Deacon True’s Mill on True’s Pond in South Montville. Courtesy photo from the Bowley Family Collection

CAMDEN — Historian Donovan Bowley will deliver an online presentation about the history of mills on the Medomak, St. George and Megunticook rivers and their tributary streams at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8, hosted by the Camden Public Library. The program is part of the library’s month-long “Discover History” series and will be held via the Zoom meeting platform. Email jpierce@librarycamden.org to request a link to attend.

Bowley will discuss how early European settlers were able to survive and thrive in midcoast Maine by building mills to capitalize on the abundant water power of the region. His talk will include illustrations and photographs of representative structures at various locations. “In this exploration of mills and early settlement, I am hopeful that the information will be useful to those who are interested in exploring some of the mill sites now lost to view,” said Bowley.

Bowely has researched genealogy and Maine’s history for 60 years. He is inspired by much of his own family’s past as blacksmiths and millwrights in Maine dating back to the 18th century. In his professional life, Bowley earned a PhD in biology at Boston University and taught there at the College of Basic Studies. He was employed for 28 years in drinking water protection at the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. His professional interests range from New England botany and ecology, to the use and transformation of the land by human intervention, to depiction of environmental change through maps and historical narrative.

To learn more about this and other library programs, visit librarycamden.org.