Historian Mike Dekker
On Thursday, May 13 at 4:30 pm, the Boothbay Region Historical Society will kick off its 2021 speaker series with historian Mike Dekker’s talk, “Shared Ground: An Exploration of 17th-Century Indigenous and Euromerican Cultures through Gardening.” Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this free talk will be available by Zoom only.
Dekker made his own colonial garden. Using only period tools and heirloom seed varieties, he established a garden reflective both Native and Euromerican agricultural practices in Maine during the colonial era. Both cultures raised corn, beans, and squash, yet employed divergent agricultural methods. Their differences, as well as their similarities, reflect the world views of both cultures. As an ethnohistorical tool, the garden can answer important questions about the people who called Maine home during the colonial period.
Dekker is an author, historian, and a living history interpreter of early American history and material culture. He presents educational programs for historical societies, museums, historic sites, schools, and the public. He is the author of “The French and Indian Wars in Maine,” about the tragic and largely forgotten story of the six wars that ravaged Maine between 1675 and 1760.
To register for this talk, email brhszoom@gmail.com.
The Boothbay Region Historical Society is located at 72 Oak St. in Boothbay Harbor. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the historical society is open to researchers only from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesday through Friday. For more information, call the museum at 633-0820, email brhs@gwi.net, or go to boothbayhistorical.org.
