Down on the Island, Up on the Main: A Recollected History of South Bristol, Maine

When Ellen Vincent set out to document a working town’s history, she hoped to find a place where the families and traditions were part of a generations-old continuum. South Bristol, Maine, a coastal village that spans shore and islands, is just such a place. Sometimes idyllic, at other times laden with hardship, this was a community where self-sufficiency was a virtue and neighbors were as family. The oral history project that Vincent began grew as the community came together to create a collective memory of place, spoken in the words of its people. Their strength of character and unflagging humor has carried them through many decades, and it resonates in the cadence of their tales. These are stories and images that will echo up and down the coast of Maine.