Luann Yetter

From the end of the Great War until the onslaught of the Great Depression, Americans had a good time, and nowhere was that more true than in Bar Harbor during high season. Amid peace and prosperity, the wealthy flocked to Mount Desert Island, foxtrotted at the Swimming Club and tangoed at the Dreamwood Ballroom on Ireson's Hill. Rumrunners made covert pickups from isolated coves along the Mount Desert Narrows while Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and Astors coasted serenely in and out of Frenchman's Bay. Horse-drawn carriages found a haven in the quiet roads of Lafayette National Park while roadsters sped along Bay Drive. Year-round residents faced brutal winters, but even then they had spirited celebrations with Winter Carnivals and Hayseed Balls as the '20s roared on in Bar Harbor.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow immortalized Portland, Maine, as the beautiful town that is seated by the sea. In this volume, Maine author Luann Yetter presents the stories from its past that not only showcase this exquisiteness but also illuminate its diverse and exciting history. The founding members of the Forest City braved the harsh winters, but not without scandals and struggles. One man raised a navy to fight the Barbary pirates threatening ships that sailed from Casco Bay, and privateers brought rum onboard and ashore. And while one Portlander traded slaves, many others worked the Underground Railroad as staunch antislavery crusaders. Discover Portland from its beginning as uncharted territory through to its development into the quintessential New England city it is today.

Snow swirled around the first Sandy River settlers in the winter of 1780, testing pioneering spirits. But the founders proved tough and able, incorporating Farmington in 1794 and soon establishing other towns, raising crops, building roads and institutions and bringing Franklin County to life. Former Lewiston Sun Journal columnist Luann Yetter describes the early years, the rumored Indian attack that led to the discovery of Rangeley Lakes, the World War I sacrifices of Company K and the Weld baseball player who managed Babe Ruth's Red Sox to two World Series championships. Yetter also notes the delinquent debt collected by Paul Revere, the murder suspect who made history by (unsuccessfully) defending himself and the near total destruction wrought by the flood of 1869. Describing war, wealth, industry and oddity, she reveals the richness of Franklin County's past.