Howdy neighbor! This week’s story is a follow-up to our feature column from the close of May, which ran on the subject on Maine’s lost rattlesnakes. If you missed it, at that time I shared the remarkable fact that in elder days, from the coming of the English to these shores down until around about the close of the 19th century, Maine like all the rest of New England was home to a native population of American Timber Rattlesnakes.
But unlike all the other states of New England, and indeed the entire continental United States, Maine alone is now the only state without venomous reptiles today, having claimed success in a great and determined war of artificial extermination waged against all serpent-kind, which over many decades at last succeeded in stamping out this venomous threat within our borders. Of course, that’s if you believe state data; I for one have been shown very convincing evidence that rattlesnakes in Maine survived at least into the 1920s, if not later, and always there will be folks who claim they are still in the woods today, even as they remain in isolated parts of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the Green Mountains of Vermont, and comparatively many hilly regions of Massachusetts and points south. Even so, it has been an awfully long time since anyone saw a live rattlesnake in Maine’s woods, so I do feel comfortable stating as a historian that Maine’s pioneer settlers and their sturdy descendants did their work of extermination very well indeed.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.