LOVELL — The next Hobbs Library Speaker Series presentation is scheduled to be delivered via Zoom by Lise Pelletier from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, about Maine’s Acadian connections and heritage.

Maine is surrounded by reminders of its French-speaking past, such as LaVerdiere’s Drug Stores, ubiquitous until the 1980s, or Aubuchon Hardware, according to a library news release. French last names are common in Maine, and some think the state is itself named after a province of France.

Acadians (French descendants who settled in the Canadian Maritimes and northern Maine) are survivors of an 18th century ethnic cleansing in Nova Scotia, Canada. Their history is a study in reliance and hope, and their ancestors live in Maine to this day.

Pelletier is the former director of the Acadian Archives acadiennes at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. She was born in Fort Kent and raised in Clair, New Brunswick. She has always had both feet firmly planted on both shores of the St. John River in Canada and in the U.S. She was inducted into the Franco-American Hall of Fame in 2021.

This event and the entire Hobbs Library Speaker Series is sponsored in part by a contribution from Norway Savings Bank.

For the Zoom link and for more information, visit hobbslibrary.org or call the library at 207-925-3177.

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