Note ~ All Programs will be held at the Moosehead Cultural Heritage Center
6 Lakeview Street, downtown Greenville, Maine
The annual Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail Festival promotes the understanding, appreciation, and stewardship of Maine’s unique cultural heritage and natural resources.
Wednesday, July 19, 6:30 pm
Archeology & Wabanaki Ways in the Maine Woods, Drumming & Singing
with Chris Sockalexis, Penobscot Tribal Historic Preservation Officer
Anthropologist and flintknapper Chris Sockalexis opens the festival with the fascinating oral legends and traditions of the Moosehead Lake Region, including the Penobscot creation story of Mt. Kineo and how Moosehead got its name. Gifted with a resonating singing voice, and a lead singer of the RezDogs, an intertribal drum group based out of Indian Island in Old Town, he will close out this first night presentation with a demonstration of traditional Penobscot songs. He is currently conducting research for a Masters of Science degree at the University of Maine Climate Change Institute, with a thesis on Cultural Identity and Maritime Adaptation in Frenchman Bay, Maine. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Maine, with a focus on Maine archeology.
Thursday, July 20, 6:30 pm
The Moose of the North Woods
with Lee Kantar, Moose Expert, Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife
It’s said that one of Thoreau’s last dying words was “Moose” – still the most sought after mammal that people seek to see in Maine today. Come find out why, with Maine’s best expert about our North Woods moose populations, life cycles, and why we continue to have the highest numbers of them outside of Alaska. Lee Kantar’s studies are internationally watched by field experts. In 2019, at the 53rd North American Conference on Moose, he was honored with the Distinguished Moose Biologist Award. Past recipients have included those from Canada, Sweden, Finland, and Norway. We are fortunate to have this North American leader on moose available for the Thoreau Wabanaki Festival, where he will talk about Maine’s pioneering long-term moose study.
Friday, July 21, 6:30 pm
A Guide to Solo Wilderness Travel
with Alexandra Conover Bennett, Wendy Weiger, Aislinn Sarnacki
Thoreau couldn’t have survived in the wild without his Penobscot guides, but he brought the experience of the Native world of our region to the world at large. Tonight, come hear how going solo in the wilderness is a life-changer, with the extraordinary experiences of a panel of outdoor experts living here, right now.
If we listen to the songs of the water and the whispers on the wind, we will feel the heartbeat of Mother Earth, and all creation will continue to breath ~ Wabanaki saying
Alexandra Bennett lives off grid near Moosehead and has spent most of her adult life in the back country of Maine and Labrador. She’s lived solo in winter territory, ran traplines, and is uniquely qualified in the many aspects of surviving difficult situations in remote territory. She brings with her a lifetime of outdoor skills, where, for her, going solo into the woods is as essential as breathing air. She is an expert canoe and snowshoe guide, and remarkable identifier of birds, plants, and animals. Her specialty is how to live, travel, and survive northern boreal woods, having made a 350-mile snowshoe trip across the Ungava Peninsula, Québec, refining her skills by living with indigenous friends and learning their traditional ways.
Dr. Wendy Weiger left the halls of academe and moved to Moosehead Lake. Much like Thoreau, she absorbed all she could from the locals around her. Then, she went solo, living alone off grid in the Maine Woods in her cabin east of Kokadjo, and became a naturalist writer. Come hear what she found as spiritual solace, celebration, and life affirming connections in all her travels through these woods and waters.
Aislinn Sarnacki writes about her outdoor experiences for a living and admits that going solo was at first an acquired taste. Now, it is her preferred way. She says going solo into the wilderness is not for everyone, and unless you have the skills, knowledge, and gear, there are some things you just don’t do alone. With experience though, she now prefers going solo, for the independence, for the freedom of being on nobody’s schedule but your own, and for the ability to see wildlife that you otherwise wouldn’t get to see.
Come hear about the risks and the rewards of traveling solo in the wilderness. All three experts are dynamic speakers. Each in their own way will tell their own remarkable personal experiences, with many tips on how to navigate, be confident, feel alive, and find ease in the Maine landscape. Questions and Answer time will follow this rare panel presentation.
CELEBRATING THE MAINE WOODS!
The annual Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail Festival commemorates the history of the Wabanaki people and poet, philosopher, and naturalist Henry David Thoreau’s three trips into the Maine Woods, two of which were launched with Penobscot guides here on Moosehead Lake.
For more information or details, contact NREC Board Member
Suzanne AuClair at suzauclair@myfairpoint.net; 207-349-0538.
Festival is made possible in partnership between Moosehead’s Natural Resource Education Center and the Penobscot Nation Cultural & Historic Preservation Dept., Maine Woods Forever, and the Moosehead Historical Society.
Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail Festival is sponsored by its founder Maine Woods Forever (www.mainewoodsforever.org) and the generosity of individual donors, in-kind contributions.
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~~~ July 22-24 PENOBSCOT TRIP CLOSED ~~~
Last Leg of Thoreau’s Trip with Penobscot Guides
“Last Leg” follows the last section of Thoreau’s 1857 canoe trip on the Penobscot River, made famous in his book The Maine Woods. Like Thoreau, paddlers will learn under the wing of Penobscot guides about Wabanaki heritage and Penobscot connection to the landscape.
Saturday and Sunday are spent immersed in traditional cultural activities on the Penobscot Nation’s Sugar Island after an easy paddle down the river. Days include a demonstration about the artistry of ash and sweetgrass basket making; making your own basket; learning about the construction of and paddling a feather-light birch bark canoe, nature & traditional medicinal plant exploratory walks, visit to wigwams; flint knapping, or wood carving; evenings in a talking circle around the campfire, with drumming & singing demonstrations. Penobscot Nation Cultural and Historic Preservation Director James E. Francis, Sr. will be on hand to answer questions, share Penobscot ways of life and philosophy. Monday after breakfast, paddlers move downstream from Sugar Island to Indian Island, load out, have lunch together & gather into a closing circle before saying goodbyes.