My Life in the Maine Woods

Annette Jackson was one of the brave, adventurous women who spent much of their lives in the Maine woods with their families in the early to mid 1900’s. She was born in 1906 and spent much of her childhood close to the Maine/Quebec border with a family that worked in the woods. In 1930, she met Dave Jackson, locally known as one of the legends of the Maine Warden Service, who was at the time just beginning his career as a game warden.

Annette and Dave married and started a family in the woods of northern Maine along the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. They spent several years in a cabin in the woods there, which Annette thoroughly enjoyed and wrote about. Annette and Dave later moved to the settlement of Allagash, where Dave continued his career and they continued raising a family.

In “My Life in the Maine Woods”, Annette Jackson writes about her many experiences as a game warden’s wife in the remote north country. The book is superbly written and very enjoyable to read. Much has changed in northern Maine since the days when Annette and Dave lived there, and her book reminds many of a simpler time. Around the same time and in the same area, Helen Hamlin experienced a life very similar to Annette’s, and wrote about it in her famous book “Nine Mile Bridge”.

If you have any interest in the Maine woods, hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities, I’d highly recommend taking a look at this book. It provides great perspective into a lifestyle gone by.

The latest Islandport Press printing of “My Life in the Maine Woods” includes a moving introduction by famous northern Maine author Cathie Pelletier. It also includes a brief biography of Annette Jackson, many revisions to the text made by Annette prior to her death, and a completely new chapter from another unpublished book written by Annette and provided by her daughter.

Click here to learn more about the book from Islandport Press.

Here’s a list of the chapters:

Game Warden’s Wife
Neighbors
My First River Trip
Starting a Family
A New Year
My First Buck
Keeping House
Bear Stories
The Spring of the Year
Partridges, Lake Trout and Woodchucks
The Family Grows Again
Old-Timers
Tramway
Further Adventures
Eight-Point Buck
Dave is Transferred
The Allagash Plantation
Time Marches On
Epilogue: Thirty-two Years Later: Back to the River