JHS has video interviewed more than 75 local senior citizens since 2003. Each interview is up to 60 minutes in length. Another interview is scheduled in the summer of 2024.
The interviews are available for purchase. For a list of titles and pricing, see our website Interview Videos page.
The publisher of The Boston Post distributed 431 canes in 1909 to New England towns as part of a circulation gimmick. The canes were given to the selectmen of the towns, with a request that they be distributed to their oldest citizen. The Boston Post folded in 1957 but their name lives on with the canes.
JHS reinstated the presentation of the cane to Jonesport's oldest citizen in 2003 with the permission of the selectmen. A plaque with the names of all Jonesport's recipients since 2003 is also presented, along with a framed document proclaiming the occasion.
So far JHS has awarded the cane to seven citizens, the last being to Ernest Velton Kelley, Sr. in September, 2024. Ernest is the first male to receive the cane since the Historical Society started in 2003.
Within the first few years after Jonesport Historical Society was established, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration / National Marine Fisheries Service awarded JHS with a grant of $16,592 for the equipment and software needed to develop the Jonesport Heritage Center. This equipment included three Dell desktop PCs, two Dell laptop PCs, two Dell printers, one HP digital projector, one tripod screen, one Olympus digital camera, and one HP scanner.
Between 2012 and 2016 the Davis Family Foundation granted $31,670 for replacing windows in the JHS museum, and for waterproofing the basement.
Between 2013 and 2021 the Eastern Maine Conservation Initiative granted JHS $8,200 for replacing windows in the JHS meeting room and basement, for a dehumidification and air filtration system in the basement, and for replacing an old Dell laptop with an LG laptop PC.
JHS got involved with the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor through Galen Koch, a freelance journalist and a multimedia producer. Galen runs a project called The First Coast which creates exhibits and soundwalks for coastal towns in Maine. In 2022 she mentored College of the Atlantic students and taught them how to create a Jonesport Soundwalk around the Sawyer Square area historic sites, using some information from the JHS Archives. A video version of the soundwalk was later created by JHS, with more than 60 photos that coincide with the 42-minute audio tour.
JHS has a long-running partnership with the Peabody Memorial Library in Jonesport. Before the Sawyer Building was donated to JHS by John Vassar Sawyer II and ready to use as the JHS Headquarters, some of our meetings were held in the library.
One of the computers in the library contains the three JHC databases that are available to library visitors. The librarian also sends Email to JHS when library visitors have history-related questions. The library also invites JHS to set up a sales and promotion table at some public events held at the library.
Regular maintenance to the Sawyer Building includes pre-winterizing and post-winterizing the building, since the building is not heated during the winter months. This is done by volunteer work by board members.
In 2016 the Masonic Lodge which owns and occupies the top floors of the building needed to hire a contractor to replace the roof shingles and re-side the five dormers on the roof. The total cost was $32,700. The JHS portion of the bill came to $17,100, which JHS paid in three installments of $5,700 each.
In 2024 JHS paid a contractor $804 to replace the steps on the side entrance to the building.