Prior to the American Revolution, Dr. Silvester
Gardiner, a prominent Boston physician, acquired
land on Maine's Kennebec River. His grandson, Robert
Hallowell Gardiner, later devoted himself to the civic,
industrial, educational, and religious development of the
community founded there.
In this fascinating pictorial history, Gardiner's story is
traced from Colonial times to World War II. The images
deliver us to intriguing destinations: along the picturesque
Kennebec watching the steamer Star of the East sail to
its wharf, and Depot Square in 1884 at the peak of the
railroad era. We visit an ice house on the river, where
"frozen gold" was harvested; Water Street during the
destructive 1896 flood; and Pulitzer Prize-winner Laura E.
Richards' "Yellow House," during the visits of her mother,
Julia Ward Howe, and her colleague, Helen Keller.