The men of Deer Isle have been famous for their maritime skills for well over a hundred years.  In 1895 and 1899 the America’s Cup was won by all-Deer Isle crews, the first and last time in history a single town supplied an entire crew for the race.  At Penobscot Marine Museum onThursday, October 8 at 7:00 pm, anthropologist William Haviland will discuss why the men of Deer Isle developed such an excellent reputation and were sought after as crewmen especially for the big steam yachts of the early 20^th century.  Haviland’s book on the subject,Floating Palaces: America’s Queens of the Sea which he wrote with Deer Isle native Barbara (Greenlaw) Britton, was published this year.  Admission is free.

William Haviland is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Vermont. Growing up he spent summers on Deer Isle and is now a full-time resident.  He is on the boards of the Deer Isle-Stonington Historical Society and the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor.

Floating Palaces: America’s Queens of the Sea is part of Penobscot Marine Museum’s Boat Talk Series.  The talk will take place on Thursday, October 8, 7:00 pm, at Douglas and Margaret Carver Memorial Art Gallery, 11 Church Street, Searsport, Maine.  Admission is free.

Many legends surround the Finnish-American photographer Kosti Ruohomaa, the award-winning photo journalist who shot iconic portraits of working Americans which appeared in LIFE, National Geographic, and other publications from 1940 to 1960.

Lecturer: Deanna S. Bonner-Ganter, Curator of Photography, Art, and Archives, Maine State Museum, her biography of Ruohomaa will soon be published by Down East Books.

“The Port Clyde harbor shelters the last small-boat groundfishing fleet between Port Clyde and the Canadian border. In 2009, a group of area fishermen developed the Port Clyde Fresh CatchTM brand to preserve their heritage, their community and the resources they depend on. Using environmentally conscious methods to harvest fish, lobster shrimp and crab, they pioneered the country's first Community Supported Fishery program in 2007.”

A look at the fascinating world of 19th -century 3-D photography. Historic stereoview images of Maine and New England in actual 3-D will be projected as the views were originally meant to be seen. People, landscapes, work at home and in industry, entertainments, communities, maritime and agricultural scenes will be among those featured, in this first such public show ever given in Maine. It will bring you to closer to history than you’ve ever been before.

Lecturer: Bernard Fishman, Director, Maine State Museum.

A decades old tradition, said to be "Maine's version of NASCAR", race participants take the competition seriously. With reported top speeds over 60 miles an hour and racing by Class, many boat owners follow the lobster boat "race circuit" from mid-June to late August, as it makes its way along the coast.

Videographer David Osgood of Vinalhaven has been racing lobster boats in the Maine Lobsterboat Racing circuit for many years. His boats include the Split S.E.C.O.N.D., a Crowley Beal 33 and STARLIGHT EXPRESS, a Northern Bay 36.

The inspiring stories of three women who become successful photographers at a time when most photographers were men. These three enterprising women created striking bodies of work which provide rich insights into how Maine people lived and worked in inland towns and coastal villages a century ago.

Lecturer: Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr., Maine State Historian and Director and State Historic Preservation Officer of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.

This moving documentary on the extraordinary life of world-renowned Maine Master Boatbuilder Ralph Stanley is “more than a life story,” says the Bangor Daily News, “it’s also a documentary about life on Mount Desert Island and the Cranberry Isles, the Stanley family and how they shaped craft in Maine at the end of the twentieth century.” Ralph Stanley received a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship and has built more than 70 fine wooden boats including working lobster boats, Friendship sloops, lobster boats, yachts, dories, and rowboats. Ralph has also restored a large number of wooden boats throughout his long storied career.