(L-R) - Theodore Roosevelt, William "Bill" Sewall,
and Wilmot S. Dow in the area of Island Falls, ME
March 1879. TRC 520.12-016
Houghton Library, Harvard University
Updated 2-5-2024
I first started researching Theodore Roosevelt in 2010. As a volunteer at Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine, overseeing the Narcissus project (Roosevelt was a passenger on the Narcissus on August 18, 1914), I felt the need to learn more about Roosevelt's visit to Maine. That initial research piqued my curious nature to want to learn more about Theodore Roosevelt and his various visits to Maine.
Twelve years later, that seed of curiosity has taken root and blossomed, into the development of what is the: Theodore Roosevelt Maine Heritage Trail: Connecting Maine Communities. Insight throughout the State of Maine is what this trail provides by tracing and describing Theodore Roosevelt's connections with each of these communities.
Each community is identified with a star with a number or
a moose with a letter. The key to the logo landmarks is below.
Each moose represents a community that has an indirect
connection with Roosevelt, meaning he may not have paid the
community a visit, but there is a meaningful connection to
Roosevelt in that community. The stars indicate a community
that Roosevelt visited and probably engaged with the people
and or the local geography. As research continues, other
communities will be added to the logo.
Logo: "Designs by Reece" - Reece Saunders
Over the ensuing weeks, each of these
communities/landmarks with its Roosevelt
connections will have a separate page describing
details of TR's connections. Each will also
have a link(s) to local resources/venues.
Key by "Designs by Reece" - Reece Saunders
Today, we describe "Star 30" shown on the list (key) above - Oxbow March & September 1879
I first learned details of Theodore Roosevelt's trips to "The County" (Aroostook County, ME) to stay at the Sewall House in Island Falls, with Maine guide William Sewall, from multi-award-winning Maine author, Andrew Vietze. Andrew's 2010 book, Becoming Teddy Roosevelt: How a Maine Guide Inspired America's 26th President. Andrew's book was a resource for this post.
Theodore Roosevelt's first, of three trips, to Island Falls within twelve months, beginning in September 1878, would lead to a life-long, endearing friendship with the Sewalls and Dows (Wilmot S. Dow was Sewall's nephew and also a guide for TR), and also with Maine.
Roosevelt's account of his three trips to the Sewall House in Island Falls all includes stopping at the Mattawamkeag train station. On his first trip in 1878, he was accompanied by two cousins (Emlen Roosevelt and James West Roosevelt), a friend (Will Thompson, and an adult teacher/mentor (Arthur Cutler). Upon disembarking the train in Mattawamkeag, the group boarded a horse-drawn buckboard and made their way together the fifty miles or so, along the rough roadway to the Sewall House in Island Falls.
Mattawamkeag Railroad Station was constructed in 1871
Photo: Ralph E. Gasner Collection and info from
the 1986 publication; DOWNEAST DEPOTS:
Maine Railroad Stations in the Steam Era by Robert F. Lord
The Sewall House in Island Falls, Maine. Theodore Roosevelt
spent many a night with the Sewall family when he was
when he was visiting during three separate trips to the county
in 1878 and 1879. This image is c 1921 by Hermann Hagedorn
TRC 560.12-075 Houghton Library, Harvard University
The next two trips to Island Falls would have a Sewall family member meet TR (and the others in his party in the August '79 trip) at the Mattawamkeag railroad station and then travel the approximately fifty miles to the Sewall House in Island Falls.
Theodore Roosevelt was an active writer starting at a very young age. He kept a journal for many years. Many of those journals are now in the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard University. They were a resource for this post.
This post will use excerpts from Roosevelt's 1879 journal describing his two visits to the Oxbow area.
March 1879
(L-R) - William "Bill" Sewall,
Wilmot S. Dow, and Theodore Roosevelt
in the area of Island Falls, ME - March 1879
TRC 520.12-015 Houghton Library, Harvard University
In his 1879 journal, TR describes his winter visit to the Oxbow area with William W. Sewall and Wilmot S. Dow. Only entries that relate to the geography and people are referred to in these excerpts. Roosevelt writes...
Thursday, March 6 - Sewall, Dow and I started with a pony and a shaggy, lean horse for a logging camp 30 miles distant, reaching it after dusk. When we started the thermometer was 10 below zero, but I was too well wrapped up to heed the cold. The roads were frightful; none but a backwoods horse could stand them.
Sunday, March 9 - I like these lumbermen very much and get on capitally with them - great, rough, hospitable fellows. I am great friends with one, in particular, Charley Brown. It rained a little and then froze, improving the snowshoeing greatly, and making the forest look beautifully, each tree covered with glittering icicles.
Tuesday, Match 11 - Started back for Island Falls. It was warmish, sleeting, and raining, and the roads were frightful. Several times the horse floundered off the track into the deep snow drifts we had to unharness him and drag the sleigh ourselves for a hundred yards or so. It was fatiguing work, as we walked all the time, and got wet through and cold and hungry. The road was chiefly through the woods, with every now and then clearings, with the shaggy black cattle and sheep crowding around the barns - the pictures of bleakness. Heard some snow buntings singing beautifully. Reached Island Falls in time for tea.
(Charley Brown is mentioned in the March 9 entry - Charles Russell Brown's older sister, Nancy Clemens Brown, married Samuel Trask Sewall, William W. Sewall's brother. (Thank you to Annette Stevens with the Island Falls Historical Society for locating the family details on Charle R. Brown :) Roosevelt mentions Mr. Brown in his "My Debt to Maine" letter dated March 20, 1918. Roosevelt also introduces Mr. Brown to the audience in Portland, Maine on August 31, 1916.
September 1, 1916 issue of the
Lewiston Dialy Sun - page 6, describes
TR introducing Charles R. Brown to
the audience in Portland on
August 31, 1916.
September 1879
His 1879 journal describes his September visit to the Oxbow area while with William Sewall. Only entries that relate to geography and people are referred to in these excerpts. Roosevelt writes...
Thursday, September 4 - Spent the day preparing for my Munsungun trip; I shall go in a canoe, alone with Sewall. For provisions I took pork and hardtack & some flour; we have a shelter tent, two blankets & some cooking utensils; & one complete change of clothing each. I shall only use moccasins.
Friday, September 5 - Started out at 5 a.m. in a rough wagon to drive to the Oxbow of the Aroostook River - 46 miles distant. We reached at 6 p.m. and are staying in a regular backwoods house - fare and sleeping accommodations being both primitive to a degree. The route all day long was through a sparsely settled, thickly wooded country & for about 3 miles through a dreary waste of burnt land.
Saturday, September 6 - Started in fair season in a pirogue or dugout. It stands rough work better than a birch canoe. We went about 20 miles up the Aroostook, paddling sometimes, but poling most of the way. The scenery is very beautiful and wild; I saw no trace of man - but also no trace of game. Trout are plenty, however. Pitched a camp before dark, to cook the bread, trout & partridge. Black flies, mosquitoes & midge pretty plentiful; I don't mind them much.
Thursday, September 11 - Started in fair season, paddled down stream in great style; on the way I shot a wood duck. At the Oxbow we disembarked and walked about 15 miles (half of the way across country) to a rough backwoods house, where we are now. Fare pretty rough, but plenty of good milk, and we have shot our own meat - as, besides the duck, I killed a rabbit and a partridge on the way.
(The "Star 29" - Northeast Piscataquis post has TR's Munsungun Lake(s) and Chase Lake journal entries)
I strongly recommend you acquire a copy of Andrew Vietze's book, Becoming Teddy Roosevelt: How a Maine Guide Inspired America's 26th President. Great reading for all ages.
Hardcover first edition copy
of Andrew Vietze's "Becoming Teddy
Roosevelt" PWM Collection
A great resource for TR's diaries
1877-1886 - A Most Glorious Ride
Edited by Edward P. Kohn
PWM Collection
A great source of information for the railroad
stations in Maine. 1986 publication by
Robert F. Lord - PWM Collection and photo
A portion of my collection of TR-related books :)
We are still in need of funds for creating the interpretation programs that will tell this fascinating 100+-year-old story of the Narcissus. For information on donation options, scroll down this post and find the one that best fits your position. Fund 816 to help with the restoration and Fund 817 (PLI Education-Interpretation programs ) should be noted when making a donation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Click Here for the post that has the short virtual 3-D video of the digital model of the Narcissus, with components added to the file from earlier this year (the gold leaf file had not been added yet).
Restoration work continues on the Narcissus. The Narcissus is more than 110 years old now and has so many incredible stories to share. The restoration of this majestic icon of Maine's electric railway history is but one of those incredible stories.
The Narcissus is featured in the national Gold Award-winning novel, Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride. The "Elegant Ride" is the Narcissus. Theodore Roosevelt was a passenger on the Narcissus on August 18, 1914, between Lewiston and Portland, Maine, while campaigning for the Progressive Party candidates.
Independent book publisher, Phil Morse, holding
the Gold Book Award Winner plaque for
the Middle Reader category for The Eric
Hoffer Book Award. Congratulations to
award-winning Maine author,
Jean M. Flahive
Seashore Trolley Museum Promo Video
The paperback edition of Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride can be purchased online through the Seashore Trolley Museum's store website. Books purchased through the Museum's website directly benefit the Museum and the Narcissus project.
Click Here to go to the Museum Store web page to order online
Click Here to go to the Amazon page to order the ebook or audiobook online
Paperback books are available at these local bookstores in
Androscoggin Historical Society, Lewiston
Eliot Historical Society, Eliot
Gray Historical Society, Gray
Kennebec Historical Society, Augusta
Letterpress Books, Portland
Maine Historical Society Store, Portland
Morph Gallery & Emporium, Kennebunk
New Gloucester Historical Society, New Gloucester
Roosevelt Campobello International Park, Welshpool, NB, Canada
Seashore Trolley Museum, Kennebunkport
Sherman's Maine Coast Book Shops, All Locations
Thompson's Orchard, New Gloucester
Winthrop Maine Historical Society, Winthrop
Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride
by Jean M. Flahive
Illustrations by Amy J. Gagnon
Listen to a 2-minute, 30-second, Retail Audio Sample of the Audiobook
Millie Thayer is a headstrong farmer's daughter who chases her dreams in a way you would expect a little girl nicknamed "Spitfire" would run full tilt and with her eyes on the stars. Dreaming of leaving the farm life, working in the city, and fighting for women's right to vote, Millie imagines flying away on a magic carpet. One day, that flying carpet shows up in the form of an electric trolley that cuts across her farm. A fortune-teller predicts that Millie's path will cross that of someone famous. Suddenly, she finds herself caught up in events that shake the nation, Maine, and her family. Despairing that her dreams may be shattered, Millie learns, in an unexpected way, that dreams can be shared.
A resource for teachers
Companion curriculum State-standard-based units,
vocabulary, and reading activities for use in grades 3-8
are available online as downloadable resources through
Seashore Trolley Museum's website
www.trolleymuseum.org/elegantride/
Maine Historical Society has created eight companion lesson units in Social Studies and ELA that were inspired by Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride - These State-standard-based lesson plans for use in grades 6, 7, and 8 are easily adapted for use in grades 3-5. Vocabulary and Reading activities for grades 3-8 along with the eight lesson plan units are available free and may be downloaded through Seashore Trolley Museum's website www.trolleymuseum.org/elegantride/
Go to the Teacher Resource Page in the pull-down for more details.
A 60-second intro to Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride by author, Jean Flahive
Click Here to watch the video on YouTube
Award-winning author, Jean M. Flahive
Please Consider a Donation to the Narcissus Project to help us tell the incredible story of the Narcissus through the interpretation portion of the Narcissus Project.
Here is an example of how donations to the Narcissus Project now will help with the interpretation portion of the project. The interpretation programming will include exhibits, displays, and education programming. In 2019, through generous donations to the Narcissus Project, we were able to conserve, replicate, and have high resolutions digital image files made of the original, 1910, 28.5-foot long, surveyor map of the elevation and grade of the 30-mile private right-of-way of the Portland, Gray, and Lewiston Railroad (Portland-Lewiston Interurban) Click Here
Thank You!
the crowd gathered in Gray, Maine on August 18, 1914.
Image courtesy of Gray Historical Society
The Narcissus as the Sabattus Lake Diner in Sabattus, Maine,
circa 1940. Photo by John Coughlin in the Kevin Farrell
Collection at Seashore Trolley Museum
L. Henri Vallee (right) and family members in the
Narcissus, when it was Vallee's summer camp in
Sabattus, Maine circa 1958. Photo courtesy Daniel Vallee
Inside the Donald G. Curry Town House Restoration Shop, the Narcissus is in the midst of major work as we strive to complete its restoration. We are now planning the interpretation portion of the Narcissus Project. Donations to the Narcissus Project may be used in the future to help tell the incredible 100-plus-year-old story of the Narcissus. Your donation to the Narcissus is helping to make the dream of the project's success, a reality.
See below for Donation options -
It starts with YOU
Your Donation Matters
Make a Donation TODAY
Please Help the Narcissus.
Donation Options to Help the Narcissus Project:
The New England Electric Railway Historical Society
is the 501c3 organization that owns and operates the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, ME, and the National Streetcar
Museum in Lowell (MA).
The New England Electric Railway Historical Society registered with the IRS (EIN# 01-0244457) and was incorporated in Maine in 1941.
Check or Money Order ***** should be made payable to:
New England Electric Railway Historical Society
In the memo: for a donation to the Interpretation programming
please write: PLI Education Fund 817
For a donation to help with the restoration write: Narcissus Fund 816
Mail to: Seashore Trolley Museum
P. O. Box A
Kennebunkport, ME 04046
Credit Card ***** donations can be one-time donations or you
may choose to have a specific amount charged to your card
automatically every month. Please contact the Museum bookkeeper, via email at finance@trolleymuseum.org or by phone, at 207-967-2800 ext. 3.
Online Donations - may be made by using a Credit Card:
Click Here to make an online donation through the Museum's website - When at the Donation page: Fill in donor info, etc., when at "To which fund are you donating? Scroll down to "Other" and type in 816 Narcissus, then continue filling in the required information.
Click Here for PayPal - to make an online donation: you can use email: finance@trolleymuseum.org and in the message box write:
For "Narcissus Fund 816" - if supporting the restoration
For "PLI Education Fund 817" - if supporting Interpretation programs
Donation of Securities ***** We also accept donations of
securities. You can contact the Museum bookkeeper, via email at finance@trolleymuseum.org or by phone, at 207-967-2800 ext. 3,
for brokerage account information for accepting donated securities.
BONUS ***** If you work for a company/corporation that will
"match" an employee's donation to an approved 501c3 non-profit
educational organization, please be sure to complete the necessary paperwork with your employer so that your donation is matched :)
Questions? ***** Please contact Narcissus project sponsor:
Phil Morse, narcissus@gmail.org or call 207-985-9723 - cell.
Thank You :)
Thank You for our Current Funding Partners
* 20th Century Electric Railway Foundation - 2020/2018 - Major Gift, 2017/2014 Matching Grants
* Renaissance Charitable Foundation (LPCT) by Fiduciary Trust Charitable Giving Fund
* Renaissance Charitable Foundation (LPCT) by Fiduciary Trust Charitable Giving Fund
* Mass Bay RRE - 2018 Railroad Preservation Grant
* Thornton Academy (Saco, ME) - Staff & Alumni - Matching Grant Challenge 2014
* New England Electric Railway Historical Society (Kennebunkport, ME) - Member Donations
* Amherst Railway Society - 2015 Heritage Grant
* National Railway Historical Society - 2016 & 2015 Heritage Preservation Grants
* Enterprise Holding Foundation - 2015 Community Grant
* Theodore Roosevelt Association - Member Donations
* John Libby Family Association and Member Donations
* The Conley Family - In Memory of Scott Libbey 2018/2017/2016/2015
* The W. S. Libbey Family - Awalt, Conley, Graf, Holman, Libbey, McAvoy, McLaughlin, Meldrum, O'Halloran, Salto, - 2018/2017
* The Hughes Family 2017/2016/2010
* New Gloucester Historical Society and Member Donations
* Gray Historical Society and Member Donations
* Gray Public Library Association - Pat Barter Speaker Series
* Scarborough Historical Society - PRR/PLI
* LogMein - Matching Employee Donation
* IBM - Matching Employee/Retiree Donations
* Fidelity Charitable Grant - Matching Employee Donations
* Richard E. Erwin Grant - 2017/2016
The Narcissus, with interior back-lit, stained glass windows is majestic.
Make a donation today to help restore the interior of this Maine gem.
Help Theodore Roosevelt's Maine Ride get back on track! Once restored,
you will be able to ride in luxury on this National Register Treasure at
Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine.
PWM photo
Please Consider Making a Donation to the project of the National Register of Historic Places member, Narcissus. We are currently raising funds to advance the restoration and to tell the incredible story of this Maine gem.
Various News stories during the summer of 2015 about the
Narcissus and its connection to Theodore Roosevelt. TR
was a passenger on the Narcissus on August 18, 1914.
Photo by Patricia Pierce Erikson
The Narcissus - July 31, 2015. Make a donation today.
Help Theodore Roosevelt's Maine Ride get back on track!
Once restored, you will be able to ride in luxury on this
National Historic Treasure at
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