Jefferson church to host Baxter State Park author and historian

JEFFERSON — St. Giles Episcopal Church in Jefferson will present a talk Sunday, July 14 by a leading expert on Baxter State Park and how it was acquired by Percival P. Baxter, who donated the property to the state.

The talk by Howard Whitcomb will immediately follow morning prayer service, which starts at 9:30 a.m. Professor Whitcomb is the historian of the Friends of Baxter State Park and the author of “Governor Baxter’s Magnificent Obsession: A Documentary History of Baxter State Park 1931-2006”. The book is available for free download at https://digitalmaine.com/baxter_docs/2/. For a Zoom link to the service and the talk, email saintgilesjefferson@gmail.com.

Whitcomb is a lifelong summer resident of Jefferson. He retired as a professor of political science at Lehigh University.  He previously taught at Colgate University and served as a Judicial Fellow at the United States Supreme Court 1973-74, during which time the court ruled against presidential immunity in the Watergate break-in case.

Whitcomb will describe Baxter’s marvelous gift of the park to the people of Maine.

St. Giles is located at 72 Gardiner Road in Jefferson, a quarter mile west of the intersection of Gardiner Road (Route 126) and Bunker Hill Road (Route 213).