into tea for minor conditions such as colds or coughs, or more serious 

situations like cancer (FP). 

11) Warts (RN) 

Material Culture Uses: 1) Used to make canoe slats (S&D). 

2) Wood used for kindling and fuel (S&D). 

3) Used to make arrow shafts (ND, S&D). And to make bows (ND) 

4) Cedar burned in rituals, as a smudge or in prayer fires (FP). 

5) Boughs hung in home to purify air (FP). 

6) Cedar leaves & bark “give a rich olive green” (FS2) Green dye made “from white cedar twigs and elmbark, boiled together for a long time and set with copperas” (FE2) 

Tiarella cordifolia L. 

Foam Flower; Saxifragaceae (Saxifrage Fam.) 

Other Names: Heartleaf Foam Flower, Coolwort 

Description: 6-12”H plant with somewhat maple-like leaves 2-4” long, basal, stalked, 

lobed, sharply toothed, usually hairy. Flowers white, 1⁄4”wide, in a feathery, 

somewhat elongated terminal cluster, blooming April-June. 

Location: Historically present in park. Rich woods. 

Medicinal Uses: Roots used for diarrhea (FC). 

Tilia Cordata P. Mill 

Basswood Tiliaceae (Linden Fam.) 

Other Names: Common Lime, English Lime, Small-leaf Lime, Bass, Bast-tree. 

Description: 50-75’H, with dense, round crown. Bark gray or brown, ridged with 

shallow furrows. Twigs slender, zigzag, green-brown or red-tinged. Leaves 2-3”L, 

alternate, simple, pinnately veined, heart-shaped with toothed margins. Clusters of 

fragrant, small yellow flowers on pendulous cymes with narrow leaflike bracts. 

Bloom June-Aug. Fruit: oval, ribbed, brown nutlets hanging on long stems 

beneath large, leafy wings.

Location: In park and adjacent lands, uncommon. Moist woods. 

Material Culture Uses: 1) Stringy inner bark used to weave bags, mats, ropes, fishnets, tumplines (FS2). 

2) Snares made of bark (JN). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

501

Trillium undulatum Willd.

Painted Trillium. Liliaceae (Lily Fam.) 

Other Names: Wake Robin [R&R] [chk whether they were correct] 

Description: 8-20”H plant with erect stalk topped by single, 2-21⁄2”-wide, white & 

pink flower with 3-wavy-edged petals, each separated at the base by an inverted 

pink V. Leaves 21⁄2-5” long in a whorl of 3, ovate, tapering to a point, bluish green, 

waxy. Fruit is a many-seeded berry. Flowers April-June. 

Location: In park, uncommon. [As per R&R 1894: “Frequent in damp woods.”] 

Medicinal Uses: For cramps; a nervine (RN). 

Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr.

Eastern Hemlock. Pinaceae (Pine Fam.) 

Other Names: Canadian Hemlock, Hemlock Spruce, Spruce Pine 

Description: 60-70’H evergreen tree. Bark of mature trees gray-brown with slight 

purple tint, deeply furrowed into narrow ridges. Needles shiny, medium- to darkgreen, .3-.7” long, flattened and tapering to the apex, arranged in two rows on 

branch. Cones, 1⁄2”-long, arising from tips of small branches. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Coniferous woods. [As per R&R 

1894: “Infrequent, except in old woods. Also on Cranberry Isles.”]

Medicinal Uses: 1) Inner bark used for diarrhea (FC). 

2) Bark, stems used for colds (FC,LL). Plant used to relieve colds, induce sweating, reduce fevers (BK). 

3) Bark used as cough medicine (FC) 

4) Inner bark used for chapped skin (FC). Bark dried, finely powdered to relieve/prevent chafing (HB). 

5) Parts of plant used for bowel, stomach, and internal troubles (FC). 

6) Roots and stems used for "cold in kidney" (FC) 

7) Bark used for grippe and inner bark used for scurvy (FC). 

8) Urinary Aid:Roots and stems used for "cold in bladder" (FC) 

9) Beds of hemlock branches refreshed tired hunters, renewed strength (BK). 

Food/Beverage Uses: Bark used to make a beverage (S&D). 

Material Culture Uses: 1) Bark used to make a dye (S&D). Bark yields a “dark reddish-brown” dye (FS2)

2) Wood used for kindling and fuel (S&D). 

Typha angustifolia L.

Narrowleaf Cattail. Typhaceae (Cattail Fam.) 

Description: Closely related to the Common Cattail (T. latifolia), but having 

narrower leaves to 1⁄2” wide, and a gap between the male and female flower spikes. 

Location: In park, rare. [As per R&R 1894: “Bogs and marshes; frequent.”] 

Medicinal Uses: Roots used for gravel (kidney stones) (FC). 

Food/Beverage Uses: 

1) Flowers, seeds and young shoots eaten fresh. Young shoots dried for winter, 

could be pounded into flour or boiled to make a syrup (WH) 

2) Listed in BA: Peeled roots & lower portions of stem delicious/nutritious raw or cooked. Young tender 

shoots very edible raw or cooked. Flower spikes edible when cooked. 

Material Culture Uses: 

1) Leaves used to weave mats, bags, other containers (WH). 

2) Down used to wrap infants for warmth (WH). 

3) Stems used to make darts & knives (WH). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

502

Typha latifolia L. 

Common Cattail. Typhaceae (Cattail Fam.) 

Other Names: Broadleaf Cattail 

Description: A mostly-edible, 3-9’H stiff plant bearing a yellowish cylindrical 

spike (typically 6” long) of tiny male flowers extending directly above a similarlyl 

long, brownish spike of female flowers, usually no bare stem between male and 

female spikes. 1”-wide leaves taller than stem, sword-like, flat, sheathing the stem. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Freshwater marshes, ditches, 

shorelines. 

Medicinal Uses: Leaves used for sores (FC). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Leaves used to weave mats, bags, other containers (WH). 

2) Down used to wrap infants for warmth (WH). 

3) Stems used to make darts & knives (WH). 

Ulmus americana L. 

American Elm. Ulmaceae (Elm Fam.) 

Other Names: White Elm, Soft Elm 

Description: 100’H tree, often with enlarged buttresses at base, usually forked 

into many spreading branches drooping at ends, forming a very broad, rounded, 

flat-topped or vase-like crown, often wider than high. Bark light gray, deeply 

furrowed into broad, forking, scaly ridges. Twigs brownish, slender. Leaves 3-6” 

long, elliptical, abruptly long-pointed, base rounded with sides unequal, doubly 

saw-toothed, with many straight, parallel side veins; dark green above, paler 

beneath, turning bright yellow in autumn. Flowers 1/8” wide, greenish, clustered 

along twigs in early spring. Fruit 3/8-1/2” long, elliptical, flat, 1-seeded keys with 

wing hairy on edges. 

Location: In park, rare. Moist soils, especially valleys, flood plains; mixed hardwood forests. 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Infusion of bark taken for "bleeding at the lungs" (pulmonary hemorrhage) (FE, FS). 

2) Bark gathered/used by JL, purpose not noted. 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Green dye made “from white cedar twigs and elm-bark, boiled together for a long time and set with 

copperas” (FE2) 

Vaccinium angustifolium 

Low Blueberry. Ericaceae (Heath Fam.)

Other Names: V. Pennsylvanicum Lam. Lowbush blueberry, Low Sweet 

Blueberry 

Description: Erect 2-14”H shrub with white, 5-parted 3/8”-wide flowers in 

compact racemes, blooming May-June. Bears sweet dark blue berries. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Listed in BA: Berries edible and used/prepared in many ways. [As per R&R 

1894, who refer to it as V. Pennsylvanicum, Lam./dwarf blueberry: “Very 

common everywhere in dry soil; abundant on the hills and mountains.”] 

Material Culture Uses: Berries used to make reddish-pink dye (quickly fading) (FE2). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

503

Vaccinium corymbosum L.

Highbush Blueberry. Ericaceae (Heath Fam.) 

Other Names: Whortleberry, hurtleberry (ND, from heurte,French for azure blue) 

Description: 5-15’H multi-stemmed shrub with green or red twigs and terminal 

clusters of urn-shaped, white flowers 1⁄4”-1⁄2” long. Flowers May-June. Leaves 

11⁄2-3” long, elliptical. Fruit, an edible blue berry June-Aug. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. [As per R&R 1894: “Swamps 

and low thickets; frequent. Somesville and vicinity. Witch Hole. Hulls Cove.”] 

Food/Beverage Use: Berries edible. 

Material Culture Uses: Berries used to make reddish-pink dye (fast fading) (FE2). 

Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.

Large Cranberry. Ericaceae (Heath Fam.)

Other Names: Bog Cranberry 

Description: Evergreen, trailing shrub. Ascending branches bear clusters of 

nodding, pinkish-white flowers with 4 backward-pointing petals in leaf axils. 

Leaves 1⁄4-5/8” long, oval, blunt, shiny above, slightly whitish beneath. Flowers 

1⁄2” long, bloom June-Aug. Fruit edible, round, dark red berry matures Aug/Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Open bogs, swamps, lakesides. 

[As per R&R 1894: “Bogs; common, but rarely in great abundance. Also on 

Cranberry Isles, whence their name.”] 

Food/Beverage Uses: Listed in BA: Berries used for food and steeped for beverage. Also used dry or 

fresh to flavor food. 

Vaccinium vitis-idaea (L.) subsp. minus (Lodd.) Hulten 

Mountain Cranberry. Ericaceae (Heath Fam.) 

Other Names: Northern Mountain Cranberry, Lingonberry 

Description: A low, evergreen shrub with creeping stems and upright 3-8” 

branches bearing small, terminal clusters of pink, nodding, bell-shaped flowers, 

about 1⁄4” wide, blooming June-July. Leaves 5/8” long, elliptical, with black dots 

beneath. Dark red, edible berry. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. [As per R&R 1894: “Common 

everywhere, shore and mountains, and on the islands.”] 

Medicinal Uses: For gravel and other kidney and bladder problems (RN). 

Food/Beverage Uses: Listed in BA: Berries used for food and steeped for 

beverage. Also used dry or fresh to flavor food. 

Material Culture Uses: Berries used to make red dye (FE2). 

Verbascum thapsus L.

Common Mullein. Scrophulariaceae (Figwort Fam.) 

Description: A 2-7’ H plant with an erect, woolly stem rising from a rosette of 

thick, velvety, basal leaves and bearing a tightly packed, spike-like cluster of 

yellow, 5-petaled flowers 3⁄4-1” wide. Basal leaves up to 1’ long, oblong, stalked; 

upper leaves smaller, stalkless with bases continuing down stem as thin ridges or 

wings. Flowers June-Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Fields, roadsides, waste places. 

Medicinal Uses: 

1) Parts of plant used for sores and cuts (FC). 

2) Parts of plant used for catarrh (inflammation of mucous membranes, esp. of the nose and throat) (FC) 

3) Leaves used for asthma (FC). Dried and powdered leaves smoked for asthma (FE, FS). 
▪Chapter 17: Inventory of Plants Used by Wabanakis▪ 

504

[Verbascum thapus/Common Mullein cont’d] 

4) Leaves may have been steeped and smelled to relieve asthma (LL). 

Medicinal Uses

5) Leaves steeped in water and molasses, becoming a candied syrup that can be dried into lozenges to 

treat mouth and throat sores (BK). 

6) Pectoral, piles, coughs, an anodyne, seeds for liniment (RN). 

Verbena hastata L.

Blue Vervain. Verbenaceae (Verbena Fam.) 

Other Names: Blue Verbena 

Description: 3-6’H. Leaves opposite, lanceolate, coarsely toothed - some of the 

lower leaves may be 3-lobed. Candelabra-like pointed spikes of small blue 

flowers, blooming July-Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, uncommon. Along streams/rivers, in moist 

woods/meadows. 

Medicinal Uses: Used as a fever balm (RN). 

Viburnun opulus L. 

Highbush Cranberry. Caprifoliaceae (Honeysuckle Fam.) 

Other Names: Crampbark, Squawbush, European Cranberrybush Viburnu, 

Viburnum trilobum Marsh, Viburnum opulus ssp. trilobum (Marsh.), Viburnum 

opulus L. var. americanum 

Description: The N. American plant Viburnum opulus L. var. americanum Ait. 

(aka V. trilobum and V. opulus ssp. trilobum) has generally been recognized as the 

same species as the closely similar native of Europe (V. opulus L. var. opulus). A 

shrub up to 10’H with upright, spreading, arching branches. Leaves opposite, 

ovate, 2-41⁄2” long, deeply lobed, coarsely toothed. Flowers white in flattened clusters 3-4” broad. Fruit 

berry-like (a drupe), globose, bright red, 3/8” diameter, mature Aug/Sept. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, occasional. Wet woods, along streams, moist wooded hillsides. 

Medicinal Uses:

1) Bark used for swollen glands and mumps (FC). 

2) Infusion of berries taken for swollen glands and mumps (FE, FS). 

3) Plant boiled and mess rubbed in eye for sore eyes or “sickness of the eyes” (FE). 

4) A nervine (RN). 

Food/Beverage Uses:

1) Berries used for food and steeped for beverage. 

2) Listed in BA: Edible berries, rich in Vitamin C, shriveling but remaining on branches year-round. 

Material Culture Uses: Berries used to make red dye (FE2). 

Viola adunca sm 

Hooked Violet. Violaceae (Violet Fam.) 

Other Names: , Hookedspur Violet, Sand Violet, Blue Violet 

Description:2-6”H plant with leaves and light bluish-violet flowers on same stalk. 

Leaves 13⁄4” long, round, heart-shaped, weakly scalloped; finely toothed, leaf-like 

stipules at base of stalks. Flowers 3⁄4” wide, 5 petals. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, rare 

Medicinal Uses: Stomach disorders (RN). 

 

 ◘ ◘ ◘ ◘
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

505

CHAPTER 18: INVENTORY OF ANIMALS USED BY WABANAKIS 

IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK AND ADJACENT AREAS 

This inventory lists fauna species in Acadia National Park and adjacent areas that Wabanakis 

have used for food, material culture purposes and/or to treat physical ailments. Based on a 

comparison of Acadia National Park (ANP) species lists and a variety of Wabanaki-specific 

sources, it features primarily those species defined as “common” or “abundant” during at least 

part of the year. The Wabanaki-specific sources (listed below) include notes made by early 

explorers/travelers/missionaries in Wabanaki territories, inventories and narratives by 

anthropologists working among Wabanaki tribes, reminiscences of residents in the Mount Desert 

Island area, plus information in various forms from Wabanaki people themselves. Several 

general sources (also listed below) were consulted for descriptive information. Initials alongside 

entries signify the source(s) that identify each particular use. 

 We encountered several obstacles in creating this list – most significantly, the frequent 

lack of specificity in records on the subject. For example “oil” and “rawhide” appear as the 

material used for one thing or another without mention of the specific animal from which they 

are obtained. A similar vagueness is found in references to “birds” used for meat, eggs, 

decoration. Also, ANP’s fauna species lists are incomplete in terms of information on presentday abundance and historical/prehistorical presence in the park itself, not to mention adjacent 

areas. In short, the sources we located (all listed below) do not contain the full scope of 

information needed to help this inventory meet its potential. To give some idea of presence (or 

lack there of) over time, we indicate species identified by Dr. David Sanger in his 1977 

excavation of the Fernald Point Site, which obtained dates ranging from about 2000 to 700 years 

ago. Our inventory tags these species as “On DS list.” 

 Finally, while this list covers a majority of fauna used by Wabanakis, it should not be 

viewed as an exhaustive inventory of species and their uses. For details on uses, see the 

correlative narratives in this study on Wabanaki foods, material culture and medicinal practices. 

A few useful terms to help the reader interpret this list: Rawhide = uncured animal skin. 

Babiche = thong, thread or lacings made of rawhide, gut or sinew. Leather = tanned animal 

skin. Tanned = animal hide treated to make it supple. (A description of Wabanaki tanning 

techniques can be found in the narrative section on Wabanaki uses of flora & fauna for material 

culture.) 

General (non-Wabanaki-specific) Sources

Bull, John and John Farrand, Jr. 1998. Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, 

Eastern Region. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 

Burton, John A., ed. 2003. Complete North American Wildlife: A Photo Field Guide. London: Harper 

Resource. 

Chanticleer Press, eds. 1983. Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Fishes, Whales, & 

Dolphins. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 

Conkling, Phillip W. 1981. Islands in Time: A Natural and Human History of the Islands of 

Maine. Camden: Down East Books.

Gosner, Kenneth L. 1978. A Field Guide to the Atlantic Seashore. Peterson Field Guide Series. Boston: 

Houghton Mifflin. 

Graham, Frank. 1975. Gulls: A Social History. New York: Random House.
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

506

National Park Service. 2005. National Park Service Species Report: Acadia National Park Species 

List. March. (Does not include information on historical presence, frequency, or existence in areas 

adjacent to park). 

Bird Checklists of the United States. 1997. Birds of Acadia National Park. US Gov. Service, Northern 

Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown, ND: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/othrdata/ 

chekbird/r5/acadia.htm 

National Park Service. Amphibians, Reptiles, and Mammals Check List. Acadia National Park Official 

Website (accessed April 2004). Wysiwyg://297/http://www.nps.gov/acad/animals.htm

Sharpe, Grant W. 1968. A Guide to Acadia National Park and the Nearby Coast of Maine. New York: 

Golden Press (80-page small format, illustrated guide to ANP flora and fauna, with a 2-page introduction 

on Wabanakis). 

Wabanaki-specific Sources

(PB) Biard, P. 1616. Relation. In. Jesuit Relations, 3:26-283.

(PC) Conkling, Phillip W. 1981 Islands in Time: A Natural and Human History of the Islands of 

Maine. Camden: Down East Books.

(ND) Denys, Nicolas. 1672. The Description & Natural History of the Coasts of North America 

(Acadia). Translated and edited, with a memoir of the author, collateral documents, and a reprint of the 

original, by William F. Ganong. 1908. Toronto: The Champlain Society. (Contains detailed account of 

17th-century Mi’kmaq culture. For example, Chapter 23 speaks of food preparation and the making of 

clothing, 24 includes description of healing traditions, 25 discusses hunting practices. Other chapters 

provide details on flora and fauna species along the coast from Penobscot Bay to the St. Lawrence. Also 

of note is Ganong’s addendum, “Identity of Animals and Plants” which sorts through early multi-lingual 

nomenclature of the Wabanaki, explorers, entrepreneurs and missionaries to provide a late 16th/early 17thcentury inventory of flora/fauna along the coast of the region then known as “Acadia.” 

(HB) Burnham, Horace M. 1918. Pharmacy of the Red Man. Sprague’s Journal of Maine History 

Vol.6 (Aug/Sep/Oct) No 2, pp69-71(by an Old Town pharmacist well acquainted with Penobscot doctors 

1875-1920). 

(FE) Eckstorm, Fannie Hardy. 1932. Handicrafts of the Modern Indians of Maine. Reprint 2003. Bar 

Harbor: Abbe Museum. (Describes Maine Indian arts and crafts from baskets to quillwork. Discusses raw 

materials used to make objects, how/why objects were made/used.) 

(JF) Fewkes, J.W. 1890. Contribution, Journal of American Folklore 3:257-280). 

(BH) Hoffman, Bernard. 1955. Historical Ethnography of the Micmac of the Sixteenth and 

Seventeenth Centuries. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Dept. of Anthropology, Berkeley: University of 

California. 

(JJ) Josselyn, John. 1833. An Account of Two Voyages to New England (1675). In MaHS Coll., 

Series 3, vol.3, pp211-354. Cambridge. 

(BK) Kavasch, Barrie. 1977. Native Harvests. New York: Vintage Books/Random House. (General 

work but mentions medicinal herbal practices of specific tribes, including Wabanaki groups.) 

(JL) Lonecloud, Jerry. 2002. I Am the Only Medicine Man in Nova Scotia (pp75-81). In Whitehead, 

Ruth. Tracking Doctor Lonecloud: Showman to Legend Keeper, Including the Memoir of Jerry 

Lonecloud. Halifax: Goose Lane Editions and Nova Scotia Museum. (Born in 1854 in Belfast, Maine, to 

Mi’kmaq parents from Nova Scotia, Lonecloud became known as a medicine man, hunter and 

storyteller.) 

(LL) Lacey, Laurie. 1977. Micmac Indian Medicine: A Traditional Way of Health. Antigonish, NS: 

Formac Limited. (Draws on numerous Mi’kmaq specific resources past and present, including written 

works and oral history gathered by the author.) 

(CL)LeClercq, Chrestien. 1691. New Relation of Gaspesia, with the customs and religion of the 

Gaspesian Indians. (1910 reprint translated and edited by William F. Ganong. Toronto: The Champlain 

Society). 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

507

(CL) Leland, Charles. 1884. Algonquin Legends. NY: Dover Publications (Reprint 1992). 

(RM) Manville, Richard H. 1942. Notes on the Mammals of Mount Desert Island, Maine. Journal of 

Mammology, vol. 23:4, pp.339-398.

(WM) Mechling, W.H. 1959. The Malecite Indians with Notes on the Micmacs. Anthropologica 

8:239-263. 

(WM2) W.H. Mechling. 1914. Malecite Tales. Anthropology Series 4. Ottawa: Canada Geological 

survey, Dept. of Mines. 

(JN) Nicolar, Joseph. 1893. Life and Traditions of the Red Man. Bangor: C.H. Glass. (Reprinted with 

introduction by James D. Wherry. 1979. Fredericton: Saint Annes Point Press.) (Nicolar, -1894, a 

grandson of Lt. Gov. John Neptune, was well acquainted with Penobscot traditions, but also received 

formal education in white schools. His book is rich with information and insights on Wabanaki cultural 

practices, conveyed through the legendary Glooskap. Eckstorm describes it as “the best account” 

available on the epic of Glooskap.) 

(SR) Rand, Silas. 1890. Legends of the Micmacs. NY & LondonL Longmans, Green & Co.. 

(JR)Rosier, James. 1605. A True Relation of the Voyage of Captaine George Waymouth, 1605. 

Early English and French Voyagers, 1534-1608, edited by H.S. Burrage. Scribners, NY, 1906, pp353-

394. 

(DS) Sanger, David. 1989. Insights into Native American Life at Fernald Point (pp5-20). An Island in 

Time: Three Thousand Years of Cultural Exchange on Mount Desert Island. Robert Abbe Museum 

Bulletin XII. Bar Harbor: Robert Abbe Museum. Species identified as “On DS list” were found at the 

MDI Fernald Pt. site excavated by Sanger.

(FS) Speck, Frank G. 1917. Medicine Practices of the Northeastern Algonquians, (303-321) 

Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Americanists (1915), ed. by W.F. Hodge, Washington. 

(FS2) Speck, Frank G. 1940. Penobscot Man. (Reprint). Orono: University of Maine Press. 1997. 

(FS3) Speck, Frank G. 1915. Micmac Tales.... Journal of American Folklore 28:56-69, p61. 

(FS4) Speck, Frank G. 1911. Huron Moosehair Embroidery. American Anthropologist 13:1, pp4-6. 

(FS5) Speck, Frank G. 1935. Penobscot Tales and Religious Beliefs. The Journal of American 

Folklore, 48:187, pp1-107. 

(S+D) Speck, Frank G. and R.W. Dexter. 1951. Utilization of Animals and Plants by the Micmac 

Indians of New Brunswick. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 41:250-259. 

(MSE) Spotted Elk, Molly (Mary Alice Nelson Archambaud). 2003. Katahdin: Wigwam’s Tales of 

the Abnaki Tribe. Northeast Folklore vol. xxxvii. Orono: Northeast Folklife Center

(HT) Thoreau, Henry David. 1950. The Maine Woods. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 

(FT) Tomah, Fred. Nd. “Fred Tomah’s Indian Medicines.” Peter Dana Point, Indian Township.

Unpublished. (List noting plants and uses, and in some cases preparation. See also: “Youth Show Little 

Interest in Native Medicine,” a profile on Fred Tomah in Wabanaki Alliance, July 1979, p10.) 

(VV)Vogel, Virgil J. 1970. American Indian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. (This 

comprehensive volume discusses more than 500 medicinal plants found in North America, noting which 

tribes used which species to treat which ailments. Summarizing the contributions that Native American 

groups have made to Western medicine, the author provides historical and theoretical overviews, along 

with an alphabetical and annotated list of botanic (and nonbotanical) remedies used by American Indians. 

An exhaustive index includes diseases, specific tribes, and plants listed by scientific and common names.) 

(WW) Wallis, Wilson D. 1922. Medicines Used by the Micmac Indians. American Anthropologist

24:24-30. 

(W&W) Wallis, Wilson D. and Ruth Sawtelle Wallis. 1955. The Micmac Indians of Eastern Canada.

Minneapolis: University of Minnesota. 

(W&M) Whitehead, Ruth Holmes, and Harold McGee. 1983. The Micmac: How Their Ancestors 

Lived 500 Years Ago. Halifax: Nimbus Pub. Ltd. 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

508

BIRDS 

Unspecified species: 

Whole birds or wings used as head ornaments (CL/98, Rosier/146).

Eggs, taken from nests of “larger birds,” were “much relished raw or boiled’ (FS2/46). 

Waterfowl of various kinds taken by slingstones (FS2/46). 

Bird liver with a little oil rubbed on animal skin to dress it (ND/411). 

Egg yolks mixed with turpentine and applied as salve for “desperate cases of ulcers” (FS/317). 

Cormorant, Double-crested 

Phalacrocorax auritus (Phalacrocoracidae/Cormorant Fam.) 

Description: 30-35”. Long neck, orange throat pouch, hooked bill. Adults have short 

tuft of feathers over each eye in breeding season. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas year-round, abundant April-Oct. Breeding 

resident. Lakes, rivers, swamps, coasts. 

Food Uses: Meat and eggs eaten (JJ). 

Cormorant, Great 

Phalacrocorax carbo (Phalacrocoracidae/Cormorant Fam.) 

Description: 35-40”. Thick-necked. Adult black with white throat and yellow 

chin pouch. Breeding plumage has white flank patches. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas year-round, common Sept-April. Sea cliffs, 

rocky coasts, inshore waters. 

Food Uses: Meat and eggs eaten (JJ). 

Ducks: Unspecified duck species found in ANP areas were pursued by Wabanakis, especially for meat 

and eggs (ND/109, 435; FS2/96). They also appear in U, such as How Lox deceived the Ducks, cheated 

the Chief, and beguiled the Bear (CL). All of the following are likely candidates: 

Duck, American Black (a.k.a. Black Duck, Common Black Duck, Red-legged 

Black Duck) 

Anas rubripes (Anatidae/Swans, Geese, Ducks Fam.) 

Description: 19-22”. Sooty brown with paler head and conspicuous white wing 

linings. Olive or dull yellow bill. Sexes similar 

Location: In park and adjacent areas year-round, common to abundant. 

Breeding resident. Coastal mudflats, offshore islands, marshes, lakes, streams, 

estuaries. On DS list. 

Food Uses: Meat and eggs eaten. 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

509

Duck, Bufflehead 

Bucephala albeola (Anatidae/Swans, Geese, Ducks Fam.) 

Description: 13-15,” shubby. Male mostly white, with black back, black 

head with greenish & purplish gloss, and large white patch from behind 

eye to top and back of head. Female all dark, with single whitish patch on 

cheek. ear region. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas mid-Oct-mid-May, common to 

abundant. Rare in summer. Coast, lakes, salt marshes. 

Food Uses: Meat and eggs eaten. 

Duck/Eider, Common 

Somateria mollissima (Anatidae/Swans, Geese, Ducks Fam.) 

Description: 23-27”. Male has black underparts, white back, white 

head and breast, dark crown, greenish tinge on back of head. 

Female is mottled brown with barred flanks. Long sloping bill. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas year-round, common to 

abundant. Breeding resident. Coastal areas and offshore islands. On DS list.

Food Uses: Meat eaten (ND). (Probably this is the Appoil/seabird of Acadia mentioned by Champlain 

1604 & 1632). 

Duck/Guillemot, Black 

Cepphus grille (Laridae Fam.)

Description: 12”. White patch on wings, legs red. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Breeding resident. Nests in 

crevices in rocky cliffs overlooking sea (e.g. Otter Cliffs). 

Food Uses: Meat & eggs eaten. 

Duck/Merganser, Common 

Mergas Merganser 

Description: A large, sleek, diving duck. Adult male has 

green-black head and upper neck, white breast, flanks and 

belly, a long thin, red bill and feet. 

Location: In park, uncommon. On DS list. 

Food Uses: Meat and eggs eaten. 

Duck/Merganser, Red-breasted 

Mergus serrator (Anatidae/Swans, Geese, Ducks Fam.) 

Description: 19-26”. Male has green head with wispy crest, gray sides, white 

neck ring, and rusty breast. Female graying, with reddish-brown head shading 

gradually into gray of neck. Both sexes crested and red-billed. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas year-round, common Sept-April; breeds 

on wooded lakes and tundra ponds (Broods have been observed on Little Long 

Pond, Jordan Pond, and Eagle Lake); winters mainly on salt water. 

Food Uses: Meat and eggs eaten. 

Legends: “Adventures of Rabbit: The Duck Hunt” (MSE). 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

510

Duck, Oldsquaw (a.k.a. Long-tailed Duck, Old Squaw) 

Clangula hyemalis (Anatidae/Swans, Geese, Ducks Fam.) 

Description: 15-22”. Male boldly patterned in black/white with long, 

slender tail feathers. Females duller and lack long tail feathers. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas mid-Oct-June, common to 

abundant Nov-April. Coastal areas and offshore islands, on open bays and inshore waters. On DS list.

Food Uses: Meat and eggs eaten. 

Duck/Scaup, Greater 

Aythya marila (Anatidae/Swans, Geese, Ducks Fam.) 

Description: 15-20”. Male has very light gray body, blackish chest, 

black-green glossed head. Female a uniform dark brown with white 

patch at base of bill. Both sexes have long whitish wing stripe. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas Oct-Jun, abundant Jan-Mar. 

Lakes, bays, ponds; in winter often on salt water. On DS list.

Food Uses: Meat and eggs eaten. 

Duck/Scoter, Black (Common Scoter, American Scoter, Butter-bill)

Melanitta nigra (Anatidae/Swans, Geese, Ducks Fam.) 

Description: 17-21”. Male black, bill black with large yellow knob at base. 

Female duller, with pale cheeks and all-dark bill. Both sexes show silvery 

wing linings in flight. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas Oct-June, common Oct-Nov, common 

to abundant Mar-April. Uncommon in winter, rare in summer. Breeds on 

ponds in boreal forests; winters on ocean and in large salt bays. 

Food Uses: Meat and eggs eaten. 

Duck/Scoter, Surf

Melanitta perspecillata (Anatidae/Swans, Geese, Ducks Fam.) 

Description: 17-21”. Male black with white patches on crown and nape. 

Multicolored bill swollen at base and bearing a large black spot. Female 

brownish-black, with two whitish patches on cheeks. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas year-round, common to abundant 

April/May, Sept/Oct.; uncommon in winter/summer. Breeds on lakes; 

winters almost entirely on ocean and in large coastal bays. 

Food Uses: Meat and eggs eaten. 

Duck/Scoter, White-winged (a.k.a. White-winged Coot) 

Melanitta fusca (Anatidae/Swans, Geese, Ducks Fam.) 

Description: 19-24”. Male black with bold white wing patches, white 

crescents around eyes, and yello bill with black knob at base. Females dull 

brown, with two whitish facial spots and white wing patches. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas year-round, common to 

abundant Sept-April. Breeds on large lakes; winters mainly on ocean 

and large coastal bays. 

Food Uses: Meat and eggs eaten.
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

511

Duck/Teal, Blue-winged 

Anas discors (Anatidae/Swans, Geese, Ducks Fam.) 

Description: 14-16”. Male brown with pale blue shoulder patch, gray head 

and white crescent in front of eye. Female mottled brown, with pale blue 

shoulder patches like the male. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas mid-April-mid-Oct, common Aug-Sept. 

Lakes, salt marshes, shallow ponds. Occasional breeder in MDI area. 

Food Uses: Meat and eggs eaten. 

Duck, Wood 

Aix sponsa (Anatidae/Swans, Geese, Ducks Fam.) 

Description: 17-20”. Male patterned in iridescent greens, purples, and 

blues, with distinctive white chin patch and face stripes; head crested, bill 

mainly red, tail long. Female grayish with broad white eye ring. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas April-Oct, common April/May, 

Sept/Oct. Lakes, salt marshes. (Breeding in MDI region 1926/’37/’83/00) 

Food Uses: Meat and eggs eaten. 

Ducks, other: Also present (but listed as rare to uncommon) duck species likely used by Wabanakis: 

Northern Pintail, American Wigeon, Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, Gadwall, 

Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Canvas back, Common goldeneye, Labrador, Harlequin, Hooded 

merganser, King Eider) 

Eagle, Bald 

Haliaeetus leucocephalus alascanus

Description: White head, neck, and tail, blackish-brown back and 

breast, yellow feet and bill. Female body length 35-37”, wingspan 

79-90”; males 30-34” body length, wingspan 72-85” 

Location: In Park and adjacent areas, uncommon. Ideal eagle 

habitat consists of mature shoreline forests with scattered 

openings and little human use, near water with abundant fish and 

waterfowl. On DS list. 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Wing & tail feathers used for arrows (FE, ML). 

2) Feathers among those traditionally used for men’s headdress (fastened to headband, sticking straight 

up) (FS2). 

Goose, Brant (a.k.a. Brant, American Brant) 

Branta bernicla (Anatidae/Swans, Geese, Ducks Fam.) 

Description: 22-26”. Brownish body with black head and white neck ring. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas Feb-Mar, uncommon to abundant MarApr. (1000s at Seawall in March, 1961.) Coastal areas and offshore islands; 

lakes, rivers, marshes; often feeds in open grasslands and stubble fields. 

Medicinal Uses: Goose fat applied to chest/throat for common cold (LL). 

Food Uses: Meat and eggs eaten (ND/109,435). 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

512

Goose, Canada 

Branta canadensis (Anatidae/Swans, Geese, Ducks Fam.) 

Description: 35-45”. Brownish body with black head, long black neck, and 

conspicuous white cheek patch. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas year-round, common to abundant April, 

Oct/Nov., rare in summer and winter. Coastal areas and offshore islands; lakes, 

rivers, marshes; often feeds in open grasslands and stubble fields. Breeding 

noted on MDI in 1987. According to Palmer (1949) “nested in Maine in 

colonial times, then apparently was absent . . . for a long period.” On DS list.

Medicinal Uses: Goose fat applied to chest/throat for common cold (LL). 

Food Uses: Meat eaten (ND/109,435). 

Grouse, ruffed (a.k.a. Partridge, Timber Grouse) 

Bonasa umbellus (Phasiandidae/Partridges, Grouse, Turkeys, Quail Fam.) 

(Other Phasiandidae species present but uncommon in park and adjacent 

areas: Spruce Grouse, Northern Bobwhite and Ring-necked Pheasant) 

Description: 16-19”. Brown or gray, slightly crested, chicken-like shape 

with fan-shaped, black-banded tail, barred flanks, and black ruffs on sides of 

neck. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, abundant year-round. Resident breeder. Brush areas, deciduous and 

mixed forests – especially those having scattered clearings and dense undergrowth. 

Food Uses: Meat and eggs eaten 

Material Culture Uses: Men’s beaded headband “sometimes had partridge wings, one on each side, or a 

partridge tail in front or behind” (FS2). 

Legends: “How the partridge fed his family from the flesh of his legs and so developed bony thighs” 

(FS2); “Pigeon, Partridge and Nighthawk” (SR/389); “The Adventures of the Great Hero Pulowech, or 

the Partridge,” “The Story of a Partridge and His Wonderful Wigwam,” “How the Partridge Built Good 

Canoes for all the Birds and a Bad One for Himself,” “The Mournful Mystery of the Partridge-Witch...,” 

“How One of the Partridge’s Wives Became a Sheldrake Duck, and Why her Feet & Feathers Are 

Red”(CL). 

Gulls: Unspecified species used for food and material culture purposes noted here. Those listed below 

found in ANP areas and all likely candidates. 

Food Uses: Meat and eggs eaten (Caldwell/?, Conkling/130,199, DeCosta1871/262, Rosier) 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Feathered breasts sold for hats (PC, FG). 

2) Feathers among those traditionally used for men’s headdress (fastened to headband, sticking straight 

up) (FS2). 

3) Gull feet used to fringe man’s ceremonial white moosehide robe (W&M). 

Legends: “Fish-Hawk and Scapegrace” (e.g. Osprey and Gull) (CL) 

Gull, Great Black-backed 

Larus marinus (Laridae/Jaegers, Gulls, Terns, Skimmers Fam.) 

Description: 28-31”. Adult has black back and wings, with rest of plumage 

white. Bill yellow, legs pinkish. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common to abundant year-round. 

Coastal/tidal areas. Nest on off-shore islands. 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

513

Gull, Herring 

Larus argentatus (Laridae/Jaegers, Gulls, Terns, Skimmers Fam.) 

Description: 23-26”. Adult white with light gray back and wings; black wing 

tip has white spots. Bill yellow with red spot on lower mandible. Feet pink or 

flesh-colored. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, abundant year-round. Coastal/tidal areas, 

lakes, rivers. Nests on off-shore islands. 

Gull, Black-legged Kittiwake (a.k.a. Atlantic Kittiwake) 

Rissa tridactyla (Laridae/Jaegers, Gulls, Terns, Skimmers Fam.) 

Description: 16-18”. Adult white with pale gray back and wings; wing 

tips black; feet black, bill yellow, tail slightly forked. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas year-round, common to abundant 

April/May, Sept-Dec., uncommon in winter, occasional in summer. 

Coastal cliffs/ledges and tidal areas. Nests on off-shore islands. 

Gull, Laughing 

Larus atricilla (Laridae/Jaegers, Gulls, Terns, Skimmers Fam.) 

Description: 15-17”. Adult’s back and wings dark gray, trailing edge of 

wing is white, and wing tip is black without white spots. In summer has 

black hood. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas April-Nov, common mid-April-midSept. Coastal/tidal areas, including salt marshes, bays, estuaries. Nests on 

off-shore islands. 

Gulls, other: Also present, but currently rare to uncommon gull species likely used by Wabanakis: 

Common Black-headed, Bonaparte’s, Glaucous, Iceland, Ring-billed.

Heron, Great Blue 

Ardea herodias

Description:

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common MayOctober. Marshes, swamps, rivers, lake edges, 

saltwater shores; usually nests in trees near water. On 

DS list. 

Material Culture Uses: Feathers among those 

traditionally used for men’s headdress (fastened to 

headband, sticking straight up) (FS2). 

Legends: “The Fox and the Heron Visit” (FS5). 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

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Loon, Common 

Gavia immer (Gaviidae/Loon Fam.) 

Description: 28-36”. Heavy-bodied with a thick, pointed, usually black or 

dark gray bill. In breeding plumage, head and neck black with white 

bands on neck; back black with white spots. In winter, crown, hindneck 

and upperparts dark gray; throat and underparts white. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas year round, very common. Resident 

breeder (nests noted at Seal Cove Pond, Long Pond, Echo Lake and Witch Hole Pond in 1987). Nests on 

forested lakes and rivers; winters mainly on coastal bays and ocean. 

Food Uses: Meat and eggs eaten. 

Material Culture Uses: Skins used to make long pocket for carrying small essentials/flint, tinder, tobacco, 

money (FE, JN/142). 

Legends: “The Loon Magician” (SR/378); “How Glooskap Became Friendly with the Loons and Made 

Them His Messengers” (CL); “A Man Marries His Cousin and Becomes a Loon” (FS5). 

Owls: Unspecified species of owls had various uses, noted below. The three owls described here are 

found in and near ANP and are likely candidates.

Medicinal Uses: Fat used as medicine – probably in the form of a salve or lubricant (LL). 

Food Uses: Meat eaten; eggs? 

Material Culture Uses: Feathers sold for hats (PC). 

Owl, Great Horned 

Bubo virginianus (Strigidae/True Owls Fam.) 

Description: 18-25”. Varying in color from nearly white (in Arctic) to dark brown 

and gray; mottled and streaked below, setting off the white throat. Prominent, 

widely-spaced ear tufts. Yellow eyes. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas year-round, but currently uncommon. 

Resident breeder. Brush, deciduous forests, evergreen forests, swamps.referred to 

by Lescarbot and Champlain (1632). (Unspecified owl) On DS list. 

Owl, Snowy 

Nyctea scandiaca (Strigidae/True Owls Fam.) 

Description: 20-27”. Rounded-headed, ranging in color from nearly pure white to 

white with dark spotting or barring. Female larger, more heavily marked than male. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas Nov-Feb, but currently rare to uncommon. 

Coast/open country – dunes, marshes, fields. (Unspecified owl) On DS list.

Owl, Barred 

Strix varia (Fam. 

Description: 20”. Stocky, gray-brown. Cross-bars on neck and breast, streaks on belly. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, uncommon. Resident breeder (including at based 

of Bernard Mt. in the 1950s, on western side of Pemetic Mt. in 1949, and in “scattered 

locations” in ANP region in 1983). (Unspecified owl) On DS list. 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

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Pigeon, Passenger 

Ectopistes migratorius (Columbidae Fam.) 

Location: Historically present in park and adjacent areas, apparently nested in 

great abundance prior to 1850 and disappearing from the area by 1890s. Extinct. 

Food Uses: Meat eaten; eggs? 

Legends: “Pigeon, Partridge and Nighthawk” (SR/389) (also tells of fox, fisher, 

porcupine, otter, eel, raccoon, mink. Among other things, it is a comparison of 

the wigwam with houses built by these animals; also in relays “the 

incompatibility of animals whose habits and tastes are opposite.” 

Plover, Black-bellied 

Pluvialis squatarola (Charadriidae/Plover Fam.) 

Description: 10-13”. Breeding adults are gray with flecks of light and 

darkabove, black on face and breast, and white on belly. Winter adults 

similar, but with white face and breast. All plumages have bold white 

wing stripe, white rump, and black patch under wing. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas May-Nov, abundant in Aug/Sept. 

Open fields and tidal zones/mudflats & marshes. 

Food Uses: Meat eaten; eggs? 

Turkey, Wild (a.k.a. Eastern Turkey) 

Meleagris gallopavo (Phasianidae Fam.) 

Description: 36-48”. Dusky brown with iridescent bronze sheen and 

barred with black; head and neck naked, with bluish and reddish 

wattles; tail fan-shaped, with chestnut or buff tail tips. Male has spurs 

and long “beard” on breast. Female smaller, lacks spurs and usually 

lacks “beard.” 

Location: Currently not established on MDI. “Abundant on Blue Hill 

peninsula” (p.c. Wm.Haviland 10/26/05) 

Food Uses: Meat & eggs eaten 

Material Culture Uses:

1) “Coats woven of Turkie-feathers for their children” (JJ) 

2) Feathers probably used for headdress 

Woodcock, American 

Scolopax minor (Scolopacidae/Sandpipers, Phalaropes and Allies Fam.) 

Description: 11”. Chunky with a very long bill and rounded wings. 

Rufous below, “dead leaf” pattern above, with transverse black bands on 

head. Eyes large, bulging, located on back of head 

Location: In park and adjacent areas Mar-Dec, common May-Sept. 

Lakes, tidal zones (wet thickets, moist woods, brushy swamps near open 

fields). 

Food Uses: Meat & eggs eaten 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

516

Woodpecker, Northern Flicker (a.k.a. Yellow-shafted Flicker) 

Colaptes auratus (Picidae/Woodpecker Fam.) 

Description: 12-14”. Brown back with dark bars and spots, whitish or buff 

below with black spots, black crescent on breast, and white rump in flight. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas Mar-Dec, common to abundant AprilOct. Resident breeder. Open country with trees. 

Food Uses: Meat & eggs eaten? 

Material Culture Uses: Likely candidate as whole birds or wings used as head 

ornaments (CL/98, Rosier/146).

Legends: “How Mahtigwess, the Rabbit, dined with the Woodpecker Girls” 

(CL); “Hare Tries to Imitate Woodpecker” (FS5). 

Woodpecker, Piliated 

Dryocopus pileatus (Picidae/Woodpecker Fam.) 

Description: 16-19”. Black with white neck strips, conspicuous white wing linings, 

and prominent red crest. “Mustache” is red in male, black in female. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas year-round, but uncommon to common. 

Mature forests and borders. 

Food Uses: Probably the bird described by LeClercq, Lescarbot 

Legends: “How Mahtigwess, the Rabbit, dined with the Woodpecker Girls” (CL); 

“Hare Tries to Imitate Woodpecker” (FS5) 

MAMMALS 

Bats: Unspecified species of bats were cooked and used for kidney problems (LL). Nine bat species are 

found in and near ANP. The four described below are the most common and are likely candidates for this 

medicinal use. 

Bat, Big Brown (a.k.a. Common Brown Bat) 

Eptesicus fuscus (Vespertilionidae Fam.) 

Description: Biggest American bat with 12” wingspan and 2” forearm. 

Uniformly dark brown above, paler below. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, uncommon to common. Varied 

habitats from sea level to mountains; caves, crevices, buildings. 

Bat, Little Brown (a.k.a. Little Brown Myotis) 

Myotis lucifugus (Vespertilionidae Fam.) 

Description: 3-4.5” body, 8-10” winspan. Fur glossy brown above, buffy gray 

below. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Flies near wooded areas and water; 

roosts in caves, hallow trees, buildings.[ND mentions it] 

Bat, Northern Long-eared (a.k.a. Keen's Myotis, Long-eared Myotis, 

Northern Long-eared, Northern Myotis) 

Myotis septentrionalis (Vespertilionidae Fam.) 

Description: 3-4”body, 8-9” wingspan. Ears large, black; fur pale brown. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

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Bat, Silver-haired 

Lasionycteris noctiyagans (Vespertilionidae Fam.) 

Description: 4-4.5” body. 10-12.5” wingspan. Fur dark with white tips 

on back. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, regular spring & fall migrant. Flies 

in forests; roosts mainly in trees near water. 

Bear, Black 

Euarctos americanus (Ursidae/Bear Fam.) 

Description: Smallest, most common American bear, 5-6’ long, 2-3’H at 

shoulder, 200-400 lbs. Brown snout, often has white patch on breast. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, currently occasional. Forests, 

swamps, mountains. On DS list.

Food Uses:

1) Meat eaten (ND, BH, SR/352); “white like veal, delicate taste–is good 

to eat” (ND/383). 

2) Fat/grease eaten (ND/426, FS2/95); mixed with maple sap (FS2/95). 

Medicinal Uses: Fat mixed with plant(s) to make salves (HB) 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Winter clothing/robes (W&M 

2) Claws strung on leather as necklace for men, indicating high rank and seen as protective charm (FS2). 

3) Fat mixed with ground ochre, charcoal and clamshells as binder for body painting (ND/414, CL/98, 

ML/III150, JN). 

4) Penis bone used as needle (p.c. Wm. Haviland 10/16/05) 

Associations: Mitchell and Denis families 

Legends: “How Master Lox, as a Raccoon, Killed the Bear and the Black Cats...;” “How Master Lox 

Played a Trick on Mrs. Bear...;” How Lox Deceived the Ducks, Cheated the Chief and Beguiled the 

Bear” (CL); “Pukdji’nskwessu & Her Bear Lover,” “Pukdji’nskwessu Marries Fisher and Her Son 

Destroys Him,” “The Bear Abductor,” “Raccoon Outwits the Bear” (FS5).

Beaver 

Castor canadensis (Castoridae Fam.) 

Description: Head & body 25-30” long. Tail 9-10” long, scaly, paddle-like. 30-

60 lbs. Massive skull, large, yellowish incisor teeth, lustrous, rich brown fur. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas currently common (reintroduced in1920 

after being trapped out). Nearly every stream and pond with suitable food. 

Builds watertight dam of sticks/mud across stream, a large-cone-shaped house in pond; trees gnawed or 

cut a foot from the ground are telltale signs of presence. 

Medicinal Uses: 

1) Drinking gall bladder contents is “good medicine for ‘stones’, etc.”(LL). 

2) Contents of any animal’s gall bladder used as lubricant for massaging rheumatic body parts (WW). 

3) Beaver castor (testicles) steeped (and often mixed with brandy) is a “panacea for all kinds of female 

troubles” (LL, FS/312). 

4 Half-dried castor inserted up each nostril to relieve congestion/inflammation of measles (FS). 

5) Some put “a little scraped castor into nearly every medicine brew to add to its efficiency” (FS). 

6) Compound poultice of alder bark and castor oil used for sores, wounds, etc. (LL). 

7) Just carrying beaver castor is seen as beneficial to one’s well-being (FS). On DS list. 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

518

[Beaver continued] 

Food Uses: Meat eaten (BH, WM, WM2/2, FS2); tail a delicacy (WM, WM2/2, FS2). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Castor/testicles used as a lure scent for traps (FS). 

2) Winter clothing/robes (ND/407, JR, W&M), including loincloth (JFS). 

3) Skins used to swaddle infants (ND/403). 

Legends: “The Beaver Magicians and the Big Fish” (SR/351); “Beaver and Muskrat Change Tails” (FS5). 

Caribou, E. Woodland 

Rangifer tarandus (Cervidae/Deer Fam.) 

Description: Head & body 5.5-7.5’; tail 4-5.5”; shoulder 3.5-4’H. Stocky 

body, antlers branching into 3 slightly flattened tines, one extending over 

brow. Body dark brown, whitish on neck and rump, white above each 

hoof. Neck maned below. 

Location: Now absent but historically present in Maine. Noted by Josselyn 

in 1676, Baird in his Relation 1611-16, Champlain in 1632, Sagard in 

1636. Forests near shallow lakes, wilderness, marshes, swamps, tundra. 

Food Uses: Meat eaten (BH); boiled, roasted or dried/smoked and used to make pemmican (FS2); head 

roasted/eaten (SR/351). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Tanned skin used for clothing (FE, FS2, W&M). 

2) Leg skin used to make knife sheath (W&M). 

3) Rawhide used to cord snowshoes (FE). 

Deer, White-tailed 

Odocoileus virginianus (Cervidae/Deer Fam.) 

Description: Head & body 4-6’ long; tail 7-11”; shoulder 2.75-3.5’H. Coat 

reddish in summer, grayish brown in winter; tail white on underside, raised 

when alarmed. Antlers (males) have main beam with several prongs. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common to abundant. Forests, 

swamps; adjacent brushy areas. On DS list.

Medicinal Uses: Fresh deer dung dissolved in water drunk to remedy 

measles (WW). 

Food Uses: Meat eaten/boiled, roasted or dried/smoked and used to make 

pemmican (FS2). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Tanned skin used for clothing/soft loincloths, sleeves, house & summer moccasins (W&M). 

2) Rawhide or leather noose attached to stick to make common snare (FS2). 

3) Rawhide used for snowshoe cording (FS2). 

4) Metacarpel (pointed bone found in foreleg) used as toothpick (FS2). 

5) Hoofs & antler prongs bored and strung on leather as necklaces for men (especially hunters) (FS2). 

6) Tibia bones used as grips to twist/stretch babiche (FS2). 

7) Antler crosscuts used to make game dice (FS2). 

8) Green deerskin stretched on drum hoop, laced with babiche (FS2). 

8) Tanned skin used to make pouches, knife sheaths, etc. (FS2). 

9) Deerskin used as interior lining in conical firbough wigwams “for additional protection during the 

coldest weather” (FS2/31). 

9) Dyed hair used to embroider clothing and moccasins made of animal skins (FS4/1). 

Legends: “How a Hunter’s Life was Saved by a Fetish” (FS5). 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

519

Fox, Red (a.k.a. Eastern Red Fox) 

Fulpes vulpes (Canidae/Coyotes, Wolves & Foxes Fam.) 

Description: 8-15 lbs. Head & body 22-42”. Shoulder 14-16”H. Bushy, 

white-tipped tail 14-16”. Usually reddish back & face, white underparts, 

black legs & feet. Color varies even in same litter – some individuals 

black, with silver guard hairs; others red or brown with dark areas on 

underparts extending up along the shoulders and back. On DS list.

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Forests with open areas. 

Material Culture Uses: Fur used for clothing, babies wrapped in soft fox fur (W&M) 

Legends: “The Young Man Saved by a Rabbit and a Fox” (CL); “The Fox and the Heron Visit,” “Foxes 

Abuse Gluska’be’s Grandmother” (FS5). 

Hare, Snowshoe (a.k.a. Varying Hare) 

Lepus americanus (Leporidae/Hares & Rabbits Fam.) 

Description: 2-4 lbs. Head & body 13-18”. Ears only 3.5-4”. Feet large, 

long-furred, permitting rapid travel over snow. Summer coat brown above, 

white below, tail dark above, feet brownish. Winter coat white all over with 

bases of hairs dark, ear tips dark, tail all white. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Alpine forests, swamps, 

brushy areas. On DS list.

Food Uses: Meat eaten; “good roasted and even boiled in the pot” (ND/389). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Women’s upper garment, “waist,” originally of hare skins sewn together (FS2). 

2) Strips of braided skin sewn together to make “various articles of clothing” (FS). 

[Note: food and material culture use above also apply to the eastern cottontail rabbit, which is also 

found in ANP and adjacent areas and appears On DS list. Similarly, the entries below about the rabbit no 

doubt also apply to the hare] 

2) Skins cut into strips, woven into thick braids, sewn together, and covered with a cloth “making a quilt 

unsurpassed for warmth” (7/7/1877/Furs We Wear, New York Evening Post, no author). 

Associations: Rabbit associated with the Newell family (FS) 

Legends: “How the Rabbit Loses His Tail and Gets his Flanks Lengthened in Trying to Help a Friend” 

(FS2); “The Adventures of Ableegumooch [Rabbit],” “The Hare Assumes the Magician and Retaliates 

(SR); “How Master Rabbit sought to rival Kecoony, the Otter,” “The Amazing Adventures of Master 

Rabbit” (several rabbit stories) (CL); “Raccoon Snares the Hare,” “Hare Tries to Imitate Woodpecker,” 

“Hare Tries to Imitate Kingfisher,” “Hare Kills the Young Fishers and is Pursued,” “Hare Deceives 

Wildcat by Giving Him Pills and Wine,” “Hare Rescues His Friend and Loses His Tail,” “Hare Fails to 

Get Squirrel’s Tail” (FS5), “Adventures of Mategwess/Rabbit” (MSE). 

Lynx, Canada (“wildcat”) 

Lynx canadensisi (Felidae Fam.) 

Description: Short-tailed, long-legged wildcats, about 3’ long and 

2’ tall, weighing 20-30lbs. Tawny gray overall, sometimes with 

faint spots on inner legs (summer coat reddish-brown). Face graybrown, and light gray ear tufts are edged in black. Tail tip black. 

Location: Historically present in Maine, now rare.Forests with 

thick undergrowth.Follows snowshoe hare. 

Food Uses: “The flesh is white and very good to eat.” (ND/384. 

Material Culture Uses: “hair . . . makes a good fur. . . .used for winter robes” (ND). 

Associations: Associated with the Fransway and Penus families. 

Legends: “Hare Deceives Wildcat by Giving Him Pills and Wine” (FS5). 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

520

Mink (a.k.a. American Mink) 

Mustela vison (Mustelidae/Weasels, Skunks & Allies Fam.) 

Description: 1.25-2.25 lbs. Male head & body 13-17”; female 12-14”. 

Male tail 7-9”, female 5-8”. Coat rich, dark brown year-round except for 

small pale area on chin and (sometimes) scattered small white spots on 

belly. Tail slightly bushy. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, uncommon. Near streams, rivers, 

lakes, marshes; occasionally in tidal marshes; in winter, woods. On DS list.

“Many remains recovered from old Indian sites along the Maine coast, 

including Boynton’s shell heap at Lamoine, across Frenchman’s Bay from [MDI]” (RM). 

Food Uses: Meat eaten – hunger food (FS2). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Tanned skin used to make “long pocket” for carrying small necessities (flint, tinder, tobacco, etc) (FE). 

2) Women’s upper garment, “waist,” originally of weasel skins sewn together (FS2). 

3) Penis bone used as toothpick (FS). 

 

Mole, Star-Nose 

Condylura cristata (Talpidae/Moles Fam.) 

Description: Head & body 4.5-5”. Tail 2.5-3.5”, scaly, with hairs 

thickest in middle. Nose large, pinkish with 22 fleshy tentacles. Fur 

dark brown or black. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. A burrowing animal living in moist, low-lying soil. 

Equally at home in water and on land, it carves winding tunnels that frequently end in a pond or stream. 

Medicinal Uses: Mole’s feet placed on any part of body as temporary cure for convulsions (WW). 

Material Culture Uses: Skin used to make small belt-pouch/pocket used by men (FE, FS). 

Moose 

Alces alces (Cervidae/Deer Fam.) 

Description: Head & body 7.5-10’ long; tail 2.5-3.5”; shoulder 5-6.5’H. 

Males up to 1400 lbs, females 600-800 lbs. Body heavy, legs long, 

muzzle broad and overhanging, ears large, neck short. Coat 

blackish/brownish, legs lighter. Males have dewlap of skin/hair hanging 

from throat. Antlers (males) up to 6’ spread, broadly palmated and flat 

with small prongs, shed annually. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, currently uncommon. Historically 

present, wintered at Hunter’s Beach Brook in early to mid-1800s. Forests 

near shallow lakes/marshes/swamps. Feeds in shallow water dawn, dusk. 

On DS list. 

Medicinal Uses: 

1) Small bone found in the heart was ground to powder, cooked in a broth and administered to the patient 

to ease the spasms of childbirth (CL, ND/383, WW). 

2) After marrow in leg & thigh bones was eaten, the bones were crushed and boiled; drinking the 

remaining trace of marrow that floated to surface was considered “good for the chest” (LL). 

3) Scratching behind one’s ear with the left hind hoof of a moose thought to be a cure for epilepsy (CL). 

Food Uses:

1) Meat eaten/boiled, roasted (ND/383, BH, FS2); eaten dried/smoked and used to make pemmican(FS2). 

2) Tongue and nose a delicacy (CL/119, Diereville/124). 

3) Fat/grease eaten (ND/423, CL/114, SR/261, FS2). 

4) Marrow eaten (bones often crushed and boiled to bring fatty marrow to surface) (CL/119, FS). 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

521

[Moose continued] 

Material Culture Uses:

1) “They also went with a sail, which was formerly of bark but oftener of a well-dressed skin of a young 

Moose” (ND; Cf. FS2). 

2) Greased hided used to make canoe, seams stitched with babiche and sealed with “moose tallow boiled 

with pitch” (FS2). 

3) Pipe bowls sometimes made of moose bone (ND). 

4) Skin used to make clothing—esp. winter robes (also used as bedding), leggings and moccasins 

(hock/hind leg hide with hair left on used to make winter moccasins); tanned skins used for summer 

clothing, moccasins (ND/407, 411). 

5) Sinew used to string bows (FE, WmWood1634). 

6) Rawhide strips or gut used to string snowshoes (FS2, S&D). 

7) Hair used to make ornamental fringe on outside frame of snowshoes (FS2); dyed hair used to 

embroider clothing and moccasins made of animal skins (ML/III:159, Rosier/146, FS2). 

8) Rawhide strips used to make burden and drag straps for carrying loads on the back or pulling 

toboggans, and also to make shoulder straps for pack baskets (FS2). 

9) Moose wool used to knit mittens and socks (FS) (dubious). 

Legends: “Gluska’be Kills the Monster Moose” (FS5). See also CL, WM2 . 

Muskrat 

Ondatra zibethicus (Cricetidae/Mice, Rats, Voles, Lemmings Fam.) 

Description: 2-4 lb. aquatic mammal. Head & body 10-14” long; tail 8-11”, 

black, scaly, nearly naked, vertically flattened. Coat thick, dark 

brownish/blackish to reddish above, silvery below. Hind feet partly webbed. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Historically common, except 

in 1962 when recorded as rare. Freshwater and saltwater marshes; lakes, 

ponds, watercourses. Builds cone-shaped, mud & stick, beaverlike lodge in marsh or tundra lake with 

underwater entrance; lodge 5’ wide at base to 3’ above water. Burrows in mud banks, has feeding 

platform on mat of rushes. On DS list.

Food Uses: Meat eaten/roasted or boiled; tails cooked in fat a delicacy; entrails cooked in smoldering 

ashes. “Whoever takes the muskrat head from the dish has to tell a story.” (FS2/95) 

Material Culture Uses: Skin used to make pouches (JN/142) 

Legends: “How the Muskrat Loses his Fine Flat Tail to the Beaver” (FS2); “Beaver and Muskrat Change 

Tails” (FS5). 

Otter, River 

Lutra canadensis (Mustelidae/Weasels, Skunks & Allies Fam.) 

Description: 10-30 lbs. Head & body 26-30” long. Thick, furry, round tail 

12-19”, tapered tip. Upper parts brown dark brown to grayish fur, often with 

golden gloss on head/shoulders, upderparts with silvery sheen. Skull flattened 

dorsally, ears small, snout broad. Feet webbed. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. (In 1988 reported on 25 of 39 

watersheds studied on MDI.) Watercourses and edges of bodies of water. On DS list.

Food Uses: Meat eaten – hunger food (FS2). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Fur/Skin used for winter robes (ND/413) and pouches. 

2) Penis bone used as toothpick (FS only) (?). 

Associations: Associated with the Saul and Nicola families. 
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Porcupine 

Erethizon dorsatum (Erethizontidae/Porcupine Fam.) 

Description: 10-30 lbs. Head & body 18-23”. Tail 6-11”. Skull compact, 

broad, heavily constructed. Underfur soft, blackish; lonager/coarser guard 

hairs and quills often light tipped. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. (Noted in 1987 as 

occupying “most suitable habitats on MDI.) Forests, especially conifers or poplars. Usually nocturnal. 

Nests in rocky den, burrow, hollow log. On DS list.

Medicinal Uses: 

1) Grease rubbed on skin to treat rheumatism (WW). 

2) Urine from bladder used to treat defective hearing. “Urine retained in the ear with a plug” (LL). 

3) Oil used as a physic for children (WW). 

Food Uses: “Very good to eat. It is placed on a fire to be grilled like a Pig, but before that the Indian 

women remove all the quills from the back, which are the largest, and from them make beautiful works. 

Being singed, well roasted, washed and placed on the spit it is as good as suckling Pig. It is very good 

boiled, but less good than roasted.” (ND/384). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Quills (often dyed) used for decorative purposes – to embroider clothing (especially moccasins) and 

birchbox items (especially boxes) (ND/413, 423, FE, JJ, CL/96 ML/III:201, FS) and woven into bags (JJ). 

2) Tail used to make knife sheath (W&M). 

3) Tail used as brush to clean wooden combs (FS2). 

Legends: “How the Toad and Porcupine Lost Their Noses” (CL); “The Porcupine and the Fisher” (FS5). 

Raccoon 

Procyon lotor (Procyonidae/Raccoons & Allies Fam.) 

Description: 6-35 lbs. Head & body 16-26” long. Round, bushy, 8-12” tail 

with 4-6 black rings. Body stout, fur long, snout and ears pointed, black face 

mask. Coat grizzled gray, brown and black. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Woods, swamps; lives in 

trees, feeds along water’s edge. Nocturnal. 

Medicinal Uses: 

1) Fat rubbed on skin to treat rheumatism (WW). 

2) Fat boiled and given to children for a physic (WW). 

Food Uses: Fat/grease stored/eaten, mixed with maple sap (FS2) 

Material Culture Uses: Penis bone used as toothpick (FS) (?). 

Legends: “How Master Lox, as a Raccoon, killed the Bear and the Black Cats...” (CL); “Raccoon 

Outwits the Bear,” “Raccoon Kills the Young Sables and Escapes by a Ruse,” “Raccoon, Drowned in the 

Rapids, Escapes from the Old Women,” “Raccoon and the Rolling Stone Captor,” “Raccoon Snares the 

Hare,” “Raccoon’s Children are Killed by Fisher” (FS5). 

Skunk, Striped 

Mephitis mephitis (Mustelidae/Weasels, Skunks & Allies Fam.) 

Description:6-10 lbs. Head & body 15-19 inches. Black/white mottled, bushy 

tail 7-10”. Coat black with narrow white strip up middle of forehead and 

broad white area on nape forming a V at shoulders, dividing into 2 white 

lines that continue to base of tale. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Most land habitats. 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

523

[Skunk continued] 

Medicinal Uses: 

1) Skunk grease rubbed on skin to treat rheumatism (WW). 

2) Oil obtained by baking the animal was rubbed on scalp to “counteract baldness” (LL). 

3) Oil used “to treat colds and fever” (LL). 

4) Grease of skunk and red squirrel mixed to make whooping cough medicine (induces vomiting) (WW). 

5) Skunk grease rubbed on scalp thought to stimulate hair growth (LL/42). 

Food Uses: Meat eaten – h unger food only (FS2). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Tanned skin used to make “long pocket” for carrying small necessities (flint, tinder, tobacco, etc) (FE). 

Legends: Appears in “How Glooskap made a Magician of a Young Man, Who Aided Another to Win a 

Wife and Do Wonderful Deeds” (CL). 

Weasel, Long-tailed 

Mustela frenata (Mustelidae/Weasels & Allies Fam.) 

Description: Head & body 7.5-15” long. Tail 3.5-7”. Small head, long neck, and 

long, slim body, brown above, pale below; tail tip black, feet and legs brown. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, uncommon to common. Open country, 

forests, many other areas; usually near water. Largely nocturnal. 

Material Culture Uses:

1)Tanned skin used to make “long pocket” for carrying small necessities (flint, 

tinder, tobacco, etc) (FE) 

2)Women’s upper garment/“waist” originally of weasel skins sewn together (FS2) 

Weasel, Short-tailed (a.k.a. Ermine, Bonapart Weasel)) 

Mustela erminea (Mustelidae/Weasels & Allies Fam.) 

Description: Head & body 5-9.5” long. Tail 2-4”. Small head, long neck, 

and long, slim body. Summer fur dark brown above, white below winter fur 

white except for tail tip. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, uncommon to common. Forests, 

brushy areas, usually near water. 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Tanned skin used to make “long pocket” for carrying small necessities (flint, tinder, tobacco, etc) (FE). 

2) Women’s upper garment, “waist,” originally of weasel skins sewn together (FS2). 

Legends: “The Two Weasels” (SR/160). 

Woodchuck 

Marmota monax (Sciuridae/Squirrels Fam.) 

Description: Up to 10 lbs. Head & body 16-20” long. Tail 4.5-6.5. Large 

head, chunky body, short legs, bushy tail. Coat dark brown to yellowish 

brown, grizzled above, below paler, sometimes rusty. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, currently common; not known on 

MDI in 1925. Dry woods and adjacent open spaces, brushy ravines, rocky 

slopes, fields. Hibernates in winter. 

Material Culture Uses:

Tough tanned woodchuck skin favored for making “long pocket” for carrying small necessities (flint, 

tinder, tobacco, etc) (FE, JN, FS2); whole skin used to make seamless bag (WM2/6). 

Legends: “How the woodchuck, Gluskabe’s grandmother, pulled so much hair from her belly to make 

him a pouch that she has very little hair there now” (FS2); “Overcome by Winter” (FS5). 
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MARINE MAMMALS

Dolphin, Atlantic White-sided (a.k.a. Jumpers, Atlantic Whitesided Porpoise) 

Lagenorhynchus acutus (Delphinidae/Ocean Dolphins Fam.) 

Description: Up to 9’. Robus; black above, color on sides variable 

with zones of gray, tan, and white; belly white. Sides have elongate 

zone of white and yellowish white from just below dorsal fin to above anus. Beak black, small but 

distinct. Dorsal fin tall, often partly gray, distinctly falcate, tip pointed. Tail stock extremely thick, 

narrowing laterally just in front of flukes. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, currently uncommon. Generally offshore waters; inshore waters and 

bays in summer. 

Food Uses: Meat eaten (ND); meat eaten roasted, fat/oil used for cooking/stews (although not particularly 

favored by Penobscots) (FS/95). 

Material Culture Uses: Oil sold as lubricant for clockworks, fuel for lamps. 

Dolphin/Long-finned Pilot Whale (Atlantic Black Fish) – see Whales below 

Dolphin, White-beaked (a.k.a. White-beaked Porpoise) 

Lagenorhynchus albirostris (Delphinidae/Ocean Dolphins Fam.) 

Description: Up to 10’. Robust. Tail gently tapering, moderately 

compressed; dark gray to black above, belly white to light gray; sides 

with 2 grayish areas in front of/behind/below dorsal fin. Beak short but 

distinct, light gray, sometimes white. Dorsal fin tall, uniformly dark 

gray. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, currently a rare visitor, offshore waters. 

Food Uses: Meat eaten (ND/351); meat eaten roasted, fat/oil used for cooking/stews (although not 

particularly favored by Penobscots) (FS/95). 

Material Culture Uses: Oil sold as lubricant for clockworks, fuel for lamps (Industrial Journal). 

Porpoise, Harbor (a.k.a. Common Porpoise) 

Phocoena phocoena (Phocoenidae/Porpoise Fam.) 

Description: 4-6’. Chunky. Back dark brown or gray fading to lighter 

grayish-brown on sides, often speckled in transition zone; white on belly 

extends up sides, especially in front of dorsal fin. Head small, rounded; 

beak very short, indistinct. Dorsal fin small, dark, triangular, tip blunt. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Usually inshore within 10-fathom curve. Often in bays, 

harbors, estuaries, and river mouths. On DS list.

Food Uses: “Good to eat. Black puddings and chitterlings are made from their trip; the pluck is excellent 

fried; its head is better than that of mutton” (ND/351); meat eaten roasted, fat/oil used for cooking/stews 

(although not particularly favored by Penobscots) (FS/95). 

Material Culture Uses: Oil sold as lubricant for clockworks, fuel for lamps (Industrial Journal). 
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525

Seal, Gray 

Halichoerus grypus (Phocidae Fam.) 

Description: Medium-sized, robust seal, 7-8’ long, 600-950 lbs. Mottled coat 

– female light with dark spots, male dark with light spots (appears gray or 

dark when wet). Rectangular, horse-like head with long muzzle, wide at end 

and fleshy area around the whiskers. Nostrils form a W-pattern. When they 

"haul out" it is usually on rocky ledges and offshore islands with harbour 

seals rather than populated islands because they too are wary of humans. 

Location: In MDI area, currently uncommon, historically present/On DS list. Feed at 50m depth, short 

surface times, haul out on rocky islands, beaches. 

Food Uses: Meat eaten (ND, BH); oil eaten/drunk and used to fry other foods (ND/350, 403). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Skins used for clothing/sealskin moccasins, leggings, belts, hats, coats, etc. (F.Stanley(p.c.), FT, W&M 

2) Favored oil for grooming (body & hair) and protection against cold & rain. 

3) Oil used as binder mixed with charcoal, ochre, etc. body/face painting. 

4) Whiskers used to tie fishhooks (DS interview with FT). 

5) Skin used to make hunter’s game bag and smaller pouches (FS2). 

6) Skin used to make gun case (FS2). 

7) Bladder used as container for seal or porpoise oil (FE, PB/79, CL/128, ND/350, SR/107, FS2, FS3/61). 

Legends: “The First Seal” (MSE) 

Seal, Harbor 

Phoca vitulina (Phocidae Fam.) 

Description: 5.5’, 250 lb. Mottled (spotty) coat, varies from white to tan to 

dark brown to red. Looks gray or dark when wet. Dog-like face, V-shaped 

nostrils. Use areas within 30 yards of haul-out sites, Haul out on rocky 

ledges and offshore islands. 

Location: In MDI area, common. On DS list.

Food Uses:

1) Meat eaten (ND/349, 403, BH); young and fetal seals especially favored (CL, ND). 

2) Oil “relished at all feasts” “good to eat fresh & for frying food” (ND/349); oil used in stews (FS2). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Skins used for clothing/sealskin moccasins, leggings, belts, hats, coats, etc. (F.Stanley(p.c.), FT, 

W&M) and for tourist souvenirs in 19th-20th centuries (RM). 

2) Favored oil for grooming (body & hair) and protection against cold & rain 

3) Oil used as binder mixed with charcoal, ocre, etc. body/face painting 

4) Whiskers used to tie fishhooks (DS interview with FT) 

5) Skin used to make hunter’s game bag and smaller pouches (FS2) 

6) Skin used to make gun case (FS2) 

7) Bladder used as container for seal or porpoise oil (FE, PB/79, CL/128, ND/350, SR/107, FS2, FS3/61) 

Legends: “The First Seal” (MSE). 

WHALES: Unspecified species of whales had various uses noted below. Whales described below are 

found in and near ANP and are likely candidates.

Food Uses: Meat eaten, and the blubber (especially) was also consumed—melted and drunk (ND/403, 

FE/1919, p57, FS). 

Legends: “The Beaver Magicians and the Big Fish” tells of dividing up the meat and blubber of a 

stranded whale lured to shore by the sound of a flute (peepoogwokun) used to imitate the cries of a mate 

(SR/351); “Tumikoontaoo (Broken Wing)” tells of a whale hunting expedition (also using the flute) that 

failed ‘as the whales would not come;” “One time in the mythical period a big whale was washed ashore, 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

526

and Gluskabe portioned his carcass off among the different creatures, some of them deriving their 

permanent characteristics from the event. . . . The spider was given the whale’s cavity to live in. There he 

spun his web across the openings and snared other insects that came for plunder; and so the spider . . . still 

finds a broad orifice, and there spreads his mesh” (FS2); “How...Glooskap for a Merry Jest Cheated the 

Whale;” “How the Whale Smoke a Pipe;” “How Glooskap had a Great Frolic with Kitpooseagunow . . . 

who Caught a Whale” (CL). 

Associations: Whales associated with Stanislaus family. 

Whale, Fin 

Balaenoptera physalus

(Balaenopteridae/Balaen Fam.) 

Description: Also known as the 

finback whale, it is the world’s 

second largest animal after the Blue 

Whale. It can grow to a length of 85’, but on average adults are not larger than 60-70’. Upperside gray, 

underside white. Jaw patterns are asymmetrical – white on the right side and dark on the left, and 

numerous grooves extending along the throat to the naval. The prominent dorsal fin is 2’ long and curved. 

Location: In MDI area, common. A pelagic and coastal species, sometimes occurring in water as shallow 

as 30 meters. Circa 1939 MDI Biological Laboratory researcher reported that two finbacks were seen 

several times within two months “one summer” in the Narrows (RM). 

Whale, Humpback 

Megaptera novaeangliae (Balaenopteridae/BalaenFam) 

Description: Stout body 40-50’ in length, blue-black 

above and pale to white on the underside which has 

black markings that vary per individual. Very long 

flippers and a flat-topped head with raised tubercles, 

including on the lower jaw.12-36 throat grooves and 

540-800 baleen plates. Dorsal fin varies in size/shape 

per individual. Tail flukes large, wing-shaped. 

Location: In MDI area [frequency?]. Reported 14 days in a row near Porcupine Islands, Aug. 1934 (RM). 

Whale, Minke 

Balaenoptera acutorostrata (Balaenopteridae/Balaen Fam.) 

Description: Up to 35’ in length, the minke has a sharply pointed, 

triangular rostrum, with a noticeable head ridge. The tall, sickleshaped dorsal fin is located in the end third of the body. Dark gray 

above and white on the underside, with gray shading extending up 

each side in front of and below the dorsal fin. Bright white band 

across each flipper. The minke whale has an inconspicuous blow. 231-285 pairs of baleen plates. Throat 

grooves extending to just behind the flippers. Maximum weight 10 tons. 

Location: In MDI area, common. 

Whale, Long-finned Pilot (Atlantic Black fish/actually a dolphin) 

Globicephala melaena (Delphinidae/Ocean Dolphins Fam.) 

Description: Up to 20’, robust, black with anchor-shaped patch of 

grayish white on chin, gray area on belly, both variable in 

intensity/shape; head thick, bulbous, sometimes flattened, squarish in front; flippers long, to 1/5th body 

length; dorsal fin falcate, low, with long base, set far forward on back. 

Location: In MDI area, occasional.
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527

Whale, Sperm/Pygmy 

Kogia breviceps (Physeteridae/Sperm Whale Fam.)

Description: Up to 13’, robust, tapering rapidly to tail; back dark steelgray, sides lighter gray, belly dull white, light gray crescent-shaped mark 

on each side of squarish head. Single blowhole on top of head well back from snout tip. 10-16 large, 

pointed teeth on each side, no teeth in upper jaw. Dorsal fin small, falcate, on posterior half of back. 

Location: In MDI area [frequency?] Deep offshore waters; close to shore during calving season, 

occasionally stranded. 

Whale, White (a.k.a. Beluga, White Porpoise) 

Delphinapterus leucas (Monodontidae/Narwhal & White Whale Fam.)

Description: Up to 16’, robust, tapering to distinct “neck”; adults white; 

newborns brown. Head very small, beak short. No dorsal fin; narrow 

ridge of small bumps behind middle of back. 

Location: In MDI area, rare visitor, primarily in shallow bays and mouths 

of rivers; occasionally ascending rivers and open oceans. 

Food uses: “Yield plenty of oil, almost a barrel to each one” (ND/351). 

FISH 

Wabanakis ate numerous fresh and saltwater fish species, and some species had uses beyond food. All of 

the following fish species, found in ANP areas, have provided food for Wabanakis – and some had 

additional uses, as noted. Unspecified fish appear in the legend “How the Great Glooskap Fought the 

Giant Sorcerers at Saco, and Turned Them into Fish” (CL). 

Alewife (a.k.a. Bigeye Herring, Branch Herring, Freshwater Herring, 

Gray Herring) 

Alosa pseudoharengus (Clupeidae/Herring Fam.) 

Description: Adults typically 10-11”, 8-9 oz. Elongate, strongly compressed 

(skinny) ventral profile. Midline of belly sharp and saw edged. Back 

iridescent gray-green or violet, sides paler, belly silvery, distinct dusky spot just behind upper margin of 

gill cover. Head less than 1/5th length; Mouth oblique, upper jaw deeply notched; maxilla wide, reaches 

middle of eye. Dorsal fin origin just before pelvic fin insertion, last dorsal ray not elongate. Schooling 

species. Feeds on plankton and small crustaceans while at sea. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, inshore and offshore. Bays, estuaries, and fresh water. Populations 

that are established in lakes remain there to spawn; all others enter freshwater streams to spawn and then 

return to sea. On DS list. 

Food Uses: Meat eaten (BH) 

Cod, Atlantic Gadus morhua 

Description: Generally 2-21⁄2’ long, 40-60 lbs. Distinguished 

from most other marine fish by their three rounded dorsal fins 

and two anal fins. Prominent barbel ("whisker") on the chin. 

Generally grey or green, but may be brown or reddish, 

depending upon the habitat into which its color will generally 

blend. Belly whitish. Scales small, smooth. Mouth large with projecting upper jaw. Gill openings wide. 

Atlantic cod occasionally reach lengths in excess of 5 to 6 feet. Off shore cod tend to be larger than 

inshore ones, the former frequently reaching sizes of 25 pounds and 40 to 42 inches in length while the 

latter usually weigh 6 to 12 pounds and measure 27 to 34 inches in length. 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

528

[Cod continued] 

Location: In park. On DS list. Occur from inshore shallow water (about 15’) to edge of the continental 

shelf in depths of 600’ and occasionally deeper. 

Medicinal Uses: Codfish louse (parasites) sewn in canvas, hung around neck to cure convulsions (LL, 

WW) 

Food Uses: Meat eaten (BH) 

Material culture uses: Oil used to lubricate/soften moosehides (FE) 

Eel, American (a.k.a. Common Eel) 

Anguilla rostrata (Anguillidae/Freshwater Eels Fam.) 

Description: Up to 4’11”. Elongate, snakelike, circular in cross section 

anteriorly, compressed posteriorly. Color variable, depending on 

habitat and age, usually dark brown or greenish above, fading to 

yellowish-white on belly. Head large, about 1/8th of length. Pectoral 

fins well developed; dorsal fin origin far behind pectoral fins; anal fin origina behind dorsal fin origin, 

both fins continuous with tail fin. Scales small, elliptical, deeply embedded in skin. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas Brackish or fresh water, except when migrating and spawning at sea. 

Medicinal Uses: 

1) Eel skin worn next to troubled area to ease pain of headache, cramps, rheumatism (FE, FS, VanWart). 

2) Applied tightly to skin to treat a sprain (WW). 

3) Slimy side applied to lame area until lameness gone (LL). 

Food Uses: Meat eaten (BH, FS2/96); dried, smoked, boiled or roasted; backbones used to flavor soup 

(FS2/96). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Fine strips of skin used to wind spindle used to make fire (JN). 

2) Skin used to make thong for harpoon used for salmon and beaver. 

Associations: Associated with Neptune family. 

Flounder, Winter 

Description: Typically 1.5 lbs. Color, varying with habitat, ranges from 

reddish brown to olive green to nearly black. Underside white. Deeply 

compressed body, small mouth, eyes on right side. 

Location: In park. Estuaries, inshore and offshore coastal waters. Sandy 

or muddy bottoms. On DS list.

Food Uses: Meat eaten (ND/355, BH, FS2). 

Herring, Atlantic (a.k.a. Sea Herring) 

Clupea harengus (Clupeidae/Herring Fam.) 

Description: Up to 17? And 11⁄2 lbs. Compressed, silvery, 

fork-tailed. Mouth large, lower jaw projects, oval patch of 

teeth in roof of mouth. Dorsal midway along body and 

directly above smaller ventrals, belly sharp. Travels in vast 

schools. Caught in weirs or nets. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas. Open sea.. 

Food Uses: Meat eaten (BH). 
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529

Pickerel, Common (a.k.a. Chain Pickerel) 

Esox niger (Esocidae/Pike Fam.) 

Description: Up to 31”, 9.4 lbs. Elongate, moderately compressed; 

olive to yellowish-brown above, sides with dark, chainlike markings; 

belly whitish, dark bar under eye. Heal long, flat above; snout long, 

profile concave; lower jaw with 4 large sensory pores on each side. Tail fin deeply forked. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas. Clean, clear lakes, ponds, swamps and pools of streams with 

vegetation (large #s caught through ice). 

Food Uses: Meat eaten. 

Pollock Pollachius virens (Gadidae/Codfishes Fam.) 

Description: Can be 3’ long, 35 lbs, but typically 4-15 lbs. Deep, plumpbodied, olive-green, brownish-green or grayish-black above, sides paler, 

belly silvery; lateral line white. 3 dorsal fins, 2 anal fins, forked tail fin. 

Projected lower jaw. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas. inshore and offshore. Over rocks 

to depths of 100 fathoms, sometimes at midwater or on surface. (Adults prefer deep water. Young 

abundant along shore and readily caught from rocks and wharves.) 

Food Uses: Meat eaten (FS2). 

Salmon, Atlantic 

Salmo salar (Salmonidae/Trouts Fam.) 

Description: Up to 41⁄2’ , 79 lbs – but most weigh much less than 40-

50 lbs. Elongate, moderately compressed; adults brownish above, 

sides silvery, with numerous small, black spots on head, body and 

dorsal fin. Males have red patches on sides. Head large, lower jaw upward-hooked in breeding males. 

Pectoral fins inserted well below axis of body; dorsal fin short-based, at midpoint of body; adipose fin 

present; tail fin slightly forked or emarginate. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas. Inshore/coastal waters; freshwater streams and lakes. Anadromous. 

Spawns in fall in high gradient streams over gravel. 

Food Uses: Meat eaten (ND/436, BH, FS2/82); “small salmon greedily eaten raw by children in the 

spring...suck the raw fish for the spawn” (FS2). 

Legends: “How Lox Came to Grief by Trying to Catch a Salmon” (CL). 

Sculpin, Longhorn 

Myoxocephalus octodecemspinosus (Cottidae/Sculpins Fam.) 

Description: Coloration dark olive to pale green-yellow to green-brown, 

depending on surroundings. White underbelly. Usually 3-4 dark irregular 

crossbars running down their sides. Large head and eyes, slender body, 

fan-like pectoral fins, 2 dorsal fins, comparatively small tail fin. Skull covered with numerous sharp 

spines. Usually 10-14” long. 

Location: Inshore and offshore, depth range from a few feet to 300+. Of several sculpin species in Gulf of 

Maine, longhorn is most common. On DS list. 

Associations: Associated with Francis family. 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

530

Shad, American 

Alosa sapidissima (Clupeidae/Herring Family) 

Description: Up to 30”, 91⁄4lbs. Elongate, strongly compressed; dorsal and 

ventral profiles evenly rounded; depth about one-fourth length. Back dark 

bluish or greenish, sides much paler, belly silvery; dusky humeral spot usually followed by several small, 

less distinct dusky spots. Head 1/5th or less of length; mouth oblique, maxilla reaches to posterior margin 

of eye. Dorsal fin origin slightly anterior to pelvic fin insertion. Last dorsal ray not elongate. Schooling 

species 

Location: In park and adjacent areas. Bays, estuaries and fresh water. Enter freshwater streams to spawn. 

Food Uses: Meat eaten (BH, FS2); “small shad greedily eaten raw by children in the spring...suck the raw 

fish for the spawn” (FS2). 

Smelt, Rainbow (a.k.a. Common Smelt) 

Osmerus mordax (Osmeridae/Smelts Fam.) 

Description: Up to 13”. Elongate, slender, moderately compress; translucent, 

back purple, silvery below, sides with purplish iridescence. Mouth has strong 

canine teeth on vomer, maxilla extends to middle of eye. 8-11 dorsal fin rays, origin over or in front of 

pelvic fin insertion; 12-16 anal fin; tail fin deeply forked. Lateral line incomplete, 14-30 pored scales; 62-

72 scales in lateral series. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas. Near shore marine and estuarine areas; inland streams and lakes; 

anadromous and freshwater populations. 

Food Uses: Meat eaten (BH). 

Sturgeon 

Acipenser fulvescens (Acipenseridae/Sturgeons Fam.) 

Description: Up to 18’, 310 lbs. Elongate; dark olive to 

gray above, sides lighter, often reddish; off-white to 

yellowish below. Snout rounded above, flattened 

below; 4 barbels anterior to mouth; mouth without 

teeth. 5 rows of bony plates: 8-17 dorsal plates, 28-43 

lateral, 6-12 ventrolateral. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, in shore and offshore. Anadromous, returning to natal rivers to 

spawn. On DS list.

Food Uses: Meat eaten (BH ); “flesh is as good as beef” (ND/353). 

Associations: Associated with the Sockalexis family. 

Tomcod (a.k.a. Frostfish) 

Microgadus tomcod (Gadidae/Codfishes Fam.) 

Description: Up to 15”and 11⁄4lbs. Moderately elongate, tapering, 

slightly compressed; olive to dark green above with yellowish tinge, 

becoming pale on both sides; body and fins mottled with indefinite 

dark spots or blotches. Snout conical, overhangs lower jaw; chin 

barbell relatively large; eye small. Second pelvic fin ray filamentous; tail fin rounded. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas [frequency?] Shallow water to about 18’ and in brackish and fresh 

water in estuaries and rivers. Tolerant of cold, spawing in water temps as low as 34F. Spawning takes 

place near shore or in brackish streams in winter. On DS list.

Food Uses: Meat eaten (ND, BH); “excellent food fish” (ND). 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

531

Trout, Brook 

Salvelinus fontinalis 

Description: 10-12” long. Dark green to brown coloration with 

distinctive marbled pattern (vermiculations) of lighter shades across the 

flanks and back. Sprinkling of red dots along flanks. Belly and lower 

fins reddish in color, the latter having white margins. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas. Frequency unknown. Do best in cold streams, though ‘salters’ live 

in brackish coastal waters. 

Food Uses: Meat eaten (BH, SR/378). 

Atlantic Wolffish 

Anarhichas lupus 

 Description: 3-5’ long, ranging in color from olive brown (prior to 

sexual maturity) to light blue gray (sexually mature). Distinct, dark, 

irregular bands run transversely along their sides. Atlantic wolffish 

have an elongated shape. Their body, which is deepest at the nape of their neck, tapers back to a slender 

caudal peduncle and small weak tail fin. Large, rounded pectoral fins, no pelvic fins. Dorsal fin uniform 

in height, extending from neck to base of fin tail. Anal fin about 1⁄2-length of dorsal fin. Exceptionally 

strong jaws equipped with large canine teeth and massive molars. 

Location: Inshore and offshore, over hard bottom at depths from a few feet to 500’+. On DS list. 

Food Uses: Meat eaten. 

 

SHELLFISH 

Clam, Atlantic Surf 

Spisula solidissima (Mactridae/Surf Clams Fam.) 

Description: 4-7”, yellowish-white, thick, oval shell, smoothish with 

many growth lines. Beaks large, nearly central; hinge strong, ligament 

internal with large, fairly straight spoon-shaped pit, cardinal tooth 

small; lateral teeth long, with notched edges. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas frequency? Under sand below 

low-mark. 

Food Uses: Fresh or dried clams boiled and eaten (FE/1919, BH, JN, FS2/96). 

Legends: “Of the Song of Clams” (CL). 

Clam, Common Softshell 

Mya arenaria (Myacidae/Soft-shelled Clams familyFam.) 

Description: 1.6”, chalky-gray or chalky-white shell, thick, wrinkled by 

growth lines, elliptical. Spoon-shaped tooth long, shallow; pallial sinus 

somewhat V-shaped; periostracum thin, gray to straw color. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. In mud between the tides. On 

DS list. Mentioned by Champlain, Lescarbot and others. 

Food Uses: Fresh or dried clams boiled and eaten (FE/1919, BH, JN, 

FS2/96). 

Legends: “Of the Song of Clams” (CL). 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

532

 Clam, Northern Quahog (Hardshell clam, Littleneck clam) 

Mercenariamercenaria 

Description 2 3/4-4 1/4" (7-10.8 cm) long. Broadly ovate, moderately 

inflated, thick-shelled; hind end slightly sinuous, pointed below. Exterior 

grayish-yellow, often with pale brownish tinge; with erect concentric ridges. 

Interior white, usually with purple spot near hind end; margin finely 

toothed. 

Location: In sand or mud, bays or inlets, from intertidal flats to water 50’ 

deep. “Uncommon today” (p.c. Wm. Haviland 10/26/05). 

Food Uses: Fresh or dried clams boiled and eaten (JN). 

Material Culture Uses:

1) Shells used to make beads (wampum) 

2) Empty shells lined with clay and tied together used to carry spunk (dry, 

rotten, slow-burning wood – esp. yellow birch – that will “burn very slowly 

and never go out until every speck of it ha[s] been consumed. It burnt so 

slow that a very small piece lasted half a day.”) (JN). 

Mussel, Blue 

Mytilus edulis (Mytilidae/Mussels Fam.) 

Description: 2-3”-long, pear-shaped shell, bluish-black outside with irregular 

concentric growth lines and pointed terminal beaks; inside white & violet with 

dark edge, and 4 fine teeth at narrow end. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Rocky shores or mud flats. 

On DS list. 

Food Uses: Meat eaten (BH). 

Oyster, Eastern (a.k.a. Virginia Oyster) 

Crassostrea virginica (Ostreidae/Oyster Fam.) 

Description: Dingy-gray 2-6”-long shell, coarse-textured, thick, somewhat 

elongated and curved. Upper valve smaller and less rounded than lower. Beaks 

long, curved, grooved by growth of the ligament. Inside white; muscle scar 

almost central and deep purple. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas. “Uncommon today” (p.c. Wm. Haviland 

10/26/05). Attached to hard surfaces in bays, estuaries, offshore areas. 

Food Uses: Fresh or dried oysters boiled and eaten. (ND/359, JN, FS2/96) 

Material Culture Uses: Shells used to make beads. 

Crab, Rock 

Cancer irroratus (True Crabs Fam.) 

Description: Shell typically 3x5”, granulated but smooth, yellowish with 

bronzy-purple spots. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Among rocks between 

tide marks to a depth of several hundred feet. 

Food Uses: Meat eaten (BH). 

Legends: “How Glooskap Conquered the Great Bull-Frog, and in What 

Manner all the Pollywogs, Crabs, Leeches, and Other Water Creatures 

were Created” (CL).
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

533

Lobster, Northern 

Homarus americanus (Fam.) 

Description: Crustacean with joined shell that protects/supports body parts 

while permitting movement. Body formed mainly by the cephalothorax 

(head & chest) and the six-jointed abdomen (tail). It has Typically 9-15”, 

1.5-5 lbs. The first of 5 pairs of walking legs feature large pincer and 

crusher claws. Underneath the abdomen are six pairs of swimmerets, the 

last pair enlarged to form the tail fan. Color usually olive green or 

greenish brown (turning red when cooked). Due to excessive fishing, 

current typical size of 2-4 lbs is much smaller than historically when specimens of 15-25 lbs. were not 

uncommon, with some reaching 35-40+ lbs. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas. Rocky crevices below low tide. 

Food Uses: Meat eaten (BH). 

Material Culture Uses: Claws used as pipes (ND/424). 

Associations: Associated with Daylight Mitchell family. 

Sea Urchin, Green 

Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis (Strongylocentrotidae Fam)

Description: Symmetrical echinoderm with greenish with scattered reddish brown 

tones. Spines crowded, rather fine, and short (up to 1”). Shell reaching 3.3” wide. 

Jaws lack lateral teeth, an anus situated outside the apical system, radial 

symmetry, and more than three pore plates per ambulacral plate. Typically 

sexually mature and 1-1.5” wide by 3 yrs. Spawns during winter/early spring 

(usually April). Larval stage lasts 4-6 weeks. 

Location: Colonies in shallow subtidal zone on rocky, gravelly or shelly bottoms. Preferred food is kelp 

of the genus Laminaria. On DS list.

Food Uses: Yellow or orange gonads or “roe” organs, which in winter months can reach 10-25% of the 

animal’s weight, are highly edible. Harvested Aug.-Mar. 

Whelk, Waved 

Buccinum undatum (Buccinidae Fam.) 

Other names: Common Northern Buccinum 

Description: 11⁄4 -51⁄2” high univalve. Shell thick, broadly ovate, with elevated, conical 

spire. Yellowish-white to pale yellowish-brown. Whorls convex, with strong, broad, 

curved ribs. Oval aperture. Body white with black splotches. 

Location: On rocks, sand or gravel, near low-tide line to water 200’ or deeper. On DS 

List.

Food Uses: Meat edible. 

 

 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

534

REPTILES 

 

Frogs: Unspecified frog species were caught and buried alive to relieve headache – with the idea that the 

headache was buried with the animal (LL). The four species below are found in ANP and adjacent areas 

and are likely candidates for this. Frogs associated with the Orson family. 

Frog, Bull 

Rana catesbeiana (Hylidae Fam.) 

Description: Largest frog in the US. Adults average from 3.5 – 6” in total 

length, but can reach 8”long. The head, body and front leg can be green, olive, 

or brown with small or large indistinct dark spots or blotches. The back legs 

are darkly banded; the belly and throat are white or yellow with gray mottling. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Resident breeder.Aquatic 

situations, including ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, swamps, and marshes. 

Legends: “How Glooskap Conquered the Great Bull-Frog...” (CL). 

Frog, Northern Leopard (a.k.a. Common Frog, Meadow Frog) 

Rana pipiens (Hylidae Fam.) 

Description: 2-3.5” long, with dark round spots on a background of green, 

greenish brown or brown. Legs may have dark spots or bars. A dark spot is 

seen above each eye and on the snout. A white line stretches from the nose 

to the shoulder, above the upper lip. Entirely white underneath. Voice is a 

low croaking snore. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, uncommon. Wet meadows, grassy pond and lake edges. May 

wander well away from water after breeding season. 

Frog, Green 

Rana clamitans (Hylidae Fam.) 

Description: 2.5-4” long. Green or brown back covered with brownish or 

gray blotches. Belly white with dark spots or elongated blotches 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common to abundant. Shallow 

waters and vegetation surrounding streams, ponds, marshes, springs, 

swamps. Secretive. 

Legends: “Frog Obtains His Grandfather’s Member” (FS5). 

Frog, Pickerel 

Rana palustris 

Description: 1-3.5” long. Tan with rows of dark-colored square blotches. 

Undersides are yellow to orange. Distinguished from leopard frog by bright 

yellow-orange flash colors under hind legs. Voice is a low croak. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, widespread and abundant. Prefer cool, 

clear water found in such habitats as sphagnum bogs, rocky ravines, and 

meadow streams. 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

535

Snakes: 

Material Culture Uses: Speck specifically mentioned the water snake, noting that women used its skin to 

tie their hair in a knot. This snake is rare on MDI, for its eastern limit is in the western half of the island. 

Quite possible Wabanakis also tied their hair with other snake species (pictured below) that were common 

in Maine, including the MDI area. 

Medicinal uses: Unspecified snake species (likely including all/some of those pictured below) were used 

as follows: 

1) Shed snakeskin tied around forehead to relieve headache (WW). 

2) Dried snake’s tongue “carried about” to relieve headache (FS). 

3) Dried snake’s tongue carried as a charm against toothache (FS, WW). 

Legends: “The Woman Who Gave Birth to a Snake” (FS5). Rattlesnakes and Black Snakes are not 

present anywhere in Maine, yet 2 legends mention them: “How Glooskap Changed Certain Saucy Indians 

into Rattlesnakes;” “Origin of the Black Snakes” (CL). 

 Nerodia sispedon sipedon Lampropeltis triangulum Thamnophis sirtalis

Northern Water Snake Milk Snake (a.k.a.N. Milk Common Garter Snake 

24-42” long Snake, E. Milk Snake) 17-51” long 

Back reddish, brown or 1.5’-4’ long Variable black & yellow stripes 

Gray to brownish black w/variable red blotches & black 

w/dark blotches; neck area spots. 

has dark crossbands; belly 

white, yellow or gray w/ 

black or reddish-brown 

crescent-shaped spots 

 Storeria occipitomaculata Diadophis punctatus Liochlorophis vernalis

Redbelly Snake Ringneck Snake Smooth Green Snake 

8-16” long 1-2.5’ long 1-2’ long 

Back grayish-brown to Back dark; yellow to red All green 

black; belly usually red neck ring and belly 
▪Chapter 18: Inventory of Animals Used by Wabanakis▪

536

Toad, American (a.k.a. Common Toad) 

Bufo americanus (Bufonidae Fam.) 

Description: Skin rough, warty, mottled brown and black with many color 

variations. Underside findly rough. Chest usually spotted with dark pigment. 

Eyes prominent. Body 3.5-5.5”, female larger than male. Voice: long, musical 

trill, heard most often in early spring. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas. Favors moist woodland areas offering 

damp soil and concealment. 

Medicinal Uses: Toad split open and put over a rheumatic area to relieve pain (FS). 

Associations: Associated with Glossian family. 

Legends: “How the Toad and Porcupine Lost Their Noses;” “Of Toads and Porcupines, and the Awful 

Battle of the Giants” (CL). 

Turtles: Unspecified species of turtles had various uses. The two described below are found in and near 

ANP and are likely candidates. 

Medicinal Uses: Fat applied to rheumatic area to ease pain (WW). 

Food Uses: Meat eaten (BH, ND/359, FS2/96). 

Material Culture Uses: Shell used as rattle (JF/263, CL/110). 

Legends: “The Tortoises” tells of eating cooked turtle eggs (stored “in the warm sand out-of-doors, to 

keep them fresh and to prevent the children from breaking them”) (SR/375); “How Glooskap Made His 

Uncle Michich the Turtle into a Great Man...” (CL); “Gluska’be Causes...Turtle to Lose his Member,” 

“Gluska’be Aids Turtle to Get Married” (FS5); “Copper Mountain,” “How Turtle Defeated Deer” (MSE); 

Turtle, Painted 

Chrysemys picta (EmydidaeFam.) 

Description: 5”-10". Carapace (upper shell) olive or black, oval, smooth, 

flattened, and unkeeled; scute seams bordered with olive, yellow, or red. 

Red bars or crescents on marginal scutes. Plastron (lower shell) yellow, 

orange, or red, unpatterned or intricately marked. Yellow and red stripes 

on neck, legs, and tail. Notched upper jaw 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Slow-moving shallow streams, rivers, and lakes. Likes 

soft bottoms with vegetation and half-submerged logs. 

Turtle, Snapping

Chelydra serpentina (Chelydridae Fam.) 

Description: 8-18.5” shell. Large head with strong jaws and two barbels on 

the chin. Carapace (upper shell) is often brown, black, olive or tan, and the 

plastron, or underside of the carapace, is unusually small, yellow or creamcolored, sometimes with dark markings. The turtle's skin can be brown, 

black, gray or tan, and the legs are powerful and heavily scaled, ending in 

webbed feet with long claws. Its tail also makes it easy to identify: it is as 

long as or longer than the carapace, with three rows of scales. When 

disturbed, the snapper will release an unpleasant anal musk. Females are 

usually smaller than males. 

Location: In park and adjacent areas, common. Salt marshes, tidal creeks, ponds, lakes, streams, bogs. 

◘ ◘ ◘ ◘
▪Chapter 19: Indigenous Archaeological Sites▪

537

CHAPTER 19: MAPS & INVENTORY OF 

INDIGENOUS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN THE MDI AREA 

At the end of the Ice Age, American Indian hunting groups followed the retreating line of 

melting glaciers and moved into Maine’s coastal region, which was then a tundra teeming 

with fish, fowl, and game. They were especially attracted by herds of caribou and muskox 

and probably hunted mammoth as well. Material remains of some of their base camps and 

kill sites date as far back as about 10,500 years ago. During the next few thousand years, 

climatic warming transformed tundra into woodland, and rising sea-levels slowly flooded 

the lower coastal plains. Hundreds of higher hills and mountains in the coastal plains 

became islands in the Gulf of Maine. 

The warmer waters and emerging woodland habitat—featuring a wide variety trees, 

such as birch, pine, spruce, and later also ash, beech, elm and oak, as well as many smaller 

plants—created an attractive natural habitat for land and water animals moving in from 

warmer southern regions. This environmental change forced human inhabitants to leave or 

make cultural adaptations. It also attracted human newcomers already adapted to woodland 

survival. Coastal territories like Mount Desert Island and its surroundings provided ample 

opportunities for fishing and hunting land and marine animals, including moose, deer, 

bears, beavers, seals, otters, ducks, and geese. Clams were an especially important seasonal 

food source, evidence of which can still be found in the presence of nearly 2,000 larger and 

smaller shellmiddens near tidal mudflats on Maine’s coast. There were also nuts, roots and 

fruit, as well as other plant foods to gather. 

In the course of generations, humans in the region developed a well-established 

survival strategy, adapting their subsistence mode to the seasonal cycles of their maritime 

woodland habitat. For their strategy to succeed, they had to be mobile and flexible, 

periodically relocating to find food and comfort according to nature’s seasonal offerings. 

Although many ancient camping grounds have disappeared by forces of nature and 

modern development, still-existing prehistoric sites have been researched by archaeologists 

and provide insights into the traditional lifeways of Wabanaki peoples during several 

thousand years prior to the European invasion. Research indicates not only a complex 

cultural pattern of seasonal movement but also a considerable degree of variation between 

different prehistoric coastal sites. Dr. David Sanger, a specialist in the region’s 

archaeology, notes that many coastal sites were periodically occupied during the warmer 

season, but that numerous others were primarily inhabited during the cold weather months. 

These sites, he notes, were 

clustered within easy distance of prime fishing locations, in addition to being 

around special types of mudflats with good intertidal shellfish resources. Large 

mudflats, such as those found further up the estuaries, were not selected for 

habitation. These locations would necessitate long carries over the soft mud to 

get a canoe and its contents in and out of the water. Instead, sites were chosen 

with reference to shorter, but still gently sloping beaches, better suited to canoe 

landing and launching. These intertidal flats also offered clams and other 

mollusks, and could be used to situate brush weirs and fish traps.... Finally, 

many of the sites, especially those with primary cold-season occupation, faced 
▪Chapter 19: Indigenous Archaeological Sites▪

538

south and southeast, where they would simultaneously receive some sun and 

shelter from the prevailing north and northwest winter winds.1

Introduction to the Sites Maps: 

There are 625 known American Indian archaeological sites along Maine’s coast from Little 

Deer Isle to Gouldsboro Bay, 71 of which have Ceramic (beginning 2,700 years ago) or 

Historic Period components. Maps prepared for our study by Dr. Arthur Spiess of the 

Maine Historic Preservation Commission, give an overview of site density without 

precisely delineating and thereby jeopardizing locations needing protection. He offered the 

following guidelines for interpreting the maps: 

Each square is a 1⁄2 km square within which there is one or more prehistoric 

and/or Contact period archaeological site. The squares that are cross-hatched 

and numbered contain sites with confirmed Ceramic period and/or Historic 

Period components. Most of the “unknown” sites are simply small shell 

middens that are of unknown age – most likely Middle Ceramic period based 

on known survey data. 

 Sites with confirmed historic/contact period components include: 30.67, 

30.73, 31.13, 42.56, 42.57, and 42.61. Sites with Late Ceramic period 

components include: 30.151, 31.2, 31.5, 31.42, 31.50, 42.10 (Grindle site), 

42.40 (Goddard site), 42.43 (Flye Point), 43.46, 43.75, 43.87, 44.12 

(Tranquility Farm), 44.13, and 44.62. ‘Late Ceramic’ means having cordwrapped stick impress or incised ceramics, which would be after 1200 AD. 

The sites listed with names have a substantial amount of further information, 

either in published format or unpublished reports.2

 

Another archaeologist (and third generation Deer Isle resident), Dr. William Haviland, has 

navigated the waters of our research area for many decades checking for sites. He has also 

sought archival and oral source material, sorting through an array of questions concerning 

the region’s Wabanakis – from canoe routes to food habits to interaction with white 

communities. He notes that there are “at least 296 known sites for the town of Deer Isle 

Proper [and] 261 for Stonington.” Making note of Eggemoggin Reach, he says “In the 

Reach 12 islands have known sites, some as many as 4 (I do not know about Chatto and 

Hog islands in Brooklin). Most of these sites are included in the 296 listed for Deer Isle.”3

Interesting for this study is Haviland’s comment concerning continuity of use: 

Noteworthy is that some middens show continuity of use up into historic times: 

notably Campbell’s Island and the Asbornsen site on Deer Isle. And let’s not 

forget the copper kettle burials at Naskeag [across Blue Hill Bay, directly 

opposite Dodge Point at MDI]. In addition we have record of Indians around 

1800 processing porpoises on or near a large midden in Crockett Cove. Then 

there are Conary and White Islands, each with several middens, given by treaty 

to the Indians.... Off Stonington [a few miles north of Isle au Haut], Russ and 

Camp are islands with middens, and in the 1800s these were frequented by 

 

1

 Sanger 1988, p92. 

2

 Spiess, letter to McBride & Prins, 10/27/04. Emphasis added. 

3

 Haviland, letter to McBride, 10/15/04. 
▪Chapter 19: Indigenous Archaeological Sites▪

539

[Wabanaki] families. . . . Finally, I’ll bet there is at least one midden on 

Saddleback Island. 

 This continuity is confirmed when one looks at the following Spiess maps in 

connection with the historic written record. Doing so shows that the encampments of 

19th-century Wabanakis who came to MDI seasonally (especially to sell sealskins, 

market their traditional skills of craftmaking, hunting/guiding, herbal doctoring, and 

canoeing to locals and vacationers) were located in places frequented by Native 

ancestors – including Southwest Harbor, Northeast Harbor, Somesville, Bar Harbor, 

and Hulls Cove, as well as Bar Island, the Cranberry Isles, and Isle au Haut. 
▪Chapter 19: Indigenous Archaeological Sites▪

540
▪Chapter 19: Indigenous Archaeological Sites▪

541
▪Chapter 19: Indigenous Archaeological Sites▪

542
▪Chapter 19: Indigenous Archaeological Sites▪

543
▪Chapter 19: Indigenous Archaeological Sites▪

544
▪Chapter 19: Indigenous Archaeological Sites▪

545
▪Chapter 19: Indigenous Archaeological Sites▪

546
▪Chapter 19: Indigenous Archaeological Sites▪

547
▪Chapter 19: Indigenous Archaeological Sites▪

548

▪Chapter 20: Wabanaki Encampments on MDI 1840s-1920s▪

550

Northeast Harbor 

1830s: Kimball House – Daniel Kimball opened his homestead on Cottage St. to boarders; this 

modest in replaced in 1887 replaced with 70-room Queen-Anne-style hotel. 

1883: Asticou Inn – established by August Savage; burned 1900; rebuilt next year.

1884: Revere House (a.k.a. Rock End) established by Herman L. Savage; remodeled from a 

clapboard Victorian to a stuccoed Spanish Revival structure accommodating 100 guests; 

expanded again in 1909; burned 1942. 

Somesville 

c1830s: Mount Desert House established by Daniel Somes

Southwest Harbor 

1850: Island House established by Henry H. Clarkafter a decade of taking in boarders; enlarged 

in 1859 to accommodate 40; by 1882, 250. 

1859: Freeman House expanded & formally established by James T.R. Freeman (who had 

taken in guests since 1851), accommodating 50 people year-round. 

1870: Prospect House established by H.H. Clark.

1875: Holden House established as summer boarding house 1875 by Cummings H. Holden; 

replaced by Hotel Dirigo in 1881, accommodating 60 guests. 

1884: Claremont House. 

SWH/Manset 

1860s: Ocean House established by Nathaniel Teague; expanded several times.

1876: Stanley House established by Sans Stanley; burned 1884; rebuilt/reopened 1886; burned 

again 1927. 

Wabanaki Encampments on MDI 1840s-1920s1

Somesville: 

1840s/50s Lily (Somes) Pond, Somesville

In a personal reminiscence, Adelma F. Somes Joy (b.1837), relayed vivid childhood 

recollections of a “colony of Indians” in camps “made of spruce boughs” trapping mink & 

muskrat, making baskets, beadwork, and telling fortunes (A.Joy 13:1-3). 

Southwest Harbor: 

1847-1925 Clark Point, Southwest Harbor, opposite Parkers

“In the year of 1847 came a tribe of Indians from Old Town, some fifteen or twenty, and 

camped on the salt water shore opposite Parkers. The chief said they had been rehearsing their 

old customs and would like to give exhibitions if we had a hall large enough. The woolen 

factory was the only place. . . . Crowds flocked to those Indian shows. . . .”2 

 “Indians from Old Town camped on the rocks across the road from our house in Southwest 

 

1

 This list is based on archival materials (e.g. memoirs, newspapers, Indian agent reports) and oral histories. Surely 

it is but the tip of the full, usually unrecorded story of Wabanaki presence in the area during this period. As such, 

we see it as a starting point – a list to which others may add their bits and pieces of information. 2

 Deering in A.Joy 14:1 
▪Chapter 20: Wabanaki Encampments on MDI 1840s-1920s▪

551

 Harbor each summer. They lived in tents. . . .”3

 

 “Ten or twelve years ago [1860/62] Southwest Harbor was the principal place of resort upon 

the Island of Mount Desert, and several houses entertained those who came to fly from the 

summer heats of the warmer regions south.”4

1884 Southwest Harbor [probably the Parker/Clark Point site] 

“Only one Indian, a woman of the Passamaquoddy tribe, is reported at Southwest Harbor.”5 

1889 Southwest Harbor [probably the Parker site, Clark Point] 

“It now appears that the Indian woman, Elizabeth Francis, who was burned to death at Oldtown 

recently, was not ‘Queen Frances’ but another Elizabeth Francis, who summered at Southwest 

Harbor. Queen Francis is yet at Bar Harbor.”6

 

1893 Southwest Harbor [probably the Parker/Clark Point site] 

 “My great grandfather Sabbatis Mitchell [Penobscot, b1829] and his sister and her family 

stayed over in Southwest Harbor in the summers. He died [in 1893] on the beach at Northeast 

Harbor coming back from picking sweetgrass at Cranberry Island. He just died—had a heart 

attack. They lived in Southwest Harbor in the summer selling baskets and getting sweetgrass 

for winter basketmaking. . . . They used to go down to the coast every spring.”7

 

“Traditionally our family has always been there and summered there and had traditional 

family land there. It was said that we had gone back there at one point and there was a fence 

and we couldn’t get there anymore. We couldn’t get on the shore, because we always come by 

water but we couldn’t get on to the shore because of the fences. It was just basically the tidal 

zone. So we could stay there all low tide but at high tide there was no land there. So, it was 

disappointing and disheartening, and I guess our family had gone down and tried to camp out in 

many different areas and set up villages, but we were not allowed at one point. It’s where a 

navy base or a coast guard base used to be. I heard that in other times we used to camp out on 

the corner of downtown Bar Harbor where now there’s a ferry or a whale riding boat.”8

1907-82 Southwest Harbor [unknown location/Cannery camps?] 

Hattie Loring Gordius (b1892) began her first of 75 years working in canneries in the vicinity 

of Southwest Harbor where she lived. “For years, widowed and bringing up nine children, 

Hattie walked from her Bass Harbor job [at Underwood’s Cannery] to work another shift at 

Addison’s Cannery [originally Wass Cannery, later Stinson’s at the westernmost edge of] 

Southwest Harbor.” In the early years she wintered over on the Penobscot reservation in Old 

Town, but eventually she lived year-round in Bass Harbor.9 

 

3

 Parker, p40. Note: Judy and Pete Obbard, now living in a cottage built on this site by Judy’s great uncle PG 

Rhoads in the mid-1920s, have a hand-drawn map of Clark Point dated “about 1890.” Comparing it to an 1881 

map of the point, plus historic information on when buildings were erected, it appears to have captured the scene 

c1885. It has to pre-date 1886 since it includes the lobster cannery which was relocated from that site that year, 

and it has to post-date 1883 since it includes the Congregational church was constructed between 1883-85 and 

dedicated in '85. Combining Deering’s comment that c1847 some 15 or 20 Indians from Old Town camped 

opposite Parker's with the 1885 Clark Point map and Judy's statement that PG Rhoads said Indians were still 

coming to camp there at the time he built the house in 1925, we have recorded use that spans 80 years. 

4

 Nichols, 1872. 

5 MDH 8/8/1884, p3. 6 MDH 9/27/1889, p3. 7

 Theodore (Ted) Norris Mitchell, interview with McBride, 2004. 8

 John Bear Mitchell (Ted’s grandson), interview with McBride, 2004. 9

 Cartwright, July 1982. Addison Cannery had 4-5 rustic camps where some employees lived (Ralph Stanley, 

interview by McBride, 2004). 
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1920s/30s Southwest Harbor woods [camp?] 

“There was an Indian, Mr. Francis, I remember as a boy. He lived up in the woods somewhere. 

I have a birch bark model canoe he made for my grandmother. He got my father to take him out 

to Cranberry Island to shoot seal. My father had a sealskin belt he made. There are still 

descendants of the Francis family in Bass Harbor (George Francis/in his 60s).10 

Northeast Harbor: 

1887 Northeast Harbor [Field below Ice House Hill?]

“Two families of Indians have been camping at Fort Madison, Castine. . . . Edwin Francis and 

wife and Newell Silas and wife of Oldtown. They went there from Northeast Harbor, where 

they have been having a good summer’s business, making all kinds of baskets.”11 

c1895 Head of Northeast Harbor, in field below Icehouse Hill 

“I was born at Asticou in 1889 in my grandfather’s house, Harbor Cottage, at the head of 

Northeast Harbor, where could be seen the lovely view of the harbor and the islands beyond. 

Mother and Father lived there when they were first married, while their house was being built 

across the way. . . . In the summer “The Indians came too, selling their baskets and little 

birchbark canoes, beautiful hand-made articles, smelling of sweet grass. One summer they 

camped in the field below Icehouse Hill and made their baskets there, for they could find sweet 

grass along the shore.”12 

1918-1937 Northeast Harbor, near Rock End Dock (“small camp dwelling”) 

“John Snow and his family lived in a small camp dwelling next to the present home of Harvey 

and Polly Heel on Manchester Road. Mr. Snow made beautiful sweetgrass baskets, picture 

frames of birchbark and sweetgrass, toy birchbark canoes and many other items, which he sold 

door to door with his children, mainly to our summer residents. He also dug clams and chopped 

wood for locals and summer residents alike. The children were enrolled in school....”13 

Jordan Pond: 

1860s/70s Woods near Sargent Mt. & Jordan Pond 

“Oldtown Indians resort here every season to hunt deer, in connection with the otter, fox, wildcat, muskrat and mink.”

14 

Pretty Marsh: 

Late 1800s-1900s Pretty Marsh area, between Round Pond and Squid Cove

“Native Americans gathered sweetgrass from the marshy areas in Pretty Marsh, and other 

areas, with which to weave baskets for their own use and, in the late nineteenth and early 

twentieth centuries, to sell to local folk and summer visitors. Josephine (Gray) Doe [b. c1900] 

remembers three Indian families who came to the meadow behind her house [between Round 

Pond and Squid Cove, by Indian Point Road] when she was a child, arriving with loud whoops 

and hollers. They set up their wigwams and went about their business of gathering, but felt free 

to enter the Gray’s house to help themselves to pie or stew left by Josephine’s other – usually 

on purpose.15 

 

10 Ralph Stanley, interview by McBride, 2004. 

11 MDH 10/7/1887, p3. 12 Reynolds 1966, pp1, 32. 

13 Dana, 11/13/2003. Cf. Irene Morse Bartlett, in Lock 1998; Susan Snow Holmes, interview by McBride 2003. 14 DeCosta, 1871. 

15 Smith in Hansen, p53 
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553

Bar Harbor 

1860s-1900 Bar Harbor Indian Encampment Sites according to Higgins16

Newport House beach [Below present-day Agamont Park, east of Main St.] 

Albert Meadow [Eastside shore of BH, near Balance Rock] 

Point near coal landing [On shore at end of Main St.] 

West street, near ‘Uncle Jake’s Creek’ [east of Eddy Brook] 

Eden street, near Duck Brook [West of town, beyond Eddy Brook. This could be a mis-stated 

reference to the oft-mentioned Eddy Brook campsite] 

Athletic field [Between Ledgelawn Ave and lower Main St., just above Cromwell Stream] 

“In the olden days, or from about 1860 to 1900, I well remember that in the early Spring, 

Indian encampments or ‘villages’ were the order of things in Bar Harbor, and indeed, when we 

saw the first of their little tents being set up, and the hunters racing the Bay for porpoises, we 

were sure that the ‘season’ had really begun. The very first of these ‘villages’ that I recollect, 

was at the Newport House beach . . . . I have seen hundreds, in former days, of their tents at the 

lower part of Albert Meadow, at the point near the coal landing, the Athletic Field, West street, 

near ‘Uncle Jake’s Creek,’ and on Eden street, near Duck Brook. They had an aptitude for 

sitting on the grassy skin covered floor of their little white cloth tents, and making all sorts of 

‘trinkets’ to sell to the people who were wont to visit them. . . . In those days, the Indians were 

privileged, by law, to enter upon any individual’s ‘wild’ territory, in any section of the state, 

and peel his bark, cut walking sticks or ash for baskets, or bows and arrows, unmolested.”17 

Passamaquoddy Indian Agent Hobart reported in 1875 that “About 20 families are at Bar 

Harbor, selling their wares and catching porpoises.” 

Mid-1870s-1881 Bar Harbor, shoreside at foot of Bar (Bridge) St. 

Photos place the Indian encampment at about this location, west of the steamboat dock. 

“Visitors at Bar Harbor are familiar with [Penobscot and Passamaquoddy Indians], as they 

make an encampment there for the season, finding a ready sale for their baskets and other 

wares, and many a passenger for their birch-bark canoes.”18 

1881 Albert Meadow? 

“The Indians of Bar Harbor have gone South instead of West. The hauling of their bark-roofed 

houses through the streets of our village created quite an excitement.”19 The paper’s next entry 

on the move says only “The Indians are much pleased with their new location” (Clearly their 

move included walking south on Bar/Bridge St. From there they may have gone east on West 

St., then south on Main St. to set up camp for the duration of that season on the town’s eastern 

shore, likely at Albert Meadow, which appears on Higgins’ list. 

1882 Bar Harbor, near Hamor’s Wharf 

“The question is ‘Where shall the Indian go this summer?’ Otter Creek, one of the Porcupines, 

Kebo road, and many other places have been suggested, but no decision reached. Some of the 

Aborigines, tired of waiting [for a decision on where they will be allowed to camp] have 

 

16 “Good Old Days. Bar Harbor Times 6/20/1934. 17 Higgins, 1934. See also Martin, 1874, p67, who writes of the Indians’ “annual encampment” on the “edge” of 

Bar Harbor, suggesting they had been camping at Bar Harbor for at least several years by 1874. 

18Bar Harbor Blue Book & Mount Desert Guide 1881, pp.i, 7, and map – probably based on the scene as it was in 

1880.

19 MDH 7/14/1881. 
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554

already encamped on the shore near Hamor’s wharf, not far from their old camping ground [at 

the end of Bar (Bridge) St.]. The authorities should look after this important matter at once.”20 

 “Now that the Indians have not been allowed to come here, we begin to appreciate their 

value. Summer guests say they ‘think it a perfect shame’ that there is no Indian Camp here. ‘It 

used to be one of the unique attractions of the place.’ We are afraid there will be a general 

outcry among the fairer sex, if the Indians are not allowed camping ground. Hundreds of people 

visited them every day and considered it great fun to look over and purchase the wares of the 

aborigines.”21 

 “On Friday there was quite a large arrival of Penobscot Indians, who located near Hamor’s 

wharf. Eight tents.”22 

1883 Bar Harbor, north shore near West End Hotel & foot of Bar (Bridge) St.

“The Indians are camped at their old place this year: on the shore near the West End Hotel.”23 

1883 Bar Harbor, near Hamor’s Wharf 

“The Indian ‘Queen Frances’ was out riding yesterday in full gala day costume. The queen and 

her party occupy four tents near Hamor's wharf and have a fine lot of baskets and small wares. 

This is her seventh season at Bar Harbor.”24 

1884 Bar Harbor, foot of Holland Ave., near Hamor’s wharf

“Indian encampment foot of Holland Avenue, Bar Harbor. The Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, 

and Mellissa [Maliseet] (Or St. John River) Tribes. At this encampment may be found a great 

variety of Indian Wares and Curiosities, Comprising Baskets of all kinds, Gull Breasts, Seal 

Skins, and Deer Skins, Moccasins, Canoes, and Birch Bark ware. The camp is open on pleasant 

evenings until half-past ten o’clock and will be found both quiet and orderly. Perfectly safe for 

any one to visit. Goods purchased at this encampment will be delivered at any part of the 

village, free of charge.”25 

 “Arrangements are being made to light the Indian encampment at the foot of Holland 

Avenue, by electricity. The new feature is due solely to Indian enterprise, Mr. Peter J. Gabriel 

being the leader of the movement.”26 

 “The view from Green [Cadillac] Mountain is quite unique. . . . The clustering buildings of 

Bar Harbor appear like a child’s playthings. . . the miniature vessels like seagulls just alighted; 

the white tents of the Indian encampment ludicrously suggest a laundry with big ‘wash’ hung 

out to dry. . . .”27

1885 Bar Harbor, foot of Holland Ave., near Hamor’s Wharf 

“There are about 250 Indians now in camp at Bar Harbor. They are of the Passamaquoddy, 

Penobscot, and St. John tribe. They occupy forty tents at the foot of Holland Avenue.”28 

 

20 MDH 6/16/1882. 21 MDH 7/18/1882. 22 MDH 7/25/1882. 23 MDH 7/19/1883. 24 MDH 7/26/1883. 25 MDH recurring ad, summer 1884. 26 MDH 8/8/1884; cf. Leland on P. Gabriel 1884). [P.J. Gabriel, b.1841, is listed as a basketmaker married to 

Sarah (b.1864) on the 1900 Federal census for Perry/Pleasant Pt.

27 Chase. 

28 MDH 7/31/85, p3. 
▪Chapter 20: Wabanaki Encampments on MDI 1840s-1920s▪

555

 “Passamaquoddy Indian Basket Sale At the Indian Encampment near Hamor’s wharf, Bar 

Harbor Commencing Friday, July 3, and to continue until the end of the season. A large 

assortment of Indian Wares of all kinds. Baskets of every description. A very fine assortment of 

Sea Fowl Feathers. Toy Canoes, Bows, Arrows, etc. Please call and examine our wares. Joseph 

Lola & Co.”29

1886 Bar Harbor, foot of Holland Ave., near Hamor’s Wharf 

“Indian Baskets. At the Indian Encampment near Hamor’s Wharf, Bar Harbor. Season of 1886. 

A large assortment of Indian Wares of all kinds. Baskets of every description. A very fine 

assortment of Sea Fowl Feathers, Toy Canoes, Bows, Arrows, Etc. Baskets made to order at 

short notice. Please call and examine our wares. Joseph Lola, Passamaquoddy Indian, Camp 

No. 100.” 

 “Indian Encampment, foot of Holland Avenue, Bar Harbor. The Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, 

and Melissa (or St. John River) tribes. At this encampment may be found a great variety of 

Indian Wares and Curiosities, Comprising Baskets of all kinds, Gull Breasts, Seal Skins, and 

Deer Skins, Moccasins, Canoes, and Birch Bark ware. The camp is open on pleasant evenings 

until half-past ten o’clock and will be found both quiet and orderly. Perfectly safe for anyone to 

visit. Goods purchased at this encampment will be delivered at any part of the village, free of 

charge.”30 

 “Longing for a row, we set out to go to the Indian wharf [Hamor’s]. . . . In ten minutes a flow 

of wind swept over the bay, ruffling its surface into long green ridges, capped with foam. . . . 

Having failed to reach the Indian encampment on that occasion, we walked there the next day. 

[Come to “a cove where a small fresh-water stream flowed to the sea.” Jump over stream] . . . It 

was a pleasant walk across the bluff leading to the Indian camp. So many wild-roses grew 

there, amid thickets of sweet-fern and vanilla grass, that the air was embalmed with odors. 

Approaching the settlement in the rear, we saw more of their inside life than in front, where all 

is swept and garnished for customers. Old women hovering over pots and kettles; girls up to 

their elbows in dye-stuff; old men mounting birds, curing seal-skins, or hanging upon lines the 

dyed splints to be woven into baskets; dogs and babies without number.31 

1887 Bar Harbor, Eddy Brook, “on shore in rear of Mr. A.W. Ells Store” on Eden Street 

“The Indians have arrived and gone into camp on the shore in the rear of Mr. A.W. Ells’ store, 

at Eddy Brook.”32

 “Indian encampment, rear Ells Store, Eden Street. Novelties in Baskets, Fancy Grass Work, 

Seal Skin Goods, Gulls’ Breasts and Feather Work of all description. For Sale at Reasonable 

Prices. The Encampment is perfectly Tidy and has good Drainage.”33 

1888 Bar Harbor, Eddy Brook outlet 

“The Indian encampment at the outlet of Eddy Brook, just north-west of Bar Harbor, will be 

found a pleasant place to wile away an hour or two. These [Indians] are of the Penobscot, 

Passamaquoddy, and St.-John-River tribes . . . expert with their canoes and at hunting and 

 

29 The Daily Herald, recurring ad, 7/3/85-8/28/85, p 3 or 4. 30 The Daily Herald, recurring ad, 7/31-9/4/1886. 31 Harrison, 1887. 

32 MDH 6/24/1887. A.W. Ells identified in 1880 census as Arthur W. Ells 33 Bar Harbor Record recurring ad 7/28-9/1/87). See 1887 Bar Harbor map in Maps section of this, which locates 

the Ells Store. 
▪Chapter 20: Wabanaki Encampments on MDI 1840s-1920s▪

556

fishing. The village is composed of a score or two of little wood and canvas shanties, in which 

are sold a great variety of aboriginal trinkets, skins of seal and deer, baskets of birch-bark, 

moccasins, bead-work, snow-shoes, gulls’ breasts, stuffed birds, clubs, carved tusks, bows and 

arrows, etc.”34 

 An 1888 map from the BHHS Collection, featured in the Abbe Museum’s “Indians in Eden” 

exhibit, shows the white tents of the Indian camp along the shore at end of Holland Ave. 

1889 Bar Harbor, Eddy Brook outlet

Penobscot “J. Soccalexis, Jr., has returned from Bar Harbor, where he has been spending the 

summer.”35

 The dormant Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association re-established this year to 

“preserve the natural beauties of the place and to encourage artificial improvements.”36

1890-c1920 Bar Harbor, “Squaw Hollow” at lower Ledgelawn Ave./Athletic Field 

[Between lower Ledgelawn and Main St., near Cromwell Stream] 

 “The winding shore path leading to Cromwell’s Cove is still as charming a promenade as ever. 

You enjoy the open sea-view, the bracing air, the splash of the waves at your feet, the gliding 

sails, the tasteful cottages. . . . I found it quite different, however, when walking in the street 

skirting this fine bit of shore. Here the inhospitable warnings, ‘No Thoroughfare,’ ‘No 

Trespassing,’ or ‘No Passage,’ stare one in the face as often as some inviting by-way tempts 

one to turn aside. . . . In going a little farther on I ran up against the ill-favored camp of some 

peripatetic Indians. . . . [They] are everywhere allowed to hew and hack the woods 

unchallenged. You can hardly turn off the road to the right or left without seeing some noble 

birch stripped of its bark to make knickknacks of. . . . You meet them slinking about after 

nightfall with loads of basket-stuff on their shoulders.”37 

 “The Eastport Sentinel of September 17 . . . chronicles the return of Indians to their winter 

home at Pleasant Point. Quite a delegation of returning summer visitors arrived from Bar 

Harbor by the Winthrop boat Monday.”38 

 “During the summer [of 1892], measles were quite prevalent and many of the 

[Passamaquoddy] families were prevented thereby from making their usual trip to Bar Harbor 

and other summer resorts.”39

 “The Board of Managers be advised by the [Bar Harbor Sanitary] Committee to 

communicate to the Board of Health our opinion of the unsanitary and threatening condition of 

‘Squaw Hollow.’ In the present possibility of a visitation of cholera to this country next 

summer . . . the only safe way of dealing with ‘Squaw Hollow’ is to empty it of its inhabitants 

and have its whole neighborhood disinfected.”40 

 

34 Chisholm’s 1888 Guide, p23/probably describing the summer prior to publishing date. 35 Oldtown Enterprise 7/21/1889. 36 MDH, 6/26/89, p3; 8/2/89, p3; 8/9/89, p2. [Note: Re-establishment of the Improvement Association and the 

growing value of and demand for prime property along West St. at BH’s northern shore soon resulted in a forced 

relocation of the Indian encampment.] 

37 Drake, 1891. [Note: Published in 1891, this passage probably refers to the scene as it was in 1890, suggesting 

the relocation of the Indian camp took place that year] 38 MDH 10/2/1890 

39 Passamaquoddy Indian Agent Report for 1892. [Note: Penobscots , however, were present in number. After 

their departure, the town’s Improvement Association launched a clean-up campaign that soon formalized the camp 

layout into two rows of platform tents] 

40 4th Annual Report of the Village Improvement Association, Oct. 1892. 
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557

♦From 1890 forward, it appears that Indian encampments in Bar Harbor are restricted to 

the lower Ledgelawn location. In-town camping ceases altogether c1920. Additional 

references to the Ledgelawn site can be found in the Timeline of this report. As the years 

passed, some Wabanakis began wintering over in the town when they could find a “good rent.” 

Some took on odd jobs during the cold seasons, while others worked on crafts to sell in the 

summer. Some Wabanaki individuals and families appear on local censuses for 1900, 1910 and 

1920, typically renting low-price dwelling space in locations such as the Edgewood St. and 

lower School St. area. 

1893 Indian encampments formally banned on shore property on corner of West & 

Bridge streets, Bar Harbor:

“‘All rights, privileges and benefits derived under and all rights whether in law or equity to 

enforce certain restrictions upon other lands, which restrictions are so imposed for the benefit 

of the land herein described as conveyed, in and by a certain warranty deed thereof from 

Sylvanus Jordan to Charles F. Mayer, which deed is dated July 11th, 1893, and recorded July 

12th, 1893, in the Hancock County, Maine, Registry of Deeds, Book 271, Page 403. This 

conveyance of said parcel is made subject to the restriction on said parcel (not a condition 

subsequent) that no fish houses nor fish stands nor stable, except such private stable as may be 

appurtenant to a residence thereon, shall ever be erected or operated on said parcel, nor shall 

any Indians or vagrants ever be allowed to occupy or encamp thereof.’”41

1920 END of Bar Harbor’s “Squaw Hollow” at lower Ledgelawn Ave. 

“One abandoned [Indian] encampment between Park Street and Ledgelawn Avenue was put 

into service by the town as a public campground. This site, owned by the Town of Bar Harbor, 

is today [1996] a public park, featuring a large playing field.”42 

This appears to be the end of the era of large collective Wabanaki encampments 

on MDI – although individuals, sometimes several from one family, continued to 

camp or reside in scattered places on MDI. 

1924 Random, roadside camping 

“Whatever may be the truth of western Indians, those of Maine are a thrifty class of people. 

They know how to coax dollars from the pockets of the tourists who come their way. It is only 

in winter that you will find them all back on the home reservation and hugging the home fires. 

At other seasons of the year, those times when the summer visitor from Massachusetts and 

other States are coming that way, they are scattered many miles from home engaged in the 

occupation of helping tourists enjoy their vacation by bringing them a chance to spend their 

money. All along the roadside one sees them camping.”

43

◘ ◘ ◘ ◘

 

41 Excerpt from 7/11/93 deed re. shore property on NW corner of West and Bridge streets. 

42 Foulds. With this statement appeared a “c1922” photo of autos + 4 tents at the site. 

43“Indian Camps Lure Tourists in Maine.” Eastport Sentinel, 8/24/1924. In Soctomah 2003 p22. 
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558

Mt. Desert Village (Somesville) 1860s. (Courtesy MHPC.) 
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559

Mt. Desert Town (Somesville), 1881. (Halfpenny, H.E., and J.H. Stuart. Atlas of Hancock 

County Maine. Ellsworth: S.F. Colby & Co.) 
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560

CLARK POINT MAP 1885. (Courtesy Judy & Pete Obbard.) As listed on the map’s 

accompanying key (see opposite page), site 20 was the location of an Indian encampment. 

Today, Judy & Pete Obbard live in a cottage built on this site by Judy’s great uncle PG 

Rhoads in the mid-1920s. Comparing this map with the 1881 map of the point, plus historic 

information about when buildings were erected, this map appears to have captured the scene 

as it was in 1885—despite the 1890 date inscribed on it. (It has to pre-date 1886 since it 

includes the lobster cannery which was relocated from that site that year, and it has to postdate 1883 since it includes the Congregational church was constructed between 1883-85 and 

dedicated in '85.) Combining Eunice Deering’s recollection of 15 or 20 Indians from Old Town 

camped opposite Parker's in 1847 (in A.Joy, 14:1) and Judy Obbard’s statement that PG 

Rhoads said Indians were still coming to camp there at the time he built the house in 1925 

(p.c. 2004) establishes that Wabanakis used the site as an encampment over an 80-year time 

span. And it is quite possible that the encampment was established pre-1847. 
▪Chapter 20: Wabanaki Encampments on MDI 1840s-1920s▪

561

Key to 1885 Clark Pt. Map (page opposite). (Courtesy Judy & Pete Obbard.) 
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562

Southwest Harbor, 1881. (Halfpenny, H.E., and J.H. Stuart. Atlas of Hancock County Maine. 

Ellsworth: S.F. Colby & Co.) 
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563

Overview of Indian encampments (▲) in Bar Harbor 1860s-1920s. (Sites superimposed on 2007 

map by authors.)
▪Chapter 20: Wabanaki Encampments on MDI 1840s-1920s▪

564

Map from The Bar Harbor Blue Book & Mount Desert Guide. 1881. (No publisher noted. ANP 

Collections.) The “Indian Camp” is indicated (with rows of triangles) on the town’s north 

shore at the foot of Bridge St. No doubt brown ash used for baskets grew along Eddy Brook, 

west of the encampment, and also along Cromwell Stream in the woodlands on the south 

side of town. (Names of Bridge and Main Streets added, along with selected place names, 

based on a many-paged Key not included here.) 
▪Chapter 20: Wabanaki Encampments on MDI 1840s-1920s▪

565

Birds Eye View of Bar Harbor, c1882. Note the Indian encampment between Bridge St. and 

Holland Ave. Hamor’s Wharf, built about this time at the end of Holland Avenue just east (left) 

of Eddy Brook is not pictured here, but does appear in a map featured in this same source. (In 

Souvenir of Mount Desert. Portland: Chisholm Bros. Names of streets, Bar Island and Eddy 

Brook added.) 
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566

BAR HARBOR, MT. DESERT ISLAND (Boston: Geo. H. Walker & Co. Lithographers. 1886. 

Copy in collection of the authors. Numbers added.) The Indian encampment is not indicated, 

but it was located at the foot of Holland Ave., near Hamor’s Wharf. [Key: 1=Eddy Brook outlet; 

2=Hamor’s Wharf; 3=Indian encampment site; 4=Rodicks Wharf; 5=Bathing Club; 

6=Steamboat Wharf & Maine Central Railroad Ferry; 7=Roberts Wharf; 8=West.End Hotel; 

9=Rodick Hotel; 10=Rockaway Hotel; 11=Newport Hotel; 12=Albert Meadow; 13=Bar Island.] 
▪Chapter 20: Wabanaki Encampments on MDI 1840s-1920s▪

567

Detail, 1887 Bar Harbor map. (By Colby & Stuart/Copy in U.S. Library of Congress). Note A.W. 

Ells Store, situated on the east side of Eddy Brook, just north of Eden Street. During the 

summers of 1887-1889, the Indian encampment was located alongside Eddy Brook, extending 

shoreward from the rear of Ells Store. 
▪Chapter 20: Wabanaki Encampments on MDI 1840s-1920s▪

568

Between 1890 and the early 1920s, the Indian encampment was situated between Ledgelawn 

and Main Streets at the southern end of town in close proximity to Cromwell Stream. (ANP 

Archives. Several street names and Cromwell Stream added.) 
▪Chapter 21: Native Canoe Routes▪ 

569

CHAPTER 21: MAPS & INVENTORY OF 

NATIVE CANOE ROUTES TO AND ON MOUNT DESERT ISLAND 

 Maliseets on St. John River. By Patrick Campbell, 1791. (Canada Pub.Archives) 

The following inventory is based primarily on interviews with Mike Krepner,1 founder of 

Native Trails, Inc., in Waldoboro. Krepner has devoted himself to researching, paddling, 

mapping and writing about the age-old Native canoe routes. Asked what he looks for in 

identifying these routes, he mentioned three points in particular: 

◘ Feasibility/Practicality. There’s a certain ratio of energy expenditure as to whether carrying 

something on your back or in your canoe. If you can carry 60 lbs on back for a mile you can 

carry 350-400 lbs, perhaps more, in a canoe with same amount of energy output. You’d portage 

the items separately. Portages are no big deal. But there’s a cut off point: if it’s more than 1/7th

portages it starts to become impractical as a route. 

◘ Historic records. There’s not a lot but you find some documentation in writings of the 1800s 

when they’re still using the routes. Then there’s oral information and retention of place names. 

◘ Physical evidence. This exists in some places. I can take you to a place in eastern Maine 

where there’s notch that cuts about 12’ deep into the bank of a peat bog. It’s about 4-5’ wide, 3-

4’ high. That’s the western terminus of 2-mi portage connecting the Grand Lakes with the 

Passmadumkeag River. However, some routes haven’t been used for hundreds of years and 

that, on top of logging, can make it tough to identify. Also, portage routes can vary 

significantly over time—the terminus is more constant but the route through the woods is 

variable, unless defined by a stream or other obstruction. 

Beaver damming was a key factor in the navigability of Maine’s waterways. This given, some 

routes that are not navigable today were viable routes in the past. Asked how he weighs this 

factor in determining whether a particular route would have been navigable, Mike commented: 

“Other than in the occasional record—such as the 1820 Geology of Maine, which notes beaver 

streams—it’s tough to gage whether or not a stream was dammed. In some places you see old 

dams but can’t tell when they were built. There is an oral tradition among Native Americans 

that beavers were carefully tended because they were so important for routes. Fur trade wars 

wreaked havoc on the system; killing off beaver was like chewing up the interstate so you can 

make gravel.” 

 

1

 In this inventory, direct quotes from Krepner are prefaced with his initials, MK. See also Cook, 2007. 
▪Chapter 21: Native Canoe Routes▪ 

570

Traditional Canoe Routes Between the Penobscot River and MDI

Penobscot River→Penobscot Bay 

MK: As Fannie Eckstorm noted, on the Penobscot River the Narrows along Verona Island can be 

really bad, so Indians would avoid it; they would take S. Branch Marsh River and short carry to 

Sandy Point and there re-enter the Penobscot River and continue on to the bay. ↑

 Indian Island/Old Town 

 Marsh River→

 Sandy Point ↑ ↑Verona Island 

Penobscot River→Penobscot Bay→Castine/Bagaduce R→Walker Pond→portage→

Punchbowl→Eggemoggin Reach→Blue Hill Bay

Continuing from the Penobscot Bay on to MDI, Wabanakis commonly avoided the rough seas 

around Cape Rosier by paddling/portaging across the cape 

to Eggemoggin Reach via the Goose Pond – Weir Cove 

route, or Bells Marsh/Flat Landing – Horseshoe Cove or 

Orcutt Harbor. To avoid Cape Rosier entirely, one could 

travel the Bagaduce River, accessed from the Penobscot R. 

at Morse Cove, or Wadsworth and Hatch coves, or by 

paddling around Castine. Once on the Bagaduce (the 

Minnewokun or “Many Directions Route”), one could 

follow the river to present-day Brooksville, paddle to the 

south end of Walker Pond, and make a short portage to the 

“Punchbowl” in Eggemoggin Reach opposite Little Deer 

Isle. Canoeing east in the Reach, one could take any of 

several routes to Blue Hill Bay and from there continue on 

to various MDI entry points. The rough waters around 

Naskeag Point could be avoided by taking Benjamin River 

through Great Meadow and on to Salt Pond and Blue Hill 

Bay. From there, one could paddle past Long Island and on 

to MDI, entering the great island at Squid Cove or Pretty 

Marsh Harbor. (See map on next page.) 
▪Chapter 21: Native Canoe Routes▪ 

571

This map encompasses routes described on the previous page, including going from 

Eggemoggin Reach to present-day Sedgewick on the Benjamin River, and from there on through 

Salt Pond to Blue Hill Bay. 

MK: Blue Hill is loaded with old routes in addition to the Blue Hill Harbor-Salt PondBenjamin River-Eggemoggin Reach. I’ve seen photo of Native American canoes being 

wagoned from Blue Hill [northwest] to Penobscot [town on the Bagaduce R.] in the late 1800s 

early 1900s, along what might be an old portage—rather lengthy, but that wouldn’t be 

intimidating. This path roughly followed what is now Route 177. Blue Hill also links up with 

the inland route between the Penobscot and Union rivers. 
▪Chapter 21: Native Canoe Routes▪ 

572

Penobscot→Sunkhaze→Indian Brook→portage→Dead Stream-Great Pond-Union R. 

MK: Probably a preferred inland route to MDI was to go upstream from Indian Island 1.5 miles 

to Sunkhaze Stream, navigate upstream to Indian Brook, portage about 2 miles east to Dead 

Stream and on down to Great Pond and Union River. Then it’s a piece of cake to Western Bay. 

One reason the inland route would be taken is that it offered a diversity of habitat and one was 

more likely to find moose, deer and beaver along the way than going to the sea directly by way 

of the Penobscot. Another advantage of this route is that once in Great Pond you can head up 

Main Stream to Brandy Pond and from there go to Guagus Stream and Nicatous Lake and 

access all of eastern Maine. 

 

←Sunkhaze Stream 

 Sunkhaze Str. cont’d→ 

 

 Great Pond & Union River↑

 Western Bay↓
▪Chapter 21: Native Canoe Routes▪ 

573

Traditional Canoe Routes between the St. Croix and MDI

Paddling from Lewy Lake at Princeton westward across Big Lake and West Grand Lakes, then 

south on Pocumcus, Wabasis, Third Machias and Second Machias lakes, brings you to the 

Machias River, which offers links to a range of watercourses bringing one closer to MDI. 

Another option is to take Fourth Machias Lake to Gassabias Lake and Stream, into Nicatous 

Lake, which, with a short portage, gives access to Narraguagus River, which spills into the 

ocean at Millbridge, several miles up the coast from Schoodic Peninsula. 

Schoodic Point Portages 

MK: Weather can be really bad around 

Schoodic Point. It is wide open, exposed – not 

good canoe country. MITA maintains the old 

portage across the neck. (It’s the only real thing 

they’ve done as far as native trails.) Just north 

of that at the park boundary was another carry 

between Wonsqueak Harbor and Birch Harbor 

[due north], which makes it possible to avoid 

going around the head. And from Winter 

Harbor it is short haul over to Schoodic Harbor. 

There are good landings along there at Big 

Moose by Pond Island. There’s another 

route between W. Gouldsboro and Gouldsboro 

that basically follows Rt. 1; You can easily get 

into Jones Pond with a short carry from W 

Gouldsboro... then into whole network of 

relatively protected water. 
▪Chapter 21: Native Canoe Routes▪ 

574

Possible Native Canoe Routes on MDI

Hulls Cove to Bracy Cove or Seal Harbor 

Hulls Cove→Breakneck Brook & Ponds→Eagle 

Lake→carry→Jordan Pond & Stream→carry→Long 

Pond→Bracy Cove 

(Hulls Cove is at MDI’s NE shore, between Lookout Pt. & 

Canoe Pt.) MK: Hulls Cove is a much better starting point 

than Duck Brook. A little steep at the beginning, then a long 

stretch that would be flooded and then steep again. 

Breakneck Brook is a possibility, although it gets 

unnavigable before you get to the ponds. [The decision to 

use it or not] would depend where I’m coming from. 

 This [Hulls Cove-Bracy Cove] route is okay but Seal 

Harbor is a better destination than Bracy Cove. Seal Cove 

has a sand beach, springs/fresh water. Bracy Cove is a 

major sea wall, a big boulder beach, but that is caused in 

part by the causeway. However, the portage from Jordan 

Stream to Long Pond to get to Bracy is much shorter than 

the portage from Jordan pond to Stanley Brook to get to 

Seal Harbor. It’s questionable how far Stanley Brook is 

navigable—it’s a 2-mile carry, but the grades aren’t bad. 

One thing to think about is that going in or out of Seal 

Harbor, you have to go around Crowninshield Pt, fairly 

exposed. Wind is very important—in a strong southeast 

wind, it would be quite hazardous to go to Seal Harbor. 

 On the east side of the island most of the trails are foot 

trails that could be traversed in a day. Everything depends 

on need, purpose. If you were at Hunter’s Beach and had 

killed several seal and wanted to get them north, you’d want 

to use your canoe—but it would be easier to wait for good 

weather and take them by sea than to go inland.

 Bracey↑ ↑Seal ↑Otter 

 Cove Harbor Cove 

/ Duck Brook – Bracy Cove

Duck Brook→Eagle Lake and the rest same as above 

(Duck Brook roughly follows Eagle Lake Rd.) Rebecca Cole-Will: “There is archaeological evidence for 

use of the mouth of Duck Brook, but nothing beyond that and I've done walkover survey up that way. 

I can't imagine that anyone would use D.B. to access Jordan Pond. Walk it sometime -- it's straight 

up hill from the mouth until you get up to the tableland area.”] 

MK: Becky’s exactly right. There’s a 275’ drop in 4 miles, [including] a 60’ drop from Eagle lake 

outlet to Duck Brook. You’d portage up the canyon part where it hits the sea to New Mill Meadow 

which likely would have been totally flooded by beaver. 

Cromwell Cove – Otter Cove

Cromwell Cove→Cromwell Brook→Great Meadow→Tarn→Otter Creek→Otter Cove 

MK: This is a good route, parts beavered today. Lower part of Cromwell Brook [entrance at Cromwell 

Cove, southeast coast of Bar Harbor] is difficult today because of development. Otter Creek [entrance 

at Otter Cove, southeast edge of MDI] has a lot of beaver at present. 
▪Chapter 21: Native Canoe Routes▪ 

575

Squid Cove→Somes Sound 

Squid Cove→unnamed stream→carry→Round 

Pond→ Long Pond→carry over N. Neck→Long 

Pond→ Ripple Pond→Somes Pond→ carry→

Somes Sound 

(Squid Cove is 1⁄2” below the “B” in “Western Bay.”) 

MK: I looked at this some years ago. It’s quite a good 

route—and there are lots of variations on it. From 

Indian Pt. for instance, you can canoe/portage east to 

Kitteridge Brook and then paddle south to Somes 

Sound. Just above Indian Point, between NW Cove 

and Clark Cove, is Aunt Molly’s Beach, which is part 

sandy, some rock, mixed gravel. It could have been 

an Indian camping area given the name and the 

location. Starting near there, you can almost draw a 

straight line to Kitteridge Brook. I’ve gone there just 

about to the forks. In beaver time you could go 

further. You’re looking at a 1.25-mile portage to get 

to the navigable part of Kitteridge Brook today. Here 

again, it depends on where you are when you’re 

starting and the weather conditions. You wouldn’t 

try to get to Aunt Molly’s Beach or south to Pretty 

Marsh in a big westerly wind. 

There’s a good possibility that from Thomas 

Bay you can get to Salisbury Cove by way of Fresh 

Meadow today. The gradient is quite low, a lot of 

meadow. And along the way you have access to Aunt 

Betsy’s Brook. From there, it’s just short portage and 

you’re at Kitteridge Brook and on to Somes Sound. 

Squid Cove – Bass Harbor 

Squid Cove→unnamed stream→carry→Round 

Pond→Long Pond→carry→Marshall Brook→

Bass Harbor 

(Bass Harbor is in the lower right-hand portion of this 

map.) MK: Bass Harbor: Very, very bad water. 

There’s a bar that runs out. It’s nasty. Put any wind 

across a running tide and you have 4-5’ waves. 

Generations have avoided that. The whole southwest 

section of the MDI coast can be rough—not as bad as Bass Harbor Head, but rough. If you’re at 

Seal Cove and want to get to Bass Harbor you have to watch weather, or portage 2 mi from from 

the southeast end of Seal Cove Pond over to Marshall Brook, which flows right into Bass 

Harbor. Also, the stretch of swamp between Seal Cove and Marshall Brook is navigable if the 

streams are beavered. 

To go from Bass Harbor to Southwest Harbor, you go up Buttermilk Brook, do a 3/4mi 

portage and come out at downtown SWH (the sw corner of SWH). Then you’re on the lee side of 

Somes Sound with a lot of distance you can travel. Buttermilk Brook runs just north of the Bass 

Harbor Road, then doglegs south to Route 102. It was probably beavered about to 102, which 

says to me that the first version of that road followed the portage. 
▪Chapter 21: Native Canoe Routes▪ 

576

Across the Bay from Bass Harbor is the town of Bernard and below there a narrow neck 

that can be portaged across to reach Mitchell Cove. That saves going around Lopaus Point, 

which can be rough. 

Pretty Marsh – Seal Cove 

Pretty Marsh Harbor→ Hodgdon Cove→carry→Seal Cove Pond→carry→Seal Cove 

(Pretty Marsh Harbor is just south of Squid Cove on MDI’s northwestern flank.) 

Going from Pretty Marsh to Seal Cove by way of Hodgdon Pond and Seal Cove Pond is no 

problem. Or, in good weather, you can make Hodgdon Cove in a short carry right over to 

Hodgdon Pond. A route like that implies the wind would be coming strong out of the 

southwest. 

 

 Pretty Marsh→

 

 Hodgdon Pond→

 

 Seal Cove Pond→

 

 

 Seal Cove→
▪Annotated Reference List▪

577

ANNOTATED REFERENCE LIST 

 KEY TO LOCATIONS WHERE 

AMC=Abbe Museum Collections, Bar Harbor 

AML=Abbe Museum Library, Bar Harbor 

ANPA=Acadia National Park Archives, Bar 

Harbor 

BCL=Bowdoin College Library 

BHHS=Bar Harbor Historical Society 

BHR=Bar Harbor Record 

BPL=Boston Public Library 

HL=Houghton Library, Harvard 

HFL=Hubbard Free Library, Hallowell 

JL=Jesup Library, Bar Harbor 

MaHS=Massachusetts Historical Society, 

Boston 

MDH=Mount Desert Herald 

REFERENCES ARE AVAILABLE 

MFC=Maine Folklife Center, UMO 

MHPC=Maine Historic Preservation 

Commission 

MHS=Maine Historical Society, Portland 

MIA=Maine Indian Archives (in MSA) 

MSA=Maine State Archives, Augusta 

MSL=Maine State Library, Augusta 

NL=Newberry Library, Chicago 

NEHL=Northeast Harbor Library 

SWHL=Southwest Harbor Library 

UMO=U of Maine, Orono, Library 

WMRC=Waponahki Museum & Resource 

Center 

 (Passamaquoddy Museum at Pleasant Pt.) 

WL=Widener Library, Harvard

Adney, Edwin Tappan and Howard I. Chapelle. 1964. The Bark Canoes & Skin Boats of 

North America. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Bulletin 230. Pages 76-77 discuss 

canoe that Nicola “Peter” Denis/Dana made 1890/92 for his son Francis who used it at 

Frenchman Bay.

Albion, Robert G. et al. 1972. New England and the Sea. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan U Press. 

Maritime history including biographical sketches (words & images) of steamships that serviced 

MDI and other locations in research area. 

Alger, Abby L. 1897. In Indian Tents: Stories Told by Penobscot, Passamaquoddy and 

Micmac Indians. Boston: Roberts Brothers. The author assisted Charles Leland as he collected 

material for his book The Algonquin Legends of New England in the summers of 1882 and 1883. 

She writes: “I found the work so delightful, that I have gone on with it since, whenever I found 

myself in the neighborhood of Indians. The supply of legends and tales seems to be endless, one 

supplementing and completing another, so that there may be a dozen versions of one tale, each 

containing something new.” 

Allis, Frederick S. Jr., ed. Notes from Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 

vols. 36- 37 (Wm. Bingham’s Maine Lands 1790-1820). Boston. MDI noted on pp. 158, 207, 

634, 778-80, 823, 843, 891-2, 905. The Bingham party’s excursion to District of Maine took 

place summer 1796 – from Philadelphia 4/13 to NY, Newport, Boston, Portland (arrived 7/18). 

From Portland on Portland packet Mercury 60 miles by water to General Knox’s on St. George 

River in Thomaston. Leave women there. On to Owls Head in Penobscot Bay, on to Winslow or 

Long Island, then “struck down what is called Edgemogin [Eggemoggin] Reach between Deer 

Island and the main, then between Duck and Cranberry Islands to Goldsboro. All the islands are 

well settled. Long Island is covered with farms and belongs to General Knox who is to be paid 3 

dollars the acre tho’ worth much more.... From Gouldsboro on to Passamaquoddy Bay.... 

[discusses disputed American/British border]....The Schoodic [River] up to Devil’s Head is a 

large and fine river.” At the bend (where the town of Calais now is) are “falls that can never be 

made passable for vessels from sea.... There is a good saw mill on the falls and three others on 

the falls further up the river. A small tribe of Passamaquoddy Indians encamp near the first falls 

in the spring for salmon fishing every year. We hired some of them and went further nine miles 

up the river in birch canoes to about the middle of our township No 7 where the last settlement on 

the river is [now Baileyville].” Goes on to describe Indian route through great (Schoodic) lakes 
▪Annotated Reference List▪

578

and down the Passadunky into the Penobscot (4-day journey), noting valuable salmon fishing on 

the river—worth 9 dollars a barrel. “I saw the Indians in one night catch for the value of upwards 

to 20 dollars, which they afterwards spend at the stores of imported goods.” Also discusses land 

prices, comparing MDI with other areas. Includes maps of Gouldsborough, Penobscot tract, 

Osgood Carleton’s District of Maine (pub 1795) and 2 maps of Madame de Leval’s purchases in 

Maine (MDI area). (MaHS)

Angier, Bradford. 1974. Field Guide to Medicinal Wild Plants. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole 

Books. Full-color reference to 100 medicinal wild plants of N. America. Each entry includes 

common names, characteristics, habitat, geographic range, uses. 

Anon. “The Description of the Countrey of Mawooshen.” In S. Purchas, Hakluytus Posthumus 

or Purchas His Pilgrimes Contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages and lande Travells 

by Englishmen and Others, Vol. XIX. Glasgow, James MacLehose and Sons, U Press, 1907. 

Archer, Gabriel. “The Relation of Captain Gosnold’s Voyage to the North Part of Virginia 

(1602).” In Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, 3rd Series, vol. 8 (1843):72-81. 

Argall, Samuel. Purchase His Pilgrims, in Charles H. Levermore, ed. Forerunners and 

Competitors of the Pilgrims and Puritans. Brooklyn: The New Society (1912), vol. 2. 

At Mount Desert in Fairfax. A novel. No author i.d. Ch.20, “The Indian Encampment,” features 

detailed description that is clearly the result of a personal visit (pp. 177-197). (JL) 

Bachelder Dow, Peter Dow. 2003. “The Green Mountain Railway: Bar Harbor’s 

Remarkable Cog Railroad.” The History Journal of the MDI Historical Society, vol. V, pp. 37-

75. Mt. Desert, ME. Describes “ancient aboriginal trail along Cadillac’s north ridge. 

Baker, William A., 1966. Sloops & Shallops. Columbia: U South Carolina Press. 

Banks, Ronald. No date. Historical Summary: Relations Between the Penobscot Tribe and 

the Province of Massachusetts up to 1796. Unpub. Ms. 

Bar Harbor Blue Book and Mount Desert Guide 1881. Perhaps published by MDI/Boston 

storekeeper Albert Bee, as map of MDI included in book says “deduced from coast survey chart 

for Albert Bee, Bar Harbor.” Map identifies streets, homes, business establishments and the 

“Indian encampment.” (ANP Archives) 

Bar Harbor Record. 1800s. Articles/notes mentioning Wabanakis and the Indian encampment. 

Excerpts of relevant passages in this report’s chronology. Of particular note is the Centennial 

Souvenir Edition 1796-1896, July 1896. (ANP archives) 

Bar Harbor Village Improvement Association Annual Reports 1890-1939. Bar Harbor: Mount 

Desert Publishing Co. Reports include constitution, by-laws, membership lists, and reports of 

committees, including the Sanitary Committee dealing with the community’s health conditions, 

including those at the Indian encampment. (JL/microfilm) 

Barnes, Clara. 1885. Mount Desert on the coast of Maine. 6th edition. Portland: Loring, Short 

and Harmon. Indian coverage insignificant, but useful for contextual information. Includes 

folding map. Fronticepiece and plates MDI photographs. (HL; 1877 & ’80 editions at JL) 

Barratt, Joseph. 1851. The Indians of New-England, and the North-Eastern Provinces: A 

Sketch of the Life of an Indian Hunter, Ancient Traditions Relating to the Etchemin Tribe....

Middletown, CT: Pelton. A 24-page work "derived from Nicola Tenesles” and written by Joseph 

Barratt of Middletown, Conn. It provides a brief biography of Tenesles, who at the time of 

composition was 57 years old and a native speaker of “Etchemin” (Passamaquoddy) and Micmac. 

Not specifically about MDI area, but in addition to explanations of society and social customs, 

Tenesles tells of the Etchemins’ “modes of life, fishing, hunting, &c.,” and offers “vocabularies 

in the Indian and English, giving the names of the animals, birds, and fish: the most complete that 

has been given for New-England, in the languages of the Etchemin and Micmacs....” Pages 15-23 
▪Annotated Reference List▪

579

contain a “Key to the Indian language of New-England,” which had appeared as a separate 

publication in the previous year. That edition of 500 was quickly exhausted and so this new work, 

incorporating and expanding on the earlier one, was published. (MHS; also at NL, Indian 

Linguistics in the Edward E. Ayer Collection, Passamaquoddy)

The Bay State Excursion of 1871, A Record and Souvenir of Eight Days’ Pleasure on the 

Eastern Coast. Boston: Published by the Excursionists. Details riverboat travel from Castine to 

Bangor, train to Old Town, ferry to Indian Island, description of reservation, visit with Joseph 

Polis as he worked on bark canoe, and visit to his store. 

Baudry, René. 1979a. Andigné de Grandfontaine, Hector. In Canadian Dictionary of 

Biography, vol. 1. Toronto: U Toronto Press. 

_____. 1979b. Chambly, Jacques de. In Canadian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 1. Toronto: U 

Toronto Press. 

_____. 1979c. Menou d’Aulnay, Charles de. In Canadian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 1.

Toronto: U Toronto Press. 

_____. 1979d. Thury, Louis-Pierre. In Canadian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 1. Toronto: U 

Toronto Press. 

Baxter, James P., ed. 1890. Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine. 3 vols. Boston: 

Prince Society. Reprinted 1967. See Gorges 1622 and 1658. 

____. 1889-1916. Documentary History of the State of Maine, Containing the Baxter 

Manuscripts. 24 vols. Portland: Maine Historical Society. Relevant material in vol. 24 

especially; see also vols. 26, 16, 18, 23. 

Beck, Horace B. 1959. The American Indian as Sea-Fighter in Colonial Times. Mystic, CT: 

Marine Historical Association. 

Bell, Mabel Gardiner Hubbard. 1881. Letter to Mrs. Alexander Melville Bell. 20 Aug. Notes 

that her mother “brought back pretty Indian basketry, sea gull’s wings, etc.” from Mount Desert. 

(In Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers, posted on website http://memory.loc.gov/) 

Belmore, Bruce W. 1945. Early Princeton, Maine. Portland: The Southworth-Anthoensen 

Press. Indexed history including information about several 19th-century Penobscots – especially 

Captain Lewy and his children Tomah, Francis, Athean, San (Ole Sole) Sally (Francis) and 

Sabbattis. 

Biard, Pierre. In Reuben G. Thwaites, ed. The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents: Travel 

and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France, 1610-1791, vols. 1-4. Extremely 

rich source re. Mi’kmaq culture. Pages 77-83 feature details on seasonal cycles of 

hunting/fishing/gathering. 

Biggar, Henry P., ed. 1911. The Precursors of Jacques Cartier, 1497-1534: A Collection of 

Documents Relating to the Early History of the Dominion of Canada. Ottawa: Publications of 

the Public Archives of Canada. 

Biggar, Henry P., ed. 1924. The Voyages of Jacques Cartier. (Public Archives of Canada, 

Ottawa) 

Binnewies, Esther and Muriel Davvision, ed. by Joel W. Eastman 1981. A History of 

Bartlett’s Island, Mount Desert, Maine. © Peggy & David Rockefeller. Brief mention of Big 

Thunder, p73. 

Blank, Judith. 1979. Maine: Bar Harbor – Pride of Maine Fair. Tape. 33 reels (35 hours) with 

rough log. Music performances and narrative workshops recorded at fair held at College of the 

Atlantic in BH, July. Includes Mi’kmaq fiddler Lee Cremo, Passamaquoddies Wayne Newall 

(music & traditions), Fred Tomah (herbal medicine), Martin Dana (drum making, ceremonial 
▪Annotated Reference List▪

580

arts), David Francis (language), Blance Socabasin (foodways, music), Joan Dana (foodways), 

Vincent Joe (guitar & fiddle), Irene Newall and Elizabeth & Dyke Sopiel (basketmaking). 

Bodge, George M., 1906. Soldiers in King Philip’s War, being a Critical Account of that War 

with a Concise History of the Indian Wars of New England from 1620-1677. Boston: Printed 

for the Author. 

Bourque, Bruce J. 1989. “Ethnicity on the Maritime Peninsula, 1600-1759.” Ethnohistory 36, 

no.3, pp. 257-284. 

_____. 2001. Twelve Thousand Years: American Indians in Maine. With Contributions by 

Stephen L. Cox and Ruth H. Whitehead. Lincoln: U Nebraska Press. Provides detailed 

prehistoric and historic overview of Wabanaki peoples and cultures, focusing on central and 

southern Maine prior to the Revolutionary War. This focus is evident when we consider that 

Asticou, Saint-Sauveur, nor Mount Desert Island are listed in the index and that the period after 

1763 is covered in a brief chapter titled “Epilogue.” A problem is that it confuses the ethnicity 

issue of the Canibas, incorrectly equating Abenaki-speakers with Etchemins. Although the maps 

are beautifully drafted, this tribal naming problem also shows up in the map depicting Maine 

Indian tribes in the 17th century (p.130). Of special significance is the 40-page “Appendix,” a 

well-crafted study titled “The Traditional Material Culture of the Native People of Maine,” by 

Ruth. Whitehead, a Nova Scotia Museum curator long-specialized in Mi’kmaq ethnohistory and 

traditional artifacts. 

Bourque, Bruce J., and Ruth H. Whitehead, 1985. Tarrentines and the Introduction of 

European Trade Goods in the Gulf of Maine. Ethnohistory, vol. 32, pp..327-341. (Reprinted as 

Bourque and Whitehead. 1994. Trade and Alliances in the Contact Period. In American 

Beginnings: Exploration, Culture, and Cartography in the Land of Norumbega. E.W. Baker et al,

eds. Pp. 131-147. Lincoln: U Nebraska Press.) 

Bradford, William. 1912. History of Plymouth Plantation 1620-1647. 2 vols. Boston: 

Massachusetts Historical Society. 

Brechlin, Earl. 2002. Bygone Bar Harbor: A Postcard Tour of Mount Desert Island and 

Acadia National Park. Camden: Down East Books. Booklet includes two images of the BH 

athletic fields, which provide context for the well-known postcard of the late 19th-century “Indian 

Village” situated at the fields and also included in this collection. Also several cards of the 

various steamships that carried visitors, including Wabanakis, to Bar Harbor. 

Brereton, John. 1843. “A Brief and True Relation of the Discovery of North Virginia, etc., 

made this present year 1602, by Captain B. Gosnold, Capt. B. Gilbert, etc., by the 

Permission of the Hon. Knight Sir W. Raleigh, London 1602.” In Massachusetts Historical 

Society Collections, Series 3, vol. 8, pp. 83-123. 

Brown, Robert. 1881. The Countries of the World: Being a Popular Description of the various 

Continents, Islands, Rivers, Seas, and Peoples of the Globe.London: Cassell, Petter, Galpin & 

Co. 

Bull, John and John Farrand, Jr. 1998. Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, 

Eastern Region. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 

Bunting, William H. 1997. A Sampler of Maine Photographs 1860-1920. Part I. Gardiner: 

Tilbury House Pub. 

_____. 2000. A Sampler of Maine Photographs 1860-1920. Part II. Gardiner: Tilbury House 

Pub. 

Burnham, Horace M. 1918. Pharmacy of the Red Man. Sprague’s Journal of Maine History, 

vol.6 (Aug/Sep/Oct) No. 2, pp .69-71 (by an Old Town pharmacist well acquainted with 

Penobscot doctors 1875-1920). 
▪Annotated Reference List▪

581

Burrage, Henry S., ed. 1887. Rosier’s Relation of Weymouth’s Voyage to the Coast of Maine, 

1605, with an Introduction and Notes. Portland, ME: Gorges Society. 

_____. 1914. The Beginnings of Colonial Maine 1602-1658. Portland: State of Maine. 

Comprehensive summary of literature on early Maine history. 

_____. 1923. Gorges and the Grant of the Province of Maine 1622, a Tercentenary Memorial. 

Augusta: State of Maine. 

Burton, John A., ed. 2003. Complete North American Wildlife: A Photo Field Guide London: 

Harper Resource. 

Butcher, Russell D. 1972. Maine Paradise: Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park.. 

Penguin Books. Useful geographic statistics (acreage, mountain heights, etc.) and lists of 

wildflowers/herbs. (AML) 

Butler, Eva L., and Wendell S. Hadlock. 1957. The Uses of Birch-Bark in the Northeast. 

Bulletin VII, The Robert Abbe Museum. Bar Harbor, Maine. Excellent, detailed discussion of 

some 100 uses of birchbark (Jesup/“Penobscot box”). 

Cadillac, Antoine de la Mothe, Sieur de. (1930). "Memoir on Acadia" [1692]. In W.F. 

Ganong, ed. “The Cadillac Memoir on Acadia of 1692.”, Collections of the New Brunswick 

Historical Society, no. 13, New Brunswick , Canada. pp 77-97.

Calais Advertiser. 1800s. Articles/note re. Wabanakis. Authors transcribed relevant passages. 

Caldwell, Bill. 1977. Enjoying Maine. Portland: Guy Gannett. 

Calloway, Colin G., 1990. The Western Abenakis of Vermont, 1600-1800; War, Migration, 

and the Survival of an Indian People. Norman: U Oklahoma Press

Calloway, Colin, ed. 1991. Dawnland Encounters: Indians and Europeans in Northern New 

England. Hanover: U Press of New England.

Carpenter, Edmund S. 2003. Norse Penny. New York: The Rock Foundation. 

Carle, Joyce, and Delia Mitchell. N/D (c1980). Delia’s Story. Written by Joyce Carle as 

remembered by Delia Mitchell. Apparently self-published by the author. 

Carroll, Lizbeth Carr. 1995. People of the Dawn: The Neptune Family of Passamaquoddy 

Basketmakers In Native Peoples, vol 8(3) Spring. Nothing ANP specific, but family 

basketmakers listed. 

Cartier, Jacques. 1993. The Voyages of Jacques Cartier. With an introduction by Ramsay 

Cook. Toronto: U Toronto Press. 

Cartwright, Steve. 1979-82. Wabanaki Alliance. Various issues of this intertribal newspaper, 

edited and largely written by Cartwright, feature relevant information, including specific reports 

about Wabanakis on/near MDI. See, for example, “‘When the Lord’s ready for me, I’ll go’ 

Penobscot woman packed sardines 75 years,’” about Big Thunder’s grand-daughter Hattie 

Gordius (July 1982), and “Youth Show Little Interest in Native Medicine.” July 1979, p10 (about 

Passamaquoddy medicine man Fred Tomah displaying traditional herbal medicine practices at 

Bar Harbor Fair). 

Casgrain, Henri-Raymond. 1897. Les Sulpiciens et les Prêtres des Missions-Étrangers en 

Acadie (1676-1762). Québec: Pruneau & Kirouac. 

Cashdan, E. 1983, “Territoriality among Human Foragers: Ecological Models and an 

Application to Four Bushmen Groups.” Current Anthropolog,y vol.24(1), pp. 47-65. 

Celebration at Holy Redeemer by Papal Delegate Attending Marked Tercetenary of First 

Island Colony. No author. In Holy Redeemer Parish 100th Anniversary 1883-1993, pp. 9-10. 
▪Annotated Reference List▪

582

Chadbourne, A.H. 1955. Maine Place Names and the Peopling of its Towns. Bangor 

Chadwick, Joseph. 1764. Journal. This is a photostat of the journal kept by J. Chadwick in 

1764 as he surveyed an area from Penobscot, ME to Quebec for Mass. Bay Gov. to explore 

possibility of building a road from Ft. Pownall to Quebec along Penobscot River. Notes Indian 

settlements along the route. (Ma.HS) 

Champlain, Samuel de. 1902. The Voyages and Explorations of Samuel de Champlain, 1604-

1616, Narrated by himself. Edited with introduction and notes by Edward G. Bourne. 2 vols. 

New York: Allerton Book Co. 

____. 1907. The Voyages and Explorations of Samuel de Champlain, 1604-1618. Edited by 

Grant, W.L. and J. Franklin Jameson. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. Pages 45-50 recount 

his Sept. 1604 sail from St. Croix to Mount Desert Island (named by him at this point), past Isle 

au Haut (also named by him), on to what is now Castine and up the Penobscot River as far as 

Bangor. Offers details of encounters with Wabanakis at MDI and on Penobscot R. 

____. 1922-36. The Works of Samuel de Champlain. Edited by H.P. Biggar. (6 vols). Toronto: 

The Champlain Society. Vol. 1, reprinting Champlain’s Des Sauvages, contains his account of the 

discovery of Mount Desert Island, text and translation, with ample notes. The Portfolio of Plates 

and Maps includes Champlain’s Ms. Map of 1607 (original in the Library of Congress) showing 

“I. Des Monts deserts.” 

Chandler, R. Frank, Lois Freeman and Shirley N. Hooper. 1979. Herbal Remedies of the 

Maritime Indians (pp. 49-68). Journal of Ethnopharmacology 1.

Chanticleer Press, eds. Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Fishes, Whales, & 

Dolphins. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 

Charlevoix, Pierre F.X. de. 1900. History and General Description of New France. 6 vols. 

New York: F.P. Harper (translated with annotations by J.G. Shea).

Chase, Eliza Brown. 1884 Over the Border: Acadia, the Home of ‘Evangeline.’ Boston: J. 

Osgood. History of region including Port Royal, MDI – and historic characters from de Mont to 

de Razilly, D’Aulnay, Le Borgne, Phipps, Guercheville, etc. Relays Glooskap stories of Cape 

Blomidon/Five Islands area, Minas Basin. Describes Frenchman Bay: “From the piazzas and our 

windows the eye never tires of gazing on the beautiful bay with its numerous islands...the blue 

and symmetrical range of Gouldsboro hills for background.” Notes excursions to Green Mt, Great 

Head, Anemone Cave. Describing view of BH from top of Green Mt. the author writes: “The 

white tents of the Indian encampment ludicrously suggest a laundry with big ‘wash’ hung out to 

dry. (WL; also on Internet at www.canadiana.org) 

Chase, Mary Ellen. 1948. Jonathan Fisher Maine Parson 1768-1847. New York: The 

Macmillian Co. Biography of Blue Hill’s first resident minister, Jonathan Fisher (1768-1847). 

Fisher moved there in 1795 and served as a pastor for 41 years. (See Fisher below). Drawing on 

Fisher’s diaries, sermons, notebooks, and letters, Chase’s biography includes brief but compelling 

entries about Maine Indians. (See especially pp.56-57, 190-181.) 

Chatto & Turner. 1910. Register of the Towns of Sedgwick, Brooklin, Deer Isle, Stonington & 

Isle au Haut. Brooklin, Me: Friend Memorial Public Library, Inc. Wm. Haviland provided 

several relevant pages copied from this publication. Page 7 includes a note about an “ancient 

Indian garden” in Brooksville. Page 15 notes “Indian villages on shores of Walker’s Pond and 

probably at Brard’s Point or The Punch Bowl also . . . before the coming of English settlers.” 

Page 26 mentions that John Billings, a “very early settler” built “his log cabin near an Indian 

village not far from Herricks within the limits of what is now Brooksville. Here he lived at peace 

with the Indians for many years, and his children played with the Indian children.” Haviland 

suggests that the Indian village referred to here was “probably the Walker’s Pond village.” 

Clarke, G.F. 1970. Someone Before Us: Our Maritime Indians. Fredericton: Brunswick Press.
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583

Church, Benjamin. 1867. The History of the Eastern Expeditions of 1689, 1690, 1692, 1696, 

and 1704 Against the Indians and French. Introduction by H.M. Dexter. Boston: B.K. Wiggin 

and W.P. Lunt. 

Clarke, Thos. Phillips. 1796. Letter to “the Sheriff of Our County of Hancock or his Deputy 

or to either of the Constables of the Town of Blue hill,” Sept. Summoning two Wabanaki men 

to come from Blue Hill to Castine to testify in the trial of Wm. Fletcher et al. (MSA) 

Cleaves, Saumel W. 1890. Ironbound Island: Historical Sketch of a Notable Island in 

Frenchman Bay. MDH, 4/18/90, p1. Doesn’t mention Indians, but gives settlement history. Useful 

given DeCosta’s mention of Wabanaki encampment on the island. 

Coatsworth, Elizabeth. 1968. Maine Memories. Brattleboro, VT: Stephen Green Press. Includes 

account of John Snow as a basketmaker and carver telling Pukwudgies stories. Written by lifelong Mainer (1893-1986) who grew up on a farm in Damariscotta area. Mother of Maine’s first 

poet laureate Kate Barnes. 

Coe, Harrie B., ed. 1928. Maine: Resources, Attractions and its People. A History. NY: The 

Lewis Historical Publishing Co., vol. 2. Pages 771-75 feature a narrative about the “Improved 

Order of Red Men,...one of the largest fraternal societies and the oldest and largest strictly 

American fraternity” first incorporated in 1835. List on p227 includes Bar Harbor. 

Coffin, Tammis E., ed. 1993. The Rusticator’s Journal: A Collection of Articles from the 

Journal of Friends of Acadia. Bar Harbor: Friends of Acadia. Includes brief overview of 19thcentury Indian encampments on MDI. Locations/dates not always correct, but general statement 

is on target. (See also Coffin’s “The Moose Who Summer Here,” on p71) 

Cole, John. N.d. Summer Hotel: The Claremont Story 1884-94. Augusta: Printed by JS 

McCarthy, Co. (MSL) 

Cole, Nan. Natives of Old Bar Harbor, Down East Magazine. Date missing/c1960s. 60-62, 67, 

90, 95-97. Tells of Bar Harbor Canoe Club members’ party at Pulitzer’s estate in 1899, which 

included a parade of canoes in the sheltered cove on the oceanside of the estate. “Most of the 

canoes, handmade from birch bark, had been purchased at the Indian Village off lower Maine 

Street, now an athletic field – where Penobscots from Indian Island came many years to camp, 

bringing for sale.... The Indians also supplied members of the...club with hand-carved individual 

paddles with the owner’s initials etched into the wood, and many of the braves were employed to 

instruct the children of the rich in the art of paddling. (AML)

Collier, Sargent F. and Horgan, Tom. 1952. Mount Desert the Most Beautiful Island in the 

World. Photos by Collier, text by Collier and Horgan. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. (MSL) 

Collier, Sargent F. 1953. Down East: Maine, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, The Gaspé. 

Cambridge: The Riverside Press. Chapter 3 focuses on Bar Harbor and Mt. Desert from the 

arrival of Champlain in 1604 forward. American Indians not mentioned. Nor are they mentioned 

in Ch.2 on Castine, Ch. 4 on Washington County, Ch. 5 “Toward Lubec and Eastport.” Book 

features 152 photographs. 

____. 1978. Mt. Desert Island and Acadia National Park, an Informal History. Revised and 

edited by G.W. Helfrich. Camden: Down East Books. An updated distillation of three out-of-print 

books by Collier. Chapter 1 focuses on American Indians and explorers, Ch. 2 on Champlain, Ch. 

3 the Jesuit missionaries. Page 49 features a photo of American Indians, seaside shacks, birchbark 

canoes pulled ashore, titled “Summer visitors, indigenous to Maine, 1880s.”

Colors the World: Wonderful Business Built up by a Maine Dyer. 28 January 1893. 

Lewiston Jounral. Full broadsheet page about Wainwright Cushing and his development of 

Cushing’s Dyes, used by large manufacturing companies and also by Native Americans across 

North America, including Maine Indians. Clearly a promotion piece, the article is nonetheless 

informative about Wabanaki traditional dying practices as well as their use of Cushing’s Dyes. It 
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tells of the Indian Agent store in Old Town and of summer sales in Bar Harbor, and also notes the 

dying of fishing nets. It includes 5 drawings, including one of Molly Molasses and Lieut. Gov. 

Neptune (based on earlier photographs of them). 

Conkling, Phillip W. 1981. Islands in Time: A Natural and Human History of the Islands of 

Maine. Camden: Down East Books. Overview of geology, habitats through time, including 

human impact on environment. Includes maps. Touches on Indian uses of resources, including 

birds. Page 299 relays 1724 murder of Ebenezer Hall by Indians after Hall, a fisherman who sold 

hay on the side, burned Green Island to stimulate grass growth. Green Island “was particularly 

important for the Penobscot Indians, who used the island to collect eggs and young seabirds for 

meat.” 

Cook, David S. 2007. Above the Gravel Bar: The Native Canoe Routes of Maine (3rd ed). 

Solon, Maine: Polar Bear & Co. 

Cooper, S. Josephine, ed. 1989. A Bicentennial History of Sullivan, Maine. Sullivan-Sorrento 

Historical Society. History and description of Henry Stanwood’s “Big Chief Camps” where 

Mi’kmaq Mary Sanipass worked in the 1950s. 

Coquart, Claude-Godefroy, S.J. 1927. “Relation of 1751.” In JR 69:80-126. Reprinted in 

Kenton, vol.2. 

Crane, Jonas. 1967. Maine Indians. Lewiston Journal. 16 April. Article about Passamaquoddy 

life in late sixties includes photo of John & Mary Soctomah gathering sweetgrass in West 

Gouldsboro area. 

Crawford, Marion F. 1894. Love in Idleness, a Tale of Bar Harbor. Novel situated on MDI. On 

p12 is a photo of Indian encampment at foot of Bridge Street. Crawford was one of the more 

famous authors in the English-speaking world at the time of his death in 1909. An inveterate 

traveler, he wrote 40+ novels (many in the style of disposable romances popular at the time) 

based in different parts of the world. He also wrote some nonfiction – such as the Bar Harbor 

travel piece for Scribner’s Magazine, noted below. (JL) 

____. 1896. American Summer Resorts III. Bar Harbor. Scribner’s Magazine vol.16:3 pp. 

268-85. NY: Charles Scriber’s Sons. Describes town, itinerant venders from various ethnic 

groups, range of accommodations, Indian camp (noting its relocation due to actions of the BH 

Village Improvement Society), describing look/smell of camp and its inhabitants/crafts), climate, 

geographical features, outings, social display. Numerous illustrations (none related to Indians). 

(On Internet: Cornell U. Library/Making of America sources: cdl.library.cornell.edu) 

Crowell, Marnie R. 1974. Maine Indian Baskets. Downeast Magazine, October. Profile of 

Ranco family basketmakers. No MDI connection noted. (AML) 

Currier, Isabel. 1971. Folkways in Dance by Maine’s Passamaquoddy. Down East Magazine. 

Pp. 54-59. (AML/month of publication not noted) 

The Daily Herald. 1886. Summer issues only. Include several mentions of Wabanakis, plus 

regular ads for sale of baskets and other wares at the Bar Harbor Indian Encampment near 

Hamor’s Wharf. 

Dana, Carol. 2003. Mount Desert. Mount Desert Islander, 13 Nov. Short article recalling 

memories of Passamaquoddy John Snow and his family in NEH, early 1900s. 

Davies, Kenneth, G. ed. 1972-1981. Documents of the American Revolution, 17701783. 

Colonial Office Series. 21 vols. Shannon: Irish University Press. 

Deal, Michael, 2001. Rock and Mineral Resources. (Lecture Notes) www.ucs.mun.ca

Dean, J.W., ed., 1887. Captain John Mason, the Founder of New Hampshire. Boston: 

The Prince Society. 
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DeBry, Theodore and sons. 1627. Grand Voyages (Part 13). Page 15 features an engraving by 

Theodore’s grandson-in-law Mattheüs Merian (1593-1650) based primarily on and accompanied 

by a paraphrase of Ferdinando Gorges’ 1622 description of Indians moose hunting on Mansel 

Island (MDI). (The word “moose” was first recorded by Rosier, who picked it up from 

Weymouth’s Wabanaki captives in 1605.) Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor John Winthrop 

also refers to MDI as Mount Mansell Island – in the 8 June entry of his 1630 shipboard journal. 

See Gorges. 

DeCosta, Benjamin Franklin. 1869. Sketches of the Coast of Maine and Isles of Shoals with 

Historic Notes. New York: Privately printed by author. Just 24 copies were made, and one is in 

the MHS Collection in Portland. Portions of this reappear in DeCosta 1871. 

DeCosta, B.F. Rambles in Mount Desert. New York: Randolph & Co. 1871. Appears to be the 

best of the early guidebooks, well illustrated with photographs. Page 96 has great information 

about Oldtown Indians hunting otter, fox, wild-cat, muskrat, mink, and beaver on MDI. Pages 55-

56 note that Indian route from Castine to Mount Desert and Frenchman Bay was up the Bagaduce 

and thence across to Blue-Hill Bay; information re. shellheaps at Bar Island, Gouldsborough, and 

Hulls Cove. Page 172 mentions that at Mount Desert Indians “occasionally find a good-sized 

shark or horse mackerel, but oftener the porpoise thus comes into the weir. Schools of these 

continually gambol about the bay for the edification of visitors, or as a prize for the Indians who 

hunt them for oil. I started once across Frenchman Bay for their camp on Ironbound Island to see 

them at home, paddling with an old trapper in his bark canoe; but when we got halfway over, a 

hard rain-storm set in and we thought it best to return at once....” P227: Old Town Indians 

“frequently seen in the vicinity of Mount Desert.” On page 244 the author begins a fascinating 

account about Passamaquoddy Indians at Grand Manan. He notes that the island’s Southern Head 

is “a favorite nesting place for the gulls” and the “Indians take the young gulls and carry them 

away [to their reservation] ...tamer than chickens, being fattened on porpoise for some future 

feast. P262 notes Eel Brook, “bark lodges that form the winter camps of the Indian hunter. There 

is still considerable game here, though for the past 3 years the hunting of deer has been strictly 

prohibited. But the Indians...have no regard for the law.” On p268 DeCosta notes “the smooth 

shore” of Indian Beach and bark lodges there and “quite a colony” of Indians. “A part of them 

spoke English. Their canoes, finely built and worth from 25 to 50 dollars apiece were drawn up in 

a row on the sand.” (p270: Author and his party return 1.5 mi to Long’s Eddy via canoe: “one of 

our copper-colored brethren sat in the bow and braced up the mast which had a large spritsail 

attached, while the other steered and held the sheet in his hand.” (HL). 

The 1869 edition, p146 tells of Gouldsborough shellheaps “often several feet deep and sometimes 

covering acres of ground;” p149 quotes the Mt. Mansell Island and moose ref.; p150 says the 

“most accessible heaps from Bar Harbor are on Bar Island and at Hull’s Cove. (ANPA). (See also 

DeCosta 1878. Mount Desert) 

____. 1880. The Handbook of Mount Desert, Coast of Maine. Boston: A. Williams & Co. 161 

pp., ill. Folded map.

Denys, Nicolas. 1672. The Description & Natural History of the Coasts of North America 

(Acadia). Translated and edited, with a memoir of the author, collateral documents, and a reprint 

of the original, by William F. Ganong. 1908. Toronto: The Champlain Society. Contains detailed 

account of 17th-century Mi’kmaq culture, including flora/fauna uses, healing traditions, etc.; 

description of Penobscot Bay/islands. Includes Ganong’s addendum “Identity of Animals and 

Plants,” which sorts through early multi-lingual nomenclature of Wabanakis, explorers, 

entrepreneurs and missionaries to provide a late-16th/early-17th –century inventory of flora/fauna 

along the coast of the region then known as “Acadia.”

Dickason, Olive P., 1992. Canada’s First Nations: A History of Founding Peoples from 

Earliest Times. Norman: U Oklahoma Press 
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Douglas-Lithgow, Robert A. 1909. Dictionary of American-Indian place and proper names in 

New England: with many interpretations. Salem, MA: Salem Press. (MaHS) 

Dodge, E.H. 1871. Mount Desert Island, and the Cranberry Isles. Ellsworth, Me: N.K. Sawyer, 

printer. Travel info—stagecoach/steamer/RR. Historical overview of MDI + “modern history and 

reminiscences” about the Somes, Richardson, and Bartlett families. Discusses resources of MDI: 

description of arable land, forests, marshland, steam saw mills (at Pretty Marsh and Salisbury’s 

Cove, Eden) and 10 water power saw mills; granite quarry on w side of Somes Sound; maritime 

coast; notes tourism/hotels/boarding houses. Describes 30-min Battle of Norwood’s cove/SWH 

in 1814—against English. Early stats of towns: Mt. Desert, Eden, and Mansel (which became 

Tremont—signifying 3 mts in the town limits—Western, Defile and Dog). Section on Cranberry 

Isles, incorporated in 1830, embracing Great (850acres) and Little (350 acres) Cranberry, Suttons 

Isle (200acres), Bakers Isle (90) and Bear Isle (50)—1440 acres in all. Section notes “a meadow 

or heath on the Great Island which measures 200 acres and is unoccupied save by frogs and 

rushes.” Gives description of “the general appearance of the Islands as they appeared to us on a 

recent visit” not mentioning Indians. Also a section on Gott’s Island, including a history that says 

“In 1742 it was inhabited by Indians, and an incident of that date may amuse some”—an account 

of Bostonians plying between Boston and their lumber mills in Machias and running aground on 

a shoal of the bar between Gott’s and Bass Harbor. “The deck of the vessel was soon crowded 

with dusky neighbors.” The “chief” claimed the ship. Captain had his crew haul barrel of rum 

ashore. Much partying/green corn dance. Indians drunk. Tide comes in, releases ship and captain 

and crew take off. (WL) 

Dorr, George B. 1997. The Story of Acadia National Park. Bar Harbor: Acadia Publishing Co. 

Useful not for Indian information, but for overview of how ANP came to be and context for our 

study. Page 18 mentions “old Indian trail.” 

Douglas-Lithgow, R.A. 1909. Dictionary of American-Indian Place and Proper Names in New 

England With Many Interpretations. Salem: Salem Press Co. Pages relevant to Maine place 

names: ix-xi, xviii-xxii (key for ref. abbreviations on xii), & 1-66. [Copy at MaHS] 

Drake, Samuel Adams. Nooks and Crannies of the New England Coast. NY: Harper & Bros. 

1875. Chapters1-6 relevant to ANP research area. 

_____. 1891 The Pine-Tree Coast [illustrated] Boston: Estes & Lauriat. Excellent, insightful, 

literary descriptions of Maine coast from Kittery to Eastport with marvelous etchings, including 

one of Bar Harbor from Bar Island, featuring a big fish weir. Info re. Bar Harbor’s “first public 

house, the Agamont in 1867 [sic]” and the “shore path leading to Cromwell’s Cove” where he 

“ran up against the ill-favored camp of some peripatetic Indians....” Notes that they “hack the 

woods unchallenged. You can hardly turn off the road to the right or left without seeing some 

noble birch striped of its bark to make knickknacks of....You meet them slinking about after 

nightfall with loads of basket-stuff on their shoulders.” Information on dying wood with 

“vegetable substances.” (HFL) 

Dwelley, Hugh L. 1990. A History of Little Cranberry Island, Maine. Islesford Historical 

Society. Pages 10-12 re. Indians – includes Francis Fernald’s recollection of Indians coming by 

canoe to Little Cranberry in 1930s. 

Eastport Sentinel. 1800s. Articles/newsbits mentioning Wabanakis, including sojourns on MDI. 

Eaton, Cyrus. 1851 Annals of the town of Warren in Knox County, Maine with the early 

history of St. Georges, Broadbay and neighboring settlements on the Waldo Patent. No 

publisher i.d. Pages 63-65 tell of the wreck of the Grand Design ship on Long Ledge, MDI, 

noting that a party of Indians visiting the island had provided aid and taken letters from the 

shipwrecked persons to Damariscotta for further assistance. 

Eckstorm, Fannie Hardy. Personal Papers. UMO/Fogler Special Colls. Various boxes. For 

details on contents of this collection see Jeanne Patten Whitten’s Fannie Hardy Eckstorm: A 
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Descriptive Bibliography of Her Writings, Published and Unpublished. Northeast Folklore XVI. 

Orono: U of Maine Press. 1975/76. 

_____. 1919. The Indians of Maine. In Hatch, Louis Clinton, ed. Maine A History. Centennial 

Edition, vol. I:44-64. New York: The American Historical Society. Significant details concerning 

Wabanaki presence/activities in the coastal stretch comprising our research area. Page 47 quotes 

Gov. Bernard’s 1763 letter to Passamaquoddies saying that “‘the lands on the East Side of the 

Penobscot River & about Mount desert . . . have not been inhabited by Indians for many years 

past.’ Yet the archaeological remains and the testimony of the early voyagers point to it once 

being well peopled. . . .” Page 48 states that Almouchiquois is Micmac name for Etchemin who 

“occupied not only the St. Croix valley, but the whole southeastern coast of Maine, including the 

eastern coast of Penobscot Bay. After this the identity of the Etchemins with the modern 

Maliseets and the antiquity of the Passamaquoddy tribe can hardly be denied” Notes the “Jesuit 

Relation of 1677, in which Pessemonquote (Passamaquoddy) is mentioned as a river on which the 

Indians were settled. Villebon wrote that the Maliseets live on the St. John and along the seashore, occupying ‘Pesmonquadis, Majais (Machias), les Mont Deserts and Pentagoet’ (Castin).” 

Eckstorm goes on to discuss the identity of the Indians among whom the Baron St. Castin lived, 

noting that “Villebon, the governor of the province, called them Maliseets. They were a 

considerable tribe, as is shown in the census, taken November 1780, by Father de la Chasse. He 

enumerates twenty-six long houses, containing 388 men, women and children, including 126 men 

and boys able to bear arms. The French ‘General Memoirs’ of 1686, say: ‘At the river of 

Pentagouet is the Sieur de Castin, who trades with the savages and with the English...and there 

are two very considerable nations in the region which recognize France are enemies of the 

English.’ The two nations are clearly the Etchemins and the ancestors of the present Penobscots. 

In all likelihood Villebon was correct in calling the Castin Indians Etchemins (that is ‘Quoddies’), 

but considering their numbers and isolation for a long time, it is safe to recognize them as 

Pentagoets. They occupied the region from Castine to Naskeag Point, and perhaps beyond and 

deserve a sub-tribal status by virtue of their location.” Page 57 briefly notes traditional seashore 

food collection, preparation and storage practices. 

_____. 1926. History of the Chadwick Survey from Fort Pownal in the District of Maine to 

the Province of Quebec in Canada in 1764. In Sprague’s Journal of Maine History, vol. 14:2 

(April, May, June.)

_____. 2003 (1932). Handicrafts of the Modern Indians of Maine. Bar Harbor: Abbe 

Museum. This reprint of the 1932 edition features a new preface by Rebecca Cole-Will and color 

photographs of the objects described. 

_____. 1940. Review of Penobscot Man: The Life History of a Forest Tribe in Maine. In The 

New England Quarterly, 13:4 (Dec.), pp. 742-747. This tone of the sharply review is unpleasant, 

even condescending, but contains some interesting information on Penobscot family totems and 

19th-century individuals belonging to both Mitchell families. 

_____. 1941. Indian Place Names of the Penobscot Valley and the Maine Coast. (Reprint of 

1928 pub.) Orono: U of Maine Press, 1978. See chapter 6, “Penobscot Bay: The Eastern Shore, 

and the Coast East to Schoodic Point” (pp. 187-236) and also “Joseph Nicolar’s Penobscot PlaceNames” (237-41) in the appendix. Includes word-derivation information linked to geographic 

features and Native uses of and associations with these places. The section on MDI and adjacent 

areas is brief but informative. 

_____. 1945. Old John Neptune and Other Maine Indian Shamans. Portland, ME: The 

Southworth-Anthoensen Press. 

_____. 1960. Ballads Old and new. Bulletin of the Folksong Society of the Northeast (p9-16).

Philadelphia: American Folklore Society. Tells the story of Johnny Newell, member of a 

Penobscot itinerant doctoring/performing family that came to MDI in mid-1800s. (See also 

Eckstorm, F.H., and Smyth, Mary Winslow. 1927. Minstrelsy of Maine: Folk-Songs and Ballads 

of the Woods and the Coast. Boston: The Riverside Press Cambridge.) 
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Eliot, Samuel A. 1870. The Romance of Mount Desert. Atlantic Monthly, vol. 25:151. May. 

Historical overview from the early 1600s to 1870. 

Enk, John C. 1973. A Family Island in Penobscot Bay: The Story of Eagle Island. Rockland: 

The Courier-Gazette, Inc. (Largely based on the recollection of Capt. Erland L. Quin). Pages 327-

29, “Indian Visits to Eagle Island,” tell of “small bands of Indians visiting the island beginning in 

the 1880s.” Specific mention is made of “Chief Big Thunder” landing in Lighthouse Cove and 

going to the light to get permission from Capt. Ball to camp on the island. He and the others 

camped “east of the spring which is located near Lighthouse Beach....The Indian chief took Capt. 

Ball and his wife out for a ride in a large bark canoe. The Indians seemed to relish seal hunting. 

They speared them as they basked on the rocky shore or nearby ledges. At times they also killed 

porpoises. The visits of these Indians must have occurred during the period 1883-98 [when] Capt. 

John Ball was stationed at the light.” 

Epstein, Jeremiah, F. 1980. Pre-Columbian Old World Coins in America: An Examination 

of the Evidence. Current Anthropology 21 (1):1-20. 

Fairfax, Mildred. 1893. At Mount Desert: A Summer's Sowing. Congregational Sunday-School 

and Publishing Society. A novel. Chapter 20 (pp. 188-97) is titled “The Indian Encampment.” 

Here the characters discuss whether to “row to the encampment or walk there across the 

bluff.”.... “They were now crossing the bluff, where, amid clustering thickets of fragrant vanilla 

grass and sweet fern, wild roses budded.... There was a large crowd of visitors at the 

encampment. They went in and out of the tents set like booths on either side of a wide, neat 

carriage road, and were looking at, pricing, and buying every variety of work the Penobscots and 

Passamaquoddies had to offer. Olga immediately seized a stuffed owl.... She also purchased 

some bows and arrows, a gull’s silvery breast and wings, and a tiny canoe and paddles.... Mrs. 

Bolton and Miss Conway ordered a quantity of wood baskets and flowerpots of birch bark, 

adorned with an etched frieze of Mount Desert scenes. Arthur Carroll picked out a seakskin, a 

deerskin, a canoe, a pair of mocassins, a pair of snowshoes, and a lacrosse bat to send on to 

Louisiana. Gudule and Meta fancied the pretty baskets of sweet-scented vanilla grass of various 

shapes and hues....Madame de Chavigni bought some lovely, pearly grebe plumage, intending it 

for Hester’s winter adornnment....” (JS, SWHL.) [Note: The description of the Indian 

encampment contains details similar to Mrs. Harrison’s Bar Harbor Days account. While these 

may have been borrowed from Harrison, it is more likely that the similarities are simply the result 

of similar experiences and attitudes.] 

Farrar, Charles A.J. 1889. Up the North Branch or a Summers Outing Being the Record of a 

Camping-Out Trip up the North Branch of the Penobscot and Down the St. John River, 

Through the Wilds of Maine and New Brunswick, by Members of the ‘Lake and Forest Club.’

Boston: Lee & Shepard Publishers, NY: Charles T. Dillingham. (WL) 

Faulkner, Alaric and Gretchen Faulkner, 1995. “Acadian Settlement.” Pp.76-96. Maine: 

The Pine Tree State from Prehistory to the Present. Eds. Richard W. Judd, Edwin A. 

Churchill, and Joel W. Eastman. Orono: The University of Maine Press.

_____. 1987. The French at Pentagoet; An Archaeological Portrait of the Acadian Frontier.

Occasional Publications in Maine Archaeology, No.5. Augusta: Maine Historic Preservation 

Commission. 

Felt, Joseph B. 1849. Annals of Salem. 3 vols. 2nd edition. Salem: W. & S. B. Ives.

Fernald, O.H. 1890. Mount Desert Nomenclature. Mount Desert Herald. 3/21, 3/28, 4/4. This 

inventory of place names is scant with information, only occasionally going beyond comments 

such as “Preble’s Cove and Spurling’s Cove are named respectively for the gentlemen living near 

them.” Still, it offers an overview of the early names, some of which have since changed, and in 

some instances lists more than one name for a place – such as “Spruce Point (Negro Point) was 

named from its original growth of spruce” and “Pemetic (Black) Mount was once covered with a 
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dark evergreen forest, and presented a blackish appearance from the sea. The devastation of fire 

has altered the original look.” There are just three mentions of Indians: 

- “Indian Point was a resort for Indians.” 

- A reference in the name of Bunker’s Neck, “called Bunkers Head until the Coast Survey, 

thinking to honor Bunker by naming something for every part of his body, named this for his 

neck. Tradition says the original settler, Mr. Bunker, being pursued by Indians, hid among its 

shelving and cavernous rocks. Hence it was called Bunker’s Hide and afterwards softened to 

Bunker’s Head.” 

- “Fernald’s Point . . . is supposed from time without date to have been the camping ground for 

the annual Indian pow-wow. . . .” 

Fewkes, Jesse Walter. 1890. A Contribution to Passamaquoddy Folk-Lore. Journal of 

American Folklore III, pp. 257-80. Fewkes of the Bureau of American Ethnology made the first 

sound recordings of any Native American language – using the newly available phonograph to 

record Passamaquoddy songs, texts and vocabulary in Calais. Nine years later, in 1899, Dyneley 

Prince made recordings of Wabanakis at Bar Harbor.

Fisher, Rev. Jonathan. 1790-c1840. Personal Papers. Fisher (1768-1847), a Harvard-trained 

theologian, linguist, and jack-of-all trades, was Blue Hill’s first resident minister. Moving there in 

1795, he preached at the Congregational Church for 4 decades and also in the surrounding coastal 

area, including MDI, Union River, and Penobscot, etc. He began keeping a diary while at 

Harvard, and 1000 pages of his journals, notebooks, sermons and letters have survived. He wrote 

in a self-devised, paper-saving code, deciphered and transcribed by Edith Weren of Blue Hill, 

sister of Fisher’s biographer, Mary Ellen Chase (see Chase above). Transcripts of some of his 

journals and sermons can be found online at www.jonathanfisherhouse.org/archives/archives.htm

Flannery, Regina. 1939. An Analysis of Coastal Algonquian Culture. (The Catholic U of 

American Anthropological Series No. 7). Washington, DC: The Catholic U of America Press. 

Useful indexed inventory of practices/beliefs. 

Foulds, H. Eliot. 1996. Cultural Landscape Report for Blackwoods and Seawall Campgrounds, 

Acadia National Park: History, Existing Conditions, Analysis & Treatment Recommendations. 

Boston: National Park Service. Useful information on origins of ANP, athletic field Indian 

encampment (+ pic), BH Village Improvement Assoc. (AML, ANPA). 

Francis, R. Douglas, Richard Jones, Donald B. Smith. 1988. Origins: Canadian History to 

Confederation. Toronto: Holt, Rinehart and Winston of Canada. 

Franklin, Lynn. 1972. Grant Gooden Interview. 96-year-old Gooden speaks of Indians 

coming to Isle au Haut from Bangor and Old Town to hunt gulls – but stopped by law enforcers. 

Then they pursued porpoises for oil instead. Speaks of remembering Big Thuder and borrowing 

his birch canoe. [Transcript of tapes (accession number 943) in archives of the MFC. See 

Franklin’s book Profiles of Maine, Waldoboro 1976.] 

Frey, Charles. C1883. Souvenir of Mount Desert. Portland: Chisholm Bros. Hard-bound 

foldout booklet with 32 high quality photos of scenes and hotels on MDI, especially in Bar 

Harbor area. Includes earlier (c1883) rendition of Imogene Wheeler’s 1886 “Bird’s-eye view of 

Bar Harbor” and map of the town. (Authors’ Coll.) 

Ganong, William F. The Cadillac Memoir on Acadia of 1692. Collections of New Brunswick 

Historical Society 13 (1930):77-97 

_____. 1896. “A Monograph of the Place-nomenclature of the Province of New Brunswick.”

In Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, series 2, vol.2, sect. 2, pp. 175-

283. 

Gardiner, Emma Hallowell. 1821. Penobscot Indian Vocabulary. American Philosophical 

Society Collections (497.3/G16) (We did not see this.) 
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590

Gargas, Sieur de. 1935. Census of Acadie, 1687-88. Acadiensa Nova, 1, pp.143-60. 

Ghere, David L. 1988. Abenaki Factionalism, Emigration and Social Continuity: Indian 

Society in Northern New England, 1725 to 1765. University of Maine at Orono, Unpublished 

dissertation. 

_____. 1995. “Diplomacy and War on the Maine Frontier, 1678-1759.” Pp. 12-42. Maine: 

The Pine Tree State from Prehistory to the Present. Eds. Richard W. Judd, Edwin A. 

Churchill, and Joel W. Eastman. Orono: The University of Maine Press. 

Gilman, John. 2001. Canned: A History of the Sardine Industry, Part I. St. Stephen, New 

Brunswick: Parsons Printing. On page 11 the author notes the help Wabanakis provided for 

“some of the 200 starving passengers of the vessel Grand Design, said to have been wrecked the 

previous October at Seawall.” He also notes Indian visits to Little Cranberry “after the first white 

settlers came ashore in 1762 and 1670.” 

Godfrey, John E. 1872. The Ancient Penobscot, or Panawanskek. In: Historical Magazine

(February), pp 85-92. 

_____. 1876. “Bashaba and the Taratines.” Maine Historical Society Collections 7, Series 1. 

Bath. ME: E. Upton & Sons, 1876:93-102. 

Goodwin, Capt. Samuel. 1754. May 15 Letter from Frankfort on Kennebeck River. In 

Sprague's Journal of Maine History, No. II, vol. VII, August, September, October 1919, p98. 

Letter mentions that Indians had informed Capt. Jabez Bradbury that “the French were building a 

Fort on the Back of Mount Desert Hills.” [Note: Frankfort = a plantation organized in 1752 by the 

Proprietors of Kennebec Purchase; incorporated as Pownalborough, 13 Feb 1760, Public Laws 

Chapt 23] 

Goold, Nathan. 1898. Colonel Jonathan Mitchell’s Cumberland County Regiment Bagaduce 

Expedition. Maine Historical Society, 27 Oct. 

Gorges, Ferdinando. 1622. (1890). Briefe Relation of the Discovery and Plantation of New 

England. London, Reprinted in J.P. Baxter, ed. 1890. Sir Ferdinando Gorges and His Province 

of Maine. 3 vols. Boston: Prince Society. (Also reprinted in Massachusetts Historical Society 

Collections (1823) Series 2, vol. 9.) Gorges uses the name Mount Mansell for Mount Desert, and 

relays a fascinatingly detailed description of Indians hunting moose on MDI. 

____ . 1658. (1890). A Brief Narration of the Originall Undertakings of the Advancement of 

Plantations Into the Parts of America.... London: Nathanial Brook. Reprinted in J.P. Baxter, 

ed. 1890. Sir Ferdinando Gorges and His Province of Maine. 3 vols. Boston: Prince Society. 

(Also reprinted in Massachusetts Historical Society Collections (1837) Series 3, vol. 6.) 

_____. 1658. (1890). Description of New England. Boston: Prince Society, vol. 2, pp. 74-77.

Gosner, Kenneth L. 1978. A Field Guide to the Atlantic Seashore. Peterson Field Guide Series. 

Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 

The Gouldsboro Land Improvement Company, Winter Harbor, Maine: A description of its 

property upon Grindstone Neck and the Schoodic Peninsula in Frenchman Bay, near Bar 

Harbor. 1890. Describes company, incorporated in 1889, to “purchase, improve, and sell land” 

having 5000+ acres “situated upon Grindstone Neck and Schoodic Peninsula in the Town of 

Gouldsboro at Winter Harbor.” Gives stats on # of people transported to the region by Maine 

Central RR, describes Winter Harbor village, transportation facilities.... Notes that the 

Frenchman Bay and MD Land and Water Co. “bought at a low average cost, about 900 acres 

upon Waukeag Neck, which it rechristened ‘Sorrento;’ and has, it is said, made sales at 15 cents 

per square foot, or $6300 per acre. Upon the island of MD the results have been even more 

astonishing—property at NEH...sold at from $5000 to $20,000 per acre, while at BH shore sites 

have sold at $50,000 an acre and inland sites...at prices ranging from $5000 to $20,000/acre. All 

of these MD lands could have 10 years ago been purchased for very small amounts.... The 

Gouldsboro Co entertains the assurance of entire success, and believes that its property at Winter 
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591

Harbor has been by nature destined to, at least, ran equal in value with that at other summer 

resorts adjacent to BH.” (WL) 

Grant, Alec J. 1901. A Guide to Bar Harbor, Mount Desert Island, Maine. Bar Harbor: Bar 

Harbor Board of Trade. W.H. Sherman, printer. 56 pp., ill. 14x20 cm. (UMO Special Coll..) (We 

did not see this.). 

Griffith,, William. 1607. The Relation of a Voyage unto New England.... Pp.35-76. In 

Thayer 1892.

Hadlock, Wendell S. 1939. The Taft’s Point Shell Mound at West Gouldsboro, Maine. 

Robert Abbe Museum Bulletin 5. Bar Harbor. 

_____. 1941. Three Shell Heaps on Frenchman Bay. Robert Abbe Museum Bulletin 6. Bar 

Harbor. 

_____. 1943. Bone Implements From Shell Heaps Around Frenchman Bay, Maine. American 

Antiquity, vol. 8, No. 4 (April 1943), reprinted by Robert Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor. 

_____. 1977. Interview by Katherine Weatherbee. (Recording and transcription.) Hadlock talks 

about the anthropology and anthropologists of Maine, how he became interested in the study of 

Maine Indians growing up on the Cranberry Isles. Touches on his curatorial work at the Abbe 

Museum in Bar Harbor. (MFC, accession #1152) 

Hadlock, Wendell S. and Douglas S. Byers. 1956. Radio Carbon Dates from Ellsworth Falls, 

Maine. American Antiquity 21, No. 4 (April 1956):419-420.

Hadlock, Wendell S. and Ernest F. Dodge. 1948. “A Canoe from the Penobscot River.” 

Peabody Museum. Salem, MA. 

Haines, Arthur, and Thomas F. Vining. 1998. Flora of Maine. Bar Harbor, ME: Thomas. Co. 

2000+ species that grow without cultivation in Maine. Contains key to every family, genus, 

species, subspecies. Species descriptions include common names, habitat, range, state frequency, 

notes. 20-page glossary and index of scientific names, common names, synonyms.

Hakluyt, Richard. 1589-1601. The Principal Navigations, Voyages and Discoveries of the 

English Nation. London. Hakluyt’s (c.1552-1616) seminal work, a collection of narratives about 

English voyages, discoveries, and colonial interests abroad. It contains some of the earliest maps 

known of the “New World.” 

_____. [1589-1601] 1981. Hakluyt’s Voyages. Selected and edited by Richard David. Boston: 

Houghton Miflin Co., 1981. Selections from The Principal Navigations. 

Hale, Jr., Richard W. 1949. The Story of Bar Harbor. New York: Ives Washburn, Inc. A 

sesquicentennial history with useful contextual information, from pre-settlement history of MDI 

through 1940s. Extensive bibliography. Notes Indians giving canoe instruction (p172). (JL) 

Hamilton, Milton W. 1964. Henry Hudson and the Dutch in New York. Albany:U of the State 

of New York Press. 

Hamor, Eben M. 1914. The Hamor Mt. Desert Papers. Sprague’s Journal of Maine History, 

vol. 2(4). Oct. 1914. Dover, ME: John Francis Sprague. This 1-page entry notes Hamor died Nov. 

6 1910 at age 88, and that he spent the last few years of his life collecting and copying old records 

of MDI and the “important events and interesting incidents in the Town of Eden and the island in 

general—2 Volumes worth—and that the BH Times was publishing extracts. (See MHS Coll. 

879 – scrapbook titled “Early Records of the Plantation of Mt. Desert, 1762-1896” collected by 

Eben Hamor of Hull’s Cove and published by the BH Times from week to week July 11, 1914-

May 1, 1915. (Microfilm of all Hamor Papers at JL—not a single ref. in all of this text to Indians) 

Harmon, Kathryn. 1993. “The Rusticators and the Abenaki. IN Coffin, Tammis E., ed. The 

Rusticator’s Journal. Bar Harbor: Friends of Acadia. Page 21 speaks of Indians/encampments, 
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592

but includes some errors, e.g. statement that Indians camped at the intersection of Holland Ave. & 

West St. in the 1870s (it was the ‘80s). 

Hansen, Gunnar, ed. 1989. Mount Desert An Informal History. Published by the Town of 

Mount Desert, Maine. Accessible historical accounts and reminiscences of MDI, including 

chapters on Somes Sound, Pretty Marsh & Bartlett’s Island, NEH, Seal Harbor, Otter Creek, 

ANP. Relevant information re. Indians in Alice Smith’s chapter on Pretty Marsh & Bartlett’s 

Island. She lived near Goose Marsh Point, Kenison’s Hill, just west of Round Pond, coming out 

on the Indian Point Rd to Goose Marsh Pt. Asticou’s village at Manchester Point on east side of 

Somes Sound. Page 53 mentions Indians gathering sweetgrass from marshy areas in Pretty 

Marsh, among other places in late 19th, early 20thc. 

Harrison, Mrs. Burton. 1887. Bar Harbor Days. NY: Harper & Brothers. This narrative 

includes detailed description of Indian encampment (pp. 85-97) – written from vantage point of a 

dog, but nonetheless excellent. (JL) 

Haviland, William A. 2003. Deer Isle’s Original People. Booklet published by the author. 

Excellent overview of prehistoric and historic archaeological findings re. Wabanakis in the area, 

including information on food habits. 

____. 2004. Safe Passage to the Sea: An Ancient Canoe Route at Deer Isle, Maine. Informative 

paper + map printed/distributed by the author showing ancient canoe route from Punch Bowl se 

between Little Deer Isle & Deer Isle, and continuing s along the w flank of n Deer Isle, into 

Northwest Harbor, carrying over into Long Cove, which gave access to several other routes 

leading to Blue Hill Bay, Jericho Bay or the Deer Island Thoroughfare. 

_____. 2005. Indians, Porpoises, and Crockett’s Cove. Island Ad-vantages, 12/22&29, p.5. 

Draws from 1903 article citing Deer Isle resident Sara Lunt Fifield (b. c1800) telling of Indians 

porpoise-hunting and camping on the island. Includes present-day oral history info and Native 

uses of cattails. 

_____. 2007. At the Place of the Lobsters and Crabs: Indian People and Deer Isle 1605-2005. 

Solon, Maine: Polar Bear and Co. 

Haviland, William A., et al. 2008. Cultural Anthropology, The Human Challenge (12th

edition). Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth. 

Headlam, Cecil, ed. 1904-39. Calendar of State Papers: America and West Indies (1699-1729). 

Preserved in the Record Office. London: H. M. Majesty’s Stationary Office. (See SP=Calendar of 

State Papers.) 

Helfrich, G.W. and O’Neil, Gladys. 1982. Lost Bar Harbor. Camden: Down East Books. 

Photos and text and 1895 map provide information about MDI buildings that were torn down or 

burned – hotels, homes, Jordan Pond House, BH Canoe Club, many of which tied into Wabanaki 

presence/activities in the 19th and early 20th centuries. 

Herrisson, M.R. “An Evaluative Ethno-Historical Bibliography of the Malecite Indians.” 

National Museum of Man, Ethnology Division, Mercury Series, Papers no. 16 (Ottawa 1974). 

Higgins, A. L. 1934. “Good Old Days. Bar Harbor Times June 20. Recalls Indian encampments 

in “olden days from 1860-1900” with “hunters racing in the Bay for porpoises.” Says first 

encampment was at Newport House beach where Big Thunder “was the chief. They caught 

porpoises in their canoes by shooting and harpooning and then extracted the oil by some ‘trying 

out’ process on a vacant, isolated shore.” Says Penobscot and Passamaquoddy came “by the 

hundreds, every spring, until the land sites became too valuable for them.” Mentions Indian 

camps at “lower part of Albert Meadow, at the point near the coal landing, the Athletic Field, 

West street, near Uncle Jake’s Creek, and on Eden street, near Duck Brook.” Items sold included 

mitts of sealskin, otter, raccoon. Notes Indian exhibitions. Says “Joe” Lola was chief of the 

Eastport Indians, Big Thunder of those from Old Town. Notes Indian ash & bark cutting 

privileges. 
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Hill, W. Scott. 1914. Bagaduce. In Sprague’s Journal of Maine History, vol. 2(2). July 1914. 

Dover, ME: John Francis Sprague. Discusses name derivation of Bagaduce Stream. 

Hill, Ruth Ann. 1996. Discovering Old Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park: An 

Unconventional History and Guide. Camden, Me: Down East Books. Includes a hand-drawn 

mid-19thc map, map of MDI from Colby’s 1881 atlas of Hancock Cty., and 19th c BH village 

map. Artist rendering of Indian encampment at Fernald Point in Ceramic period (2800 to 400 bp), 

information about salt marshes and cranberry bogs, as well as Indian encampments (slightly off) 

and Passamaquoddy retailer Joe Lola. Also includes “A Tour of the Weir”—from DeCosta/late 

1860s. (JL) 

Historic Maine and Indian Mythology. c1907. Author unknown. Much deteriorated, this 

booklet has the name Barbara Joy handwritten in the upper right corner of the cover, indicating 

that she wrote and/or owned it [probably the latter]. Fascinating 1-page entry about Frank “Big 

Thunder” Loring setting out on a trip from coastal Maine to Washington, DC, in 1899 in a 

birchbark canoe to “plead with President McKinley to save his people. . . . The old man’s strength 

gave out before he was halfway down the New England coast and he had to turn back.” The 

author heard this directly from Loring. He also told her a legend, “The Mythological Secret of 

Mt. Kineo.” The author made a pencil portrait of him on the occasion of hearing the story. The 

drawing is included in the booklet. No publication date, but based on the author’s comment that 

s/he interviewed Loring 2 years after his son Peter was murdered (1905), the date is probably 

c1907. (JL)

Hobart. 1875. Letter to “the Hon. Governor and Council” from Passsamaquoddy Indian 

Agent. 15 Sept. Mentions Passamaquoddy being away, 20 families (MSA, Indians: 

Correspondence and Petitions submitted to the Governor and Council by the Indian Tribes, RG1 

267 (21080705)) 

Hodge, Frederick W., ed. 1907-1910. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. 2 vols. 

Washington, DC: Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 30. Reprinted NY: Greenwood Press, 

1969.

Hoffman, Bernard G. 1961. Cabot to Cartier, Sources for a Historical Ethnography of 

Northeastern North America 1497-1550. Toronto: U of Toronto Press. 

Hornsby, Stephen J. 1993. The Gilded Age and the Making of Bar Harbor. American 

Geographical Review. Notes 3 reasons for emergence of seasonal resorts in latter 19th c. 

Describes BH in 1840 as “small community of a few hundred residents” dependent on 

fishing/farming/lumbering/shipbuilding. Hudson R school artists arrive in mid-1840s. Says after 

Civil War steamer connections improved and the number of summer visitors grew. By ’85 there 

was a RR terminus at MD Ferry and within a few more years the all-Pullman Bar Harbor Express 

provided overnight service from Boston & NY to the ferry, and service later extended to 

Phil/Balt/Wash. In 1870s/80s the old fishing village became a tourist town...1909-10 social 

register notes 221 summer cottages in BH. Bit of information about BH Village Improvement 

Association condemning Indian encampment for sanitation reasons. 

Hough, Franklin B. 1856. Papers Relating to Pemaquid and Parts Adjacent in the Present 

State of Maine Albany: Weed, Parsons & Company. 

Hubbard, Lucius Lee. 1884. Woods and Lakes of Maine: A Trip from Moosehead Lake to 

New Brunswick in a Birch-Bark Canoe to Which are Added some Indian Place-Names and 

Their Meanings. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co. At Old Town Hubbard interviewed 87-yearold John Pennowit, “the oldest hunter among the Penobscots, and acknowledged on all sides to be 

more familiar with the woods than any other member of the tribe. This interview was followed by 

a second the next year and by others with other Indians on different occasions; and the stock of 

names gathered hereby supplemented by short and desultory researches on the writer’s part in the 
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Abnaki dictionary of Rale...in the ‘first Reading Book in the Micmac Lanugage’by Rev. Mr. 

Rand, in the publications of Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull and in some few other works that relate to 

the same subject.” (WL)

Hubbard, William. 1685. (1815). A General History of New England, From the Discovery To 

1680. Cambridge: Hilliard and Metcalfe, for the Massachusetts Historical Society. 

____. 1677. (1865). The History of the Indian Wars in New England, from the First Settlement 

to the Termination of the War with King Philip. 2 vols. Drake, Samuel G., ed. (1865). Roxbury, 

MA: W. Eliot Woodward. Vol. 2, p.97, includes the remarkable account of Thomas Cobbett, 

captured by Indians at Richmond Island in 1676 and taken to MDI where his captor wintered over 

and hunted. 

Hunter, Joyce. 2005. “Robert Fifield....” Island Ad-vantages, 9/1. This profile of Stonington, 

Deer Isle, resident Bob Fifield (b1923) includes his recollections of “several groups of Indians” 

setting up tents in the area, fishing off the islands, and selling baskets. Fifiled also notes specific 

canoe routes used by the Indians who came to Deer Isle.

Hutchinson, Thomas. 1936. The History of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay 

[1764]. Lawrence S. Mayo, ed. 3 vols. Cambridge, MA: Harvard U Press. 

Indian Agent Reports. 1800s-1900s. Nearly annual report written by Passamaquoddy and 

Penobscot Indian agents. Typically include general narrative, accounting information, censuses. 

(MSA. See files titled “Indians: Correspondence and Petitions submitted to the Governor and 

Council by the Indian Tribes”) 

Jack, Edward. 1895. Maliseet Legends (“Glooscap”). The Journal of American Folklore, 8:30, 

pp193-208. 

JR=Jesuit Relations. See Twaites. 

Jameson, J. Franklin, ed., 1909. Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664. New York: 

Charles Scribner’s Sons. 

Jellison, Connie. 1990. Hancock County A Rockbound Paradise: A Bicentennial Pictoral.

Norfolk: Downing Co. Pubs. Includes historic chronology and several notations about Indians 

useful for context, plus some trail information. 

Jennings, Francis. 1984. The Ambiguous Iroquois Empire: The Covenant Chain 

Confederation of Indian Tribes with English Colonies. New York: W.W. Norton. 

Josselyn, John. 1833. An Account of Two Voyages to New England (1675). In MaHS Coll., 

Series 3, vol. 3, pp. 211-354. Cambridge.

Joy, Adelma [“Dell”] Somes. c1915. Reminiscences of Somesville. Unpublished bound 

typescript with sprinkling of hand notes by Samuel Elioit Morison. Consists of 25 short pieces 

ranging from 1-5pp. This is the original source quoted from/referred to in numerous works, e.g. 

Thornton, Morison, etc. Three sections offer rich detail about Wabanakis in Somesville during 

18th-19th centuries – including some specific names: #13 (“Indians Camping at Somesville” – 

3pp., including poem), #14 (“The Indian Violin Player,” attributed to Eunice Deering – 4 pp.) and 

#24 (poem about Indian encampments – 1p – repeated from Section 13). Other sections are useful 

for context: 5-8 describing the home of Dell’s grandfather (John Somes); others describing the lay 

of the land – roads, the tannery (15), the “red school house” (9, 10, 12). (NEHL) 

Joy, Barbara Ellen. 1966. Historical Notes on Mount Desert Island. Part I, vol. 1. Unpublished 

typed historical notes – early version of later, fuller inventories done in 1974/5. Includes a 

handful of relevant passages concerning Maine Indians on MDI: “The chief places of Indian 

summer resorts were: Northeast shore of Hulls Cove, Goose Cove and Manchester Point and 

Fernald Point.” “There was also an Indian encampment at the outlet of Eddy brook, occupied by 

the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, and St. John River tribes. . . . They were experts at canoeing, 
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595

hunting, fishing.” “In the early days there was an Indian camp along the shore of both sides of 

Bridge St. extending as far as Holland Ave. Mr. A. Stroud Rodick says it was called “‘Devil’s 

Half Acre.’” “This reminds me that Lower Ledgelawn was called ‘Squaw Hollow’ when I was a 

kid.” (SWHL) 

____. 1974 Historical Notes on Mount Desert Island, Part II, vol. I. Unpublished typed 

historical notes, including several entries concerning Maine Indians on MDI: On p62: “Indians 

used to gather sweet grass along Minnow Brook in Hulls Cove; Mt. Cadillac legend. On p63 re. 

TRIBE Inc. established July 1970 at old Job Corps center “under the aegis of Acadia National 

Park on west side of Eagle Lake.” Phased out Jan. 1972; p127: “On an 1880 map of Bar Harbor, 

Bridge Street was called Bar Street, at the foot of which was the Devil’s Half Acre. In addition to 

the Devil’s Half Acre and Squaw Hollow, Indian villages of comparatively late years, there were 

old Indian villages (in the Bar Harbor area) along the brook at the former Carpenter estate, where 

Ike Parker is said to have dug up artifacts, including some of red stone. Another was at the 

entrance to Northeast Creek (locally called King’s Brook) where many artifacts were found by 

the late George Fogg and more recently by a King boy who unearthed a beautiful bone spoon of 

fairly large size. There are also shell heaps at Hadley’s Point and on Thomas and Alley’s Islands, 

where there is a large concentration of Mt. Kineo felsite on the beach. Shell heaps may also be 

found on the western and eastern ends of Bar Island, Gilpatrick’s Cove, Manchester Point, Flying 

Mountain, Fernald’s Point, both sides of Clark Point, Sawyer’s Cove, end of Bernard Road, and 

Indian Point.” (SWHL, MSL) 

____. 1975. Historical Notes on Mt. Desert Island, vol. III. Useful data re. Wabanakis includes 

info re Bartlett’s Island (previously Hogg’s Is) 1⁄2 mi from Pretty Marsh (p. 61); Big Thunder had 

a camp on Bartlett’s Island and practiced medicine among settlers – pepper, tansy, pennyroyal, 

baked onions, skull cap, thoroughwort blossoms, yarrow roots (p. 63). [Still to locate: Joy had a 

large map of MDI with 42 shellmounds circled/numbered, accompanied by 3 sheets of legal 

paper w/info on each site. Done by Leslie King of SWH. His father’s hotel—destroyed by Dirigo 

fire—had a fabulous collection of the best artifacts] (SWHL) 

Kavasch, Barrie. 1977. Native Harvests. New York: Vintage Books/Random House. (General 

work but mentions medicinal herbal practices of specific tribes, including Wabanaki groups.) 

Kellogg, Elijah Sr. Papers 1797-1830. See M100, Box 4, folders 9-12 covering his time with the 

Passamaquoddy in 1820s. Numerous references to them porpoise hunting, basketmaking. 

(BCL/Special Colls.) 

Kennedy, J.H. 1950. Jesuit and Savage in New France. New Haven: Yale U Press.

Kenton, Edna, 1927. The Indians of North America. 2 vols. New York: Harcourt Brace. 

Konrad, Lee-Ann with Christine Nicholas. 1987. Artists of the Dawn: Christine Nicholas and 

Senabeh. Orono: Northeast Folklore Society, U of Maine. This is an engaging and informative 

profile of noted Penobscot carver and medicine man Ronald Augustus Francis (“Senabeh,” 

b1914) and his sister, basketmaker Christine Nicholas (b1912). The book features pictures of both 

of them and their work. Of particular note for this study is a photo on page 8, which shows them 

gathering sweetgrass in Prospect Harbor in 1950. Their mother, Clara Polchies, was a Maliseet 

married to Penobscot Bert Francis. Clara’s parents, Louis and Mary Polchies, were residents of 

Kingsclear Reserve near Fredericton, NB, where Louis made hoops for family members’ baskets. 

Bert was the son of Mary and Sabatt Francis. Mary made baskets; Sabatt made wood carvings 

and birchbark canoes, which he rented out during the summer in Kennebunkport where the family 

set up camp to sell baskets. Multiple generations of the Francis family were noted as musicians. 

Christine and her husband established The Indian Store at Searsport, stocking it with goods made 

on Indian Island and other sources. Senabeh married Passamaquoddy Esther Socktomah, living 

for a time with her family at Princeton. After Esther died at a young age, he had a rocky, 10-year 

marriage with a Maliseet woman from Woodstock. In 1958 he carved two statues for the Catholic 

Church at Princeton, staying at the priest’s house while working on the project.
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Kidder, Frederic. 1867. Military Operations in Eastern Maine and Nova Scotia during the 

Revolution chiefly compiled from the Journals and Letters of Colonel Allan, with notes and a 

Memoir of Col. John Allan. Albany: Joel Munsell. 

Kopec, Diane. 1987. The Abbe Museum’s Frenchman Bay Survey—An Historic 

Perspective. Reprint from the Maine Archaeological Society, Inc. Bulletin, vol 27, No. 1. Spring 

1987. Useful overview of archaeological findings in area. (AML) 

Lacey, Laurie. 1977. Micmac Indian Medicine: A Traditional Way of Health. Antigonish, NS: 

Formac Limited. Draws on numerous Mi’kmaq specific resources past and present, including 

written works and oral history gathered by the author. 

Lagrange, Chancels de. 1959. “Voyage Made to Isle Royale or Cape Breton Island in 

Canada in 1716 Aboard the Frigate Atalante Commanded by M. De Courbon St. Leger.” In 

Revue d’Histoire de l”amerique Francaise, vol. 13(3). 

Lapham, William B. 1808. Commissioners’ Proceedings at Mount Desert, 1808. Collections of 

MaHS, Series 2, vol. 2, pp. 439-48. Summary of MDI land grants. 

_____. 1888. Bar Harbor & Mount Desert Island. Augusta: Maine Farmer Job Print. Third 

edition. Describes development of BH, noting that in 1866 Capt. Charles Deering began running 

the “City of Richmond” steamship from Portland to Machiasport, landing at Rockland, Castine, 

Deer Isle and SWH. And “when there was a popular demand for more direct communication with 

BH than was afforded by the overland route from SWH by the way of Somes Sound, this demand 

was responded to in the erection of a convenient wharf, and in 1868 Capt., Deering commenced 

touching at BH on each of his semi-weekly trips. Wharf subsequently purchased by the Eastern 

Railroad Co. and greatly enlarged; it is the principal wharf at BH at the present time.” Notes 

Agamont House erected as BH’s lst small hotel in 1867. Roderick House in 1867...others 

described. First cottage built on Birch Pt by Alpheus Hardy of Boston in 1867. Describes town, 

ways of reaching BH. Gives overview of the 1887 season, how folks spend their time. Notes 

Bridge St, and sand bar to “Bar or Rodick’s Island.” Notes shore path “from near the Maine 

Central wharf to Cromwell’s Cove. Describes Green [Cadillac] Mt., Schooner Head, Great Head, 

Otter Cliffs, Hull’s Cove, The Ovens. This booklet includes ads for railways, hotels, plus rail and 

steamship route info for the Portland, Mt.Desert & Machias Steamboat Co. (WL) 

Lash, Joseph P. 1971. Eleanor & Franklin: The Story of Their Relationship based on Eleanor 

Roosevelt’s Private Papers. NY: W.W. Norton & Co. The chapter about Eleanor and her father 

Elliott Roosevelt includes an exchange of letters (pp. 53-55) in which both of them write about 

the Indian encampment at Bar Harbor. His letter also notes that the family purchased two 

birchbark canoes from Wabanakis on MDI. 

Lauber, Almon.W. 1913. Indian Slavery in Colonial Times within the Present Limits of the 

United States. Williamstown, MA: Corner House Publishers. 

Lawton, Jordan and Maddox, eds. c1910. History of Eden. In The Island of Mount Desert 

Register with Cranberry Isles 1909-1910. pp. 55-69. Notes early settler John Hamor and his wife 

Mary (Rodick) Hamor coming to Hull’s Cove 1768 (he died next year); Levi Higgins and his 

wife Bathsheba (Young) coming to MDI in 1770 and erecting log house at Cape Levi near Hull’s 

Cove; Israel Higgins and his wife Mary (Snow) settling on shore near Eddy’s brook prior to 1776; 

Ezra Young at Duck Brook before 1774, Ebenezer Salisbury and his wife Mehitable at BH in 

1776, building log house near site of Newport Hotel, later moving to hill north of Eddy’s Brook 

and finally to Salisbury Cove where they resided until death in 1825, etc etc.... Notes important 

families that increased the settlement of Hull’s Cove in the years following the organization of 

the plantation of Mount Desert: the De Gregoires who began to be taxed as residents of MD in 

1791 and the families of Cornelius Thompson and Samuel Hull a sea capt who settled on s side of 

Hull’s Cove (named for him) prior to 1789. Lived there till 1817. His daughter Polly married 
▪Annotated Reference List▪

597

Israel Higgin’s 2nd and lived at BH etc etc...To the south of BH 2 families took up land: James 

Burrill at Cromwell’s Cove and Later William Lynam at Schooner Head. 

Leamon, James S. 1993. Revolution Downeast: The War for American Independence in 

Maine. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press. 

Leavitt, Robert M., and Francis, David E., eds. 1986. Kolusuwakonol: Philip LeSourd’s 

Passamaquoddy-Maliseet and English Dictionary. Pleasant Point (Me):Passamaquodd-Maliseet 

Bilingual Program. 

Levett, Christopher. 1628. (1847). A Voyage into New England, Begun in 1623 and Ended 

in 1624. Performed by Christopher Levett. Collections of the Maine Historical Society, Series 

1, vol.2, Portland. 

LeClercq, Chrestien. 1691. New Relation of Gaspesia, with the customs and religion of the 

Gaspesian Indians. (1910 reprint translated and edited by William F. Ganong. Toronto: The 

Champlain Society). 

Lee, Donna Marie and Lee, Jean Marie. 1993. Facts and Fancy Acadia: Mount Desert Island. 

Ellsworth. Facts and Fancy Universal Pub. Co. Smidgen of useful information for project, e.g. 

mentions Indian Point being named “for Indian artifacts found there;” notes “old Indian legend” 

re. how Porcupine Islands named—Asticou walking atop Cadillac Mt. followed by family of 

porcupines, throws them into bay. (MHS)

Leger, Mary Celeste. The Catholic Missions in Maine, 1611-1820. Washington, D.C.: Catholic 

U of America, Studies in American Church History, 8. (MSL) 

Leland, Charles G. 1884. The Algonquin Legends of New England. Boston: Houghton, 

Mifflin and Co. (Reprint. 1992 as Algonquin Legends, NY: Dover Publications, Inc.) Legends 

touch on Wabanaki material culture, food, geography, cosmology. Bar Harbor legend pp. 49, 65. 

“Tales of Magic” chapter tells of Indian woman at Bar Harbor who is m’teoulin (p342). 

Leland, Charles G. and Prince, John Dyneley. 1902. Kulόskap the Master. New York: Funk & 

Wagalls. 

Lerner, Ellen. 1985. Memories and Stories about the Native American People of Mount Desert 

Island and the Surrounding Area. Unpublished oral histories (done for College of the Atlantic 

course on Maine Prehistory/Archeology, taught by Diane Kopec). Includes: Ruth Moore (b 1903 

on Gott’s Island; family moved to Bass Harbor in 1927. Notes Indians (man/woman/boy) 

camping in “lower field” at north end of Gotts Is; gathered sweetgrass; camped in lean-to; came 

several years; moved to SWH near old Methodist church and lived there year-round. Innes 

MacPike (b1905). Notes Indians (Frank Louie/wife/son John) in BH; traveled around bay in 

canoe gathering sweetgrass; many Indians camped in tents in “Squaw Hollow”—which became 

the athletic field (Johnny Louie’s parents had one of the tents); information about John Snow’s 

family in NEH. Patricia Blanchfield (b1901 in BH). Notes Indian wigwams in 1880s on banks 

“down around West Street before it was built” and 2 Indian women owning a store on Main St. 

and someone in town raising an Indian boy who used to come by and visit her. Penobscot 

Madeline Shay (b191_). Notes gathering sweetgrass by shore, mentions that her grandmother was 

a midwife/herbalist. Penobscot Lawrence Shay (b1913). Notes seasonal visits to shore for natural 

resources e.g. clams and other seafood to prepare for winter use, summers in Kennbunkport to 

sell baskets. (Written summary and tapes in AMC.) 

Lescarbot, Marc. 1610. The Conversion of the Savages who were baptized in New France 

during this year, 1610. With a brief narrative of the voyage of Sieur de Poutrincourt. In 

Thwaites, vol. 1, pp. 49-114. 

____. 1911-1914. The History of New France (1609-1612). Edited by H.P. Biggar. (3 vols). 

Toronto: The Champlain Society.
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598

Lesourd, Philip. 2000. The Passamaquoddy ‘Witchcraft Tales’ of Newell Francis. 

Anthropological Linguistics, vol.42 No.4. Winter, pp.441-98. Notes that in 1899 Dyneley Prince 

(1868-1945) was a professor of Semitic languages at NYU, but “already a leading student of the 

northeast Algonquian languages.” He had been coming to BH since 1887 to work with 

Passamaquoddy and Penobscot consultants, but in 1899 he “brought with him the latest in hightech equipment: a wax cylinder phonograph.” He engaged Newell S. Francis who had come to 

BH from Pleasant Point to try out the new equipment. Transcriptions offer overview of Newell 

Salomon Francis (Gatschet described Francis as the bro-in-law of Louis Saktoma [sic] a 70+ year 

old from Pleasant Pt who “knows all about local names.” 

Lester, Joan. “‘We Didn’t Make Fancy Baskets Until We Were Discovered’” Fancy-Basket 

Making in Maine.” In A Key into the Language of Woodsplint Baskets. Edited by Ann 

McMullen and Russell G. Handsman. Washington, CT: American Indian Archaeological 

Institute, 1987, pp.38-59. This chapter offers a substantial, accessible, illustrated overview of the 

burgeoning Wabanaki basketry business among Maine tourists in Bar Harbor and other Maine 

resorts beginning circa 1870. Discusses shift in styles to meet tourist tastes and link between 

Indian hunting/fishing/canoe guides and basketry and other crafts, including canoe building. 

Notes that basket blocks & gages reached Bar Harbor by 1872 and that an identifiable summer 

Indian community had been established in Bar Harbor by 1881. 

Levine, Mary Anne, 2007a. Overcoming Disciplinary Solitude: The Archaeology and 

Geology of Native Copper in Eastern North America. In: Geoarchaeology: An International 

Journal, Vol.22, No.1, pp.51-58. 

Levine, Mary Anne, 2007b, Determining the Provenance of native copper artifacts from 

Northeastern North America: evidence from instrumental neutron activation analysis. In 

Journal of Archaeological Science Vol. 34, pp572-87. 

Livingstone, John. 1710/1711. A Journal of ye Travails of Major John Livingstone from 

Annapolis Royall in Nova Scotia to Quebeck in Canada, from thence to Albany and soe to 

Boston, October 15 1710 to February 23 1710/11. CSP Colonial Series, vol. 25. London: His 

Majesty’s Stationery Office (1924). 

Locke, Marie, and Montgomery, Nancy. 1998. Memories of a Maine Island: Turn-of-the 

Century Tales and Photographs. Northeast Folklore, vol. 33. Orono: Maine Folklife Center. 

The text is comprised of Irene Morse Bartlett’s responses to questions asked by her 

granddaughter Marie – recollections of growing up on Isleford in early 1900s. Includes 

comments about Passamaquoddy John Snow, p28. Accompanied by glass-plate photos taken by 

Irene’s father. Nancy Montgomery designed the book. 

Lombard,Lucina H. 1952. Medicinal Plants of Our Maine Indians According to Chief 

Needahbeh, Librarian Penobscot Tribe (1934). In Maine Indians In History and Legends. 

(pp.96-102). Portland, ME: Severn, Wylie, Jewett Co. 

Lonecloud, Jerry. 2002. I Am the Only Medicine Man in Nova Scotia (pp.75-81). In 

Whitehead, Ruth. Tracking Doctor Lonecloud: Showman to Legend Keeper, Including the 

Memoir of Jerry Lonecloud. Halifax: Goose Lane Editions and Nova Scotia Museum. Born in 

1854 in Belfast, Maine, to Mi’kmaq parents from Nova Scotia, Lonecloud gained fame as a 

medicine man, hunter and storyteller. Volume includes some useful information on traditional 

medicine. 

Lunt, C Richard K. 1965. Jones Tracy, tall-tale hero from Mount Desert Island 1969. Orono: 

Northeast Folklore Society. UMO. 74pp.

JLM. 1885. Traditions of Ellsworth. Mount Desert Herald 9/4/1885, p1. Narrative re. Indian 

place names in Ellsworth area based on information from writer’s father, one of Ellsworth’s first 
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599

settlers in 1763 and 80+ year-old daughter of Benjamin Joy, lst white child born in Ellsworth 

(1765). Mentions special “very old” Indian informants Joe Mitchell, Gloshien, & Joe Porous. 

MacBeath, George. 1979a. Du Gua de Monts, Pierre. In Dictionary of Canadian Biography, 

vol.1. Toronto: U Toronto Press. 

_____. 1979b. Forrester, Andrew. In Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1. Toronto: U 

Toronto Press. 

_____. 1979c. Joybert de Soulanges et de Marson, Pierre de. In Dictionary of Canadian 

Biography, vol.1. Toronto: U Toronto Press. 

_____. 1979d. Marot, Bernard. In Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1. Toronto: U 

Toronto Press. 

_____. 1979e. Montin, Jeanne. In Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1. Toronto: U 

Toronto Press. 

_____. 1979f. Razilly, Isaac de. In Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1. Toronto: U 

Toronto Press. 

_____. 1979g. Saint-Etienne de La Tour, Charles de. In Dictionary of Canadian Biography, 

vol. 1. Toronto: U Toronto Press. 

_____. 1979h. Saint-Etienne de La Tour, Claude de. In Dictionary of Canadian Biography, 

vol. 1. Toronto: U Toronto Press. 

MacDougall, Pauleena. 1998. Native American Industry: Basket Weaving among the 

Wabanaki. In Morrison, Dane, ed. American Indian Studies: An Interdisciplinary Approach to 

Contemporary Issues ((167-92). NY: Peter Lang. This fascinating look at Wabanaki basketry 

focuses on its emergence in the nice market of the tourism industry in the 19th century. The 

narrative draws from newspaper reports, archaeological studies, travelogues and Indian agent 

reports, plus a bit of oral history. Sale activities in Bar Harbor are discussed in relation to other 

resort areas. 

MacGovern, Thomas. 1990. The Archaeology of the Norse North Atlantic. Annual Review of 

Anthropology, vol.19:331-51. 

McBride, Bunny. 1983. “A Special Kind of Freedom.” Down East Magazine (June), pp.88-93, 

114-15. Focuses on Micmac basketmakers in Maine, esp. Sarah & Abe Harquail. 

_____. 1990. Our Lives in Our Hands. Gardiner: Tilbury House, Halifax: Nimbus. A concise 

illustrated history of woodsplint basketry among Micmacs, along with photographs and oral 

histories of Micmac basketmakers. The personal stories show how basketmaking fit into the 

mobile lifeways of these seasonal laborers who cut pulpwood, clammed, raked blueberries, 

picked potatoes, etc. 

_____. 1995. Molly Spotted Elk: A Penobscot in Paris. Norman: U of Oklahoma Press. This 

biography of a Penobscot performing artist/writer whose life began and ended on the Indian 

Island reservation at Old Town, includes many passages that show how basketry and other crafts, 

such as those sold by Wabanakis on MDI, fit into a new economic survival strategy. Spotted Elk, 

who traveled the US and Europe and lived in Paris for about 5 years. Pages 236-37 describe a 

summer 1935 trip she made to Bar Harbor with tribal governor Howard Ranco to perform and sell 

baskets at Abbe Museum. 

_____. 1999. Women of the Dawn. Lincoln: U of Nebraska Press. Creative nonfiction profiles of 

four Wabanaki women spanning 4 centuries: Mathilde (Madockawando’s daughter and Jean de 

St. Castin’s wife), Molly Ockett, Molly Molasses, Molly Spotted Elk. 

_____. 2001. “Lucy Nicolar: The Artful Activism of a Penobscot Performer.” In Sifters: 

Native American Women’s Lives (pp.141-159.). Edited by Theda Perdue. Oxford U Press. 

_____. 2003-2004. Interviews. For Prins & McBride. 2007. Acadia National Park Ethnographic 

Survey 1600-2004. Transcripts in ANP Archives.

Akins, Watie (Penobscot), Indian Island, Jan. 2004 

Binnette, Carol Bear (Penobscot), Indian Island, Jan. 2004 

Closson, Larry, MDI, Jan. 2004 
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600

Dana, Dolly (Passamaquoddy), Pleasant Point, Sept. 2004 

Francis, David (Passamaquoddy), Pleasant Point, July 2003 

Holmes, Susan Snow (Passamaquoddy), Old Town, Jan. 2004 

Loring, Donna (Penobscot), Richmond, Me., Jan. 2004 

Mitchell, John Bear (Penobscot), Indian Island and UMO, Jan. 2004 

Mitchell, Theodore Norris (Penobscot), Indian Island, June and Sept. 2004 

Newell, Wayne (Passamaquoddy), Peter Dana Point, Jan. 2004 

Nooninham, Mary Scully (Mi’kmaq), Steuben, July 2003. 

Paul, Fredda (Passamaquoddy), Pleasant Point, Sept. 2004 

Parker, Molly Neptune (Passamaquoddy), Princeton, Jan. 2004 

Phillips, Paul (Mi’kmaq), Presque Isle, July 2003 

Sanipass, Donald (Mi’kmaq), Mapleton and Presque Isle, July 2003. 

Sanipass, Mary Lafford (Mi’kmaq), Mapleton and Presque Isle, July 2003 

Scribner, Rose Mason (Penobscot) Indian Island, April 2004 

Secord, Theresa (Penobscot), telephone, March 2003 

Soctomah, Donald (Passamaquoddy), Princeton, Jan. 2004 

Stanley, Ralph (Bar Harbor resident), Bar Harbor, Jan. 2004 

Stevens, John (Passamaquoddy), Princeton, Jan. 2004 

McBride, Bunny, and Harald Prins. 1983. In Their Own Words: Oral Histories of Six 

Aroostook Micmac Families. Unpub. report for the Aroostook Micmac Council, Presque Isle. 

Oral histories of the Sanipass and Phillips family include 1940s-50s accounts of cutting pulpwood 

and spruce limbs for lobster traps in Gouldsboro and Prospect Harbor, cooking at Big Chief 

Sporting Camps in Sullivan, blueberry picking in Cherryfield, basketmaking in Ashville (and 

many other locations). (On file with the authors and Aroostook Band of Micmacs, Presque Isle). 

_____. 1996. Walking The Medicine Line: Molly Ockett, A Pigwacket Doctor. In 

Northeastern Indian Lives, 1632-1816. Robert Grumet, ed. Pp. 321-347. Amherst: U of 

Massachusetts Press.

McKusick, Marshall. 1980. On American Prehistory and Foreign Coinage. Current 

Anthropology 21 (5): 675-76. 

McLane, Charles B. and McLane, Carol Evarts. 1997. Islands of the Mid-Maine Coast 

Volume I: Penobscot Bay. Gardiner: Tilbury House, Pubs. & Rockland, Me: The Island Institute. 

Maps/photos/historical narrative on Penobscot Bay Islands, including the western shore, the Fox 

Islands (Vinalhaven, N Haven and the surrounding islands), Islesboro and its islands; the midPenob Bay islands, the Deer Isle division; Isle au Haut and its neighbors; the islands of the 

eastern shore; the Swans Island division. Narrative re. Saddleback (303-304) notes “transient 

[Passamaquoddy] Indian settlements on Saddleback at the end of the [19th] century,” naming 

specific individuals (Chief Joseph L. Dana and his son Lolar, Daniel Sockovy, Sabattis and 

Swissin Lolar, William Toma and Tom Loring) and their crafts. Footnote in section on Conary 

Island notes legend re. an Indian buried there. (See also Chs. M Skinner, Myths and Legends of 

our Land, Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1895, I:188.)

McMullen, Ann and Russell G. Handsman. 1987. A Key into the Language of Woodsplint 

Baskets. Washington, Ct: American Indian Archaeological Institute. A visually rich and superbly 

insightful collection of essays, packed with ethnographic and historic detail. In addition to 

touching on Wabanakis making and marketing basketware in the MDI area, including Bar 

Harbor, this book provides very useful context for understanding the role of basketry as part of an 

overall survival strategy among Wabanakis in the 19th-20th centuries. 

McMullen, Ann and Diane Kopec, eds. 1989. An Island in Time: Three Thousand Years of 

Cultural Exchange on Mount Desert Island – Essays by David Sanger & Harald E.L. Prins.

Bar Harbor: The Robert Abbe Museum. Booklet produced in conjunction with an exhibition at 
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601

the Abbe. Provides a prehistoric and historic account of Native Americans of MDI from 3000 

years ago through the time of exploration and settlement by Europeans. 

Machias Observer. 1800s, various transcriptions. 

Maine Historical Society Collections. 1831-1916. Series 1, vols. 1-10, 1831-1891; Series 2, 

vols. 1-10, 1890-1899; Series 3, vols. 1-2, 1904, 1906; Documentary series, vols. 1-24, 1869-

1916. One of the most important sources of information about pre-20th-century Maine history. 

(MHS) 

Maine Writers Research Group. 1952. Maine Indians in History and Legends. Portland: 

Severn, Wylie, Jewitt Co. P70 has information on crafts/library M. Chamberlain presented to 

Penobscots, contemporary populations of Penobs & Pass, and pageants. 

Mallery, Garrick. 1893. Picture Writing of the American Indians. Tenth Annual Report, 1888-

89. Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of Ethnology, 1893. 

Manville, Richard H. 1942. Notes on the Mammals of Mount Desert Island, Maine. Journal 

of Mammology, vol. 23:4, pp.339-398. Discusses 44 species, in part informed by work as a 

ranger-naturalist in Acacia National Park during the summers of 1937-39. 

Martin, Clara. 1866. Mount Desert on the Coast of Maine. Portland: B. Thurston and Co., 

Printers. Description of landscape, geographic features, walks. Includes early history, Indians 

mentioned in passing in story about them getting Father Biard to relocate. Useful for context, but 

no original information re. Wabanakis. (WL) [1874 edition notes “annual encampment” of 

Indians on edge of BH.] [1877 edition, (Ptld: Loring, Short & Harmon), p63, the pond of Witch 

Hollow lies to left of the road over Duck Brook Hill, not far beyond the summit. (JL)] [1885 

edition (Portland: Loring Short & Harmon) includes information re. travel routes to BH, 

flora/fauna descriptions. Mentions that traveling across Frenchman’sBay to Goldsborough is “one 

of the most noted excursions” from BH. Also notes “regular ferry” to the Cranberry Islands. 

Game laws. (WL) 

Mason, John. 1887. Captain John Mason, the Founder of New Hampshire. Boston: Prince 

Society. 

Mather, Increase. 1864. Early History of New England: Being a Relation of Hostile Passages 

Between the Indians and European Voygters and First Settlers. With an Introduction and Notes 

by Samuel G. Drake. Albany, NY: J. Munsell. 

Maurault, J.S. 1866. Histoire des Abenakis, depuis 1605 jusq’a nos jours, Sorel: l’Atelier 

Typograhique de la “Gazette de Sorel.” 

The Micmac-Maliseet Resource Collection. Education Resource Center, U of new Brunswick: 

A Bibliographical Listing. Fredericton: U of new Brunswick, 1987. Collection includes books, 

periodicals, photocopied articles and audio visual materials about Micmac, Maliseet, 

Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Beothuk people. 

McGhee, Robert. 1984. Contact Between Native North Americans and the Medieval Norse: 

A Review of the Evidence. American Antiquity 49 (1), pp.4-26.

Mechling, W.H. 1913. Malecite Tales. Journal of American Folklore 26, pp.219-58. 

_____. 1914 Malecite Tales. Canadian Dept. of Mines, Geological Survey, Anthropological 

Sreies, No. 4, Memoir 49.

_____. 1959. The Malecite Indians with Notes on the Micmacs. Anthropologica 8:239-263. 

Mitchell, David J. The Jesuits, a History. New York: F.Watts, 1981. 

Mitchell, Lewis. 1887. “Address.” Maine State House of Representatives, 63rd Legislature, 

Augusta, Maine, No.251. 
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602

Moorehead, Allan. 1913. Indian Remains in Maine. American Anthropologist, vol. 15(3), p. 

543. 

Morison, Samuel Eliot, ed. 1928. “A French Description of Frenchman Bay, 1792.” New 

England Quarterly I, pp. 396-410. “The account by Bancel de Confouelns (whose name, owing to 

his undecipherable signature, I misspelled Congoulin).” (We did not locate this article. 

Annotation from Morison’s Story of MDI bibliography) 

_____. 1930. The Course of the Arbella from Cape Sable to Salem.” Colonial Society of 

Massachusetts Publications XXVII, pp.285-306. Reproduces Winthrop’s and later English Coast 

Pilot profiles of the [MDI] mountains.

_____. 1960. The Story of Mount Desert Island. Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press of Little, 

Brown, and Co. Pages 5-6 feature a poem rich with details by Adelma F. Somes Joy [b1837] 

about Wabanaki encampments near her childhood home in Somesville in the 1840s [See Joy 

reference below]. Brief chapter on the “Abnaki” tribes who seasonally used Mt. Desert, followed 

by chapter of European discovery of the island, and then a chapter chronicling the short-lived 

colony of Saint-Sauveur founded by Antoinette de Pons, Marquise de Guercheville in June 1613, 

at Fernald’s Point, a location pointed out by Asticou (“Sagamore of Kenduskeag, the most 

important chief of the Penobscot branch of the Abnaki.”). A month later Captain Samuel Argall 

of the Virginia Colony in Jamestown encountered “friendly Indians” “somewhere in Blue Hill 

Bay while patrolling the coast to “mop up” French settlements between the Hudson and St. 

Lawrence. Notes that one of the Indians who boarded Argall’s 14-gun ship, the Treasurer, stayed 

on to guide the captain to St. Sauveur. Taking the French by surprise, Argall and his sailors 

attacked and plundered the place, taking all survivors back to Jamestown as prisoners. Includes 

fine bibliography of primary and secondary source materials. 

_____. 1971. The European Discovery of America, Volume 1, Northern Voyages. New York: 

Oxford U Press. 

Morrison, Alvin. 1975. Membertou’s Raid on the Chouacoet ‘Almouchiquois’ – The 

Micmac Sack of Saco in 1607. Papers of the Sixth Algonquian Conference 1974. Ottawa: 

National Museums of Canada, pp.141-79. 

 . 1976. Dawnland Directors: Status and Role of 17th Century Wabanaki 

Relationships Papers of the Seventh Algonquian Conference, 1975. W. Cowan, ed., pp. 495-

517. Ottawa: Carleton U

_____. 1978. Penobscot Country: Diasgreement over Who Lived There in the Seventeenth 

Century Needs Resolving – If Possible.” Papers of the Ninth Algonquian Conference. W. 

Cowan, ed., pp. 47-54. Ottawa: Carleton U. 

Morrison, Kenneth M. 1975. The People of the Dawn: The Abnaki and their Relations with 

New England and New France, 1600-1727. Ph.D. Thesis, U. of Maine, Orono. 

_____.1984. The Embattled Northeast: The Elusive Ideal of Alliance in Abenaki-Euramerican 

Relations. Berkeley: U of California Press. 

Morse, William I. 1935. Acadiensa Nova (1598-1779). London: Bernard Quatrich 

Morton, Thomas. 1637 (1883). The New English Canan or New Canaan: Contining an 

Abstract of New England Composed in Three Books. C.F. Adams, Jr., ed. 1883. Boston: The 

Prince Society. 

Mount Desert. Harpers New Monthly Magazine, vol, 45:267. Aug 1872. Good for context, but 

nothing specific on Indians. 

Mount Desert Herald. 1881-88. Articles & notes mentioning Wabanakis. Authors made 

relevant excerpts for: 1881-84, 1885 (Jan-Oct9), 1886 (Jun-Oct); 1887 (June-Oct), 1888 (JuneOct). (ANPA).
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603

Mourt, George. 1622. (1865). Mourt’s Relation or Journal of the Plantation at Plymouth. 

Henry Martin Dexter, ed. 1865. Boston: J.K. Wiggin. 

Murdoch, Beamish. 1865. A History of Nova Scotia, 3 vols. Halifax: James Barn.

NEHGR=New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston 1852-1897. 

NYCD=New York Colonial Documents. See O’Callaghan 

National Park Service. 1997. Birds of Acadia National Park. National Park Service. 

Jamestown, ND: Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Home Page. 

http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov 

_____. 2004. Amphibians, Reptiles, and Mammals Check List. Acadia National Park Official 

Website (accessed April 2004). Wysiwyg://297/http://www.nps.gov/acad/ animals.htm

_____. 2005. National Parks Service Species Report: Acadia National Park Species List. 15 

March. 

Needahbeh. See Roland Nelson. 

Nelson, Roland. 1934. Medicinal Plants of Our Maine Indians According to Chief 

Needahbeh, Librarian Penobscot Tribe (1934) In Maine Writers Research Club. 1952. Maine 

Indians in History and Legends (pp.96-102). Portland, ME: Severn, Wylie, Jewett Co. (Uncle of 

noted Penobscot dancer Molly Spotted Elk, Roland Nelson worked in Maine camps as the 

“resident Indian,” telling Wabanaki stories, teaching archery, giving talks about traditions, 

including medicinal practices. His medicine list notes floral species and uses without details 

concerning preparation or plant parts used.) (Authors’ coll.) 

_____. c1935. The Unwritten Indian: A brief historical sketch of the Penobscot Tribe of 

Maine. Canton, Maine: The Pinewood Press Publishers. (Available in the Frank G. Speck Files, 

American Philosophical Society Library, Philadelphia.) 

Neptune, Lt. Gov. John, and SocBasin, Delegate Joseph. 1831. Letter to “His Excellency 

[Maine] Governor Smith and the honorable council.” Requesting departure of white settlers 

from White, Black and Wawkeag islands, long used as encampment sites by Penobscots. [MSA, 

BOX 36, fldr. 29]

Nevlin, William P. 1989. The Lakes and Ponds of Mt. Desert. Camden: Downeast Books. No 

specific mention of Wabanakis except brief comment that Penobscots gave canoe lessons on Bar 

Island. (MHS). 

Nicholas, Andrea Bear. 1984. Maliseet Aboriginal Rights and Mascarene’s Treaty, not 

Dummer’s Treaty. In Actes du dix-septieme Congrès des Algonquinistes. William Cowan, ed. 

Pp. 215-229. Ottawa: Carleton U Press. 

Nichols, George Ward. 1872. Mount Desert. Harpers New Monthly Magazine, vol. 45, issue 

267 (August). New York: Harper’s Brothers. No mention of Indians, but has good map of area 

and useful contextual information. Describes journey aboard steamer from Portland to Rockland 

to the wooden pier at SWH. Significant comment that “Ten or twelve years ago [1860] SWH was 

the principal place of resort upon the island of Mt. Desert, and several houses entertained those 

who came.... Cole was the pioneer here, as he was in our landscape art.... One day Church, when 

prospecting upon the island, made the discovery of BH. The next year...he took a party of friends 

to the same place....” “The objections to landing at SWH present themselves before you have 

taken the first step. Right at the pier there is an extensive lobster house.... The lobster business 

may be a profitable branch of industry, but we put the suggestion to worthy Deacon Clark, who is 

said to own SWH, and who has no part nor lot in lobsters, that they are neither romantic nor 

poetical....” Still, there are attractions in this area, which author describes. Then steamboat 

continues journey eastward, past Cranberry, Great Head, Schooner Head, the Porcupines to 

BH.....Says crowds willing to overlook “the short-comings of the table” because of the 

“bounteous feast which nature spreads before them....MD is not a fashionable resort, while it is 
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more frequented than any of the watering places....” Describes row-boat outing, The Ovens, 

Schooner Head/Devil’s Den, Eagle Lake, 4-mile “walk or ride” from BH to top of Green 

[Cadillac] Mt. (“mountain wagons” available). Describes alternate way to travel to BH besides 

steamer—“a stage ride from Bangor all the way by land to any part of MD.” Also describes 

journey from SWH to BH overland. Refers to Somes House as “the little inn at Somesville.” (on 

Cornell U Making of America website) 

Nicolar, Joseph. 1893. Life and Traditions of the Red Man. Bangor: C.H. Glass. (Reprinted with 

introduction by James D. Wherry. 1979. Fredericton: Saint Annes Point Press.) Nicolar, a 

grandson of Lt. Gov. John Neptune, was well acquainted with Penobscot traditions, but also 

received formal education in white schools. His book is rich with information and insights on 

Wabanaki cultural practices, conveyed through the legendary Glooskap. Eckstorm describes it as 

“the best account” available on the epic of Glooskap. 

Nietfeld, Patricia K.L. 1981. Determinants of Aboriginal Political Structure. Ph.D. 

dissertation, Department of Anthropology, U of New Mexico. 

O’Callaghan, Edmund B. 1853-1887. Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State 

of New York, 15 vols. Albany, NY: Weed, Parsons. 

O’Toole, Francis J., and Tureen, Thomas N., 1971. State Power and the Passamaquoddy 

Tribe: ‘A Gross National Hypocracy?’.Maine Law Review 23 (1), Pp.1-38. 

Old Town Enterprise. 1800s. Articles/notes mentioning Wabanakis. Authors made excerpts of 

relevant passages. 

One of the Attractions of Bar Harbor. 1884. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper. 23 Aug.,

pp. 5-6. A very brief article headed by a collage of engravings showing the Bar Harbor Indian 

encampment situated near Hamor’s wharf. (KS State U Library microfilm) 

O’Toole, Francis J. and Thomas N. Tureen. 1972. “State Power and the Passamaquoddy 

Tribe: A Gross National Hypocrisy?” Maine Law Review no.1 pp.1-38.

Orchard, W.C. 1909. “Notes on Penobscot Houses.” American Anthropologist. vol. 11, No.4 

(Oct.-Dec.), pp.601-606. 

Parker, Jesse L. 1955. Recollections of Southwest Harbor, Maine 1885-1894. Short 

informative statement on p40 that “Indians from Oldtown, Maine camped on the rocks across the 

road from our house each summer.” Notes Wabanakis living in tents, selling baskets and other 

crafts, colling sweetgrass and cutting ash for baskets. (SWHL) 

Parkman, Francis. 1865. Pioneers of France in the New World. Boston: Little Brown & Co. 

This volume and the 1867 Parkman text just below were later included in Parkman’s multivolume history of the colonization of North America, France and England in North America,

published in numerous editions, such as the 1983 edition published in New York by Literary 

Classics of the United States. Among the other volumes included in France and England in North 

America are: The Old Regime in Canada (1874) and Count Frontenac and New France under 

Louis XIV (1877). 

_____. 1867. The Jesuits of North America in the 17th Century. Boston: Little Brown & Co. 

Numerous later editions. The chapters relating to the discovery of Mount Desert and Saint 

Sauveur are reprinted in S.E. Morison, ed. The Parkman Reader (Boston: Little Brown and 

Company, 1955). The English edition published by Faber & Faber, London, is called France and 

England in North America.” (Annotation from Morison’s Story of MDI) 

A Path Guide of Mount Desert Island, Maine. 1915. Published by the Village Improvement 

Societies of Bar Harbor, Seal Harbor, Northeast Harbor, Southwest Harbor. (Authors’ coll.)

Paul, Fredda and Paul, Leslie Wood. 2004. Nipsun [biz-un] Indian Traditional Medicine. 

Unpub. (WMRC) 
▪Annotated Reference List▪

605

Pawling, Micah, ed. 2007. Wabanaki Homeland and the New State of Maine: The 1820 

Journal and Plans of Survey of Joseph Treat. Amherst: U of Massachusetts Press in conjunction 

with the Penobscot Indian Nation, Indian Island, Maine. 

_____. 2007b. Petitions and the Reconfiguration of Homeland: Persistence and Tradition 

Among Wabanaki Peoples in the Nineteenth Century. Ph.D. dissertation, in progress. Orono: 

Department of History, University of Maine. [Title of dissertation is subject to change.] 

Peabody, Marion. 1969 Old Bar Harbor Days. Down East Magazine. Recollections of Bar 

Harbor canoe club, “Indian village” at the ballfield (and Sunday school classes held there), 

excursion to Eagle Lake/Jordan pond along old Indian carry. 

Penhallow, Samuel. 1859. The History of the Wars of new-England with the Eastern Indians. 

Cincinnati: For Wm. Dodge, by J. Harpel.

Pennell, Elizabeth Robins. Charles Godfrey Leland: A Biography. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin 

& Co. 1906. 2-vol. Biography re. folklorist Leland (1824-1903) by his niece. Brief description of 

Leland’s work with Passamaquoddy during the summers of 1881-83, including at BH. (Authors’ 

coll.) 

“Penobscot Indian Baskets.” Robert Abbe Museum Notes 4. Bar Harbor, n.d. Describes the 

Abbe Museum’s basket collections. 

Petersen, James B. et al. 1994. “An Archaic and Woodland Period Fish Weir Complex in 

Central Maine.” Archaeology of Eastern North America, vol. 22, pp.197-222. Re. a stake weir 

on the Sebasticook River as it enters the lake. 

_____. 2004. ‘Mawooshen’ Revisited: Two Native American Contact Period Sites on the 

Central Maine Coast. Archaeology of Eastern North America, vol. 32, pp. 1-71. 

Petersen, James B. and Nancy A. Sidell. 1996. Mid-Holocene Evidence of Cucurbita Sp. 

from Central Maine. American Antiquity, vol. 61(4):685-98. 

Phillips, John. 1736. Letter written from Suffolk Boston July 27. York Deeds 28: 194-195. Gives 

account of William Phip’s capture of St. Castin’s daughter/Madockawando’s granddaughter 

during a raid of Port Royal in May 1690. Notes that she “is Now or was Last year Living at 

Mount Desert...” 

Phippen, Sanford, dir. 1986. A Century of Summers: The Impact of a Summer Colony on a 

Small Maine Coastal Town 1886-1986. The Hancock Historical Society. Video that includes 

several fascinating minutes of moving images and oral history commentary about 

Passamaquoddies boating to Hancock point to sell baskets. 

Porter, Harry C. 1979. The Inconstant Savage: England and the North American Indian 

1500-1660. London: Duckworth. 

Pote, William. 1896. The Journal of Captain William Pote, Jr. During His Captivityin the 

French-Indian War from May 1745 to August 1747. J.F. Hurst, ed. New York: Dodd, Mead.

Powell, John W. 1891. “Indian Linguistic Families.” Bureau of American Ethnology, 7th 

Annual Report, pp.7-142. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. 

Prince, John Dyneley. 1888. Notes on the Language of Eastern Algonkin Tribes. American 

Jounral of Philogogy, vol. 9(3), pp. 310-316. 

_____. 1890. A Contribution to Passamaquoddy Folk-Lore. The Journal of American 

Folklore, vol. 3(1), pp. 257-280. 

_____. 1897. The Passamaquoddy Wampum Records. Proceedings of the American 

Philosophical Society 36:156, pp. 479-95. 
▪Annotated Reference List▪

606

_____. 1900. “Some Passamaquoddy Witchcraft Tales.” American Philosophical Society 

Proceedings, vol.38(160), pp. 181-89. Based in part on research done at Indian encampment in 

Bar Harbor, 1887. Recorded with the phonograph. 

_____. 1901. Notes on Passamaquoddy Literature. Annals of the New York Academy of 

Sciences, 13(4): 381, Prince gives as the “source of information herein published” the 

“Passamaquoddy Indians who spend the summer” at Bar Harbor, Me. 

_____. 1902. The Differentiation between the Penobscot and the Canadian Abenaki 

Dialects. American Anthropologist, vol.4(2), pp. 17-22. On p. 18 Prince noted, “The Penobscot 

material used in this treatise has all be gathered orally from Indians at Bar Harbor, Maine.” 

Among the Penobscot sentence examples he presents: “I know your language a little. I learned it 

at Bar Harbor” (p. 29). 

_____. 1909. A Passamaquoddy Aviator. American Anthropologist, vol. 11(4), pp. 728-650. 

_____. 1910. The Penobscot Language of Maine. American Anthropologist 12(2), pp. 183-208. 

_____. 1921. Passamaquoddy Texts. Publications of the American Ethnological Society, vol. 10. 

Edited by Franz Boas, ed. Pp. 1-85. New York: G.E. Strechert & Co. 

Prince, Thomas, 1755. Annals of New England. Boston: Printed and sold by S. Kneeland in 

Queen-street and by J. and T. Leverett in Cornhill. This is vol. 2 of Prince’s, 2-volume 

Chronological History of New England in the Form of Annals. Vol. 1 appeared in 1736. Prince 

was the minister of South Church in Boston. 

Prins, Harald E.L. 1984. Fould Play on the Kennebec: The Historical Background of Fort 

Western and the Demise of the Abenaki Nation. The Kennebec Proprietor vol. 1 (4), pp. 4-14. 

_____. 1986. Micmacs and Maliseets in the St. Lawrence River Valley. In Papers of the 

Seventeenth Algonquian Conference, W. Cowan, ed., pp. 263-78. Ottawa: Carleton U. 

_____. 1988. Tribulations of a Border Tribe: A Discourse on the Political Ecology of the 

Aroostook Band of Micmacs (16th-20th Centuries). New York: New School for Social Research. 

_____. 1989. Natives and Newcomers: Mount Desert Island in the Age of Exploration 

(pp.21-41) An Island in Time: Three Thousand Years of Cultural Exchange on Mount Desert 

Island. Robert Abbe Museum Bulletin XII. Bar Harbor: Robert Abbe Museum. (Reprinted 1994). 

Tied to Abbe Museum exhibition exploring native American cultural continuity and change on 

the central Maine coast, focusing on MDI. (See Sanger 1998) 

 _____. 1992. “Cornfields at Meductic: Ethnic and Territorial Reconfigurations in Colonial 

Acadia.” Man in the Northeast (now Northeast Anthropology) No.44, pp.55-72. 

_____. 1993. To the Land of the Mistigoches: American Indians Traveling to Europe in the 

Age of Explorations, American Indian Culture and Research Journal, vol. 17(1), 1993:175-95. 

_____. 1994. “Children of Gluskap: Wabanaki Indians on the Eve of the European Invasion.” In 

American Beginnings: Exploration, Culture and Cartography in the Land of Norumbega, pp.165-

211. E.Baker, et al, eds. Lincoln: U. Nebraska Press. 

_____. 1994a. Maliseet. In Native America in the Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia. M. 

Davis, ed. P. 328. New York: Garland Publishing. 

_____. 1994b. Micmac. In Native America in the Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia. M. 

Davis, ed. Pp. 339-340. New York: Garland Publishing. 

_____. 1994c. Passamaquoddy. In Native America in the Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia. 

M. Davis, ed. Pp. 435-436. New York: Garland Publishing. 

_____. 1994d. Penobscot. In Native America in the Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia. M. 

Davis, ed. Pp. 441-442. New York: Garland Publishing. 

_____. 1995. “Turmoil on the Wabanaki Frontier 1524-1678.” In Maine: The Pine Tree State 

from Prehistory to Present, pp. 97-119 (Ch 5). R. Judd, et. al., eds. Orono: U Press of Maine. 

_____. 1995a. Abenaki. In Ready Reference: American Indians. Harvey Markowitz, consulting 

ed. Pp. 1-2. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press. 

_____. 1996a. “Chief Rawandagon Alias Robin Hood: Native ‘Lord of Misrule’ in the 

Maine Wilderness.” In Northeastern Indian Lives, 1632-1816, pp.93-115. Robert Grumet, ed. 

Amherst: U of Massachusetts Press. 
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607

____. 1996b. The Mi’kmaq: Resistance, Accommodation and Cultural Survival. New York: 

Harcourt Brace College Publishers. A comprehensive 500-year history of Mi’kmaqs in Maine and 

Canada’s Maritime Provinces, beginning with an ethnographic baseline that paints a picture of 

Mi’kmaq life on the eve of the European invasion, and carrying through to the present time. 

Pages 61-62 tell of St. Sauveur, p.99 tells of seal hunting expedition from Penobscot Bay to 

Grand Manon Island and Bay of Fundy/Baxter 10:289, p.109 speaks of Mt. Desert as the 

Mi’kmaq’s “Gulf of Maine stronghold.” 

_____. 1998. Chief Big Thunder (1827-1906) The Life History of a Penobscot Trickster 

(pp.140-158) Maine History, vol.37, No.3 (Winter). The most complete profile of Frank “Big 

Thunder” Loring to date. 

_____. 2001. Storm Clouds over Wabanakiak: Confederacy Diplomacy until Dummer’s 

Treaty (1727). In From Lake Champlain to the Penobscot: The Abenaki and their Neighbors. 

James Petersen and C.A. Roy, eds. (Forthcoming 2007). Hanover: U Press of New England. 

(Electronic version published by the Treaty Education Initiative of the Atlantic Policy Congress 

of First Nations Chiefs (APC), <www.apcfnc.ca>. This article also appeared on Passamaquoddy 

Tribal Education and Museum Project, Pleasant Point, Maine, 2004. 

_____. 2002 The Crooked Path of Dummer’s Treaty: Anglo-Wabanaki Diplomacy & the 

Quest for Aboriginal Rights. Papers of the Algonquian Conference/Actes des Congres des 

Algonquinistes. Ed. by H.C. Wolfart. Winnipeg: U Manitoba Press, pp.84-106.

_____. 2003. Review of “Twelve Thousand Years: American Indians in Maine.” American 

Anthropologist 104, No.2, pp. 670-72. 

Prins, Harald E.L. and Bruce J. Bourque. 1987. “Norridgewock: Village Translocation on 

the New England-Acadian Frontier.” Man in the Northeast No.33, pp.137-58. 

Prins, Harald E.L., and Bunny McBride. 1992a. Discovering Europe, 1493. World Monitor 5

(11), pp. 56-62. 

_____. 1992b. A Social History of Maine Indian Basketry. The Kennebec Proprietor 6 (2), pp. 

18-21. 

Purchas, Samuel. 1617, 1619. (1905-1907). Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgrimes, 

20 vols. Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons. 

Raisz, Erwin J. 1929. The Scenery of Mt. Desert Island. Annals of the New York Academy of 

Sciences, vol. 31, p121-86. Sept. 18. NYAS. Describes physiographic divisions, soil, climate, 

veg, “Lafayette Nat’l Park,” geological history, lit. review, cliffs, shoreline development. Includes 

original names of various mountains. (MHS) 

Rand, Edward L. 1890. An Important Work: The Flora of Mount Desert. MDH, Part 1, 

5/23/90, p1; Part 2, 6/27/90, p1; Part 3, 8/22/9, p1; Part 4, 8/29/90, p1; Part 5, 9/5/90, p1. A 

serial sample of Rand and Redfield’s 1894 catalog Flora of Mount Desert Island, Maine. (See 

Rand & Redfield below.) 

_____. 1890. The Old Time Names: Notes on the Topographical Nomenclature of Mt. 

Desert. .MDH, 6/20/90, p1. Comments and corrections re. topographical nomenclature on map 

published by coast survey of MDI. (Reprint available on Internet)

Rand, Edward L. and Redfield, John H. 1894. Flora of Mount Desert Island, Maine: A 

Preliminary Catalogue of the Plants Growing on Mount Desert and the Adjacent Islands.

Cambridge, MA: John Wilson & Son. Includes topographic map, narrative, plus annotated 

inventory of species on MDI. (Reproduction in Authors’ coll.) 

Rand, Silas. T. 1894. Legends of the Micmacs. New York And London: Longmans, Green. 

Ray, Roger B. “A Malecite Calendar of the Pre-Contact Period.” Archaeoastronomy 6, Nos. 

1-4 (1983) 81-85. 
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608

Reeves, Randall R. et al. 2002Humpback and Fin Whaling in the Gulf of Maine 1810-1918. 

Marine Fisheries Review 64(1). Mentions pre-contact Indian use of stranded whales, noting G.M. 

Allen 1916, The Whalebone Whales of New England. Mem. Boston Society for Natural History 

8(2):105-322. 

Reid, John G. Acadia, Maine, and New Scotland, Marginal Colonies in the Seventeeth 

Century. Toronto: U of Toronto Press, 1981, pp.14-20.

Reynolds, Emily Phillips. 1966. Down Memory Lane. Portland: Maine Printing Co. On p1 

author notes: “I was born at Asticou in 1889 in my grandfather’s house, Harbor Cottage, at the 

head of Northeast Harbor where could be seen the lovely view of the harbor and the island 

beyond. Mother and father lived there when they were first married, while their house was being 

built across the way....” On p32 she says, that in the summer “The Indians came too, selling their 

baskets and little birchbark canoes, beautiful hand-made articles, smelling of sweet grass. One 

summer they camped in the field below Icehouse Hill and made their baskets there, for they could 

find sweet grass along the shore.” (JL) 

Richardson, John M. Steamboat Lore of the Penobscot. This readable history of steamboating 

from Boston to Maine profiles some 100 steamers and their stories, giving a window on the 

transportation that played such an important role in Maine’s economic development, including 

tourism on MDI. Features 300+ photographs. 

Ring, Elizabeth. 1953. Fannie Hardy Eckstorm: Maine Woods Historian. Northeast Quarterly, 

vol.26 pp.45-64. Overview of Eckstorm’s association with Indians. Page 51 notes trips to 

Cranberry Isles to hunt for ballads and note Indian landmarks and absorb stories of Indian 

trappers. As the son of a fur trader in regular contact with Indians in the Bangor/Brewer area, 

Fannie’s father, Manly Hardy, “began early to absorb the tradition and woods lore that the 

association brought. . . . [He] counseled her to win and deserve the confidence of the Indians, to 

learn their language and the meaning of their nomenclature, and to study their tribal customs. It 

was the combined knowledge of father and daughter that, in the last years of her life, she recorded 

in Old John Neptune. (Old John Neptune, xi). . . . Notes and journals kept by Manly Hardy were 

faithfully preserved by his daughter.” 

Rochemonteix, C. de. ed., 1904, Relation par Lettres de l’Amerique Septentrionale, (Années 

1709 et 1710). Paris: Letouzey et Ane.

Rogers, Jean. 1947. Notes on Penobscot Herbal Remedies. Unpub. Information compiled 

while author was a student at Ellsworth Falls digs. Her informants included “Clara” from Indian 

Island “who was chef at the camp at Graham Lake, Mary Daylight Mitchell (identified as a “very 

old Micmac”), Marie Lewis Morris (Penobscot), David Lewis (Penobscot), Maliang Paul 

(Passamaquoddy), “Old Maliang Paul (Malecite) [distinct from Maliang Paul/Pass?], Gabe 

Polchis [sic]. Not always easy to decipher, but nonetheless useful information about traditional 

herbal treatements. (AML) 

Rosier, James. 1605. A true relation of the most prosperous voyage made this present yeere 

1605, by Captain George Weymouth, in the discovery of the land of Virginia. . . . Written by 

James Rosier, a Gentlman employed in the voyage. In Kania, Richard R.E. 2005. The 1605 

Waymouth Expedition to the Coast of Maine: An Assessment of the Rosier Text, pp.3-78. 

Southern Pines, NC: Carolinas Press. This book features a transcription [in modern English] of 

Rosier’s original Relation, followed by Kania’s analysis of it. While there are some problems 

with the analysis, the book is useful, in part because it provides the original pagination of Rosier’s 

text. The numerous other presentations of Rosier’s work include The English New England 

Voyages, edited by David B. Quinn and Allison M. Quinn, pp.251-311. London: Hakluyt Society, 

1983. Also, the work can be found on the Internet at 

www.davistownmuseum.org/InfoRosiersRelation.html 
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609

Russell, Howard S. 1980. Indian New England Before the Mayflower Hanover, N.H., and 

London: U Press of New England, p178. Referred to in ch.1, note 6 of Kenneth R. Martin & 

Nathan R. Lipfert’s Lobstering and the Maine Coast, as reference for statement that Maine 

Indians smoked or sundried lobsters. 

Ryan, Allie. 1972. Penobscot Bay Mount Desert and Eastport Steamboat Albumn. Camden: 

Down East Magazine. Features pictures of “all” the steamboats. (JL) 

Ryder, Huia. 1979. Biencourt de Poutrincourt et de Sait-Just, Jean de. In Dictionary of 

Canadian Biography, vol.1. Toronto: U Toronto Press. 

SP=Calendar of State Papers: Colonial Series, American and West Indies, 1574-1733. 40 

vols. London: H. M. Stationary Office, 1862-1939. Various editors. See Headlam, C., and 

Sainsbury, W. N. (Great Britain, Public Records Office) 

Sabina, Ann. 1965. Rock and Mineral Collecting in Canada, Volume II, Ontario and 

Quebec. Ottawa: Geological Survey of Canada. Geological Survey of Canada Miscellaneous 

Report 8. 

Sainsbury, William N. 1860. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series: America and the 

West 

Indies (1574-1660). London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts. 

_____. 1880. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series: America and the West Indies (1661-

1668). London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts. 

Sanger, David. 1988. “Maritime Adaptation in the Gulf of Maine.” Archaeology of Eastern 

North America, vol. 16, pp.88-100. 

_____. 1989. Insights into Native American Life at Fernald Point (pp.5-20). An Island in 

Time: Three Thousand Years of Cultural Exchange on Mount Desert Island. Robert Abbe 

Museum Bulletin XII. Bar Harbor: Robert Abbe Museum. Tied to Abbe Museum exhibition on 

Native American cultural continuity and change on the central Maine coast, focusing on MDI. 

(See accompanying ethnohistory piece by Prins 1998) 

Sagard-Theodat, Gabriel. 1939. The Long Journey to the Country of the Hurons [1632].

Edited with an Introduction and Notes by George M. Wrong, and translated into English by H.H. 

Langton. Toronto: The Champlain Society. 

Sanipass, Mary. 1990. Baskadegan: Basket Making Step-by-Step. Madawaska, ME: The Saint 

John Valley Publishing Company. Written by a well-known Micmac basketmaker with most 

photographs by her husband Donald Sanipass, also a noted basketmaker. 

Sauer, Carl. O. 1968. Northern Mists. Berkeley: U California Press. 

_____. 1972. Sixteenth Century North America, The Land and People as Seen by the 

Europeans. Berkeley: U of California Press.

_____. 1980. Seventeenth Century North America. Berkeley: U of California Press. 

Savoie, Sylvie. 2003. L’Alliance Franco-Abénakise à L’Époque de Nescambiouit, vers 1660-

1727. Sainte-Foye (Quebec): Les Éditions. 

Sawtelle, William Otis. 1923. “Sir Francis Bernard and his Grant of Mount Desert.” 

Colonial Society of Massachusetts Publications XXIV, pp.197-254. Includes reproduction of the 

rare Des Barres Atlantic Neptune chart of the Island and adjacent waters. Also useful for 

contextual purposes. (esp. pp.197-206, 244-49. (Ma.HS) 

_____. 1923. The Island of Mount Desert. Sprague’s Journal of Maine History, vol. 11(d).

Mentions (p. 139) Somes purchasing Greening’s Island from Indians for a gallon of rum. Also 

discusses a 1675 “incident” at Adowaket Bay...”the name of a body of water not far from 

MDI”—the English form of the Indian name Ottawakik or Adowawkeag applied to the ancient 

stamping ground of the Passamaquoddies which once existed on the eastern side of Frenchman 
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610

Bay. [Notably] Cadillac’s seigniorial title, Lord of Douaquet and Mount Desert contains the 

French equivalent of the same Indian word from which Adowaket is derived. It is therefore 

evident, since both English and French traders frequented the Indian village on the shores of 

Sorrento Harbor, as shown by the English Adowaket and the French Douaquet, both forms of 

Ottawakik, that few adventurous fishermen might have there established themselves.” Note 2 says 

that in Cadillac’s Memoir of 1692 the word is plainly Douaquet as applied to the river now 

known as Skilling’s river at the head of Frenchman Bay” Douaquet river was northeast of MDI. 

Under heading “Prince Talleyrand and the Honorable Edward Robbins” discusses speculated 

incognito visit of the prince who was in exile from France due to revolution (pp.136-143). 

_____. 1925. Mount Desert: Champlain to Bernard. In Sprague’s Journal of Maine History, 

vol. 13(3). July, August, Sept. Subheads: Sieur Samuel Champlain; St. Sauver; Sir Robert 

Mansell (place name info); Acadia/Sir Wm Alexander/Treaty of St. Germain-En-Laye/La Tour 

and Charnisay/Death of D’Aulnay Charnisay/La Tour Returns to Ft. St John/Honest Tom 

Temple/The Duck of York’s Province; Cadillac, Seigneur de Douaquet et Mont Deserts; The 

Eastern Lands/Gov. Bernard Arrives in Boston/The Mount Desert Grant/Nova Scotia’s 

Claim/Bernard is Aroused/Bernard is Reprimanded/Bernard is Vindicated/Bernard Appeals to the 

King (info re. Somes et al)/The Country of Canada Again/Mount Desert Grant Approved; Sir 

John Bernard.

Sesquicentennial, 1818-1968: Historical Souvenir Book, Perry, Maine. n.p., n.d.[1968].128 pp. 

Sewall, ____. 1859. Source mislaid.

Shaler, Nathaniel S. 1889. Geology of the Island of Mount Desert, Maine. Washington, DC: 

Government Printing Office. (We could not locate a copy of this)

_____. 1909. Autobiography of Nathaniel Shaler. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. Chapter IX 

relates his cruise along the Maine Coast in 1860 (accd. to Morison’s Story of MDI biblio). (We 

could not locate a copy of this) 

Short, Vincent and Edwin Sears. 1955. Sail & Steam. Portland: Bond Wheelwright Co. 

Maritime history including profiles (words & images) of steamships that serviced MDI and other 

locations in research area. 

Shurtleff, Nathaniel B., ed. 1853-1854. Records of the Governor and Company of the 

Massachusetts Bay in New England 1628-1686. 5 vols. Boston: W. White, Printer to 

the Commonwealth. 

Shurtleff, Nathaniel B., and David Pulsifer, eds. 1855-1861. Records of the Colony of New 

Plymouth, in New England, 12 vols. Boston: William White. (Reprint, New York: AMS Press, 

1968.) 

Siebert, Frank T., 1943. Review. [Eckstorm, F.H., 1941. “Indian Place Names in Maine.”] In 

The New England Quarterly vol.16 (3), pp.503-507.

_____. 1973. The Identity of the Tarrantines, with an Etymology. Studies in Linguistics, 

vol.23, pp. 69-76. 

_____. 1982. Frank G. Speck, Personal Reminiscences. Papers of the Algonquian Conference,

vol. 13, pp. 91-136

Small, Hermon Wesley, M.D. (1898). 1933. A History of the Town of Swan’s Island, Me. The 

second edition, completed by Small in 1933, was typeset and may have gone to press, although 

no printed copies have been found. A portion of the typeset manuscript (nearly 100 pages) was 

located in 2005. The subtitle on the title page reads: Revised and enlarged, together with a 

genealogical record of its settlers, and subsequent inhabitants. It is available online at 

www.swansisland.org. It includes fascinating descriptions gathered in oral histories collected by 

Small and reaching back to the 1830s. Notably for this report, it features commentary about Black 

Island and Orono Island—and Indian associations with these places, as well as with Swan’s 

Island. As he notes on p.6: “When I came to this island in 1891 . . . I began at once to secure from 
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611

the oldest inhabitants the interesting information of the past which they could give. There were 

then several of the second generation living, whose memory extended back to many of the 

primitive settlers, and were well informed by their parents of the traditions of the past, the people 

who came here as settlers, and the conditions which confronted them.”

Smith, Edgar Crosby, ed. 1902. Moses Greenleaf, Maine’s first map-maker, A Biography: 

with letters, unpublished manuscripts and a reprint of Mr. Greenleaf’s rare paper on Indian 

place-names, also a bibliography of the maps of Maine. Bangor: Printed for the De Burians by 

C.H. Glass & Co. (WL) 

Smith, Helen. 1895. Cottage Directory for Bar Harbor, Mt. Desert Island, and Adjacent 

Resorts, with Receive Days, for the Season of 1895, Revised to August 1. Issued Supplementary to 

the Bar Harbor Record. 

Smith, John. 1631. (1833). Advertisements for the Unexprienced Plantrs of New England, 

Or, Anywhere. Or, the Pathway to Experience to Erect a Plantation. Collections of the

Massachusetts Historical Society, Series 3, vol. 3. 

_____. 1616 (1898a). A Description of New England (1616). American Colonial Tracts 

Monthly, vol. 2(1), (May), pp.1-39. Originally printed in London by Humfrey Lownes for Robert 

Clerke. Describes the fishing, soils, inhabitants, fauna, flora, and climate of the coastal region 

from Cape Cod to Penobscot.

_____. 1622 (1898b). New England’s Trials. American Colonial Tracts Monthly, vol. 2(2), 

(June), pp. 1-23. Originally printed in London, Smith’s 1622 publication was an expanded 

version of his original 1620. Discusses New England as a site for colonization. Available online 

at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=etas 

Smith, Kevin P. 1998. Comments on Norse Penny. Internet discussion. 

Smith, Marion Whitney. 1962. Algonquin and Abenaki Indian Myths and Legends. Lewiston: 

Central Maine Press. Includes Glooscap, Bride of Waban and Morning Star Myths.

Smith, Nicholas. 1954. Premonition Spirits Among the Wabanaki. Bulletin of the 

Massachusetts Archaeological Society, vol. 15(3), pp.52-56. 

_____. nd. Penobscot Traditions: Penobscot Life in Prehistoric Times. Small, but detail-rich 

booklet touching on traditional Penobscot culture and mythology. 

_____. 1960. Wabanaki Uses of greases and oils. Massachusetts Archaeological Society 

Bulletin 21(2):19-21. Shows the importance of bear grease and seal oil to the Wabanaki. 

_____. 1966. The Development of Wabanaki Herb Medicines. Maine Archaeological Society 

Bulletin 5(1):1-4; 6(2):21-23. Presents a theory that the use of Indian herb medicines as we think 

of them today did not develop until after the plagues and were based on European medicinal 

herbs. 

_____. 1988. The Economics of Wabanaki Basket Industry. Draft of brief paper. (Authors’ 

coll.) 

_____. 1991. The Three Faces of Katahdin. Papers of the Algonquian Conference, vol. 22, 

pp.336-45. 

_____. 1993. The Wabanaki as Mariners. Papers of the 24th Algonquian Conference, pp.364-

380. Wm. Cowan, ed. Ottawa: Carleton U. Shows the importance coastal Wabanaki placed on the 

sea. 

Smith, Walter B. 1929. The Jones Cove Shell-Heap at West Gouldsboro, Maine.” Lafayette 

National Park Museum Bulletin 1. Bar Harbor. 

Snow, Dean R. 1976. “The Ethnohistoric Baseline of the Eastern Abenaki.” Ethnohistory 23, 

No.3, pp.291-306.

_____. 1978a: “Late Prehistory of the East Coast.” In Handbook of North American Indians, 

vol. 15: Northeast. Bruce G. Trigger, ed. Pp. 58-69. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution 
▪Annotated Reference List▪

612

_____. 1978b. “Eastern Abenaki.” In Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 15: Northeast. 

Bruce G. Trigger, ed. Pp. 137-147. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. 

_____. 1979. American Society for Ethnohistory Presidential Address,. Ethnohistory 26(3), 

Pp.201-08. 

Soctomah, Donald, ed. 2002. Passamaquoddy at the Turn of the Century 1890-1920: Tribal 

Life and Times in Maine and New Brunswick. Chronologically arranged collection of excerpts 

from newspapers and other archival sources with oral history inserts gathered by the editor 

(sources not cited). Includes photographs. Printing funded by Maine Humanities Council, 

Passamaquoddy Tribe of Indian Township. (Available at the Abbe Museum) 

_______ 2003. Hard Times at Passamaquoddy 1921-1950: Tribal Life and Times in Maine and 

New Brunswick. Chronologically arranged collection of excerpts from newspapers and other 

archival sources with oral history inserts gathered by the editor (sources not cited). Includes 

photographs. (Available at the Abbe Museum) 

Somes, Abraham. 1816. Letter to Eben Parsons, Esq. 20 April, accompanied by statement. 

In the statement the founder of Somesville recounts a (dubious) story of how he and Sutton 

“purchased” Greening and Sutton island from the “Indian Governor” of MDI for 1.5 gallons of 

rum. In the letter he tells how he established his farm in what became known as Somesville. 

(BPL, Barton Ticknor Collection, listed under Abraham Somes) 

Somes-Sanderson, Virginia. 1982. The Living Past: Being the Story of Somesville, Mount 

Desert, Maine, and its Relationship with Other Areas of the Island. Mt. Desert: Beech Hill 

Publishing. Information re. Wabanaki on pp .67-71. Recounts what Abraham Somes & family 

learned from Indians circa 1761-1840s re. use of natural materials from brown ash to inner bark 

of elm trees to flax to birch bark to natural remedies. Abraham’s son John told his granddaughter 

Dell “that when he was a boy, one of the Indians taught him how to make a scoop net for fishing 

and another made a pair of snowshoes for him. An Indian woman had shown him how splint 

baskets are made. In [Dell’s] ‘Reminiscences of Somesville’ she wrote of several camps in her 

grandfather’s pasture on the edge of the pond, called Lily Pond, now known as Somes Pond.” 

(See Joy, Adelma, above). 

Souvenir of Bar Harbor. c1882. No author, but may have been put together by MDI & Boston 

store owner Albert Bee. Features more than a dozen photos, a street map of Bar Harbor and a 

bird’s eye vie of the island, which shows the Indian encampment on the shoreside at the west side 

of the foot of Bridge/Bar St. (Authors’ coll.) 

Speck, Frank G. 1911. A Visit to the Penobscot Indians. U of Pennsylvania Museum Journal

2, No. 1, pp. 21-26. 

_____. 1915. Penobscot Tales. Journal of American Folklore 28, pp. 52-58. 

_____. 1915. The Eastern Algonkian Wabanaki Confederacy. American Anthropologist n.s. 

17, pp. 492-508. 

_____. 1917. Medicine Practices of the Northeastern Algonquians, pp. 301-21, Proceedings of 

the 19th International Congress of Americanists. W.F. Hodge, ed. Washington.

_____. 1918. “Penobscot Transformer Tales Dictated by Newell Lion.” International Journal 

of American Linguistics, vol. 1(3), (August), pp. 187-244. In Penobscot with English translation. 

_____. 1927. Symbolism in Penobscot Art. Anthropological Papers. American Museum of 

Natural History 29, part 2. New York. 

_____. 1935. “Penobscot Tales and Religious Beliefs.” The Journal of American Folk-Lore, 

vol. 48(187), (January-March 1935), pp. 1-107. 

_____. 1940. Penobscot Man, the Life History of a Forest Tribe in Maine. Philadelphia: U of 

Pennsylvania Press. Most complete description of Penobscot culture. Mount Desert Island 

mentioned briefly on p9. 
▪Annotated Reference List▪

613

Speck, Frank G. and Butler, Eva L. 1947 Eastern Algonkian Block-Stamp Decoration: A 

New World Original or an Acculturated Art. Trenton, NJ: Archaeological Society of New 

Jersey. Page 22 mentions Mitchell Attean in Bar Harbor. 

Speck, Frank G. and W.S. Hadlock. 1946. “A Report on Tribal Boundaries and Hunting 

Areas of the Malecite Indians of New Brundswick.” American Anthropologist 48, no.3, pp. 

355-74

Spiess, Arthur E. 1983. A Bibliography of Maine Prehistory through May, 1983. Maine 

Archaeological Society Bulletin 23, No. 2, pp. 37-51. 

_____. 1985. “Maine Prehistory Bibliography Addendum.” Maine Archaeological Society 

Bulletin 25, no. 2, pp. 55-56. 

_____. 2005. Overview with Map Index of Known Native American Sites along Maine’s 

Coast from the Deer Isle Area to Gouldsboro Bay. October 2004. Generated for the Prins & 

McBride 2007 ANP Ethnohistory Report. 

Spiess, Arthur E., and Mark Hedden. 1983. Kidder Point and Sears Island in Prehistory, 

Occasional Publications in Maine Archaeology No. 3 (Augusta, ME: Maine Historic Preservation 

Commission), p161. 

Spiess, Arthur E. and Bruce D. Spiess. 1987. “New England Pandemic of 1616-1622: Cause 

and Archaeological Implications.” Man in the Northeast, no.34 , pp.71-98. Co-uthored by an 

archaeologist and a medical specialist, this article offers a detailed review of the symptoms and 

diagnoses of the infectious diseases introduced by European newcomers and concludes that 

hepatitis contributed to the high mortality rate during the virulent pandemic decimating New 

England’s Algonquian coastal populations in the early 17th century. 

Spiker, LaRue. 1963. Bartlett’s Is. Bar Harbor Times. 9 May. 

Spotted Elk, Molly (Mary Alice Nelson Archambaud). 2003. Katahdin: Wigwam’s Tales of 

the Abnaki Tribe. Northeast Folklore vol. xxxvii. Orono: Northeast Folklife Center. Legends 

gathered in childhood/youth among Penobscot elders by an internationally renowned Penobscot 

dancer (1903-1977), written and revised during her adult life and finally published a quarter of a 

century after her passing.

Sprague, John Francis. 1916. The Indians of Maine. In Sprague’s Journal of Maine History, 

vol. 4(1), (June). Excerpt from Backwoods Sketches by J.F. Sprague (Augusta, Maine, 1912, pp. 

83-95) 

Spurling, Sr., Theodore L. 1991. Ensign Ben Bunker, Mt. Desert, and the Cranbuerry Isles.

Islesford Historical Society Occasional Paper No. 2. August. Rehashes early history, noting 

Indians wiped out by epidemics and warfare. Doesn’t mention them again. (MSL). 

Stoddard, Natalie B. 1966. Micmac Foods. Halifax: Nova Scotia Museum. 

[chkd/Abbe/photocopied} Stoddard a NS Museum archaeologist. Booklet reprinted from the 

Journal of Education. 

Stanton, G. Smith. 1905. Where the Sportsman Loves to Linger: A Narrative of the Most 

Popular Canoe Trips in Maine. The Allagash, the East and West Branches of the Penobscot.

NY: J.S. Ogilvie Pub. Co. Author guided by a “Bangor Indian” and a “Kineo Indian”—not about 

ANP, but useful concerning Indian guiding. (MSL) 

Steel, Thomas Sedgwick. 1882. Canoe & Camera: A 200 Mile Tour Through the Maine 

Forests. Boston: Estes and Lauriat, Pubs. (60 engravings) (MSL) 

Strachey, William. 1612. (1983). The Narrative of the North Virginia Voyage and Colony. In 

Collections of the Maine Historical Society, vol. 3, Pp.304-09. 
▪Annotated Reference List▪

614

Quinn, David B. and Allison M. Quinn, eds. 1983. The Narrative of the North Virginia 

Voyage and Colony. In The English New England Voyages. Hakluyt Society, London, England. 

Pp. 397-415. 

_____. 1618. Historie of Travaile Into Virginia Britannia. In Collections of Maine Historical 

Society (Portland 1853), Series 1, vol. 2, pp. 283-309. Strachey’s summary of Cpt. Robert 

Davies’ journal, which was written during the failed effort to found Popham Colony 1607-1608. 

Street, George A. 1905. Mount Desert, a History, edited by Samuel A. Eliot. Boston & NY: 

Houghton Miflin. New edition, revised by the editor 1926. Viewed as the standard MDI history of 

its day. Pages 60-99 place Indians in history, claiming MDI was essentially cleared of indigenous 

peoples after 1700s, and that this was one of the reasons it appealed to settlers. Page 99 notes that 

“It remains only to repeat that the annals of the first permanent white settlers on MD in the years 

following 1762 contain no allusions to the Indians.... Since the modern summer colony has 

peopled the headlands and the shores of the islands, the descendants of the Penobscot and 

Passamaquoddy tribes have come back to their camping grounds, not to hunt and fish, but to sell 

their wares, basket-work, toy canoes, bows and arrows, fancy moccasins and dried skins.” (JL, 

MaHS) 

Sullivan, James. 1804. The History of the Penobscot Indians. MaHS Colls, Series 1, vol. 9. 

Food discussed pp. 209 (clams) and 177-78. 

Sweetser, Moses Foster. 1873. New England, a Handbook for Travellers: A Guide to the Chief 

Cities and Popular Resorts of New England, and to its Scenery and Historical Attractions, with 

the West and North Borders from New York to Quebec. Boston: JR Osgood. (Microfiche, 

UMO). 

_____. 1879 & 1880. Picturesque Maine. Portland: Chisholm Bros. [Covers Old Orchard, 

Portland, Boothbay, . . . Mt. Desert, Moosehead,...Rangely Lakes, etc] [p40 describes Indians “of 

the genuine summer-resort variety” and the village of Sullivan, mainly famous for its 

granite...exported” and Schoodic lakes “where Indian guides lead to the best of fishing...in their 

bark canoes.” (MSL)

_____. 1883. Summer Days Downeast. Portland: Chisholm Brothers (MSL, UMO).

_____. 1888. Chisholm’s Mount Desert Guide-Book. Portland: Chisholm Bros. Pubs. Pages 64-

65 discuss Indian Head promontory on Somes Sound & shellheaps found near NEH. Other 

relevant information: Lewey Mitchelle canoing around MDI (60 mi in 12 hrs); an “Indian Store in 

BH; an Indian encampment at Eddy Brook outlet; Champlain encounter with Natives at Otter 

Cove which in “ancient times” “was occupied by beaver dams; 1880s attempt to move Indian 

village from BH to one of the Porcupine islands;. Indian canoe route (Eagle 

Lake/portage/Jordan’s Pond/Seal Harbor/then BH by sea); Sardine factory at Bass Harbor; Pretty 

Marsh settler who in 1760s moved to Prospect Harbor where 2 white men had been engaged in 

summer trade with Passamaquoddy; Indians camping on Clark Pt in SWH; 1742 trade vessel 

encounter with Indians on Gott’s Island (formerly known as Little Placentia) who took possession 

of boat. (MaHS & MHS). 

Swift, Henry Walton, and Dacre Bush. 1874. Mount Desert in 1873, Portrayed in Crayon and 

Quill. Boston: J.R. Osgood, 1874. “An amusing illustrated account of the Bar Harbor summer 

colony.” (We could not locate this) 

Talbot, Francis. 1935. Saint Among Savages: The Life of Isaac Jogues. New York: Harper and 

Brothers. Reprinted 2002. Ft. Collins, CO: Ignatius Press. 

Thayer, Henry O. 1867.1892 The Sagadahock Colony, Comprising The Relation of a Voyage 

into New England. Portland: The Gorges Society. Page 50 mentions Penobscot woman selling 

baskets door to door in Vinalhaven. 

Thornton, Mrs. Seth S [Nellie]. 1938. Traditions and Records, Southwest Harbor and 

Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine. Privately printed, Auburn, Me.: Merrill & Webber Co.
▪Annotated Reference List▪

615

Compilation of historical information on area. Indians mentioned on pp. 18-21, 254-56, 166-67, 

based primarily on Adelma Somes Joy’s Reminiscences. (SWHL, MaHS) 

Thoreau, Henry David. The Maine Woods. New York: Norton, 1950. His 18__ (Katahdan), 

1853 (Chesuncook) and 1857 (Allagash and East Branch) trips. Numerous useful details about 

habitat and material culture, including detailed description of construction of Penobscot and St. 

Francis canoes... 

Thwaites, Reuben Gold, ed. 1896-1901. The Jesuit relations and allied documents: Travels 

and Explorations of the Jesuit missionaries in New France 1610-1791. 73 vols. Burrows 

Brothers, Cleveland, OH. Reprinted in 1959 by Pagent Books, New York, NY. 

Tomah, Fred. Nd. “Fred Tomah’s Indian Medicines.” Peter Dana Point, Indian Township.

Unpub.. (List of plants and uses, and in some cases preparation. See also: “Youth Show Little 

Interest in Native Medicine,”a profile on Fred Tomah in Wabanaki Alliance, July 1979, p10.) 

Tomah, Gabriel. 1897-1909. Gabriel Tomah’s Journal. Unpublished. Initially used as recordkeeping book for Passamaquoddy band directed by Peter Mitchell and known as “Mitchell’s 

Band.” Lists musicians, regulations, dues paid, and rules that band members lose claim to 

instrument if they play with “the other” Pleasant Point Band. Excerpts from the journal are posted 

at the Passamaquoddy museum at Pleasant Point. According to Willard Walker’s 1981 article 

about the journal (see Walker entry below), it is owned by the Brooks family at Peter Dana 

Point.) 

Trigger, Bruce G., and James F. Pedergast. 1978. Saint Lawrence Iroquoians. In Northeast 

Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 15. Bruce G. Trigger, ed. Pp. 357-361. Washington, 

DC: Smithsonian Institution. 

Trudel, Marc, 1973. The Beginnings of New France, 1524-1663. Toronto: McClelland and 

Stewart 

Underwood, William L. 1927. Wilderness Adventures. Boston, NY, etc: Ginn & Co. Illustrated 

with photos by the author, this book features substantial information about Passamaquoddy Joe 

Mell (a.k.a. Joe Pierpole). Pages 1-45 tell of the hunting expeditions Underwood made with Mell. 

Pages 228-44 tell of a trip Mell made to Boston. Having shot two big buck deer at a time when 

venison was bringing top price. The Indian agent sent Underwood word that Mell was en route 

from Eastport via steamship. Underwood was there to meet Joe when the ship docked at the 

wharf on Atlantic Ave. After arranging for the sale of Joe’s venison, Underwood invited Joe 

home with him. The rest of the chapter is about Joe’s experience in Underwood’s home and on 

city & countryside outings with Underwood him. Outings included a football game between 

Harvard and the Carlisle Indians. Joe’s comment on football: “awful tough game. I rather chop 

wood than play this game.” Underwood also took Joe to New York City, by way of Niagara Falls. 

When heading home after spending time in both cities, Joe said, “I would not live in city if you 

pay me one thousand dollars week. I awful glad when I get back my canoe and paddle.” 

Upton, Leslie F.S. 1977. The Extermination of the Beothucks of Newfoundland. Canadian 

Historical Review, vol. 58 (2):133-53. 

Vandenbergh, Lydia and Shettleworth, Earle G. Jr. 1997. Revisiting Seal Harbor and Acadia 

National Park. Arcadia Publishing. Doesn’t mention Indians, but useful for contextual 

information provided in the narrative and photographs. 

_____. 200l. Mount Desert Island, Somesville, Southwest Harbor, and Northeast Harbor. 

Arcadia Publishing. A bit of specific information about Wabanakis (especially 2 photos showing 

19th c campsite in SWH). Also very useful for contextual information provided in the narrative 

and photographs. 
▪Annotated Reference List▪

616

VanWart, Arthur. 1948. The Indians of the Maritime Provinces: Their Diseases and Native 

Cures. Canadian Medical Association Journal, vol. 59, pp. 573-77. 

Varney, Lloyd H. 1971. A Blue Hill Bay Coastal Midden Site. Maine Archaeology Bulletin

2(1), pp. 14-32. 

Varney, George J. 1886. History of Brooksville, Maine. In A Gazetter of the State of Maine.

Boston: B.B. Russell. 

Vaughan, William Warren. 1930. Northeast Harbor Reminiscences. Hallowell: White & 

Horne Co. 86 pages. According to S.E. Morison’s 1960 bibliography, this is one of the best 

sources of information re. NEH’s summer colony and was written under pen name “An Old 

Summer Resident.” The basis of Vaughan’s reminiscence, wrote Morison, was Abram 

Gilpatrick’s Reminiscences of NEH, 1929. (We did not locate this.)

Verrill, A. Hyatt. 1933. Romantic and Historic Maine. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. Chapter 

7, “The Dawn People” (pp. 97-118) reviews Wabanaki history and includes some of the author’s 

first-hand observations of Maine’s Native peoples, including their use of Plains Indian regalia 

“during their fetes” at the time. Noting the importance of “Indian curios” sales as part of their 

livelihood, he says the Passamaquoddy are “noted fishermen . . . marvelously skillful in handling 

their canoes and small boats in heavy weather. Then he describes the thrill of seeing 

Passamaquoddies “hunting porpoises in a birch canoe, in the rough waters.” Hyatt Verrill (1871-

1954) was a prolific author (105 books published), illustrator and naturalist. He came to know 

Passamaquoddies through his father, zoologist Addison Emery Verrill (1839-1926), who was 

raised in Maine and later did maritime research in the state, including Grand Manan. While 

attending Harvard College, Addison worked as Agassiz’s assistant in the Museum of 

Comparative Zoology (1860-64). 

_____. 1954. The Real Americans. New York. Pages 95-97 tell of the author’s direct encounters 

with Passamaquoddy – beginning with his childhood impressions in the late 1880s-90s. Notes 

how they dressed during that era. Goes on to describe porpoise hunting with them in canoe. Tells 

of very long distance canoe trips made by Passamaquoddy. (See Verrill’s 1933 book above for 

more information about the author.) 

Vetromile, Rev. Eugene. 1866. The Abenakis and their History.... New York: J.B. Kircker. 

(Reprinted 1984, NY: AMSPress)

_____. Calendars. Coll. 58, Manuscriptions Collection, Maine Historical Society. “Calendars 

for the Gregorian year 1859; 1861-3; 1871; 1873-6. Those for 1862-3, 1871 and 1873-76 carry 

footnotes to show the beginning and end of Indian years by ‘Their astronomical calculations,’ 

presumably Penobscot. 

Villebon, J. R. de. See Webster. 

Vigneras, Louis-André. 1939. Review, The New England Quarterly vol. 12 (1), p.158. 

_____. 1940. Memoranda and Documents: Letters of an Acadian Trader, 1674-1676. The 

New England Quarterly 13 (1), pp. 98-110. 

Vogel, Virgil J. 1970. American Indian Medicine. Norman: U of Oklahoma Press. 

(Comprehensive volume discussing 500+ medicinal plants found in North America, noting which 

tribes used which species to treat which ailments. Summarizing the contributions that Native 

American groups have made to Western medicine, the author provides historical and theoretical 

overviews, along with an alphabetical and annotated list of botanic (and nonbotanical) remedies 

used by American Indians. An exhaustive index includes diseases, specific tribes, and plants 

listed by scientific and common names.) 

Wallis, Wilson D. 1896. “Micmac Magic and Medicine.” Journal of American Folklore, vol. 

9, pp. 170-177. Details on traditional healing practices – supernatural and herbal. 

____. 1922. “Medicines Used by the Micmac Indians.” American Anthropologist 24:24-30. 
▪Annotated Reference List▪

617

Wallis, Wilson D. and Ruth Sawtelle Wallis. 1955. The Micmac Indians of Eastern Canada.

Minneapolis: U of Minnesota. 

Walker, Willard 1998. The Wabanaki Confederacy. Maine History, vol. 37 (3), pp. 110-139. 

Ward, Charles. 1880. Porpoise-Shooting. Scribner’s Monthly, vol. 20(6), (Oct.), pp. 801-811. 

In this well-illustrated article, the author tells of sea canoeing (with paddle and sail) and porpoise 

hunting off Grand Manan Island in the company of Passamaquoddies Sebatis and Pieltoma. He 

offers details including dangers porpoise hunting, the method of stripping off the blubber and 

“trying out” the oil, the economic value and use of the oil.

Warner, Charles Dudley. 1886. Their Pilgrimage. Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, vol. 73 

(435), (Aug.), pp. 416-426. On p423 is an etching by Reinhart, titled “Indian Village, Bar 

Harbor” with canoes. Nothing else re. Indians, but some useful contextual information. For 

example, the author notes that takes a half-hour by steamer to go from the end of the “coast 

railway of Maine” to BH. Then by buckboard to Rodick’s , described as “a sort of big boarding 

house hesitating whether to be a hotel or not.” Describes the principal occupation at BH as 

“outdoor exercise, incessant activity in driving, walking, boating...bowling, tennis and flirtation.” 

Describes a “watermelon party at Jordon’s Pond—going by buckboard to Eagle lake, then by 

steamer across lake, then “scramble on foot over the ‘carry’ to Jordan Pond, take rowboats to the 

foot of that, and find at a farm house there the watermelons and other refreshments....” (On 

Internet) 

Washington County Railroad Monthly. 1899-1900. Several issues include information about 

Passamaquoddy – particularly concerning hunting, guiding. This small magazine aimed to 

increase the number of passengers using of the rail line, encouraging people tired of the 

established summer “watering holes” like Bar Harbor, to venture further downeast. 

Wasson, Samuel. 1878. A Survey of Hancock County, Maine. Augusta: Sprague, Owen & 

Nash, Printers to the State. History of each town/city in county, plus an overview of natural 

resources/industry, with commentary on fishing/fish farms. On p43 author notes that 4 Indians 

took 2000 lbs of pickerel from Scammon’s farm in Eastbrook. (MaHA) 

Webster, John C. 1934. Acadia at the End of the Seventeeth Century: Letters, Journals and 

Memoirs of Joseph Robineau de Villebon, Commondant in Acadia 1690-1700, and Other 

Contemporary Documents. Monograph Series 1. Saint John, NB: The New Brunswick Museum.

Welman, Trina. 1975. Louis Francis Sockalexis: The Life-story of a Penobscot Indian.

Augusta: Maine Department of Indian Affairs. 

Wheeler, George A. 1875. History of Castine, Penobscot and Brooksville. Bangor, Me.: Burr 

and 

Robinson. 

 ____. 1923. History of Castine, Penobscot and Brooksville. Cornwall (NY): Privately Printed.

Wherry, James D. 1979. “Abnaki, Etchemin and Malecite,” Papers of the Tenth Algonquian 

Conference. W. Cowan, ed., pp.181-90. Ottawa: Carleton U. 

Whitten, J.P. 1975. Fannie Hardy Eckstorm: Descriptive Bibliography of Her Writings, 

Published and Unpublished, vol. 16, Northeast Folklore. Orono: Maine Folklife Center. 

Whitehead, Ruth H. 1982. Micmac Quillwork: Micmac Indian Technique of Porcupine Quill 

Decoration, 1600-1950. Halifax: Nova Scotia Museum. Detailed historical and technical 

overview of Micamc quillwork. Beautifully illustrated with color and b/w photographs of baskets, 

people, paintings, plus instructive diagrams of weaving techniques. 

_____. 1991. The Old Man Told Us: Excerpts from Micmac History 1500-1950. Halifax: 

Nimbus Publishing Ltd. This rich collection of oral and written accounts about Micmac life and 
▪Annotated Reference List▪

618

specific Micmac individuals touches on a full range of topics – from hunting and medicinal 

practices to diet, legends, crafts, spiritual beliefs, habitats/places and mobility. 

Williams, Roger. 1963. The Complete Writings of Roger Williams. 7 vols. New York. 

Williamson, Joseph. 1869. The Northmen in Maine. In Historical Magazine (January), pp. 30-

31. 

_____. 1896. A Bibliography of the State of Maine From the Earliest Period to 1891. 2 vols.

Portland: Thurston Print. Vol. 1, pp. 624-627 Indians; pp. 307-308 Conferences, Indian; pp. 650-

651 Journals.

Williamson, William D. 1832. The History of the State of Maine: From Its First Discovery, 

A.D. 1602, to the Separation, A.D. 1820. 2 vols. Hallowell: Glazier Masters & Co. (Reprinted 

1991, Bowie MD: Heritage Books) 

_____. 1846. Indian Tribes in New England. In Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, 

Series 3, vol. 9, pp. 92-100. 

Willard, Walker. 1981. Gabriel Tomah’s Journal. Man in the Northeast 21, pp.87-101.

Mentions Mitchell’s Band at Pleasant Point receiving donation from several Passamaquoddy who 

were at Bar Harbor. (See Tomah, Gabriel above) 

Willis, William. 1831. The History of Portland, from its First Settlement; with Notices of the 

Neighboring Towns, and of the Changes of Government. Two parts. Portland, ME: The Maine 

Historical Society. 

Willoughby, Charles C. “Prehistoric Burial Places in Maine.” Peabody Museum of Harvard 

U, Archaeological and Ethnological Papers 1, No. 6 (July 1898): 387-436. “Describes sites in 

Bucksport, Damariscotta, Ellsworth, and Orland. Lower level excavations give evidence of 

Maritime Archaic culture and upper levels, the later Ceramic Period cultures.” 

Wilmerding, John. 1994. The Artist’s Mount Desert. Princeton, NY: Princeton U Press. 

Wilson, Deborah. 2001. Finding People: Archaeology, History and the Darmiscotta River 

Oyster Shell Mounds. Masters thesis, Dept. of Anthropology, Goddard College. 

Winthrop, John. 1853. Winthrop’s Journal, “History of New England” 1630 to 1649. James K. 

Hosmer, ed. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Wood, William. [1634]. 1853. New England’s Prospect. Boston: Prince Society. 

Wiseman, Frederick M. 2001. The Voice of the Dawn: An Autohistory of the Abenaki Nation. 

Hanover & London: U Press of New England. Personally involved in Abenaki cultural 

resurgence, the author presents an insider’s view of tribal history and traditions, including a 

chapter on medicinal practices. 

Wright, Louis B., ed. 1965. The Elizabethan’s America: A Collection of Early Reports by 

Englishmen on the New World. Cambridge, MA: Harvard U Press.

Young, Alexander. [1844]. 1974. Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers of the Colony of Plymouth 

from 1602 to 1625. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. 2nd edition. 

◘ ◘ ◘ ◘
Acadia National Park

PO Box 177

Bar Harbor, ME 04609-0177

Phone: 207-288-3338

Web: www.nps.gov/acad/