Click here to read insights into Elizabeth Coatsworth by her daughter Kate Barnes. Kate was Maine’s First Poet Laureate, appointed in 1995 by then-Governor Angus King. “She was so intelligent, so very kind,” says Kate, “and more fun to be with than anyone else in the world. She was always so very alive, so vital — and you could never forget her eyes: dark, dark eyes, with the bright intensity of a falcon’s.” (4)
“There is a common thread running through all of Coatsworth’s writing though, and that is the reverence she had for her home state of Maine.” (5)
“Key to appreciating the writings of Henry Beston and Elizabeth Coatsworth Beston is the understanding of the extent to which Chimney Farm figures into their nature writing, their historical fiction, their poetry, and their neighborhood chronicles.” (9)
Advertisement appearing in the Boston Globe on July 24, 1947 for Elizabeth Coatsworth’s new book Maine Ways. (15)
Primary Source: A handwritten letter from Elizabeth Coatsworth to a friend in 1950. “Dear Mrs. Huntington, Such a pretty party and such a nice party! We all had a lovely time and one that we shall remember like a poem. Everything about your garden touches the imagination”. (16)
Photo Credits and Sources used from top to bottom of page:
1. Portrait of Elizabeth Coatsworth: https://downeast.com/history/elizabeth-coatsworth/
2. https://quotefancy.com/quote/1614483/Elizabeth-Jane-Coatsworth-During-much-of-my-life-I-was-anxious-to-be-what-someone-else
3. Lukens, Rebecca. “Elizabeth (Jane) Coatsworth.” American Writers for Children, 1900-1960, edited by John Cech, Gale, 1983. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 22. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1200000938/LitRC?u=brun84057&sid=bookmark-LitRC&xid=76caf5b3. Accessed 21 Mar. 2022.
4. http://www.henrybeston.com/about.html#aboutelizabeth
5. maineanencyclopedia.com/coatsworth-elizabeth/
6. http://www.downeast.com/history/elizabeth-coatsworth/
7. http://landmarkhunter.com/119508-chimney-farm/
8. https://www.facebook.com/Elizabeth-Coatsworth-119130268175381/posts
9. http://landmarkhunter.com/119508-chimney-farm/
10. https://www.midcoastconservancy.org/preserve/damariscotta-lake/chimney-farm/
11. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Cat_Who_Went_to_Heaven/PmxxgqPDQmAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=elizabeth+coatsworth&printsec=frontcover
12. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/search?query=elizabeth+j.+coatsworth
13. https://archive.org/details/personalgeograph00coat/mode/2up
14. https://allpoetry.com/Elizabeth-Coatsworth-
15. http://www.brunswick.k12.me.us/bhslibrary/files/2020/04/Coatsworth-advertisement.pdf
16. https://www.historyforsale.com/elizabeth-coatsworth-beston-autograph-letter-signed-08-07-1950/dc29551
17. http://www.brunswick.k12.me.us/bhslibrary/files/2020/04/Coatsworth-Obituary-1.pdf
18. https://maineanencyclopedia.com/coatsworth-elizabeth/
19. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9224006/elizabeth-jane-coatsworth