Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail Festival returns to the shores of Moosehead Lake July 12-15

GREENVILLE — Join us for the 11th annual Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail Festival July 12–15 at the Center for Moosehead History. The festival is a celebration of the Maine Woods and commemorates the history of the Wabanaki people and poet, philosopher, and naturalist Henry David Thoreau’s three trips into the Maine Woods.

This year’s event includes presentations by Bob Duchense, famous Maine birding guide, Matt LaRoche, superintendent of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, and Dave Yates, bat expert from the BioDiversity Research Institute. We will also have special guest, Chris Sockalexis, the Penobscot Nation tribal historic preservation officer, at the Center for Moosehead on Saturday evening. Sockalexis will entertain us with native American drumming and discuss the legends of Mt Kineo and the surrounding landscape.

You can also have a hands-on experience with real stone tool artifacts and try flintknapping. For preschoolers and elementary children, LC Bates Museum will be exploring the natural history of Maine and Maine Native Americans use of tools at the Shaw Public Library of Friday. On Saturday, Chewonki is back by popular demand with their presentation on Owls of Maine. This is a great show for kids and adults that includes several live owls.

On Friday night, there will be a chicken and moose burger barbeque on the lawn across from the Center for Moosehead History. Bring your lawnchair and enjoy good food and an evening of live music on the shores of the majestic Moosehead Lake, because Erica Brown and the Bluegrass Connection will be here to entertain us. The grill is hot at 5 p.m. and the band is hot at 7 p.m.

The Natural Resource Education Center and the Moosehead Historical Society will be holding a silent auction upstairs in the Center for Moosehead History during the festival. This fundraiser helps support our programming including this annual festival and the Maine Woods Explorers outdoor youth education program. Please stop by and have a look around. Check out our full schedule details in our brochures, posters, our Facebook page, or website at www.NRECmoosehead.org.