PEMAQUID, Maine (AP) – Maine life in a 17th century fishing settlement will come alive this weekend at Colonial Pemaquid State Historic Site.

Re-enactors will demonstrate numerous aspects of life in an early American settlement, including work, crafts and military displays at the Fort William Henry Encampment. The free event takes place Saturday and Sunday.

It focuses on a little-known time period of Maine’s history, when cod fishing was a way of life. Park Manager Kelsie Tardif says that’s an important reason why Maine’s Pemaquid peninsula was inhabited.

Colonial Pemaquid State Historic Site marks an area used by American Indians as far back as 7,000 years ago. The earliest frontier settlement dates to the mid-1620s.