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Brooks, Noah
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Lane's watercolor of Castine Castine Harbor and Town, 1851 (inv. 277) notes that it was painted for Noah Brooks, a newspaper reporter, journalist, and author who counted Abraham Lincoln among his friends. Brooks owned the painting made after that watercolor, and donated it to the Castine public library upon his death in 1903. His will stated: "I also give and bequeath to said town for the public library of said town the portrait of the Baron de Castine and Lane's painting of Castine."
Noah Brooks was born in Castine in 1830. At age eighteen, he left Castine for Boston, but returned to town in the summer of 1848, a visit he wrote about in a diary now located at the Castine Historical Society. From Boston, he moved to Illinois, California, and Washington, D.C.. He wrote an article about Castine in 1882 for the Century Magazine. In the Castine Historical Society, there is a biographical account of Brooks written by Gardiner E. Gregory, from which much of this information is drawn.
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Personal diary
Castine Historical Society
From July 25-August 16,1848, Castine native Noah Brooks made a return visit to his hometown. He was eighteen at the time, and had been living in Boston. In his diary, there is no mention of Lane, but he recounts Castine gossip, and writes about visits with the Stevens and Witherle familes, accounts of swimming in Back Cove, and reading Wuthering Heights. The daily arrival of "the boat" (the "T.F.S." or the "Secor")—the way it was anticipated and observed by Castine residents—is notable.
View related Fitz Henry Lane catalog entries (1) »
Also filed under: Historic Photographs »
This photo shows Lane's painting Castine Harbor and Town hanging on the wall of Brooks's library in his home in Castine.
View related Fitz Henry Lane catalog entries (1) »
Also filed under: Historic Photographs »
