From Casco Bay to the Bold Coast, TFC spans over 500 miles along Maine's craggy coastline.

The First Coast is dedicated to telling stories of Maine's year-round coastal communities. Our trips take up to one month, and we alternate between traveling to gather stories and traveling to share exhibits. In Spring 2018, The First Coast visited the island of Deer Isle (including the towns Deer Isle and Stonington), and the town of Lubec. In Fall 2018, The First Coast Airstream traveled to Jonesport and Beals Island from October 15 - November 12. The Lubec Exhibit and Soundwalk opened in October 2019, and TFC traveled to Bar Harbor that fall. In 2021, we are planning two community exhibits in Jonesport and Bar Harbor. (We care about the safety of our communities and will only host exhibits if it is safe to do so.)

Interviews + Conversations

The First Coast’s Lead Producer and Founder, Galen Koch, conducts most of the oral history interviews while on the road. In each town, Galen partners with one or more photographers to capture professional quality images of the stories, experiences, people, and places recorded.

Interviews can range from sharing just a few stories around a dinner table, to hours-long life-history interviews. It is the interviewee’s decision what they want to tell. Interview excerpts are shared on TFC’s Blog, IG, and in community exhibits. We are also excited to share a new initiative that will be launching in the coming year. The First Coast, College of the Atlantic, Island Institute and Maine Sea Grant have teamed up to create an online database of oral histories from Maine. Stay tuned for more about that project, Maine Sound + Story, to come!

Amanda Lyons photographed by Greta Rybus, 2018.

Community Engagement

The First Coast is a collection of stories, sounds, images, and ideas collected and exhibited in specific communities along the Maine coast. In order to be the best possible storytellers we can be, we need the support and engagement of each community. The artists and documentarians work with residents and community organizations to produce intimate portraits of the town, its people, and the their evolving maritime identity. We also ask residents to tell us who their favorite storytellers are and we ask what favorite sounds or histories or myths should be documented.

These are stories By Mainers, For Mainers.

Archiving + Consulting

The First Coast offers digitizing services to town residents and organizations. If you have VHS or cassette tapes to digitize please contact galen@thefirstcoast.org - we would be happy to discuss options for getting your collection into a digital format.

The First Coast works with local community historical societies to determine the state of their archives and collections. If you work with a local historical society and have questions about your archives, or you would like to share your audio collection with us, please get in touch!