A Tremont native,born in 1903 and raised on Great Gott Island, Ruth Moore was an important Maine author of the twentieth century. She is best known for her honest portrayals of Maine people and evocative descriptions of the state. Moore was a significant literary figure on the national stage during her career. Her second novel Spoonhandle spent fourteen weeks on the New York Times bestseller list in the company of George Orwell, W. Somerset Maugham and Robert Penn Warren. In her time, Moore was hailed by critics as “New England’s only answer to Faulkner”.
Author, poet and essayist of over 25 novels, collections, short fiction and essays, including The Weir (1943), Spoonhandle (1946), Candlemas Bay (1950), Speak to the Winds (1956), Cold As a Dog and the Wind Northeast (1958), The Tired Apple Tree (1990), When Foley Craddock Tore Off My Grandfather’s Thumb: The Collected Stories of Ruth Moore and Eleanor Mayo (2004), “The Ladies from Philadelphia,” Harper’s Bazaar August 1945, “It Don’t Change Much,” The New Yorker October 1945, and “Farmer Takes a Newspaper,” The Saturday Review of Literature July 1948
The Bass Harbor Memorial Library has a large collection of Ruth Moore novels, poetry and essays to check out, and many new and used copies of select titles to purchase. Call 244-3798, or stop by the Library at 89 Bernard Rd in Bernard for more information.
“Ruth Moore: Maine Coast Writer” by Donald Mortland, Colby Quarterly Article written about Moore in 1979, at a time when she was still actively writing and publishing. “There are several ruinous rocks to be skirted in writing about the Maine coast. One is the danger of being sentimental. Another is the tendency to be folksy. A third is the danger of falling into ruts made by previous writers that lead into folksy stories about quaint people with hearts of gold who speak a peculiar dialect, mourn about the past, and spend their lives dealing with trivia over which the author makes them triumphant in some minuscule way. Ruth Moore avoids all of these.”
Tremont Historical Society The Tremont Historical Society is dedicated to the preservation of the history of the towns of Tremont, Southwest Harbor, and the adjacent islands. The Society achieves this mission by gathering, cataloging, and making available to the public historical materials such as genealogies and information on the growth and development of the towns, as well as historical artifacts. The are hosting a full schedule of programming in Summer 2020.
Penobscot Marine Museum’s Panel Discussion of “Maine Women Authors Of The 1950’s” Cathleen Miller, Curator of the Maine Women Writers Collection at UNE, Melissa Hays, Ruth Moore Days organizers, Muriel Davisson and devotee Jane O’Rouke discuss how the novels of Mary Ellen Chase, Elisabeth Ogilive, Ruth Moore, Miriam Colwell and Louise Dickinson Rich provide different portraits of the people and the state of Maine.
Watch Deep Waters on Youtube. “A troubled young orphan boy in Maine is taken in by a family and befriended by a lobsterman who shows him the ways of the world. Starring Dana Andrews, Jean Peters, Dean Stockwell, Cesar Romero, Ann Revere.” The 1948 film adaptation of Ruth Moore’s “Spoonhandle”, filmed on Vinalhaven took great liberties with her writing, but it had a big Hollywood budget and big Hollywood stars. The entire movie is available for free on Youtube split into 4 episodes.
Ruth’s Writing
Frenchboro native Dean Lunt started Islandport Press 20 years ago and has taken over the task of republishing and distributing Ruth Moore’s books from Blackberry Press. The press plans to release two novels a year for three or four years, starting with The Weir, Candlemas Bay and Spoonhandle, currently available now. Voices off the Ocean, is due in late 2021, and is a new collection of excerpts and poems intended as a digestible intro to Ruth Moore’s work.
All selections are reprinted here with permission from Blackberry Books. Copies can be purchased at Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick Maine or at Islandport Press. Select new and used copies may be purchased at the Library at 89 Bernard Rd. in Bernard. Call or stop by for titles in stock.
Ruth Moore was born and raised on Gott’s Island in the early 1900’s. Ruth was a best selling author from the 1940’s and on (and even had a book made into a movie “Deep Waters.”) She was called “New England’s answer to Faulkner” and if you like reading honest stories about Maine people in an authentic voice, you won’t be able to resist her novels, ballads and poetry. The issues she wrote about still resonate today. Each year we aim to introduce the works of Ruth Moore to a wider audience, while providing insightful conversation and programming to enrich our understanding of her life and work. From July 20-22, join us under the Library tent in Bernard to celebrate Tremont’s iconic bestselling author. Local artists will have works celebrating Ruth Moore and the working waterfront on our walls, starting on July 13th. This year’s Read Moore title will be “The Weir.” We encourage those just discovering Ruth Moore to borrow or purchase a copy from the Library, and die-hard fans to reacquaint themselves with this classic and her first published book.
From July 13- 30th artwork inspired by “The Weir” and Ruth Moore’s body of work will be on display inside the library. With the theme of “Working Waterfront” over a dozen local artists will have original works on display and for sale. Historic photographs will explore work on the water in Bass Harbor and Tremont. Artists include Ruth Moore and Eleanor Mayo, Sydney Roberts, Jean Forbes, Emily Trask-Eaton, Roberta Sprague, Janet Elvidge, Judy Taylor, Allison Dubois, Sophia Brugman and more.
Tuesday, July 20, 2021, at 6:30 PM
Jennifer Craig will lead a discussion of Ruth Moore’s novel, “The Weir.” Moore’s first novel, it is set on a Maine island and describes the dynamics of a working waterfront in Maine in the mid-20 th century. Moore’s beloved Maine landscape is the backdrop for the tensions of deceit, violence, and avarice in the small community. However, this darkness is balanced by generosity, humor, and loyalty. The discussion will begin with a brief summary of Moore’s life and then take up themes in “The Weir” that are characteristic of Moore’s novels. Copies may be borrowed or purchased from the Library. Readers are encouraged to attend even if they are not familiar with Moore and her work. This discussion will be an enjoyable way to become acquainted with this important Maine writer.Jennifer Craig is a writer who lives in Belfast. From her desk, she looks across the Penobscot Bay to Castine where she spent childhood summers sailing, swimming, and playing in the woods on Dyce Head. Ms. Craig wrote, taught, and raised her family in Orono and while In graduate school at the University of Maine, she discovered Ruth Moore’s novels. Her research on Ruth Moore was supported by a grant from the Women in the Curriculum program at the University of Maine in Orono and with the generous cooperation of the Moore and Mayo families. Her essay, Homesick for That Place: Ruth Moore Writes About Maine, is the result of that research, and copies of that essay are available on the website of the Bass Harbor Library.
Wednesday, July 21, 2021 @ 6:30pm
A public reception will be held on Wednesday July 21 from 6:30-8pm, to celebrate the artists taking part in the 2021 Ruth Moore Day’s exhibition. Tour the show inside the library and meet the artists and socialize outside under our tent. Included works are inspired by Ruth Moore’s “The Weir” and her larger body of work. With the theme of “Working Waterfront” over a dozen local artists will have original works on display and for sale. Historic photographs will explore work on the water in Bass Harbor and Tremont.
Thursday, July 22 @ 6:30pm
Dean Lunt will discuss the life and works of Ruth Moore and the upcoming anthology Voices Off the Ocean featuring excerpts from Moore’s novels, ballads, and poetry that showcase her brilliant writing and prove its staying power and influence on regional writing today. Lunt was born in the Maine island fishing village of Frenchboro, a member of the eighth generation of Lunts that called the remote island home. He attended the island’s one-room school and Mount Desert Island High School before earning a dual degree from Syracuse University. Following graduation, he worked as an award-winning newspaper reporter in three New England states for nearly twelve years, and later worked as a freelance writer, editor and project manager. Lunt founded Islandport Press in 2000 and has since edited or published more than 200 books, most tied in some way to the culture and heritage of Maine or New England. Lunt also founded Islandport Magazine in 2017 and has written two nonfiction books, Hauling by Hand and Here for Generations. His third and fourth books, Voices off the Ocean and Speaking Maine, are now scheduled for release in early 2021. A revised edition of Hauling by Hand is scheduled for release in the Spring of 2021.
Who Is Ruth Moore?
A Tremont native,born in 1903 and raised on Great Gott Island, Ruth Moore was an important Maine author of the twentieth century. She is best known for her honest portrayals of Maine people and evocative descriptions of the state. Moore was a significant literary figure on the national stage during her career. Her second novel Spoonhandle spent fourteen weeks on the New York Times bestseller list in the company of George Orwell, W. Somerset Maugham and Robert Penn Warren. In her time, Moore was hailed by critics as “New England’s only answer to Faulkner”.
Author, poet and essayist of over 25 novels, collections, short fiction and essays, including The Weir (1943), Spoonhandle (1946), Candlemas Bay (1950), Speak to the Winds (1956), Cold As a Dog and the Wind Northeast (1958), The Tired Apple Tree (1990), When Foley Craddock Tore Off My Grandfather’s Thumb: The Collected Stories of Ruth Moore and Eleanor Mayo (2004), “The Ladies from Philadelphia,” Harper’s Bazaar August 1945, “It Don’t Change Much,” The New Yorker October 1945, and “Farmer Takes a Newspaper,” The Saturday Review of Literature July 1948
The Bass Harbor Memorial Library has a large collection of Ruth Moore novels, poetry and essays to check out, and many new and used copies of select titles to purchase. Call 244-3798, or stop by the Library at 89 Bernard Rd in Bernard for more information.
“Ruth Moore: Maine Coast Writer” by Donald Mortland, Colby Quarterly Article written about Moore in 1979, at a time when she was still actively writing and publishing. “There are several ruinous rocks to be skirted in writing about the Maine coast. One is the danger of being sentimental. Another is the tendency to be folksy. A third is the danger of falling into ruts made by previous writers that lead into folksy stories about quaint people with hearts of gold who speak a peculiar dialect, mourn about the past, and spend their lives dealing with trivia over which the author makes them triumphant in some minuscule way. Ruth Moore avoids all of these.”
Tremont Historical Society The Tremont Historical Society is dedicated to the preservation of the history of the towns of Tremont, Southwest Harbor, and the adjacent islands. The Society achieves this mission by gathering, cataloging, and making available to the public historical materials such as genealogies and information on the growth and development of the towns, as well as historical artifacts. The are hosting a full schedule of programming in Summer 2020.
Penobscot Marine Museum’s Panel Discussion of “Maine Women Authors Of The 1950’s” Cathleen Miller, Curator of the Maine Women Writers Collection at UNE, Melissa Hays, Ruth Moore Days organizers, Muriel Davisson and devotee Jane O’Rouke discuss how the novels of Mary Ellen Chase, Elisabeth Ogilive, Ruth Moore, Miriam Colwell and Louise Dickinson Rich provide different portraits of the people and the state of Maine.
Watch Deep Waters on Youtube. “A troubled young orphan boy in Maine is taken in by a family and befriended by a lobsterman who shows him the ways of the world. Starring Dana Andrews, Jean Peters, Dean Stockwell, Cesar Romero, Ann Revere.” The 1948 film adaptation of Ruth Moore’s “Spoonhandle”, filmed on Vinalhaven took great liberties with her writing, but it had a big Hollywood budget and big Hollywood stars. The entire movie is available for free on Youtube split into 4 episodes.
Ruth’s Writing
Frenchboro native Dean Lunt started Islandport Press 20 years ago and has taken over the task of republishing and distributing Ruth Moore’s books from Blackberry Press. The press plans to release two novels a year for three or four years, starting with The Weir, Candlemas Bay and Spoonhandle, currently available now. Voices off the Ocean, is due in late 2021, and is a new collection of excerpts and poems intended as a digestible intro to Ruth Moore’s work.
All selections are reprinted here with permission from Blackberry Books. Copies can be purchased at Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick Maine or at Islandport Press. Select new and used copies may be purchased at the Library at 89 Bernard Rd. in Bernard. Call or stop by for titles in stock.
Join Librarian Amanda Crafts Saturdays under the tent at the Bass Harbor Memorial Library for Summer Storytime. Beginning July 17, Ms. Amanda will offer a distanced, read-aloud storytime for preK kids and their families from 11am-noon with plenty of time for browsing and play inside the Library’s new children’s addition. Bring Your Own Blanket!
This summer, the Bass Harbor Memorial Library presents a statewide adult reading experience in partnership with the Maine Humanities Council and the Maine State Library. This year’s books are recommended by Gerry Boyle, author of the Jack McMorrow mystery series:
Mainely Powerby Matt Cost and Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remainsby Kerri Arsenault.Six copies of each book will be available at the library for checkout. Three events will be held throughout the summer to discuss the titles and allow participants to engage with the authors.
Events
Summer Program Kick-off on MPBN’s Maine Calling
Friday | June 4, 2021 | 11:00 am – 12 noon
Zoom author talk with Kerri Arsenault (Mill Town)
Thursday | July 15, 2021 | 6:00 – 7:00pm | Register at mainehumanities.org/read-me
Zoom author Talk with Matt Cost (Mainely Power)
Thursday | August 19, 2021 | 6:00 – 7:00pm | Register at mainehumanities.org/read-me
For more information, contact the Library at (207)244-3798, email librarian@bassharborlibrary.com, or visit our webpage: www.bassharborlibrary.com
Explore the natural and historic bounty to be found in Tremont! Art and Nature Camp directors Kathie Pratt and Dawn Nuding invite children ages 7-11 to turn discovery into artistic inspiration. Whether plein-air painting at Kelley Farm, creating mobiles from found objects at Back Beach or sketching the cars at the Seal Cove Auto Museum, campers will tap into their inner artist and gain self-understanding and expression along the way.
Camp fee is by sliding scale $25 to $100. Camp runs from Monday July 26 to Friday July 30, 9:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. at various Tremont locations and is limited to 12 participants. A final presentation of campers’ work will be displayed at a location TBA.
