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A LIVE INNOVATIVE & ENTERTAINING COMBINATION OF

FILM | MUSIC | MAINE HISTORY

A DOCU-EXHIBIT ILLUSTRATING THE LIFE, SKILLS & CHARACTER OF THE TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY MAINE LUMBERJACKS & RIVER DRIVERS

IN THE BLOOD FILM: Sumner McKane LIVE MUSIC: Sumner McKane & Joshua Robbins

“The first time I went up there... oh boy, it was wicked! I was a young fella, and I was scared! A couple nights I s’pose I cried. I said I was goin’ home, I’ll never make a river driver. “ -Thomas McLeod River driver Vanceboro, Me

SYNOPSIS Lumbermen began living in logging camps in the Maine woods in the early 1800s. They were the pioneers who created a successful self-contained working community in the woods, and on who’s backs the state’s economy and history were largely established.

They were the innovators who established the method to cut and deliver hundreds of millions of board feet of lumber through thick forests and down crooked waterways, to the mills- using only horses, oxen and manpower. They were unique in their character, ethics, morals, strength, and skills, and they symbolize Maine’s gritty and resilient reputation. These are some of the most notable figures in Maine's history; yet their stories, personalities and significance are largely overlooked by educators and historians.

Up to the turn of the 19th century, it was not a board of directors or a bureaucratic system that made the logging camp successful, it was the skills, integrity and personality of individuals. In The Blood illustrates and investigates the Maine lumberman, his character and his history, and takes the viewer into his rugged environment- into the camp, onto the haul roads, landings and yards, rivers and lakes.

In The Blood creates a vivid world and brings the lumberman’s 19th century reality to life.

The film/exhibit employ stories and descriptions told by the men themselves, thus offering an accurate, detailed and seemingly personal experience- as though you are sitting in a camp listening to the men. You will forget, at least fleetingly, you are watching on a screen and not sitting in a camp or “rolling on the yard�. The experience is a striking virtual journey into the 19th century Maine woods.

He was an innovator, he was inherently brave, skilled, intelligent, and most importantlyhis character was framed around an unbreakable work ethic- his work came before anything else.

The Maine woods was a luring and fitting environment for such a personality.

The illustration that In The Blood provides, sheds a new light on the character, history, and importance of these legendary Maine men.