The Abbe Museum: 12,000 Years of History in Maine
Close your eyes and imagine a land of tundra exposed by the retreat of massive Ice Age glaciers. This was what the first people saw when they came upon this land that is now called Maine and the Maritimes. For over 12,000 years the native people of this region have been deeply rooted to this land. As in all cultures, and evidenced in the archaeological record, technologies and traditions changed over time.
The Abbe Museum, founded in 1926, was the vision of Dr. Robert Abbe who was a summer resident of Mount Desert Island. His passion for archeology and the unearthing of ancient artifacts from the island and surrounding region was the spark that started the Abbe Museum at Sieur de Monts Spring in Acadia National Park. For 80 years the little trailside museum has offered up its ancient treasures for thousands of visitors to see, and it still opens its doors to visitors today.
In 2001, with an ever-expanding collection and the need to present the modern story of the Native Wabanaki people, the Abbe Museum opened a brand new, state-of-the art facility in downtown Bar Harbor. This award winning museum houses the largest collection of Wabanaki cultural art and artifacts in the world and continues to uphold the Abbe Museum’s mission of promoting the understanding and appreciation of Maine’s Native American culture, history, and archaeology. The museum’s collections, exhibitions, and programs focus on Native American traditions in Maine and explore the broader Native American experience, past and present.
In addition to showcasing innovative exhibits, the Abbe Museum plays host to “cultural connections” where its visitors have a chance to engage regional Native American artists through hands-on workshops and educational demonstrations that include traditional basket weaving, birch bark work and bead work.
The Abbe’s influence reaches well beyond its walls. The Native American Festival and Indian Market, held each summer at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, is a collaboration between the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance and the Abbe Museum. The year’s festival, on Saturday July 11, will feature exquisite hand-crafted Wabanaki baskets, carvings, jewelry, beadwork, and dolls as well as Native American singing, dancing, storytelling, demonstrations and food.
—Jason Brown
The Abbe Museum’s two locations are open daily, May through October. For more information please call (207) 288-3519 or visit www.abbemuseum.org.
Click to view the Abbe's 2014 Featured Exhibition