BELFAST — “Your Father Fears New England Will Be Depopulated: Belfast and the Rush to California” is the topic for the Belfast Historical Society meeting Monday, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m., in the Abbott Room of the Belfast Free Library.

Jan Eakins, a cultural historian who has researched, written, taught, and lectured on Maine in the West for more than two decades, will present the histories of some of the people who caught California gold fever early and hard. The bark Suliote cleared Marshall Wharf for San Francisco mere weeks into the nationwide rush. Hazeltines, Peirces, Lothrops, Lockes, and Ladds were among more than a hundred locals who headed west that year of 1849. Jan Eakins traces their journeys by sea and land. She relates their successes and sorrows as they kept shop, practiced law, erected buildings, and dug gold on the western frontier. She considers who left home, who returned home, and how gold shaped Belfast’s future.

The Belfast Historical Society presents talks of local historical interest on the 4th Monday of the month from April through October. All presentations are in the Abbott Room at the Belfast Free Library and are open to the public. Seating is limited to 75. FMI visit BelfastMuseum.org or call 207 338-9229.