Salt of the Earth
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1908 postcard courtesy of Kimberly Sebold

Throughout history, most salt marshes along the Eastern Seaboard have been transformed by human activity, according to historian Kimberly Sebold, whose research has focused on the coastal wetlands.

"Humans have created a distinct and active history of this landscape," says Sebold, an assistant professor of history at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. "This history focuses on the many agricultural, aesthetic and environmental benefits that this landscape has bestowed upon different groups, including colonial settlers, salt hay farmers, reclamation advocates, artists, writers, naturalists, conservationists or environmentalists.

"More importantly, for the present-day residents of coastal towns along the Gulf of Maine, this history has helped to shape their identity," says Sebold in her 1998 UMaine dissertation, "The Low Green Prairies of the Sea: Economic Usage and Cultural Construction of the Gulf of Maine Salt Marshes."

More than a decade ago, Sebold conducted research for the New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail on the uses of that state's salt marshes. When she came to Maine, Sebold studied salt marshes from Cape Ann, Mass., to Machias, Maine.

Her research is the basis for three plates chronicling the history of salt marshes in the upcoming Historical Atlas of Maine. Like the history of logging and some other chapters of the state's past, the legacy of salt marshes stretches from colonial times to present day.

Today, along Maine's 3,700 miles of shoreline there are more than 19,500 acres of salt marsh — more than in any other state or province on the Gulf of Maine, according to researchers at UMaine and the Maine Geological Survey cited in Maine Citizens Guide to Evaluating, Restoring, and Managing Tidal Marshes, published by Maine Audubon Society in 1997.