09/29/2026
Miss Jolin, Mrs. Fisher, and our Thoreau Club students spent yesterday learning from Penobscot educator Lee Francis at Tekαkαpimək Contact Station in the Katahdin Woods and Water National Monument. Students explored exhibits in the Contact Station about Penobscot people and the Wabanaki Nations. They participated in hands-on activities that helped them think about the connections between people, land, water, and place.
Students explored the stone-tile floor of the Contact Station, which has the entire Penobscot River watershed etched into it. They searched for petroglyphs and traced the ways the river connects different places and communities across the watershed. They also followed the Penobscot River from the ocean toward Katahdin, thinking about the river as a living relative that carries stories, memories, and life across generations. Throughout the Contact Station and surrounding landscape, students searched for connections among language, stories, seasons, the watershed, and the many living things that call this place home.
The visit connected with their recent reading and discussion of Henry David Thoreau’s essay The Allagash and the East Branch, giving students a chance to take what they had read off the page and into the landscape.
Big thank you to Lee Francis, Friends of Katahdin Woods and Waters, and the National Park Service for the opportunity to visit this beautiful place!
