Aug. 24, 1857: Eastman Johnson (1824-1906), a prolific painter who was born in Lovell and raised in Augusta and Fryeburg, begins a two-month visit to Grand Portage, Minnesota Territory, where he creates a series of portraits “that for several reasons have come to be regarded as perhaps the most sensitive midcentury likenesses of Native Americans.”

Johnson, a co-founder of New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art whose career spanned more than five decades, is known in his time as “the American Rembrandt.”

Aug. 24, 2016: President Barack Obama proclaims the establishment of Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, which occupies 86,563 donated acres in northern Maine. The site includes a 17-mile loop road that offers clear views of Mount Katahdin, Maine’s highest peak, to the west. It offers trails for hiking, mountain biking and snowmobiling, as well as canoeing and kayaking in the East Branch of the Penobscot River.

The land is a gift of Burt’s Bees consumer products magnate Roxanne Quimby, who hoped to turn the site into a national park. When faced with local opposition, she changed her focus to getting it accepted as a national monument. She and her foundation, Elliotsville Plantation Inc., began buying land for the project as early as 2001.

Sean Brady takes a photo of the view from the scenic lookout on the Loop Road in Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in 2017. Staff photo by Brianna Soukup

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Joseph Owen is an author, retired newspaper editor and board member of the Kennebec Historical Society. Owen’s book, “This Day in Maine,” can be ordered at islandportpress.com. To get a signed copy use promo code signedbyjoe at checkout. Joe can be contacted at: jowen@mainetoday.com.