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Merrymeeting Bay Pioneers Project: Tracing the Lives of the Area's First European Settlers
by Dr. Bruce Bourque and Frederick Koerber
In the second of a series of lectures sponsored Old Fort Western and the Maine Bicentennial Commission, Dr. Bruce Bourque with Frederick Koerber present an overview of the Merrymeeting Bay Pioneers Project: Tracing the Lives of the Area’s First European Settlers. The lecture filmed by CTV-7, can be viewed for free on CTV-7 and from the City of Augusta Website, Fort Western’s Website and Fort Western’s Facebook page.
Dr. Bruce is Emeritus Curator of Archaeology at the Maine State Museum, and Emeritus Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. A Massachusetts native, he spent summers in Maine which sparked his interest in the state’s prehistory. His research focused on Maine prehistory, which led to many publications, most recently, The Swordfish Hunters: The History and Ecology of an Ancient American Sea People. More recently, his interests shifted to seventeenth-century European colonization in the Merrymeeting Bay area.
Frederick Koerber is a 38-year teaching veteran of History and Archaeology in the Brunswick schools. He currently works as a lobsterman. An avid historian and environmental advocate, he has served on various public service committees including the Brunswick Recreation and Open Space Task Force and the Comprehensive Planning Committee. In addition, he has been a board member of the Pejepscot Historical Society, the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust, and Maine Archaeological Society. When not on the ocean, he is often actively engaged with high school and college students in local historic research projects.