Austin Curwen

Growing up in New England, from an early age Austin drank deeply from the literary fountain of explorers.  With a childhood of, “Don’t come in until dinner!” hours were spent in the woods, on the water, on bikes and roaming far and wide.  Studies at Syracuse University yielded a double major of Geography and History.  As a young man, Austin spent 18 months living in Germany where he caught the travel and culture bug. 

His early professional world included teaching in a one-room schoolhouse in Seattle and summers as an expedition leader with the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School leading sailing and sea kayaking trips off the coast of Maine.  The next stops were several decades as a boarding school faculty member in California, the UK and Pennsylvania.  Responsibilities included teaching American and European history courses, geography and a good deal of time leading school wilderness trips. 

A mid-career MA at the University of Bristol (UK) in Maritime History and Archaeology stitched together many of Austin’s interests.  Coming from that world, Austin now endeavors to pull together history, human movement across the landscape, human interaction with their physical environment, and how this manifests itself through material culture.  An avid and extensive traveler, when not exploring some new corner of the world with his better half, Austin can be found in his barn just north of Portland, ME tinkering on myriad projects and working as an educational consultant.