Temperature Normals

by the month for forty-nine locations in Maine, one aspect of the climate, are calculated by taking the mean (average) of the maximum and minimum temperatures for a location, in a given month, over the thirty-year period. “Normal” temperatures are calculated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on a thirty-year basis. The data, available…

Coastal Studies Center

The Coastal Studies Center of Bowdoin College is located on Orrs Island in Harpswell. In 1981 Irma and William Thalheimer gave the 118 acre property, including the farmhouse and barn, to Bowdoin “to be protected in its natural environment and used as a research and teaching resource for faculty and students.”1 It offers low stress…

Clipper Ships

"Red Jacket": In the ice off Cape Horn, on Passage from Australia, to Liverpool, August 1854

Clippers were built in Maine in the 1850’s, with 54 having been constructed from 1851 to 1854.  Depending on how you define “Clipper,” William Hutchinson Rowe counts ninety from 1850 to 1856.  Since some very fast ships were known as “clippers,” regardless of some technical features, Rowe declares, “And so casting close definition and technical…

Clinton

is a town in Kennebec County, incorporated under the name Maine in 1848. The following year, the confusing address “Maine, Maine” was changed. Across the Kennebec River from Hinckley lies the Pishon Ferry area, now served by a modern bridge. A small white church overlooks the river. See photos.