From his phenomenal collection of over 22,000 articles and stories of the Maine Woods, Steve Pinkham has selected many of the most exciting and old hunting and fishing tales, as well as stories of animal encounters, lumbering, canoe trips, and even a few ghost stories for this book. Ranging from 1849 to 1913, the book covers the Maine Woods from Magalloway to Moosehead, and Mopang to Madawaska. Most people know that Thoreau went to Maine several times, wrote eloquently about his travels and coined the phrase "Maine Woods." Now for the first time the reader will get to read stories by many of the other known and unknown men and women who also travelled to northern Maine and wrote about their experiences or penned fictional stories set in the backwoods. Included are brief biographies and portraits of the known writers. For the many anonymous authors, Pinkham has included appropriate pictures of the region where the story took place and other pertinent information from his vast sources. Visit the website at: www.oldtalesofthemainewoods.com Steve Pinkham grew up in western Maine, hearing old stories of hunting and fishing, and has spent much of his life hiking, paddling and discovering the many wonderful places in the backwoods of Maine. Having spent the past ten years searching for articles and books, following up on clues, and spending a vast amount of hours in libraries and historical societies, he published his first book, Mountains of Maine in 2009. Selecting from his vast collection for this book, he now spends his time writing and publishing articles and books about the Maine Woods from his home in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Forgotten somewhere between Bar Harbor, Maine, and New Brunswick, Canada, lies the most remote and mysterious section of the Eastern Seaboard. It is a region rich in stark beauty—and supernatural lore. The harsh landscape, with its rocky seaside cliffs and thundering surf and miles of dark, mysterious forest farther inland, lends itself to the ghost story. Overlaying the ghost tales gathered in this book is a sense of unspeakable horror and malice.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The remarkable true story of a man who lived alone in the woods of Maine for 27 years, making this dream a reality—not out of anger at the world, but simply because he preferred to live on his own. “A meditation on solitude, wildness and survival.” —The Wall Street Journal In 1986, a shy and intelligent twenty-year-old named Christopher Knight left his home in Massachusetts, drove to Maine, and disappeared into the forest. He would not have a conversation with another human being until nearly three decades later, when he was arrested for stealing food. Living in a tent even through brutal winters, he had survived by his wits and courage, developing ingenious ways to store edibles and water, and to avoid freezing to death. He broke into nearby cottages for food, clothing, reading material, and other provisions, taking only what he needed but terrifying a community never able to solve the mysterious burglaries. Based on extensive interviews with Knight himself, this is a vividly detailed account of his secluded life—why did he leave? what did he learn?—as well as the challenges he has faced since returning to the world. It is a gripping story of survival that asks fundamental questions about solitude, community, and what makes a good life, and a deeply moving portrait of a man who was determined to live his own way, and succeeded.

Maine has a rich supernatural history and ghost stories from the state are as varied as they are prolific. Freelance writer and reporter Tom Verde first became interested in such eerie occurrences while researching first-hand encounters with ghosts for a series of public radio programs. This book recounts some of the spine-tingling tales he uncovered in his research, including: •The dagger-wielding shade who terrorized a Portland couple •The murdered Indian who revisited Means’s Tavern •Famed diva Lillian Nordica, whose voice still echoes through the Farmington auditorium named in her honor •The hostile spirit who tried to frighten the tenants out of an Orrington house •Even an entire phantom ship, bound eternally for Freeport These are not fictitious creations of literary imagination. People from all walks of life—including many who were positive they would never believe in ghosts—attest to these encounters.

Discover 400 years of New England history you won’t find in guidebooks in this collection of true stories and colorful characters from The Pine Tree State. Maine wouldn’t be the magical place it is today without the contributions of little-known individuals whose inspiring and adventuresome lives make up the story of Maine's "hidden history." Journalist and Maine historian Harry Gratwick presents vividly detailed portraits of these Mainers, from the controversial missionary Sebastien Rale to Woolwich native William Phips, whose seafaring attacks against French Canada earned him the first governorship of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Gratwick also profiles inventors such as Robert Benjamin Lewis, an African American from Gardiner who patented a hair growth product in the 1830s, and Margaret Knight, a York native who defied nineteenth-century sexism to earn the nickname "the female Edison." From soprano Lillian Nordica, who left Farmington to become the most glamorous American opera singer of her day, to slugger George "Piano Legs" Gore, the only Mainer to ever win a Major League Baseball batting championship, Hidden History of Maine reveals the men and women who made history without making it into history books.

From his phenomenal collection of over 25,000 articles and stories of the Maine Woods, Steve Pinkham has selected more of the most exciting old hunting and fishing tales, as well as stories of animal encounters, lumbering, canoe trips and tall tales for this sequel to Old Tales of the Maine Woods. Ranging from 1845 to 1905, this book also covers the Maine Woods from Magalloway to Moosehead and Mopang to Madawaska. Most people know that Thoreau went to Maine several times, wrote eloquently about his travels and coined the phrase "Maine Woods." Now for the reader will get to read more stories by many more known and unknown men and women who also travelled to northern Maine and wrote about their experiences of penned fictional stories set in the backwoods. Included are brief biographies and portraits of the known writers. For the unknown authors, Pinkham has included appropriate pictures. In his first volume, Pinkham included histories of each region; for this volume he has included many early bits of fascinating information for each chapter. www.oldtalesofthemainewoods.com Steve Pinkham grew up in western Maine, hearing old stories of hunting and fishing, and has spent much of his life hiking, paddling, and discovering the many wonderful places in the backwoods of Maine. Having spent the past twelve years searching for articles and books, following up on clues, and spending a vast amount of hours in libraries and historical societies, he published his first book, Mountains of Maine in 2009 and his second book, Old Tales of the Maine Woods, in 2012. Selecting from his vast collection for this book, he now spends his time writing and publishing articles and books about the Maine Woods from his home in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Glenna Johnson Smith writes with eloquence and humor about the complexities, absurdities, and pleasures of the everyday, from her nostalgic looks at her childhood on the Maine coast in the 1920s and 1930s, to her observations of life under the big sky and among the rolling potato fields of her beloved Aroostook County, where she has lived for nearly seven decades. The book also includes some of her best fiction pieces.

My Life in the Maine Woods recounts Annette Jackson’s North Woods experiences during the 1930s when she, her husband and their children lived in a small cabin on the shore of Umsaskis Lake. Jackson, an avid sportswoman and nature lover, writes of hunting, fishing, campfire cooking, and the sounds of the wilderness through the seasons. She visits trappers and woodsmen, and tells what it’s like to sleep on a bed of pine boughs under the stars that shine on the legendary Allagash.

In this critically acclaimed Maine classic, first published in 1945, Helen Hamlin writes of her adventures teaching school at a remote Maine lumber camp and then of living deep in the Maine wilderness with her game warden husband. Her experiences are a must-read for anyone who loves the untamed nature and wondrous beauty of Maine's north woods and the unique spirit of those who lived there. In the 1930s, in spite of being warned that remote Churchill Depot was 'no place for a woman', the remarkable Helen Hamlin set off at age twenty to teach school at the isolated lumber camp at the headwaters of the Allagash River. She eventually married a game warden and moved deeper into the wilderness. In her book, Hamlin captures that time in her life, complete with the trappers, foresters, lumbermen, woods folk, wild animals, and natural splendour that she found at Umsaskis Lake and then at Nine Mile Bridge on the St. John River.