Adventures of the Blackgang

For American diners, lobster is synonymous with luxury. It’s a treat at a fancy restaurant, a status symbol, an indulgent delicacy dipped in butter reserved for special occasions. But it hasn’t always been so. In fact, when European settlers first landed on the U.S. shores, lobsters were so abundant that people fed them to their pigs.

Lobster shells lying around a house’s front yard were kind of like today’s jacked-up, rusted-out pickup truck: an embarrassing sign of poverty and moral degradation.

Back in the Days when Lobster was Cheaper than Beans on Vintage News

onceuponatown:

The Clarence White family in Maine. 1913.

historicaltimes:

Virginia-class battleship USS Georgia being launched at Bath Iron Works, Maine, 1904

via reddit

USS Georgia (BB-15)

(via historicaltimes)

rickinmar:

Hopper. 1920s, Maine.

rickinmar:

Corea Maine. photo by Paul Strand. 1930s

Turn-of-the-20th-century photograph of a lobster boat; Penobscot Marine Museum via The Island Institute

rickinmar:

John Marin painting. Addison Maine. 1950.

rickinmar:

finnan haddie the way my mom cooked it was the best…! what was once a staple New England food is now hard to find, but trending with foodies.

rickinmar:

Tinker Mackerel. a painting by Marsden Hartley. late 1930s. Maine.

Mouth Full of Sardines; Delicious, Nutritious Sardines from Maine

Launch of the pre-dreadnought battleship USS Georgia, Bath Iron Works, Bath Maine; October 11th, 1904.

Josef M. Arentz (American, 1903-1969)
Seascape, Kennebunk, Maine
Oil on canvas

Kenneth Roberts. Trending Into Maine. Boston: Little, Brown, 1938; Illustrated by N. C. Wyeth (travelogue)

Kenneth Lewis Roberts (December 8, 1885 – July 21, 1957) was an American author of historical novels. Roberts worked first as a journalist, becoming nationally known for his work with the Saturday Evening Post from 1919 to 1928, and then as a popular novelist.

Born in Kennebunk, Maine, Roberts specialized in regional historical fiction. He often wrote about his native state and its terrain, also depicting other upper New England states and scenes.

While a reporter for the Saturday Evening Post in the 1920s, Roberts wrote many magazine articles and a book urging strong legal restrictions on immigration from eastern and southern Europe, and from Mexico, and warning of the dangers of immigration from places other than northwestern Europe.

He became a leading voice for stricter immigration laws, and testified before a congressional committee on the subject. He wrote:

“If America doesn’t keep out the queer alien mongrelized people of Southern and Eastern Europe, her crop of citizens will eventually be dwarfed and mongrelized in turn.” +

yama-bato:

John Marin
White Waves On Sand, Maine, 1917
Watercolor and charcoal on paper
15 7/8 in. x 18 3/4 in.
Gift of John Marin, Jr. and Norma B. Marin

http://www.colby.edu/academics_cs/museum/search/Obj2341?port=104

(via yama-bato)

From the “lumbersexual” to the “lobstersexual,” the nation’s hottest fashion trends originate here in Maine...

on The Working Waterfront