CUSHING — Historian Mac Smith’s latest book, Disaster at the Bar Harbor Ferry, tells the tragic story of what the 1899 Bangor Daily Commercial called, “the most dreadful accident that has ever occurred within the boundaries of the state of Maine.”

He will relate the catastrophic events in a live talk Sunday, May 21, at 2 p.m., at the Cushing Public Library, cosponsored by the Thomaston Public Library.

The talk is free and open to the public. For further information call Wendy Roberts at 691-0833 or email wrobertsmaine63@gmail.com.

As late as the end of the the 19th Century the only means of travel to the growing resort of Bar Harbor was through a small, isolated, rural point of land in the small mainland town of Hancock.

The heartbreaking tale starts with the arrival of a train overcrowded with passengers anxious to be among the first to cross the bay in a ferry with too few seats. What should have been a casual summer Sunday outing turned into a scene of chaos, death and heroism, occurring as quickly as the break of a wooden gangplank. 

“Disaster at Bar Harbor Ferry takes us back to the era of an earlier Maine and tells the complete story of the people and the events of that day,” said Cushing Public Library, in a news release.

This is Mac Smith’s third presentation at the library, following Mainers on the Titanic and Peyton Place Comes Home to Maine. A former reporter for the Bar Harbor Times, he has transformed news reports of Maine events into a series of engaging and highly readable histories.