BRUNSWICK

College preserves rare film on 1920s Arctic exploration

Bowdoin College has finished preserving a rare film of some of Arctic explorer Donald MacMillan’s journeys to Greenland.

The Brunswick school used a National Film Preservation Foundation grant to have a film lab preserve what is believed to be the only existing copy of MacMillan’s first film, “Visiting with the Eskimos of Smith Sound,” made in 1930.

The 15-minute silent film — apparently shot between 1923 and 1925 in northwestern Greenland — shows footage that staff at Bowdoin’s Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum had never seen before. The film was given to Bowdoin by a man whose parents had owned a film studio in Boston that MacMillan used to edit his film footage.

MacMillan graduated from Bowdoin and made more than two dozen scientific journeys to the Arctic Circle.

AUGUSTA

State fall foliage website to go online this week

The Maine Department of Conservation’s fall foliage website, www.mainefoliage.com, goes online this week.

Leaf peepers who want to follow the changing of the colors can go to the state website starting Wednesday. Regular reports on fall foliage conditions continue through Oct. 19 or until the entire state has reached past-peak conditions.

State forest rangers collect data and observations in seven zones throughout the state and provide the information to the public and media.

Their data is collected and compiled on the fall foliage zone map included on the website.

The site also incorporates links to social media, including Facebook, which allows leaf peepers to instantly access foliage updates.

Governor urges families to visit apple orchards

Gov. Paul LePage is encouraging families to visit an apple orchard this month.

In a proclamation, the governor said apple farms serve as an “integral link” between urban, suburban and rural communities, and that the popularity of apple picking continues to rise.

A listing of Maine’s 60 apple orchards can be found at www.getrealMaine.com. 

— From news service reports