For thousands of years, native people lived, loved and labored on Deer Isle as well as the surrounding islands and peninsulas of east Penobscot Bay. Then, just over 400 years ago, their lives were disrupted by the arrival of strangers who, over the next 150 years, took control of their homeland. But the original people didn’t just go away. Instead, they survived this assault by adapting in creative ways to life in a world controlled by others.by William A. Haviland

This book is the story of their cultural survival in one particular neighborhood of the Maine coast over the past 400 years.

“Haviland’s work fills a long void since the last Indian romanticized tales that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Haviland’s research breaks barriers in citing the Indian families that continued to live in their traditional manner and gained acceptance as well-respected citizens in their communities during the 19th and 20th centuries.” — Nicholas Smith, PhD

“Haviland’s own culture as an American, a Mainer, a scholar with a lifetime connection to Deer Isle, all weave together in the tale of a place in Maine and the native population that occupied that area over time. Although Haviland is not a Native American, his unique perspective and open-mindedness have crafted a narrative that honors the Maine Native American Wabanaki who have historically occupied this place.” — James Eric Francis, Sr., Tribal Historian Penobscot Nation.

Published in cooperation with the Deer Isle- Stonington Historical Society

To order:

At the Place of the Lobsters and Crabs: Indian People and Deer Isle, Maine, 1605–2005, 120pp, Quality Paperback, ISBN 978-1-882190-97-3 Published by Polar Bear & Company
US $12.95