HALLOWELL — While Bath may have long dominated the popular imagination as the center of shipbuilding on the Kennebec River, and is today home to the only such enterprise, Bath once had its share of rivals.
Lincoln P. Paine of Portland, a maritime historian, author and teacher, plans to present “Shipbuilding, Trade and Travel on the Kennebec River, A Chapter in Hallowell’s History,” at 6 p.m. Friday, March 22, at Hubbard Free Library, 115 2nd St.
Paine will describe how upriver towns such as Gardiner, Pittston, and Hallowell — “the practical head of navigation on the Kennebec” — were home to shipyards that turned out superb vessels that helped launch the U.S. on its way to international commercial prominence, according to a news release from Elaine Apostola, a library board member.
As Captain John Henry Drew — best known by his pen name, The Kennebecker — recalled, “I have read Hallowell on their sterns in Liverpool docks and other ports of the world.” Nor was he alone in singing the praises of his native town and its neighbors.
In his talk, Paine will discuss the rise and fall of commerce and shipbuilding along the upper Kennebec during the 19th century, and what this history can tell us about Maine today.
Paine, an adjunct professor at the University of Maine School of Law, has published articles, chapters, and reviews for peer-reviewed and popular publications, including World History Connected, The Mariner’s Mirror, International Journal of Maritime History, and Sea History.
His books include the award-winning “The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World” as well as “Down East: An Illustrated History of Maritime Maine,” and “Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia.”
He has lectured worldwide on a wide range of maritime-oriented subjects, including literature of the sea, rivers, exploration, maritime legal history, trade, naval history, decorative arts and museum curatorship.
Paine is also the chair of the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath.
For more information, visit hubbardfree.org.