Belgrade History Talk

After a long hiatus from their monthly talks, the Waterville Historical Society is happy to announce their first guest speaker, Eric Hooglund, for Thursday, November 9. Eric is the author of the recent Arcadia Publication The Belgrade Lakes Region, Images of America Series. He will speak on the important role of Waterville businessmen in the development of tourism in early 20^th century Belgrade and discuss the factors that contributed to this relationship.

While his book is about the region of Belgrade Lakes, Eric is going to tailor his talk for us while presenting at Waterville Historical Society. Charles Hill, the owner of the grand Elmwood Hotel in Waterville, built the Belgrade Hotel in 1900, one of the grand hotels of Maine, and the one that put Belgrade on the tourist map. Fred Brown, of the elegant Emery Brown Department Store in Waterville, was one of the first “summer folk” to build an elegant summer “camp” in Belgrade. Also Waterville’s Dr. Averill created Camp Bomazeen for Boys, which became the Boy Scouts’ summer camp. In addition, Eric will speak about the importance of passenger trains between Waterville and Belgrade, which made the journey a quick passage.

Professor emeritus Eric Hooglund is a Waterville native and founding editor of the award-winning scholarly journal Middle East Critique. His many scholarly books and articles include a history of the Lebanese immigrant community in Waterville from 1900 to 1940. After retiring, he moved to Belgrade Lakes. He has spent every summer there, since the age of four months.

On Thursday, November 9, doors will open at 6:30 for light refreshments and social time. The talk will begin at 7:00 pm. Please consider giving a ride to someone who would like to attend but may not like to drive after dark. We hope you will share this announcement with friends, and we are looking forward to seeing you then!