The 11th Annual Spring Garden Tour to Support the Abbe Museum

June 2 & 9, 2012

The Abbe Museum is pleased to invite the public to enjoy the beautiful perennial plantings and spectacular blooms of spring in one of the premier gardens in Northeast Harbor, Maine. Wander through masses of rhododendrons, azaleas, dogwoods and violets. Take in expansive views across Somes Sound to the mountains of Acadia National Park. This tour at Waters Edge, the W.P. Stewart Estate is a colorful way to celebrate spring - and a great reason to visit Mount Desert Island if you live elsewhere!

All proceeds will benefit the Abbe Museum, supporting their mission to inspire new learning about the Wabanaki Nations with every visit.

The Abbe Museum, founded in 1926, offers innovative exhibitions and programs on Maine’s Native American heritage and culture, both past and present. In recent years, with broad community support, we have grown from a small trailside museum, privately operated within Acadia National Park, to include an exciting contemporary museum, opened in 2001, in the heart of downtown Bar Harbor.

At our new facility, visitors find dynamic and stimulating exhibitions and activities interspersed with spaces for quiet reflection. The history and cultures of Maine’s four tribal communities, (the Micmac, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot, collectively known as the Wabanaki) are showcased through changing exhibitions, special events, teacher workshops, archaeology field schools and craft workshops for children and adults.  Members from Maine’s Native communities are actively engaged in all aspects of the museum, including policymaking as members of our Board of Trustees.

In addition, the Abbe serves as an essential resource for helping teachers and students comply with Maine’s "Wabanaki Initiative," a state law requiring the teaching of Wabanaki cultures and history in Maine schools. As Donna Loring, former Penobscot Nation Representative to the Maine Legislature and sponsor of the Wabanaki Initiative, wrote, "With education will come understanding and with understanding will come respect...." Abbe staff members serve as facilitators, educators, and advisors for statewide programs to implement this law.

Please join us at the 2012 Spring Garden Tour and help support the Abbe Museum!

The 2012 Garden Tour would not be possible without the generous support of these sponsors:

Rhododendron Level Sponsor

Iris Level Sponsor

Iris Level Sponsor

Iris Level Sponsor

Iris Level Sponsor