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 The
Abbe offers innovative exhibitions and programs
on Maine’s Native American heritage. In
recent years, the Abbe has grown from a small
but lovely trailside museum, privately operated
within Acadia National Park, to an exciting
contemporary museum in the heart of downtown
Bar Harbor.
At the Abbe’s new downtown museum, visitors
find dynamic and stimulating exhibitions and
activities interspersed with spaces for quiet
reflection. The history and cultures of Maine’s
Native people, the Wabanaki, are showcased through
changing exhibitions, special events, teacher
workshops, archaeology field schools and craft
workshops for children and adults.
From spring through fall, the Abbe’s
historic trailside museum at Sieur de Monts
Spring continues to offer visitors a step back
in time to early 20th century presentations
of the Native American archaeology of Maine.
The Abbe serves as an essential resource for
helping teachers and students comply with new
state legislation, known as "the Wabanaki
Initiative," that requires the teaching
of Wabanaki cultures and history in Maine schools.
As Donna Loring, former Penobscot Nation Representative
to the Maine Legislature and sponsor of the
Wabanaki Initiative, has written, "With
education will come understanding and with understanding
will come respect...." Abbe staff members
serve as facilitators and advisors for statewide
programs to implement the legislation.
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