Transcripts For CSPAN3 American History TV In Portland ME 20171022

Lobster boats going back and forth all the time, you see the islands, sailboats, all the activities that probably people think of a maine visit would be. We take a boat to fort gorgeous, a civil war era just off the portland kos. We are on hog island ledge. Where they built for gorgeous in 1858 to help defend portland harbor. We have completed an 18 6 it was completed in 1865 and was built with two sister forts off to the south. Its camel on how silent. They were designed to work in conjunction with each other to defend the harbor. Everyone thinks for gorgeous is a civil war fort when it was funded long before, and it was approved by congress. Things that occurred much earlier. We begin our feature on portlands history, talking about lobstering. In 2016, the Maine Lobster industry generated over 500 million. Next, we learn about its history and economic impact. Over here is my gps and radar. Here in the fog, it helps us figure out where we are. Traps with amy gps. I kind of do it by feel. Look at that bad boy. Hes a male. That right day there is about 75i five to 80 is about dollars to 85 in new york. Maine has been tied up with the sea for a long time. Coastal maine was a place where many people farmed and it was theicult to farm because soil was not easy and a lot of people, especially in certain parts of the state had twos had to turn to the scene to survive. The lobster evolved from being a nuisance species used for fertilizer and could sell anywhere to the end all be all support that is keeping many of the working waterfronts and working people and ages old fishing communities alive. Lobsters were incredibly common in the colonial period. You could go out and get them by waiting out in the bay wading out in the bay. In storms, they would form wind roads up the top of the beach and people would collect them to fertilize their garden. They were staggeringly comment. You could of course be them and they became one of the foods of last resort if you were running low on things. You would pick claims from the shore, you would go and get lobsters because they were always there and easy to get. The problem with them commercially, if you were to try to earn a living is first of all, in your local community, everyone else can go get the lobsters and send their kids out to get a wheelbarrow full. Lobsters, when they die, start teacher frying almost immediately. You have to sell them live. Tothe past, there was no way keep them alive to get them to market. Lobsters were seen as a nuisance, but none anything you could make money off of. The time when you could start making money to make a living fishing lobster came in the 19th century. Starting in 1800, 1810, people in some of the major cities, boston and new york and particular, started selling lobsters locally. They would send kids out in those days you can trap a lobster on the bottom, they took barrel hoops and they put netting over it and they would sticks bentple of over where you could hang some kind of bait. They would drop them in the water and they would have a rope attached. Basically they would wait, watching in the water until a lobster walked onto the net to get the bait and they would pull it up. You could pull up lots and lots of lobsters in that fashion. There were so many of them. Entrepreneurial people would create boiling houses and send kids out or go out themselves and trap these lobsters with these traps and start selling them around the city from boiled them so they were read and sell them as an inexpensive sorts source of food. The problem that came up very and newwas near boston york it is essentially sandy bottom. It is not good lobster habitats. Resource was quickly overexploited. There are not that many lobsters down there. The demand kept growing and growing and more people came out with their traps and they had to go into deeper water. Pretty soon, they are getting to the point where they could not get lobsters before they started putrefying. They could not get them in the city, they were so far out trying to catch them. The innovation that transform the industry particularly in fueling thept expansion of the expansion of the lobster Consumer Market up and down the east coast was that some ambitious yankees with Yankee Ingenuity came up with a solution. They took one of their failing and they built a wooden tank in the hold and then they drove lots of holes to flood the tank. So like a sieve. And whichd flow in they would put the lobsters into of recirculated sea water and they would stay alive for several days to sail to market. That meant that these vessels could travel much longer distances. They started sailing first to providence in massachusetts but also sandy bottoms, they started over exploiting those. I the 1830s they started showing up in maine near portland. It turned out thats one of the only places and all of maine were people where people were attaching lobsters as a commercial proposition was in a peninsula from 10 miles from here. The reason for that is heart folk was one of the first section of rocky coast and it was adjacent to portland which had that growing market of createdclass people who a massmarket to sell lobsters. They were close enough where they could sail down here each day and deliver their catch. The first phase where it exploded is as people were realizing entrepreneurial people, that there was a demand and taste for lobsters, and it started moving to restaurants and other places where people were starting to ebay them by choice, they were becoming maybe not a delicacy but not a cheap form of protein and as that happened, you have the beginnings and aftermath of the civil war, and summit summer cottage or trade, you had people coming to maine to get away from the heat, to have their kids learn to sail. They would build these cottages. They started wanting to eat at some of the local food. Lobster became more popular. People realized it was an extensive market for it. Some of these entrepreneurs started thinking about what if you could preserve it and send it longer distances come into distances, longer to the midwest . There were canneries that started forming. Cant otherhey products canned other products. It happened to fit the time when the big lobster landings were happening at the time. They started fitting it in on a provisional basis. They started sending thousands and tens of thousands of cans of lobster meat all over the country. This started creating an enormous demand. There ended up being 150 lobster canneries up and down the maine coast. Macs comingir own out. Through the 1880s and 1890s, the demand for lobsters of almost any size became so enormous that it started overwhelming and destroying the lobster population itself. Maines lobster fisheries today is an example heralded in fishery short circles fishery circles of a sustainable fishery. This came out of a terrible tragedy. This was a hard learned experience because none of those conservation measures were in place of the end of the 19th century. Five of take a four or snapper lobsters to get enough meat to fill the cans. Because of this, you could land and a lobster, there was a most and in say should go demand to buy it, they started wiping out the breeding stock of the lobster. Crash andp being a the population. As the crash happened, the value of lobster kept going up. There was an incentive to hunt down and fish the very last animal because the per unit price of the animal grew as it became rarer. We have seen that in wildlife exploitation industries in fisheries. A continued to the point where lobster landings were terrible. On the way up until 1921 1929 when the stark market crashed stock market crash. Then, you have the Great Depression which capped fishermen from going out and aggressively pursuing lobster. After the Great Depression, you had the Second World War when many fishermen were serving in the navy or drafted into service to fight the front war. It was not safe to go out into many fisheries, grounds because of the uboats and other threats up there. There was a period of decades where humans laid off maines lobster fisheries. After world war ii when things got back to normal and the supply chain for lobster regroup regroup, the resource has been in healthy shape. The lessons of having destroyed it has been learned in the communities. There was a not only support for various conservation laws of that had been on the books, may be in the 19th century, but not catching lobsters bigger than a certain size because those are the successful breeders, the number of eggs a female lobster produces grows geometrically with its size. If you catch all the big ones, you are doing much greater damage to the lobster population than you think. But not catching the small ones that have not had a chance to reproduce once. Doing that started helping. There ended up being a cascading series of international improvements of additional improvements. Special vents to let lobsters that are undersized escape. Lobstermen throw away and returned to the water females bearing eggs. They notch the tales of the females so that if another lobstermen catches the female later, they will see it it was a successful breeder and return it again, but not before first renotching the lobster. Each time they molt, it would disappear. Various other measures that ensured the existence of a breeding stock and not catching ones that are too big or too small. Using the form of traps a destroygy that did not and disrupt the bottom habitat. That did not accidentally catch the young or other species and ended up being rather benign. The result think about this, we are in the 21st century in an Industrial Area of virtually everything. We have this industry which is growing thats because of this prosecutedis still by sole proprietors, by somebody who usually owns their boat with one or two assistance on the vessel going out from their home port and returning that day at a a households individual owner scale. That is how the entire lobster fishery, which is providing or flying torcraft china into japan loaded with level. , of that it has been a level and scale that happens in tandem with the resource. It has had social and cultural benefits for the communities because it is locally owned and operated. But also it has had an enormous benefit in the longterm for the lobster fishery because it has defended and protected the resource. Lobster fishing is the only fishing left because the other were morel fisheries or less destroyed. There are few ground fishing boats left in maine. Portland is one of the last places where there are any. Other traditional fisheries have fallen aside. It means the lobster fishermen entire legacy of working fishermen. When you are out on a boat going out there to learn your living, you have to be self aligned and know what you are doing. And go out there and top of the out of there and tackle the elements. Dot is what meiners had to for a long time because of our tragic socioeconomic history. All weekend, American History tv is featuring portland maine. We visited many sites showcasing its history. Workrs henry walls longfellow and stephen king are natives of portland. Learn more about portland all weekend here on American History tv. While in portland, we took a driving tour of the city with visit portland creative director robert witkowski. Thank you for showing us around portland, maine. My pleasure. It is a beautiful city. When people hear the name portland, portland, maine may not be the first life that comes to mind. Tell me about this . Is the portland, maine First Portland in the United States. When a lot of people dont realize is portland, oregon is the one that stole our name. It was not stolen, as much as given to it. Theyided the name wanted to name it after their hometown. The guy from portland, maine one. This is a part of massachusetts when it started. The First Parish Church is one of the oldest churches in the city continuously. It has changed locations. Its original bidding building was wooden. Where thehe church longfellow family worshiped and their pew is still there. There is that great Literary History here. There is a revolutionary war cannonball in the chandelier that they found when they tore down the wooden structure when the city was attacked in 1775 by the british. What is portland bestknown . Forortland is best known lobster and light houses. However, there is so much more of a rich deep history to this city that a lot of people do not know. Theold section is one of key seaports back in the day. It still remains a working waterfront and very influential in terms of the world trade today. Inmuch of what is going on the history of the United States had a lot of focal points in portland. It was in the background, and people do not appreciate how much of a motivator it was. In the declaration of independence, they reference the british burning our cities, and they were talking about when portland was burned by the british in 1775. Where are we heading now . We are in the heart of the old court. This is the original epicenter of the city. It was all wood back in the revolutionary days. After the civil war, there was a fire, some of fourth of july celebrations that out of control. The wood chips created an entire fire that burned down three force of the city. All of the brick and castiron buildings were rebuilt within one or two years of that. I see a lot of of these old cobblestone streets, a lot of these things look pretty historic. What are they today . A lot of them are restaurants, cafes, shops. Front ofers church in us is still a working church. The bottom floors were set up for retail entertainment. Commercial street. This is amazing because right now we are driving on the harbor. This used to be water back when the city was founded. They wound up getting a commission to be the winter for for montreal and quebec. When that happened, they needed railroads. There was no streets in portland for the rail rates railways. They rounded up creating this street. The Center Divide was the original railroad tracks. Everything you see to the right still functioning as a dock for seafood. Correct. A lot of that has lobster fisheries, there is a fish exchange. Sort of like the Stock Exchange but for seafood. It is a lot quieter than the Stock Exchange. It is where restaurants from around the world will come in and they will bid and buy seafood as a comes off the boat in large lots. We are heading into the east end which is known as munge a hill. This is the eastern farm. If you look to our left side you will see ship captain mansions. They were waiting for their ships to come in because they have these terrific views of the harbor. This out here is casco bay. A lot of the islands are city limits. We have the fairies that go back and forth for the commuters. We have a huge surge in population for the summertime. It is crowded out there. We have a tremendous amount of islands. There is about 220. When they first explore this area, a wrote to england that there were so many islands out there that they matched the days of the year. They became known as the calendar islands. Do people live out on these islands now . Is it just recreation, for the summertime . The larger islands have yearround population. There are a lot of summer cottages as well. The smaller islands are more for recreation. There is a lot of locations on there because this was the head of the north american operations during world war ii and the nearest port to europe and africa. Tell me about the men join hill neighborhood. Observatory is one of the rare buildings that survived the fire. It has a lighthouse with a signal tower. It alerted people when ships came in. The owner had the workers pouring water down the side so it did not work. Burned. Fire,rea was, after the everyone moved to the west end because the fire had gone to east. Area however, became an for bluecollar laborers, seaport workers, soldiers during the wars. We are driving around the downtown area. We see a Farmers Market. Is one ofmers market the oldestk in the country continuing Farmers Market in the original spot it started. It is everyone stay over here. Passing longfellows childhood home by this means Historical Society. We are going up congress street. The Farmers Market is really terrific. It is a huge push in the farm to table movement. That is something we have to talk about. One of my favorite reasons to visit portland is the feed. You have a great food scene. Why do you think there this is a popular place to open a restaurant . There is a deeper appreciation for food. A lot of produce comes out of this state. It is largely a world state. It has been recognized where we going . We are heading out of the city. We are going across the casco bay bridge into south portland. Soft portland we will go to cape elizabeth. We are entering portland headlights home which is floor wing port wings part. It is now the city of heartland. Could you say this is the most iconic structure in the portland area . I would say it is the most iconic structure in new england. There is a lot of great lighthouses and the world. This is probably the quintessential white house. It is the most photographed in the country. I would say in the world. The nice thing about this white house, there are obviously older light houses in the country, but this is the first United States white house. When you go to the left along the ridge, there is a cliff walk. You have this wonderful cliff walk that is along the cliffs looking down on the ocean with the waves, you can actually find areas where you can go onto the rocks. From various points, the views of this lighthouse from various points are terrific. If you go the other way, there is more of a block. Nice areas to sit down in the grass. It does not get old. No matter how many times i see this lighthouse, it is just as beautiful. It is. So tremendous. Longfellow lived in town, he was very friendly with the family that the lighthouse keepers was the longest of the lighthouse keepers. They were here for decades. He used to come down and spend the night. There is a section talking about influencing his work. There is a stanza from one of his poems about coming out here and sitting by the lighthouse and watching the ocean and relaxing. We have talked about portland. Uni, even off camera, have talked about our shared love for the city. What is next . But would you like to see for this place . We want it to grow. To see what it is becoming, more People Living in a discovering how beautiful it is. We dont want to lose the lobster boats, we dont want to lose the picturesque thing where you can set on the rocks and not have 25 people around you. That is a nice thing. It is so well protected in terms of shoreland and conservation and food sustainability. It is terrific. Thank you for sharing your city with us. Announcer all weekend long, American History tv is joining our spectrum Cable Partners to showcase the history of portland, maine. To learn more about the cities on our current tour, visit cspan. Org cities tour. We continue with our look at the history of portland. Portland and is is an important part of maines economy. We have lost our manufacturing businesses. Fabric to make shoes and and paper and more wood products. There has been a shaking of those industries as other places have experienced. It is starting to fill in with this resurgence of the world economy. Lobstere largest fishing in the account in the economy and the world. Lobsters taste better than everyone elses. There is a real change in the level of sophistication of the farmer and the consumer. It has raised demand to the point that organic food is like billion dollar business to 50 billion business. We are feeling an important market that did not used to exist. Sitting on the policy side, we have to do a lot more to make this possible for other farmers, particularly ones that want to transition into it all over the country. You have to make it easier for them to get into this market. You dontid better, have to handle toxic chemicals, it is better for the environment. It is a winwin on all levels. I live in a town of about 400 people. When my kids were growing up, i decided i wanted to get involved in local politics to have more of a say in my community. Someone who i knew from my farm stands adjusted should run for the state legislature. I just got interested in the idea of being engaged and a participant in the democratic process in the 1990s. On a wild idea, iran. In 1992, i won. I loved every minute of it. I loved the backandforth, the working on tough issues. Here it is, 25 years later and i am still there. I guess that i just learned that if you have the great opportunity to work on a career in your life, like agriculture and also be on the policymaking side, it is truly the best of both worlds. A wonderful city. Anytime you have relatively affordable city that has a great creative food scene, a lot of young people, but also the history we have, you just find creative people saying, wait, that is where i want to live. We are a very safe state. We are a friendly state. Just have a real feel of authenticity. It is beautiful views, very historic. Streets, oldone buildings, a lot of brick buildings. It makes you feel like you were in new england and in 1700s. You are against the history here and i think that really makes people feel like it is an unusual place to live but the kind of place you want not just to vacation but to stay. The colonial period, this area was filled with white pine trees used to make masks masts on ships. Coming up, we visit the house to learn how this industry helps build the royal fleet. We are in this section of portland at the Tate House Museum which is located about three miles from downtown portland. The house was built completed in 1755. It took two years to build. It was built on a piece of land which is in between the four river and the stroud water rivers and portland. It stood ready much all by itself, and was built in such a style called georgian style. It was also the largest house built in portland at the time. Portland was known as falmouth back then until 1785. For 30 years, this house standing here was actually in the stroud water section of falmouth. Built for captain george tait and his family, his wife mary and four sons who came over here in 1751. The britishnted by royal navy to be the mast agent for the area. A mast agent is someone who is in charge of recognizing and appropriating trees, white pine, which had to be in diameter of 24 inches and a height of 72 feet at the minimum in order to provide the british navy with their masts. Were an important commodity back then, just as oil is today. When captain tate came over here in 1751, obviously we were still part of britain at the time. We were all english subjects here. The people that captain tate would have hired to do his work would have been the local folks around here and they would have helped support the industry, they wouldve had jobs which i am sure they were grateful to have. It was that way until the revolutionary war which was 20 years later. As the revolutionary war approached, a very interesting. Bang for the tate family. A very interesting. Period for the tate family. His name was samuel. In fact, there is some belief that he brought cornwallis over here to the uniteds to america, to the colonies to support the war effort here. Another one of captain tates sons, the youngest, robert, marched off to concord, lexington and fought on the american side during the revolutionary war. There was this dynamic within the family and i am sure that captain tate back at the time had to tread neutral ground. Died in here until he 1794. At the age of 94. He never left. He stayed here as a citizen. Captain tate had lived here until 1794 when he passed away. He lost his wife in 1770. She was tragically killed. She had gone out to their storehouse where they kept foodstuffs. It was boobytrapped. The reason it was was because provisions were missing from a storehouse, so the son, william, had set up a boobytrapped. Everybody in the family supposedly new. Mary, apparently, have forgotten. She asked their servant, betty, to go out there and grab things out of the storehouse. But he refused. Opened went out herself, the door, there was a musket that was ready to fire once the door was opened. She was tragically killed. The booby trap was set up by william, one of their sons. Later,tried two years convicted, but a year after that was pardoned by the king. Died,ter his mother continued to stay in the area and eventually took over the house after his father died. And also took over the family business. In 1803, william lost the house to creditors. He had to turn it over to the courts in massachusetts, down in boston. I think he probably lost it because his trade was drying up a bit. There was the impending embargo act in 1807. The eastern seaboard was being shut down to trade. I believe that was he was a victim of that. The house was turned over to creditors. From that point on, was sold to what became three absentee of 100,ver the period and almost 30 years. The house was not changed very much. Owner whothe third put a wall up dividing the kitchen and the house in half. Therefore, it became a two family dwelling. But there was never any plumbing put in here, there was never electricity. By neglect, the house was preserved. In 1930 one, the colonial dames of america in the state of maine bought the house. They took it over from that point on with the idea of being able to develop this into a location where visitors could come and enjoy the sites within the house. Primarily by used george and mary tate for their dinner, and they would have had their supper or their dinner delivered from the kitchen which is right next door. It would have only been george and mary eating in here. The children and the servant would have eaten out in the kitchen area. They would have had dinner, candlelightfire and. Candles were, at the time, made or beeswax and they were very expensive. And also, the fact that mice would have liked them for food, they candles would have been locked up after use in a container that is on the wall there. In terms of the fireplaces, there are eight in the house. , it would have quarts oft 30 to 40 wouldve for heat and cooking to support this house. Above the fireplace, you can see beautiful paneling. All the paneling in this room is original. The colors and the paint you see in the paneling are close to the colors they had back then because of the paint analysis. Notice of this board here. It is very, very huge. It is actually lying horizontal. That is one board. You can see that the size of the tree that came from was a very large tree. Pieces in thew house that we believe our original. Lost toe was receivership in 1803. Everything was liquidated in the house. This piece here, it is called a standish. Note that it might be used as a pen and ink set. That was found wrapped up in cloth, tucked in a corner down in the seller where nobody could see it and was discovered after the colonial dames purchased the house. They would have used it for correspondence and know there are candles there. That would have been for lighting as they were writing. Ink took a long time to drive back then, there is powder on the left to help dry that. Room, we areing going into the kitchen which is the largest room of the house. And it runs the entire width of the back of the house. The kitchen was an important part of the house. It was basically the central operation of the house. This is where the food was prepared, this would have been where food was preserved, and this would have been where a lot of supplies were to feed the family. The fireplace over here is original. Herericks you see back were there from 1755. A the fireplace, you can see five oven. That would have been used for baking. They would have built a small fire, covered it over using this fire to heatw the that particular area until it was whitehot. And then they knew it was ready to go when the white ashes collected on the side of the bricks. They would have to dust that and clean out those ashes. And in go the baking goods, starting with the items that took the longest to bake. Those would have been put in the back and the shorter baking items would have been brought to the front. We believe this is original to the house. This is a crane. Over here, you see a clock jack. That we brought in. Riod, but we brought it into the house in the later years. It takes what the purpose of the clock jack is is to turn the specter they would have had it meets on the spit turning around. Once this is wound up, and starts the process of turning the spit, it goes for about 20 minutes. We are going up to the second floor of the house. You will note that the staircase is rather steep. It is so because we have a center chimney behind it and the chimney to this house is very large. We had they had to put the staircase up in front of it and made it very steep for that reason. Now we are entering the parlor chamber. This chamber was a word used for better and back there. The fact that it is the reason why it is called a parlor chamber. This room would have been used by captain tait and his wife, sleeping. But also mary would have entertained her friends in here. Captain tait had his room which is on the other side of the house on this floor. Mary would have entertained her she would havend had their tea at bedtime. There are no closets here. They typically did not have them because honestly, they did not have a lot of clothes. They might have used the same close from day to day clothes from day to day. May have been used for linens and in valuables. They would have stored there clothes they had back then in a bureau or in a chest. Inir bed that they slept would have been custommade, and is somewhat short. The is because back then, custom of the day was to sleep propped up. That was the belief of the day. For better sleep. And for health reasons. Mattresses were made out of straw or goose down. Bed ering cc over the the coverings you see over the bed are the designs from the day. Weise we found fabric from the house and we were able to produce it into this design. Backhaul. Leads into a there is a staircase from the back hall to the kitchen. There is a staircase that goes to the third floor. There are three rooms on the third floor. To the left as you go into the back part of this part of the house, you will go into the childrens room where they slept. And then finally, into a guest quarters which is a room of about the same size as this. This house is the only house left in america that was built and survived by a mast agent. Very well due to neglect from before and has been preserved very well over a period of time. It is a great place to view and how things were built back then. You can see rich paneling along the walls, you can see the structure of the house on the third story, how it was put together. You can see the foundation and how that was put together. It is pretty fascinating if you are interested in old homes and you want to see something in great detail, this would be a great spot for people to visit. I am holding a flag inside the Portland Observatory in portland, maine. Where cspan is learning about the areas history. Up next, we take you on a tour of the observatory to learn about its role. In the Portland Observatory which is a National Historic landmark and the last remaining maritime signal tower and the United States. The observatory was built in 1807. The Portland Observatory was built at a business as a a captain. Nture i he created this business around the idea of signaling the arrival of ships into the port of portland. Portland has a wonderful natural harbor. It was a great center for shipping. There was an Important Competitive advantage that would be had. Idea was to build a building, a tower, on a high point of ground and put a top. Cope on the through that telescope, captain moody could look out into the harbor and identify ships that were coming in. In those days, there was a lot of shipping here. Also, there were many different kinds of ships. Ideain moodys business was to charge people to have their boats or ships signaled as they came into port. And would provide a flag captain moody would raise their flag when he saw the ships coming into port through the telescope. From the very beginning, the observatory was also a site where people could go to the top as almost touristic activity. Captain moody, being as entrepreneurial as he was, he tower, but heal also charge people to go to the top. There are documents where it is documented that he charged 12 and a half cents to go to the top. In 1817, president james monroe went to the top. The building has six fours. Were not sure what those floors were for. The floors were part of the to have integrity of the building. It is built like a ship. Captain moody made a model, we believe, a wooden model. And then used those measurements to create an design the observatory. Up the building. And what is interesting about the Portland Observatory is it is built like a ship. It is held down by a salas. We need a heavyweight in the bottom of the building. It is held in a wooden cradle. The building is resting on the ground. It does not have a Solid Foundation or tied down to anything. It is held down by a heavyweight, just like a ship would have been. The observatory is unique in that way. Today, we still have the 22 tons of rock sitting in the lower level that is holding the building down. The reason recent restoration, all these timbers were checked so we know that that timber cradle is solid and that heavyweight of granite rubble is holding this building. Here we are at the top, almost to the top level of the lantern. You can actually see the tops of the large timbers that make the shape of the observatory. You can see a lot of the knots and parts of the tree that a remaining. These were 65 foot timbers that were used to create the observatory. They were very big trees that were brought in for this. He actually uses a complicated system where he built a set or frame for the building and used a pulley system to raise up those eight posts. There are markings on those posts where the intervening members were placed. You can actually see some of the hardware. This is the hardware that holds the flagpole at the top. Nuts some fun tree which is paperwork evident of the top of the timbers. Now we are in the floor underneath the lantern deck. This is where captain moody stored the signal flags. We saw that she saw those a ships other coming he would grab a signal flag and raise that to indicate which ship was coming into port or today, the observatory continues to signal. We have a number of flags from cruise ships that come to portland. It is fun to think of the observatory still functioning 210 years later as a signal tower for those ships. I wanted to show you some flags that were like the ones that moody used. There were whole charts of types of flags that would be used to signal different kinds of ships. To indicate to the owners and to the Business People that there in, was cargo coming inform the families that the ships were coming back into port. This was important. When you are sailing, you do not so you have some leave time. Out,an see almost 20 miles that gives some believed time for the families and Business Owners to get ready for them to come in. This flag is a flag to indicate brig. Rick one way up was for one, the other was for two. It was ingenious how he used his flags. The type ofof sail, ship really give you the information about what was coming into port. There also were pennants used to add to the information. This was a way to add on numbers up chefs, with the one pennant and the flag, depending on which way up it is flying. That would tell you how many brigs were coming into port. It was an ingenious system, it worked very well as a visual tool to indicate to the people on land what ships were coming into port. We are now in the lantern of the portman observatory, where the top of the tower, this is where captain moody did all his work. The telescope would have been right here. The original one, was lost in the 1930s. Now we are out on the deck of the observatory. It happens to be a very foggy day. All the different weather conditions were evident up here, our friend captain moody kept records of all of that while he was at the top of the tower in the early 19th century. Very interesting to see. How he made a lot of different uses of being at the top of portland in the days. The observatory operated from 1807 until the early 1920s. What happened during that time, they were better Communication Systems came in. Shipping changed, there were themships, over the Years Technology of transportation and communication changed. By the 1920s, the observatory really what obsolete. What happened then was the family the descendents of, the captain who still owns, the observatory, gave it to the city of portland as a historic site. Then, it went through a major renovation and the 1930s in the Works Progress administration. Very recently, there was a partnership with greater portland landmarks in the late 1990s to completely restore the building so that it can continue historicenter of significance in the city of portland. I think the observatory gives people a sense of what it is all about, a seaport. , thisery important relationship with the Maritime Transportation and land transportation that happened here. Its evidence through the Portland Observatory. Ship to shore communications, it still has that role today. You can see it from the water from various sites all over town. Its a reminder. A long andnd has interesting history and you can actually experience it by coming to the observatory. American history tv is at the society thatcal has been collecting all of the facts since 1822. We are getting ready to take a look at some of their collections, one of which dates back to the 15th century. Welcome to Maine Historical the third oldest state Historical Society in the United States. We were founded in 1822. We have been collecting at this location since 1907 in portland. In the earlier is, we were at brunswick, and then we moved to portland in the 1870s. We moved around a bit, public library, city hall, once the house was donated to the society, we built this library we are in today. In 2007, we underwent restoration and renovation, were we added about 13,000 square feet of archival Storage Space to the back of the 1907 building. Temperature and humidity controlled, climate controlled space where we start our collection. We also have an offsite Storage Space that we use for larger collections that have outgrown the footprint of our in town location. Some of our materials have a broader scope. Our materials do reach back to the 15th century. Although that is not a terrible amount of our collection. The bulk of her maternal is from the 18th and making centuries 19 centuries. About 1700, we have an extensive collection of colonial restoration and contact dating dating to maine, maritime canada, and early new england. Year, we collected broadly on history. Anything that has to do with american or european history, we collected. At the caps on by, we have taken our focus as decades have gone by, we have taken our focus on examples that relate to maintain history and things that have nationalistic significance. We consider these as show pieces, they dont traditionally come out for research. We brought some of these out to highlight the breadth of our collections. Pieces start with tow that the from the American Revolution or the revolutionary war era. We have a of George Washingtons hair that was given to allies a wadsworth. When George Washington died in 1799, Eliza Wadsworth who was the aut to the poet asked for a lock of hair. Was a friend of George Washington. Thisa washington sent her piece of hair in 1800. Later on henry wadsworth, had the piece of hair placed into a locket and engraved it that indicated what it was and to whom it was given in 1800. One ofece we consider our treasures of Maine Historical society, it speaks to the colts of George Washington after his death, relics were given, parades were given, feasts, a lot of honorary activities. It shows just how revered he was in the United States shortly after the revolution. The inscription reads washingtons hair, given by mrs. Washington to miss Eliza Wadsworth april 5, 1800. Hes and spread it with his own name, Henry W Longfellow 1850 thats when it was made. This piece is the letter book of Benedict Arnold on his 1775. Tion to quebec in it starts with a journal by john montessori, which is a copy of the note. Very interesting about this is that it was presented to the main Historical Society by ehrenberg in 1831. This is very early on in collecting history. So much so that it presented to these historical societies by colonel ehrenberg. There were many historical societies at the time, so it was easy to not have to qualify that. This piece is one of the treasures of Maine Historical society. , it has been microfilmed which is what most of our researchers use, because the book itself, despite its contents, Benedict Arnold has its own intrinsic value. You can see a copy of his signature there. Benedict arnold was a general during the revolutionary war, infamous for becoming a traitor and transitioning to the british side. Andelt very slighted underappreciated during the revolutionary war and thought that hed get a better deal on the other side, it didnt really work out in his favor. Considered one of the most successful cohorts in the continental army. Here wasicular piece an auction list from the hms boxer, which is a particular interest to me personally as a librarian, but also a more ethnic main storage and military history. During the war of 1812, the u. S. Navy was not terribly successful. One of its naval victories stems from a battle off the coast of monhegan in 1813. The hms boxer and the uss about a halfught hour long naval battle. American ship was victorious, but both of the captains were killed as a result of the naval battle. , the american survived to port. The british commander was killed instantaneously. The ship was brought back to portlandthe port of which was the closest. Captain burroughs been soon passed away. Both men were given a joint funeral by the city of portland and are buried sidebyside at the Eastern Cemetery here in portland. They are also buried with a midshipman who was wounded and died a couple of years later. The main Historical Society, we have documentation , as wello the auction as receipts from everything from the building of the coffin to the digging of the brave, to the hearst. Of the first there is. Only one hearse in town, so they had to paint a wagon black. Funds from this sale helped to pay for the funeral. During the war of 1812, privateers, or the u. S. Navys in this case would bring supplies to port. The goods from the captured vessel were auctioned off. That would then go to the u. S. Government, in the case of a bevateer, the shares would divided amongst the group with a portion going to the u. S. Government. Here we have an auction list which was created by dr. Barton, who was the u. S. Marshall dr. Thorton, was the u. S. Marshall during the war of 1812. Some of these items have been returned to the main Historical Society, including chest, chairs, and we believe is one of the cannons. Its certainly a period, but whether it is the exact canon is up for debate. Iss particular piece indicative of one of the most romantic naval stories in maine history. Captain burroughs, was from philadelphia. In 2013, a number of his the easterncame to cemetery along with descendents of family members of captain bligh from england. They had a joint funeral procession to commemorate the 200th anniversary. The war any the war of 1812 was unpopular in maine for many reasons. We were very defended, it inhibited our ability to train extensively. It was a financial disaster for maine and massachusetts. British,ligh, although had been in maine in sometime for some time. He was very well respected. He was a gentleman and was revered amongst people in maine. Thought itd, they was the appropriate thing to do to give him a proper funeral. There was a funeral procession throughout the city, they had a at theuneral ceremony local church, than they were brought to be buried sidebyside. Its unusual, i think thats what makes this story more romantic, its sort of this despite being enemies, the camaraderie that people in maine felt for the british so shortly after the American Revolution. What we have here is an example treasure. Uried in 1855, on richmonds island, ofe we have an amber type richmonds island maine. Treasure was located by a farmer and his son, who were plowing a field and came across broken. , it was thinking it to be a round jar rum jar from earlier settlers, they set it aside. Wasof the younger sons brushing the dirt off and noticed these coins were inside, along with this ring. It, it iswould have believed that these coins were buried by a gentleman named was not ak now who gentleman indeed, but rather unscrupulous and was murdered by native americans for good reason as the story would go. Assistant, oris someone that may have robbed him at the time around his murder, would have buried this particular treasure. And, this ring is thought to be from the 15 70s. It was said to have begun belonged to an a nobleman. Coin is from the reign of Queen Elizabeth the first. They all predate the year of 1631, which was the year that walter was killed. He lived in the immediate vicinity. Theres also been some legend today that its possible that this money was taken from him when he was killed and then later buried by the individuals who actually committed the murder, although its unclear. He was the only inhabitants of the island that would take appropriate european defense. So its been connected to him. This is an example of what it what a recreation and yet of what it looks like when it was found. This would be Richmond Island. These particular coins date from about the 15 70s, this particular one is 1602. True buried treasure off the coast of maine, murder, mystery, mayhem, perhaps some pirates, maybe even a nice templar, certainly as close as we are going to get to buried treasure here at the main Historical Society. This piece we have is a dunlap copy of the declaration of independence, printed on july 4, 1776. This particular item is one of 26 known copies. I believe its estimated to be about 200 remained on the 26th known copies survived. They are throughout the United States and great britain. One of them has resided at the main Historical Society since the 1890s. Heres the main Historical Society here at the main Historical Society, we provide as a Traditional Research Research Library or museum. We also showcase our collections to judicial history digital history. The items that were auctioned by the hms walkthrough that were returned all exist in our databases and its free on the web. You can take a look and see the receipts from the building of the caskets, from the items that were auctioned off, from the digging of the grave for the Richmond Island goings, George Washington tear. This appears on a website Richmond Islands going. George washingtons hair. We also had a Museum Collections database, where are museum items have been photographed and inventory online so our collections are totally searchable. We would like to be able to showcase it for people who cant come here, but we hope it serves as a companion piece so that individuals can explore what we have and perhaps make a trip to cs and see them in person see in person. Its a nice combination of digital history, 21st century collecting, preservation, and access, as well as traditional archives and museum stewardship. We would like to be able to transcribe documents, digitized documents and make them in the morning00 from nebraska just as easy as it would be at 2 00 in the afternoon here in portland. We have been collecting for a long time, i hope what people will learn is that we not only collect about maine, but its placed in the United States, the role it has played in American History, the importance of our state and the relevance, but also placing us in the larger context and taking main history and understanding how it fits into the larger american historic narrative. Like to be able to showcase things that are interesting, that people would like to enjoy and browse and learn something that they didnt know before. Just to see some of these collections that we take so much time and energy to preserve. The point is for them to be used and to be explored, we hope that people get a good takeaway that these pieces are not lost behind a closed door, but are available to anyone who has an interest in history, an interest in collecting or preservation,. All weekend, American History tv is featuring portland, maine. Cspan cities tour stamp recently visited many sites. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and stephen king are natives of portland. Learn more about portland here on American History tv. Welcome to the main Historical Society. s mainin our Museum Gallery in the center of the new exhibition, creative maine. In 2010, the main Historical Society and six other museums were able to save these parade banners from option. We conserve them, preserve them and want to share them with the public. This ise real treasures the first time all 17 have been on display at the same time together. They really help us to better maines creative history, industrial history, and the crafts that started our stay and economy. These banners were made in 1841 by members of the maine care little Mechanics Association. They used the banners in their parade to help explain the importance of their trade. With these trade banners, there are actually 17, but they represent 54 trades. They paraded through downtown portland, stopped to make speeches, and held a celebration after for their there were lots of toasts, speeches, and good food. The point was to remind the citizens of the importance of skilledd skills products. If you wanted things that were made well and made to last, you needed to have skilled crafts people do it that were welltrained, had years of practice. There were concerned that with the Industrial Revolution the appreciation for good quality craftsmanship was disappearing. Things wered more being massproduced and unskilled people were coming in and working in factories to turn out more products. They wanted to remind people that when you want good quality, really wonderful product, you need to have skilled craftsman to do it. The first banner i want to show you is this one for , they represented people who were making furniture to buy and put in their homes. Piece, i lovely the saying they put on it. Our cabinet, although composed of different materials, is strongly committed to the easily separated. They were reminding people that you couldnt divide them up as craftspeople. This is the start of almost an early union the individual traits people who wanted to Work Together and help to make sure each other survived. Banner, weanner are able to show a historic example. The chair over here was made by Walter Cordes, who was a member of the maine charitable mechanic association. He started off as the chair maker and he could make a few chairs in a week. He realized his potential and ended up building a factory and training people to produce many more. He hired a lot of women to do the painting on the chairs. It became a rather large business. The Walter Cordes chair manufacturing. He did quite well with it. I also wanted to make sure people recognize that furniture is still being made in maine. We have a lot of amazing craftspeople, including this one. This table was made by a furniture maker named christian back sport, he works out of New Gloucester main. Is a oneman show. The quality of what he is able to make, because hes so skilled and welltrained and takes the time to do it is extraordinary. Absolutely beautiful the things that he makes, they become family heirlooms. One of the most popular parade banners in these series is this one. Visual, butderfully it must also be because it is the saying they will put on it. He that will not make the shoot paper shoemaker is not worthy le. So there was a lot of concern for the craftspeople that they were getting on time paid on time, they were getting enough, or they were being completely skipped out on the bill. They wanted to make sure their message was heard in that parade. I like to think thats actually wonderful. The shoe industry used to be a very large industry in maine. A lot of them have lasted, but we still have some factories in the state. , new balance sneakers and the very popular l. L. Bean blue is made here. It is made by mainers. E have a hammer you would need a covert hammer for an l. L. Bean blue, but back in the 1800 you needed a hammer to make a shoe. This one was used by a family who remember who are members of the main terminal mechanic negotiation. Maine is wellknown for our shipbuilding industry. , we built a large ships over the year. Whats not necessarily wellknown, is the industries for building those ships. This banner represented some of those support industries. Sail makers, wrote makers, mass makers, they all combine together to make this banner to show that you also needed them to make a fully successful ship. What i love about this banner is the detail of the people on the ship working along the ground, but also that it is called temperance. The Temperance Movement was important to the maine charitable mechanic association. They were a dry organization, they did not want their members to be drinking. They certainly did not serve alcohol at any other function. It was something they tried to remind people of. The historic objects we have associated with that, we actually have a rope from a ship. Whats amazing is these ropes were built with a rope wand. They would build long buildings where you can stretch out the material and wind them together to make the rope. Even though we are a big city now, we have four along the waterfront. We also have a bag from the seabeds company sea bags company. Is very difficult to show a huge sail. In a gallery. Instead, i chose to show a product that someone recycled old sails. They turn into bags. Sale,s need to replace a they will bring their sale to this company and repurpose them. The last banner i want to show you is this one for painters, brush makers. This was representing several trades, not only artistic painters, but also sign painters. The manufacturers of paint, companies that were making brushes for painting. It was supposed to represent all of them. This one was painted by william capen, junior, who painted 15 of the 17 parade banners. He was a fine painter, well known in town for his sign painting. You can see evidence of that in these banners, when we look closely, we can see the pencil lines he left. Some of the banners were his change to design a little bit. That was fine for a sign painter to leave those, because a sign is far away. Today,nderful for us because we get a better understanding of how he made these. With the banner, we partnered this Landscape Painting by john hudson. He was a member of the main charitable mechanic association. He was a sign painter, but also a landscape painter. He painted this, its in the portland area in 1870s. We dont know a lot about him, except that at one point he was dismissed from the Mechanics Association for some unknown reason which makes everyone wonder,. But it is beautiful. With that, we also wanted to is hat sign thinking sign painting is still being done in maine. This was done by anthony taylor, that is all handpainted. Andstill get that quality advertising sense for hand painting signs in maine today. What im hoping visitors take away from this exhibit is an understanding of how maines hasomy started, that maine always thrived on the creativity of its residents to really grow, but that the graphs are happening here in maine. There are still amazing craftspeople who are building driving businesses and still making all of these same products here. For gorgeous isnt have to obey, about one mile from Portland Casco bay, American History tv is going to make hear about a group trying to save this historic landmark. Today, we are in casco bay, one mile off of the mainland shores of portland, maine. We are on hog island alledge, where they built fort gorge is in 1858 to help defend portland harbor, which was created in 1865. It was built with two sister ports up to the south fort scammell. Work ine designed to conjunction with each other to defend the harbor. Everyone thinks for gorgeous is a civil war for, when it was funded long before the civil war. It was funded as a response to the war of 1812, things that occurred much earlier. Is it or just is a handmade granite for grade if you look at it from the top, what most people dont realize is fort gorgeous is open in the middle. It has this wonderful Parade Ground, there are people have grown up your entire life and have never been here. Afterard was named hernando gorge ease who was a provider for the state of maine. Im told he never set foot your. I think the design was made of a lot of forts being built at the time. Of bricks,made out this was gigantic blocks of granite. To think that they came in here on a sailing vessel and unloaded that stuff, moved it around and erected this entire structure by hand was amazing. Hold 36ls designed to were troopslly port can come and go and originally the sally port had one massive gate and a secondary gate. If you are standing on the ground, you could see the north were the officers quarters and the rooms to the south side were more utility room spread the vegetation you see if was never designed to be here. It was used to observe cannon fire, year after year, grass you see sprout and if photos from as recently as 50 years ago, theres just grass here. Here we are today, we have a 15 foot maple tree behind me. Here we are on the second floor in the casemates on the east southeast side. Up, you will see these transfer crafts that we are finding in this area. They only exist in this one area of the fort. This is partially because of dirt on top and the lack of drainage, and probably after 150 years some settling that happening in the inner and outer walls. The floor, you can see the outlines of work a metal track would have been mounted to these studs that still remain. Track, the rear end of a large cannon carriage would have rolled. Up here, you can see an opening where the front of this carriage , a big tongue was sticking in this group, up here you can see the whole where a big tent would drop in and the enormous carriage would allow the cannon to swing back and forth and cover a broad range. The opening where the cannon ball flew through remain shut at all times. They were big iron shutters with big springs on them. The force of the explosion of the cannonball would open the shutters and they would immediately slam shut. Flute,re, you will see a all that cannon fire, black powder, the amount of smoke it would generate, each one of these casemate had its own flu so the smoke would exhaust the area. Up here, you will see some we suspect the soldiers stood on the cannon carriage and hung their tools. Also lived here. Here, we are in one of the enter chambers to the great magazine. We are one room away. You see these massive floor timbers that burned out decades ago. Given the size of this room, not 16. Ry big room, maybe 10 by i had always wondered what could have been so heavy that they needed floor joys that massive. Then it came to me one day. Gunpowder, cannonballs. Capink this is where the the cannonballs. Cap the cannonballs. If you are here, you will be able to see when they kept the gunpowder. This is the great magazine. You can see it is a large room, a used to be two stories, or was removed at some point, somehow. This is a large room with the earliest use of concrete which ive ever seen. Flats wherethe old the individual boards were made for form, then giant granite blocks with shins stuck in the mortar to take up the space. Room does have some slots in the wall so that some air can circulate through your. You will also see two small openings in the brickwork, one on the first floor, and one on the second floor. Those were from the little room on the other side called the candle room. In that opening, they would place a lantern, that lantern was the only means of illumination for this area. Soldiers who wore kabul boots with called boots with nail head on the bottom would have had some sort of a wool or silk sock over their boots to enter this room and working here. It was designed to be garrisoned with 500 troops, it was never fully garrisoned, and it never fired a single shot. I suspect it was obsolete by the time it was completed, because armaments were advancing so rapidly at the time. Time, here for a long then caretakers came along and lived in it and watched over it. In world war ii, they built the concrete pad that we can see down on the Parade Ground freight that was used to store torpedoes. It was used as an elaborate system throughout capital bay as we know you both came into capital bay uboats came into capital bay. There were factor to islands were manufactured to islands over. Then theres a Narrow Gauge Railway that they would bring the mind down into the water and store them. Eventually, the fort was put on the national register, i think it was 1971, the city of portland acquired the property. Since then, its remained neglected. Taken a, the city has renewed interest in the property, we have the army corps of engineers here doing a Hazard Mitigation program. Y due to social media, this place is on everyones radar, Everyone Wants to be here and experience this space. It is committed to seeing this place does not fall apart. We know we can do that. We know we can save the structure. Then it becomes about making it accessible to more people so we can have a sustainable model to do the work that needs to be done. Then it becomes about stewardship. Making sure that this wonderful spot never falls into the hands of Condo Development or a casino, something that would be clearly inappropriate for this space. Challenges,lot of the media once our access the immediate ones are access. Boate need to come here by , luckily is only one mile from land. Two thirds of the 7000 people that come here in summertime are coming by kayak. Some come from the island, some come from the mainland, they do chores here all day every day. They ute wars here all day every day. The easiest way to get here is your not bound by the tie, you dont have to worry about your boat. We encourage people who dont do that to hire a guide or have some sort of experience. You can also come out with a boat, we are hoping in the coming years to put a dock in and make this more accessible to the general population. Ive been coming here since i was a teenager, its a mystical place, especially when you start coming here as a child. We just dont build structures like this anymore, its unique, its the only place like this that i know of in maine that is accessible. One mile from shore, you have this amazing structure we will never see again, so we have to save it. Its also a special to me because for a long time i wanted to see some sort of performance happen here, shakespeare, or something along those lines. Its important to the people who live here and the people who visit here for the reasons i mentioned before. Everyone is affected by this space. When you step through the port and into the Parade Ground and see those casemate our trays archways, its just phenomenal. Most times, peoples just drop n they first see it peoples jaws drop when they first see it. Cspan is in portland, maine to learn more about its history. Up next, we visit the childhood home of henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Often i think of the beautiful town that is solidified at sea, and often going up and down of that town and the youth comes back to me. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an american poet in the 19th century. He was when he was alive, and writing, probably the most famous english language writer in the world. Hes not the most famous person in the world. Today, hes probably best remembered for like overviews ride poems like paul reveres ride. He is still very much of our everyday lexicon and our american memory. He was born in portland, maine february 27, 1807. He grew up here. Its where he started writing. Even after as a mental he left portland and maine, he came back all the time. He found inspiration in the city, his childhood home, it was still very much a special place to him and a real source of his poetry. His house was always owned by his family. His grandparents built the house parents henrys own lived here from 1807 through their death. The last person to live at the house was his sister. 1901. Ed here in on her death, she left the house and everything in it to Maine Historical society. As far as how much you see is original to the house and family, the figure ive been quoted is 94 . In other words, almost all of it. There are a few places where we have had to fill in some gaps, places that were lost over the years. Almost everything you are looking at has a personal connection to the house and people who lived here. This is the front hall of the house, where the familys guests would have come in. They probably would have been taken right into the familys parlor. This was the most formal room of the house. It was where they kept the nicest things, the nicest furniture, this, more often than not, was for special occasions. Sometimes, somber occasions like funerals, also a lot of happy occasions, like weddings. Henrys parents were married in this room in 1804. Later, two of his sisters also celebrated their wedding in this parlor. Thisng down on all important Family Activity from a place of honor in the room is an engraving of George Washington that we are told has been in that spot since 1802. Washington was a very popular figure in early 19th century america. It wouldnt have been a huge surprise to find his likeness in any americans home. The wadsworth and the longfellows work proud that they had a personal collection were proud that they had a personal collection through panties grandfather. You henrys grandfather. He was a general during the American Revolution. He actually knew George Washington. The moment that he is best remembered for during the war was his role in the penobscot expedition in 1779. The massachusetts militia was anxious to get to the british out of maine. They sent a lot of Ground Forces and naval forces to that area. His grandfather was second in command to the Ground Forces. In charge of the artillerys in that expedition was paul revere. The expedition ended in a horrible did the test of the party americans. It was the worst in American History until pearl harbor. Revere was made something of a scapegoat for everything that went wrong. When it was all over, pele wants barbier had not obeyed an order that he had given him. Paul revere was remembered by a lot of the men with him at the penobscot exhibition as a arrogant and not easy to work with person. He is brought up on charges after its all over and placed on house arrest. The revere would demand Court Marshals to clear his name, which it did. Then, 1782, the American Revolution was coming to an end. People didnt really care much anymore, they werent worried about him. His reputation is ruined forever, he falls into obscurity for a long time, for a generation, nobody knew who he was. In 1861, pele wadsworth grandson on the eve of the civil war decides to write a whole and in 801 in which he makes paul revere the star and that he wrote. We are counting how paul revere mounted his horse and rode through the massachusetts countryside to warn his fellow patriots that the british were marching for lexington and concord. The polling was probably his way of warning his fellow new englanders that were on the break of war again. Our grandparents were ready when the call came 80 years ago, we are going to have to be ready when it comes again. Why he chose paul revere out of any of the other figures he may have chosen is not really known. We dont think his grandfather ever talked to henry about paul revere, we dont know if he ever really talk to him about the war at all. Thatinteresting to note wadsworth would have seen paul revere remembered in a different way from the way his grandson would have had humor membered. Havingted to show remembered. He did she show interest at a young age from his childhood. He published his first p old. When he was 13 years after he graduated from college, he would have been 18 years old, he told his father that was what he wanted to do. He wanted to be a writer. I think he always knew that was his dream, his passion. This room was. The familys dining room and sitting room, a place where when they were Entertaining Company in the parlor, they might gather to relax. For many years, henrys father used this space as his law office. For a time he practiced out of the house. He also had a small waiting room added on to the house for his clients to use. Clients could come in and out this entrance and wait for stephen here without interrupting the day of the rest of the family. We know that when henry was young, he liked to sit back here and right write. Maybe this small space is working on privacy away from the prying eyes of his Seven Brothers and sisters, his parents, his aunt. He liked his meet back here for a little alone time to do some writing. When henry was about 19 years old, his father had moved the law office out of the house and henrys mother decided to turn this space into a china closet, which had him feeling a little put out. He would say in a letter to his sister, elizabeth, i havent been able to write a think, not since the vandals crossed the rubicon into the sanctum sanctorum of the little room and turned into a china closet. Mother,alking about his i think we can assume the statement is a little tongueincheek. Its just how important this really was to henry even as he grew up,. His poetry, his first big commercial success is probably eventually, which was published in 1847. Ine is his polling about the arcadian explosion out of canada by the british in the 1700s. That was followed by other big hits, the courtship of miles standards,. Or what thes ride original title was the landlords tale. One of the things they had in common is a very romantic style, epic storytelling, if you will. And all of those poems i mentioned are all inspired by actual historical events or for his own henry purposes may have changed or adapted a little bit, taken some needse with to suit his or the expectations of his audience. Those are some of the ones hes best known for still to this day. Poetry had and continues to have a very real influence on how america imagines its origins as a nation. At the back of the hall and to the left was the familys summer dining room. This side of the house faces north, its a little cooler for eating in the summertime. Today, this room is often referred to as the rainy day room, because in this room it is believed that henry wrote his poems on a rainy day. The poem is not one of his better remembered in 2017, the people hope it all the time. , usually not reeling they are quoting one of his poems. The poems had three stanzas. The first he describes what he can see out the window, the day is dark and dreary, it is blowing. The wind is every time the wind blows, the leaves are falling from the trees. In the second stanza, he says thats how he feels. His life is dark and dreary, and the hopes of his youth is falling off of the trees, all around him. In the last stanza, he starts a hopeful tone and it says be still sad heart, in peace refining, behind the clouds is the sun still training shining. Dreary. S are dark and into every light a little must fall has played into our everyday lexicon. It originated with their home. He wrote the poem on the heels of a lot of loss in his personal life. Within the span of about one died, shesister ellen was sick seniors old 16 years old. His brotherinlaw George Pierce died, they were classmates in college, they were very good friends. That same year, he lost his first wife, mary, while they were traveling abroad. I think when he sits down to write the rainy day, its probably his way of responding to that grief. We know that whenever he was visiting his childhood home, he would often say in this bedroom. After he married his second wife, we know that they came here for a visit and they stayed in this very room. Still on the table is his traveling writing desk. This piece is a precursor to the laptop, it changed in the middle, folds into a nice box. We know that he actually wrote part of his poem evangeline on this writing desk. Here in his childhood home, it was a very tangible reminder of the work that he did. And i would say about of how famous and well traveled he was. It took them all over the world. He found inspiration all over the world. It was important for him to have the tools they needed so he can always be writing and creating. After he left maine, he would come back at least once a year to visit. He wouldnt really be, well then as a writer until 1840s, 1850s, after the civil war, he certainly would have been more physically recognizable with the advent of photography. At his home in massachusetts, whenever he left the house, photographers would come out of the studios to take his pictures. Man, so hery nice would oblige. There are a lot of photographs that still exist of henry longfellow. Ining back to his hometown his middle age and into his final years, he would have become a recognizable figure. 1882, hishe died in sister and would be sitting in this house about another 15 years. I think she probably imagined not too long after his death that this might be a place for the public to come and see. When she made that decision in the years before he died, she literally said its the right thing to do. It would be right to leave it for the public to enjoy. Our cities to her staff recently traveled to portland, maine to learn about its rich history. Learn more about portland and other stops on her tour at cspan. Org cities tour. You are watching American History tv, all weekend, every weekend on cspan3. In, its airst went long story, i was barely able to get back to the surface. A bunch of them jumped in and theres a picture which im sure you will show, that they are pulling me out of the lake. You can see my arm is broken. Once they pulled me out, they were very happy to see me. I had just finished bombing the place. We got pretty rough. Shoulder, hurt my knee again. I dont blame them. We were in a war. I didnt like it, but at the when you are in a war and you are captured by the enemy, you cant expect to have tea. 50 years after his capture, john mccain talked about the impact of the vietnam war on his life and the country. At 6 00 and 10 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3. This sunday on American History tv, on a turkey former Time Magazine white house whoographer diana walker, covered the administration of president s reagan, bush, and clinton. Heres a preview. Sudden, the president said look at us all here in a row. We look like those monkeys. And they did it. They did see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. They did this in front of me. It was as if they were oblivious to the fact that they had a photographer in the room. But they didnt care. They were having fun. And they did it. Thats one of the times when i knew i had the picture and i should leave. And stood up,ture and i quietly left the room. Watch the entire interview sunday at 7 00er p. M. And 11 00 p. M. Eastern. Thats here on American History tv, on cspan3. Monday on the communicators, julie anglin. Facebook has said that they learned a bunch of ads played during the election were placed by russian outfits under anonymous accounts. They were politically divisive, not necessarily aimed at one candidate or another, but aimed at selling the the communicators monday night at 8 00 eastern on cspan two. T on 50 years ago, on october 21, 1967. 100,000 vietnam war protesters gathered at the lincoln memorial, then marched to the pentagon. More than 600 protesters were arrested, including norman mailer, who would later win a Pulitzer Prize for his book on the march. Up next, from january of 1968,