Exploring the Maine Woods - The Hardy Family Expedition to the Machias Lakes

From a series of articles written in 1891, comes a paddling memoir that weaves together woods-lure with a knowledge of literature and Maine history. The writing is superbly descriptive of the Maine woods, the prose is often like poetry, and the feeling of the period is captured on the pages. Fannie Pearson Hardy-Eckstorm was not a fur trader like her father, Manly Hardy, or a trapper like her grandfather, but she knew the woods. She was an interpreter of nature, an ornithologist, an expert on early Maine history, with scientific habits and mind for detail. This annotated edition of a Father-Daughter canoe trip celebrates one of the earliest and most talented Maine outdoor writers. Read about the Maine woods, history of the Machias Lakes region, stories about "The Outlaw Jock Darling," the legendary Maine storyteller, "Uncle" Bill Barrett, and even the original Penobscot Man - Big Sebattis Mitchell. This book is more than a memoir of a camping trip, it is a tale of Maine woodcraft and includes details about the Maine woods told only the way those familiar with the region could do so. Fannie Pearson Hardy Eckstorm was born on June 18, 1865, in Brewer, Maine to Manly Hardy and Emmeline Wheeler Hardy. She attended the public schools in Brewer and Abbott Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. In 1888, she graduated from Smith College, was subsequently employed as the superintendent of schools in Brewer, and later in the book department of the D.C. Heath Publishing Company in Boston. Throughout her life, Eckstorm studied Maine Indians,folklore and natural history. It was an area she knew well, based on her experiences with her father in the woods and her personal acquaintance with Indians and woodsmen. This book is only one example of her deep knowledge in these subjects. In 1886 she became an associate member of the American Ornithologists Union, the first woman admitted as such. Before graduating Smith College, she co-founded the college chapter of the Audubon Society. Her interest in birds would be a lifelong pursuit, from which she published two books, The Woodpeckers (1900) and The Bird Book (1901). She had a deep interest in documenting Maine folksongs and woods songs, and in collaboration with others, two books resulted from her efforts, Minstrelsy of Maine (1927) and British Ballads from Maine(1929). Mrs. Eckstorm published four other books on Maine history. This book, "Exploring the Maine Woods," details the father and daughter 1890 canoe trip to explore the region around the Machias Lakes. Manly Hardy, the well-known Maine woodsman taught his daughter the ways of the woods. Fannie Pearson Hardy, was then a young woman who observed, interpreted, and documented their trip in a way that is entertaining, informative, and a love letter to the Maine woods. Her experiences on this trip, and others north of Moosehead Lake,exploring with her father would serve as research for the books she would later write.