The Friends of Colonial Pemaquid are sponsoring an evening lecture on Monday, July 14 by cultural historian Nate Randall, appetizingly entitled “A Plenty of Fish and Lobsters Very Great: Cookery in Early Pemaquid.”

In his lecture Randall will relate some of the earliest descriptions of cookery in North America and trace how these early practices still survive in traditional Yankee cooking.

The earliest Europeans to visit Pemaquid were explorers who arrived by sea. Their reports of bounteous fishing grounds soon brought English fishermen who established a seasonal fishing station to produce salt cod, which they cured on the area’s rock ledges, and carried back to Europe to sell.

Accounts as early as 1605 provide clues that the English explorers (and probably the English fishermen) lived on a diet largely derived from common shipboard provisions. But as activity at Pemaquid became more established, the new inhabitants turned increasingly to the fruits of the land, the beasts of the forest, and the fowls of the air for nourishment. By the 1630s, they had begun to engage in agricultural activity.

Nathan A., Randall is a cultural historian holding degrees from Tufts and Smith Colleges and Princeton University. For the past decade, he has lectured extensively on culinary and musical topics at the Coastal Senior College in Damariscotta, at the Princeton Adult School and Princeton Evergreen Forum, and for The English Speaking Union. In 2010-11, Nate served as Enrichment Lecturer for Seabourn Cruise Line in the Caribbean, and as Spotlight on Food Lecturer during the Southeast Asia segment of the Regent Seven Seas Voyager World Cruise. He recently retired after 23 years as Artistic Director of Princeton University Concerts, and now resides in Portland, where he serves on the Education Committee of the Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ.

Randall’s program will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Contented Sole Restaurant adjacent to the museum. Admission is $5, and free for members. Membership applications are available at each event.

Visitors are encouraged to return to Colonial Pemaquid on Monday, July 21 at 7:30 p.m. for another evening lecture entitled “A Search for Sectional Identity in 17th Century Maine District” by Massachusetts educator John O’Toole, who reveals how English political turmoil impacted long term plans for the District of Maine and spawned an independent population.

Colonial Pemaquid State Historic Site is located off Route 130, approximately 12 miles south of Route 1 and 3 miles north of the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse. From Route 130 South, in New Harbor, turn right onto Huddle Road and follow signs to Colonial Pemaquid. From Route 32 South, turn left onto Route 130 and then immediately right onto Snowball Hill Road, following signs to Colonial Pemaquid. The Contented Sole Restaurant is on site adjacent to the museum.

For more information, visit www.friendsofcolonialpemaquid.org, or you may contact the park manager at 207-677-2423.