CHS wins DownEast & Acadia Regional Tourism Award

January 1st, 2016

The Castine Historical Society is pleased to announce that it is the winner of the first annual DART award for excellence in Marketing and Promotion. The award was given at an awards symposium and luncheon on November 13 by DownEast & Acadia Regional Tourism in Winter Harbor. The award recognizes the Society for its promotional outreach leading up to the visit of the square rigged frigate L’Hermione to Castine last July. The Society had spent two years in preparation for the ship’s visit after having persuaded the Friends of Hermione/LaFayette in America to include Castine as a port-of-call on her North American Tour this past summer. Community Arts Resources of Los Angeles provided the expertise required to broadly promote and organize many features of the visit, including symposia, entertainment, vendors, a parade, and the hosting of dignitaries from France, George Washington’s Mt Vernon, and The Knox Museum, the Penobscot Nation, as well as Maine’s Governor LePage. Through these efforts, Castine and the L’Hermione became broadly visible on national news media, social media, and on various websites, including hermione2015.com

L’Hermione, built in Rochefort, France, was completed in 2014 after nearly two decades of meticulously detailed construction. She is an exact replica of the French warship that delivered the Marquis de LaFayette to Boston in 1780. Before her return to France in 1780, L’Hermione sailed to Penobscot Bay on a reconnaissance mission to investigate the British activities in Castine. Thus, the L’Hermione’s visit had historical significance to the area, and her arrival on Bastille Day drew thousands to the small coastal town of Castine.  Her visit renewed the important connection between France and the United States which led to victory for the colonies in the Revolutionary War.

DART, founded in 1995, was organized by local chambers of commerce and business non-profits for the purpose of promoting the Down East region as a whole and at the local level. This is the first year that DART has organized an awards competition.