Colloquy Downeast

04/24/2026

04/09/2026

Upcoming Colloquy! Register today!
It’s hard to imagine life without horseless carriages!
During the colloquy, Cars - Our Love Affair with the Automobile, we'll look into the history of cars and try to see what the future holds. We will also see what's out there now, and get tips from car sales expert Bob Mitchell on how to buy them. (Average price of a new car in the U.S. is now $50,000, so it'll be worth your time.)

Beginning Monday, April 13 at 1:00PM, join journalist, Michael Taylor and veteran auto salesman Bob Mitchell in lively discussions on Zoom without even revving your engine.

Go to colloquydowneast.org to register today!

Colloquy is for all learners eager for interactive, analytical, open-minded, conversational learning experiences who are willing to challenge their own assumptions. Small group discussions of topics of current and historical interest.

03/31/2026

Join us in celebrating 25 years of lively discussions! Looking forward to 25 more! Colloquy Downeast Blue Hill Peninsula Chamber of Commerce

03/10/2026

Get your motor running...
It’s time for our spring wrap up and the perfect antidote to mud season!
What do Cars, Children's Lit, and Huck Finn have in common? They're each featured in the last three colloquies of this season. To learn more and register go to colloquydowneast.com
Blue Hill Peninsula Chamber of Commerce

Colloquy is for all learners eager for interactive, analytical, open-minded, conversational learning experiences who are willing to challenge their own assumptions. Small group discussions of topics of current and historical interest.

01/27/2026

Check out our upcoming Colloquy "Getting to Know: America's Values and Cultures". Come join us for an exploration of these ideas so important to ourselves and our society . Visit colloquydowneast.org for further details and to register.

The mission of Colloquy Downeast is to create an independent learning community (supported and nourished by residents of the Blue Hill Peninsula, Deer Isle and beyond) engaged in enriching discussions through exchange of thoughts and ideas.

01/02/2026

Join us from the comfort of your home via Zoom for an enlightening look at Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre in a parallel read with Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea. Rethinking Jane Eyre, starting Feb. 4th. For more info go to ColloquyDowneast.org

12/06/2025

Blue Hill Peninsula Chamber of Commerce

12/03/2025

Check out this upcoming Colloquy!

WILDFIRES IN MAINE - CAN IT HAPPEN HERE?
People on the East Coast looked on in horror last year as catastrophic fires raced through huge swaths of southern California acreage, devastating everything in its path. We assume we are relatively safe – but…not so fast! In 1947, Maine witnessed a similar event on Mt. Desert Island in a conflagration that torched more than 17,000 acres, burned much of Bar Harbor, killed 15 people, and caused $424 million (adjusted for inflation) in damages.

Forests in Maine represent an enormous natural and economic resource. Nathan Rutenbeck, renowned arboreal scientist working to help humans towards a more sustainable future, and Tommy Morris, assistant chief of the Brooklin Fire Department, will guide conversations on the current state of Maine’s readiness, and will discuss causes, emergency response, community mitigation, and individual property mitigation.

Discussions to be held at Blue Hill Library’s Howard Room, starting January 7th. A Zoom option is offered.

For more information and to register go to Colloquy Downeast
Blue Hill Peninsula Chamber of Commerce

12/03/2025

Outsize: The Largest, Costliest Engineering Projects That Were Never Built
Discover what drives architects, builders, engineers, and financiers to dream up the most outlandish – and mostly impossible – projects on the planet. Think of 5,500-mile railways, a bridge from Gibraltar to Morocco, a transatlantic tunnel.

Facilitator Michael Taylor wrote about mega projects while a newspaper reporter in San Francisco, home of the Golden Gate Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world (4,200 feet between the two towers) until New York’s Verrazzano Narrows bridge eclipsed it by 60 feet in 1964.

Start date: December 9 at 1:00 PM, Howard Room, Blue Hill Public Library; in person or Zoom.

To register and for more information, go to colloquydowneast.org.

Blue Hill Peninsula Chamber of Commerce

Spirited Conversations in Great Company