BETHEL — Randall H. Bennett will present a lecture entitled “Starr King’s The White Hills and 19th Century White Mountain Tourism” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8, at the Bethel Historical Society.

Assistant Director and Curator of Collections of the Bethel Historical Society, Bennett is the author of two books about the history of the White Mountain region, and has been an avid collector of White Mountain books, prints, paintings, photos and souvenirs for more than 30 years.

The program commemorates the 150th anniversary of the publication of Reverend Thomas Starr King’s seminal guidebook, “The White Hills: Their Legends, Landscape and Poetry”. Reprinted many times, King’s book was more than 400 pages and provided visitors to the White Mountains with a mixture of nature description, scientific information, historical narrative and philosophical meditation.

Using the town of Gorham, N.H., as a base, King, who first visited the White Mountains in 1849, began writing a series of articles about the mountains in 1853 for the Boston Transcript. The articles formed the basis for his 1859 work, which became an immediate critical and popular success.

In King’s day, tourists were encouraged to experience sublime or picturesque scenery by developing a “correct frame of mind.” To do this, visitors stood in pre-selected spots near waterfalls, precipices or before broad mountain vistas and quoted poetry by the romantic poets – Byron, Wordsworth, Longfellow, Emerson and others. Thus, King’s book, while describing the physical attractions of the White Mountains, presents the landscape through the lens of romantic verse.

During his talk, Bennett will place King’s book in context with other 19th century guidebooks to the region, while describing changes in White Mountain tourism from the 1820s to the 1890s. Part of the 2009 series is sponsored in part by a grant from the Maine Humanities Council, the lecture is free and open to anyone interested in attending.

For more information about the society, call 824-2908 or 1-800-824-2910, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.bethelhistorical.org.