FORT GEORGE -- CASTINE: Extracts from Maine Histories Written by School Children Sprague's Journal of Maine History Volume 9, April, May, June, 1921 No. 2 Page 89 No study is more enticing than the achievements of men and the study becomes doubly interesting when it has to do with the beginnings of things with which we are now perfectly familiar. Many of the schools of our state, from the little country school on the hillside to the girls in our state normal schools, are doing research work in local history and are producing some very fine stories of the beginnings of their town. Miss Nellie Jordan, with her class in the Aroostook State Normal School, produced some wonderful books, each student taking for her own work her local town. In some instances, the book compiled is a community affair, each child contributing some fact or some paragraph or some source material from which the paragraph is written. I hope the work may be carried on in future years. Teachers who have not begun it will find explicit directions in our little booklet, "One Hundred Years of Statehood and One Hundred Leading Facts of Maine." I am giving herewith some of the paragraphs culled from the books sent in to the office by schools throughout the state. It will be noted that these paragraphs are finished exercises in English and show a very nice discrimination of leading facts. It is really worth something to the child or even to a high school stu- dent to make some original investigation from the sources of information, collect that data around a central idea and write it up definitely and purposefully. I am pleased to call the atten- tion of the teachers of the state to the following very fine paragraphs or extracts from Maine books. FORT GEORGE -- CASTINE (By Frieda W. Hatch.) "Its history dates back to the year 1779 when Great Britain was at war with her colonies. The Americans were mostly de- pendent on the Maine seacoast for their supplies of lumber, fish, etc., and to prevent them from getting these, the English determined to establish a military post there. Castine, or Bagaduce as it was then called, was chosen for the site of this and late in the spring of the year 1779, British soldiers, about seven hundred in number, landed and began clearing the land." "Castine has had many experiences. It has been held by the Indians, Dutch and English. After the Revolution, Castine be- came rapidly settled and for a long time it was the most important mart of business in the eastern part of Maine. Ship building was formerly the leading industry." (c) 1998 Courtesy of the Androscoggin Historical Society ************************************************* * * * * NOTICE: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. * * * * The USGenWeb Project makes no claims or estimates of the validity of the information submitted and reminds you that each new piece of information must be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence. It is always best to consult the original material for verification.