ABOUT BEARNSTOW
Bearnstow is a unique summer retreat dedicated to the preservation and appreciation of our natural environment. Weeklong workshops are offered for youth and adults that explore the natural world through the lens of creative arts and sciences.
Bearnstow has a rich history of arts-related activities linked to a practice of environmental responsibility. Throughout our history the resonance of place in all activities has been central to our mission: care of land and spirit is essential to daily practice. Our unspoiled environment provides an alternative freedom for aesthetic expression away from the demands of daily life.
​
Our summer programs emphasize the connection between environment and learning. Workshops are taught indoors and outdoors. The immediacy of our natural surroundings affects the depth and breadth of the learning that takes place, for both teacher and student. For a sense of the impact of our natural environment, read “Experience Bearnstow,” by Ruth Grauert.
Bearnstow lies on sixty-five acres of pristine woodland, bordering the serene Parker Pond in Mount Vernon, Maine. Twelve historic buildings are nestled along the 2,400 feet (732 m) of rocky shoreline. Participants are housed in rustic cabins, complete with electricity, full bathrooms, and charming screened porches where they can enjoy the soft breezes from the lake and listen to the loons call. The property is protected in perpetuity by a conservation easement held by the Kennebec Land Trust. Bearnstow is listed as Spruce Point Camps in the National Register of Historic Places.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Bearnstow pays respect to the peoples of the Wabanaki, a Confederacy of five principal Eastern Algonquian nations: the Abenaki, Mi’kmaq, Maleceet, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot peoples., whose name for themselves, Pαnawάhpskewi, means “the people of where the white rocks extend out”. The Confederacy, formed in the 17th century of the European calendar, covered roughly most of present-day state of Maine. Bearnstow is located on the shores of Parker Pond in central Maine, at the headwaters of the west branch of the Thirty Mile River, part of the Androscoggin watershed, home of the Ammoscongon. We pay our respect to the Abenaki and Wabanaki land, waters and ancestors past, present and future.​
Some local indigenous organizations, people, and resources for deeper learning and to support*
-
Geo Soctomah Neptune, a Passamaquoddy Two-Spirit Master Basketmaker, activist, historian, and artist
-
Donate to support Geo's work hereLink to “Naming the Dawnland” by Geo Soctom
-
-
Wabanaki Collection: The Wabanaki Collection connects postsecondary educators, grade school teachers, and the general public with a variety of resources that support enhanced relationships between all the peoples of Eastern Canada and Northeastern United States. The project is named for the first peoples of this territory—Wabanaki or People of the Dawn—which include Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqiyik, Abenaki, Penobscot and Passamaquoddy. All content found in this collection will relate to Wabanaki worldviews, including history, culture, language and education.
-
Naming the Dawnland: Wabanaki Place Names on Mount Desert Island by George Neptune
-
Abbe Museum: People of the First Light Languages and Landscapes
Wabanaki encampment at the end of Ledgelawn Avenue, Bar Harbor, 1890s. Courtesy of the Abbe Museum