Warren Riess
Caring for Kids, a Lincoln County 501(c)(3), will hold a fundraising lecture on Wednesday, July 5 from 7-9 p.m. at the education center at Pemaquid Point Lighthouse Park. As a special feature, Bob Kline has agreed to open the lighthouse tower to tours at 6 p.m., an hour before the actual lecture, for those who come early and register for the lecture.
Long before the GPS, early mariners needed navigation aids. The presentation will be titled “Lighthouses, Why We Built Them and How We Used Them,” and will be presented by Warren Riess.
Riess is a research associate professor emeritus at the University of Maine, stationed at the Darling Marine Center. His research and teaching have focused on the maritime history and archaeology of Colonial and Revolutionary America. He was the principal investigator in a 1980s archaeological study of a ship in Manhattan; in the 1990s, he was part of a study of shipwreck sites of the Revolutionary War Penobscot Expedition and the 1710 Nottingham Galley shipwreck site at Boon Island. In 2010, he investigated the ship remains discovered at the World Trade Center. The latter is the subject of an upcoming Discovery Channel documentary.
Riess has published two books, “Angel Gabriel: The Elusive English Galleon,” in 2002, and “The Ship That Held Up Wall Street,” in 2014, for which he won Mystic Seaport’s John Gardner award. He has published articles about maritime history and archaeology in Sea History, International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, International Journal of Maritime Economic History, the British Museum Encyclopedia of Maritime and Underwater Archaeology, The Northern Mariner/Le Marin du Nord, and the Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture. His archaeology accomplishments have been the subject of a one-hour special for the Maine Public Broadcasting System.
Caring for Kids, started in 1992, helps more than 90 local children have a happy holiday by supplying coats, hats, mittens, boots, and other warm items, as well as personal hygiene items like soap, toothpaste, etc. It also provides healthy snacks every weekend to students of Bristol Consolidated School and South Bristol School who qualify for free or reduced breakfast and lunch programs. The organization has also implemented a summer program to help entire families including younger children who may not yet be of school age.
For reserved seating for this event, contact Pat Porter at 677-2924. The suggested donation is $10.
