The Friends of Colonial Pemaquid Host Labor Day Concert by Castlebay, a Popular Local Duo At Colonial Pemaquid State Historic Site

 
On Sunday, September 1, The Friends of Colonial Pemaquid will host a Labor Day concert by popular local duo, Fred Gosbee and Julia Lane.  The two outdoor performances will be held at 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm on the parade grounds of historic Fort William Henry.  Admission to the concert is free. The rain date is Mon. Sept.2.
 
Castlebay will delight the audience to sounds of Maine’s Celtic forebears in voice, harp, guitar, fiddle and woodwinds. The musical traditions of the Scots-Irish colonists who settled prominently in the Maine midcoast in the 18th century are the inspiration for much of the original and adapted music that Castlebay performs. This year marks Castlebay’s 13th consecutive appearance at Colonial Pemaquid.
 
Since 1984, Castlebay (www.castlebay.net) has created a body of work reflecting Maine’s maritime heritage and environment, giving a new voice to an ancient tradition with their creative songwriting. Lane and Gosbee have written, recorded and produced three albums of completely original music—Song of the Sea and The Ballad of Cappy John. Newly released in June 2013 is John Earthy’s Tavern, which has sixteen songs from Maine history, including the Popham Colony of 1607. They perform frequently at festivals, museums, and schools both at home and abroad including the International Festival of the Sea (Bristol, England), the Edinburgh Folk Festival (Scotland), Mystic Seaport (CT), and locally at Windjammer Days and the Maine Lobster Festival. Castlebay’s music also has been used on Turner Broadcasting’s Portrait of America series. There is no charge for this event, though donations are appreciated.
 
While on site, visitors are encouraged to experience English Frontier settlement life in the New World during the 17th and 18th centuries by visiting a reconstructed fort with permanent exhibit, archaeological ruins, cemetery, artifact museum, and a recreation of a 17th century thatched roof cottage. 
 
Additionally, The Friends of Colonial Pemaquid have a newly re-opened gift shop located in front of the historic Fort House that will delight visitors of all ages. The shop itself offers a wide variety of affordable gifts ranging from site-related (‘branded’) items as well as colonial toys, works by local artists and authors, Maine crafts, salt glaze pottery, Maine and Celtic music, pirate novelties, locally-sourced French utility soap, luxury body bars, baking extracts, and shell ornaments, as well as books for young readers, including Downwind From Pemaquid, an accurate and well-told historical account of an attack on the English village at Pemaquid in 1676 as told by a fictional teenage witness.  The gift shop will be open weekend afternoons, noon to 5 on Saturday and noon to 4 on Sunday, through Columbus Day weekend. Colonial Pemaquid is open daily 10 am to 5 pm, Memorial Day through Labor Day.