The Allagash
Goes Around the World
by Tim Caverly
There is a special feeling to the Allagash; a sense of
adventure, the thrill of getting away from it all!
But in the dark of night there is something else. A
shadow lingers, hiding beyond the reach of the lantern’s
fingers of light. It remains obscure in the midst of the
evergreens and old growth. Among the campfires and
s’mores, a bone chilling draft embraces all.
Shivering, we draw our
coats tighter to protect
against the rawness.
And so begins
the description of the
newest book by Maine
creators Tim Caverly
and Franklin Manzo Jr.
To be released this fall,
A Wilderness Rangers
Journal-Rendezvous
at
Devils Elbow is the fourth
in a series of their Allagash
Tails collection. The locally
written tales are based on the
experiences of Caverly during
his 18 years as supervisor of the
Allagash Wilderness Waterway
for Maine’s Department of
Conservation.
The
first
book,
Allagash Tails Volume One was
published in June of 2009, and
soon was followed by the popular
An Allagash Haunting. A third
book Allagash Tails Volume IIIWilderness
Wildlife, Volume III, was released in November of 2010.
Caverly says he is especially proud of this book because
students from Penobscot and Washington Counties helped
with editing and illustrations. From the beginnings of just
two and one half years ago, it is clear their hard work is
paying off. Books have been shipped all across the U.S.
and overseas to the countries of Australia, Canada, China,
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Allagash WINTER 2012
England, France, Germany, Israel, Philippines, South
America, and to our service people in Iraq and Afghanistan.
People all over the world are reading and learning about
Northern Maine. The Allagash is a Nationally Designated
Wild and Scenic Waterway that flows for 92 miles through
the heart of
Maine’s woodlands.
The Allagash has also
gone into schools. For the last
several months Caverly has been
promoting reading through a
Power Point program called
“A Literary Celebration of the
Maine Experience.” In that
presentation he offers a multimedia, hour-long armchair
trip down the Allagash that
includes music, and through
the use of spectacular scenic
and historic pictures, he
envelops the audience with
the sounds, feel and legends
of a wild river. Students
are being taught about
our heritage, spiced with
learning about our natural
world.
The program has been
very well received with
some students saying,
“we don’t really like to
read, but we like your
stories and, by the way,
would you help us write a book.” By school’s end of the
last spring, in addition to libraries and civic organizations,
Tim had visited 45 schools and reached out to over 1200
students. But talking about their books isn’t enough for
the Allagash Tails team. To date, thanks to donations from
the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, Rotaries, Lions,
Kiwanis organizations as well support from numerous
financial institutions, over 950 Allagash Tails books have
been donated to 65 schools.