Wabanaki Guides (2013)

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Wabanaki Guides focused on the legacy of Wabanaki people serving as guides for European and American explorers, cartographers, tourists and artists from the 1600s to the present. Visitors were invited along for a simulated canoe ride down a Maine river. The journey shined a spotlight on ways in which Wabanaki knowledge of land and waterways influenced Maine’s early visitors and illustrated how this legacy is linked to the modern-day tribes, tourism, and environmental sustainability in Maine.

Visitors “climbed into a canoe with their guide” and began their journey. Along the way, they stopped at “portages” on the river bank. At each portage, visitors learned about the various things a guide needs to consider when planning a trip and what one might expect to encounter along the way. The exhibit focused on the following themes: mapping, tracking, tourism, and economics. Stories and historic accounts from various view points were weaved throughout, incorporating the voices of Wabanaki guides both past and present as well as explorers, artists, and cartographers such as Henry David Thoreau and Joseph Treat.

Learn more: Wabanaki Guides Exhibit Script