Category: Free event

Mac Smith to Speak about his new book “Plain Madeleine” at the Stockton Springs Community Library on Sunday, April 21st at 2:00 PM.

Stockton Springs Community Library (SSCL) will host a talk by author Mac Smith on Sunday, April 21st at 2:00 pm at the Stockton Springs Community Library. The talk will focus on Smith’s new book, Plain Madeleine. 

The story of Madeleine and Colonel John Jacob Astor is very much part of the story of Bar Harbor, Maine. The relatively poor Madeleine Force met Colonel Astor, the third richest man in the United States, in Bar Harbor in 1910. The vicious scandal after their wedding caused the newlyweds to board the Titanic to return to America; the ensuing tragedy would claim the life of the colonel.

Madeleine Astor returned to Bar Harbor after the Titanic disaster, where all eyes were on her, and where she was triumphant in claiming the role of social leader. In 1916, she remarried in the center of Bar Harbor, and gave up everything Astor.

The story follows the 17 years of her second marriage, and then her scandalous third marriage. Madeleine, now in her 40s, married a penniless young boxer and her name erased from the Social Register after that. She died a lonely figure in her 40s.

This new book from historian Mac Smith documents Madeleine’s life in Bar Harbor and the Astor presence on Bar Harbor through Colonel Astor’s family and the Kane family–Astor cousins who were prominent there. It puts Madeleine Astor’s story in the context of Bar Harbor’s Golden Age. In telling Madeleine Astor’s story, the story of a changing Bar Harbor is also revealed. 

A Navy veteran of the first Gulf War and former reporter for The Bar Harbor Times, Mac Smith lives in Stockton Springs, Maine in the village of Sandy Point. He is the author of several books of Maine history, including Mainers on the Titanic, Peyton Place Comes Home to Maine, Siege at the Statehouse, and Disaster at the Bar Harbor Ferry.

Following the talk Mac Smith will sign copies of Plain Madeleine, which will be available for purchase. Copies of his other books will also be available.

Light refreshments will be served. All are welcome.

SSCL is located at 6 Station St. in the heart of Stockton Springs. For more information please contact the library at 207-567-4147.

Stockton Springs Community Library Hosts a Spring Fling Story Hour April 6th

The Stockton Springs Community Library (SSCL) will host a Spring Fling Story Hour for children of all ages on Saturday, April 6th from 10:00 to 11:00 am. In addition to the stories, there will be snacks and a craft activity.

All are welcome to this free event. The library is currently engaged in a fundraising raffle for a $100 gift card to Stone Fox Creamery. Raffle tickets will be available for purchase during the Story Hour and during all regular library hours.

Stockton Springs Community Library Story Hour Celebrates Dr. Seuss March 2nd

The Stockton Springs Community Library (SSCL) will host a Celebration of Dr. Seuss at the March Story Hour for children of all ages on Saturday, March 2nd from 10:00 to 11:00 am. In addition to the stories, there will be snacks and a craft activity. 

Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known under his pseudonym “Dr. Seuss,” was “probably the best-loved and certainly the best-selling children’s book writer of all time,” wrote Robert Wilson of the New York Times Book Review. Geisel entertained several generations of young readers with his zany nonsense books. Speaking to Herbert Kupferberg of Parade, Geisel once claimed: “Old men on crutches tell me, ‘I’ve been brought up on your books.'” His “rhythmic verse rivals Lewis Carroll‘s,” stated Stefan Kanfer in Time, “and his freestyle drawing recalls the loony sketches of Edward Lear.” Because of his work in publishing books for young readers and for the many innovative children’s classics he wrote himself, during the second half of the twentieth century Geisel “had a tremendous impact on children’s reading habits and the way reading is taught and approached in the school system,” declared Miles Corwin of the Los AngelesTimes.

All are welcome to this free event. The library is currently engaged in a fundraising raffle for a $100 gift card to Stone Fox Creamery. Raffle tickets will be available for purchase during the Story Hour event.

Special Film Screening of “Trolls Band Together” at the Stockton Springs Community Library February 23rd

Everyone’s invited to the Stockton Springs Community Library for a special screening of the animated film “Trolls Band Together” on Friday, February 23rd at 6:30 PM.

Children of all ages are invited to wear their pajamas and bring a favorite blanket and a stuffed animal friend.

In addition to the film screening there will be snacks and beverages.

The event is free and all are welcome.

For more information call 567-4147