Longfellow Days

Longfellow Days Dear Reader,
Bet you’ve been wondering what’s happening with LONGFELLOW DAYS 2021. Hopefully, this will be a spark to write our friends and family, too.

A month-long community and cultural program celebrating the legacy of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

LONGFELLOW DAYS 2025 celebrates the 200th anniversary of Bowdoin's notable Class of 1825, including Longfellow, Hawthorne and other important graduates. Well, we are not sponsoring events, but are collaborating with two of our usual partners, Pejepscot History Center & the Unitarian Universalist Ch

urch of Brunswick. Here are several ways you can be involved:

Pejepscot History Center, formerly Pejepscot Historical Society, is helping us promote our theme for 2021 & 2022: The Art of Writing Letters

Week One: Starting February 1 – 17th together with PHC, we will be gathering Letters to COVID, sharing your experiences during our pandemic. PHC archives have little record of personal reactions to the 1918 pandemic – mainly newspaper articles. So, we’re encouraging you to write a letter to COVID-19 as a documentation of our lives during this time, to be archived at PHC. We are eager to compile our reactions and hope to publish a booklet of our various challenges and reactions. Send them to: 159 Park Row, Brunswick, ME 04011 or [email protected] or to as a comment to this Longfellow Days’ page. Week Two: We’ll share some interesting letters between Longfellow and his dear family & friends as well as those among the Whittier family whose home is part of our Pejepscot Museum. Such joy to receive real mail! Week Three: On February 18th at 6:30 pm PHC will be hosting a Zoom talk: Adapting Historic Recipes for Modern Kitchens (FMI See pejepscothistorical.org/events/talks-presentations)
Please consider sharing a hand-written favorite recipe in appreciation of our local foods and heritage. You could send it to a friend, as a Thinking of You note or post it as a photo here. Week Four: February 21st at 10 am there will be a Zoom ecumenical service at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brunswick on the Inspiration of Poetry. (FMI Look here later.) Also, Longfellow Days will post writing and performances from folks who send us their COVID inspired poems and will forward the work of those in Brunswick, Harpswell, & Topsham to PHC. So, please come by again and again to see what’s happening this month on our Longfellow Days site, write a letter to COVID, to your family, share a recipe, go to PHC’s Zoom to grasp a “pinch of salt,” or UUCB’s ecumenical service to see Robert Frost in 1961’s windy inaugural, and then make your own video of your own poem to inspire us to join you. And Stay Safe, Maryli & Amy

Helene McLaughlin hosted our last Sunday Readings on February 22nd with poets Marcia, Kate, and Marita.
02/23/2026

Helene McLaughlin hosted our last Sunday Readings on February 22nd with poets Marcia, Kate, and Marita.

On Friday, Feb 12th at Thornton Oaks, John Babin shared new research about Longfellow's poem, "Christmas Day."
02/22/2026

On Friday, Feb 12th at Thornton Oaks, John Babin shared new research about Longfellow's poem, "Christmas Day."

Valentine Sunday we honored three Longfellow Days poets who have passed. James Brasfield read from Rob Farnsworth's wor...
02/22/2026

Valentine Sunday we honored three Longfellow Days poets who have passed. James Brasfield read from Rob Farnsworth's work, Sarah Cowperthwaite shared her dad, Stephen's poetry, and Maryli Tieman read Ruth Bookey's.

Then in a further tribute to both Ruth and Ten Bookey's mentoring many new poets, we were treated to new Sunday Poet, Nicole Chvatal.

On Valentine's Day, Gemma Cannon shared the meaningful - and little known - story of Henry's early married life to Mary ...
02/22/2026

On Valentine's Day, Gemma Cannon shared the meaningful - and little known - story of Henry's early married life to Mary Potter. Then she lead our yearly Pejepscot History Center tours of the Longfellow Rooms in the Chamberlain house when he was a professor at Bowdoin.

Today's Interfaith Service was all about how finding your own voice can lead to resilience. Rev. Dr. Kharma Amos share...
02/15/2026

Today's Interfaith Service was all about how finding your own voice can lead to resilience. Rev. Dr. Kharma Amos shared in her sermon that everyone's calling is to discover their TRUE self.

Michael Greene recited two Langston Hughes poems "Life is Fine" and "I, Too." Next, Sree Kandhadai recited Amanda Gorman's poem "The Hill We Climb." These poems express the essence of resilience.

And the choir sang two songs written by two ministers who found their own voices. John Murray, who did not believe in Fire and Brimstone, was one of the founders of Universalism. And Rev. Marion Murdoch, the first woman to receive a a Bachelor of Divinity and become a Unitarian minister.

Today at Pejepscot History Center Karin Dillman offered two poems for our exploration and discussion: “Window-Blind” by ...
02/13/2026

Today at Pejepscot History Center Karin Dillman offered two poems for our exploration and discussion: “Window-Blind” by Denise Levertov and “A Hill” by Anthony Hecht.

Such a thoughtful group with a welcoming atmosphere brought us to hopeful final comments.

Sunday Readings, Part TwoGibson, Dawn, and Mike after their poetry readings, answering questions from the audience about...
02/10/2026

Sunday Readings, Part Two

Gibson, Dawn, and Mike after their poetry readings, answering questions from the audience about writing and inspiration.

Winter Wisdom's lecture "A Poet's Dilemma" was held on Wednesday, Feb 4th. Maryli Tiemann spoke about the difficulties s...
02/08/2026

Winter Wisdom's lecture "A Poet's Dilemma" was held on Wednesday, Feb 4th. Maryli Tiemann spoke about the difficulties some poets have to share their poems aloud. A video of Robert Frost speaking at JFK's inauguration was agonizing until he recited the poem that he knew by heart. Helene McLaughlin shared her trepidations of speaking when she first starting doing readings until she learned to speak from her heart. Then singer-songwriter Jud Caswell joined us though a video explaining that it is sometimes difficult to share songs (poetry) of a personal nature.

Unfortunately, there are no pictures of Helene or Jud at this event. If anyone has some, please share them with us.

A few pictures of Samaa Abdurraqib and Jeanne Bamforth and the group of participants at Sunday Readings, Part One. Davi...
02/08/2026

A few pictures of Samaa Abdurraqib and Jeanne Bamforth and the group of participants at Sunday Readings, Part One. David Stankiewicz was unable to make it, but the readings by Samaa and Jeanne were thought provoking, leading to good discussion.

Longfellow Days 2026 is all planned. All the events sound interesting and fun. Let poetry whisk us away and provide he...
01/16/2026

Longfellow Days 2026 is all planned. All the events sound interesting and fun. Let poetry whisk us away and provide healing during these difficult times. And pray for good weather on all the Longfellow event dates!

Longfellow Days 2026 Finding Your Voice In this, our 22nd year of honoring the legacy of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, we continue to offer poets, presentations, music, workshops, tours, and an inte…

03/04/2025

If you missed the concert on Feb 22, you can watch it here: Bowdoin Chamber Choir with members of community choirs, Stuart Gillespie, Jud Caswell, Scott Woodruff, Paul Sullivan, Will Bristol. and spoken word poet, Taylor Mali The program starts at 14:42.

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