This summer, the Bar Harbor Historical Society is sponsoring a series of dramatic readings with local actors, presenting the secret lives of four Maine writers through an exploration of their own writings about their same-sex relationships, including letters, poems, and memoirs. The readings celebrate Maine history and culture, and broaden our understanding of some of our most famous authors.

Marine biologist Rachel Carson had just bought a cottage in Southport, Maine, when she was introduced to her summer neighbors, Dorothy and Stanley Freeman. Carson’s friendship with Dorothy turned into something deeper, and, with Stanley’s permission, the middle-aged women pursued an intimate friendship, separated by 500 miles in the winter months, but island neighbors in the summer. Their correspondence documents the Carson’s struggle over the writing of Silent Spring, as well as her heroic battle with terminal cancer.