Guest Blogger: Kim Smith

The American Civil War had a huge impact on rural northern Maine. Over half of Presque Isle’s male population left to serve with a third of those never returning from battle. This placed a tremendous hardship on the women left behind in this agricultural-based community.

One of the soldiers who did return home, Harrison Robinson, went on to become a successful local jeweler. Upon his death, a tent-mate from the mid-west wrote a memorial poem which was subsequently published in the local newspaper. Recently, Robinson’s Civil War diary was donated to Presque Isle Historical Society. In order to celebrate this wonderful artifact’s return home, the Society will be giving a Civil War Trails Tour aboard Molly the Trolley on Saturday, September 29 at 1:00 p.m.

The tour, which begins at the Historic Fire Station at 11 Church Street, will first visit the Civil War Monument (originally known as Soldier’s Monument) in historic Fairmount Cemetery. This 15-foot granite and marble monument was one of the first Civil War monuments erected in the State of Maine. Although 76 Civil War veterans are interred in the cemetery, the tour will focus on just a few that made significant contributions to Presque Isle’s history.

From there, the tour will visit a few private cemeteries around town culminating with a narrated trip through the Society’s Civil War exhibit at its Maysville Museum. Artifacts in the exhibit include a Civil War officer’s sword, a kepi cap, a mourning bonnet, a hair wreath, the Robinson diary, the poem “Sutter, Robinson and I”, photos of some of the men who served, promotion and discharge papers, and much more.

The cost of the tour is $10.00 per person. Tour-goers will also receive a small memento of the tour. Seats are limited and reservations are suggested by contacting the Society by telephone at (207) 762-1151 or email at pihistoricalsociety@hotmail.com.