In 1845, 19-year-old Israel Shevenell left his home in Canada and walked nearly 200 miles to Biddeford, Maine. He found work and built a new life in an American boom town being transformed by the Industrial Revolution, and is recognized as the city’s first permanent French-Canadian settler.

In 2015, his 74-year-old great-great-grandson, Ray Shevenell, retraced the pioneering journey, walking from Compton, Quebec to Biddeford.

“The Home Road” was filmed between Compton, Quebec and Biddeford, over the Canaan, Vermont -Hereford border crossing, through the Great North Woods and White Mountains regions of New Hampshire, following the Saco River into Maine.

Ray Shevenell’s ancestral trek shapes the 76-minute  film. Layered over the adventure are interviews, archive photos, narrations, stories and an original soundtrack by Sumner McKane.

Tonya Shevenell tells their stories in her first documentary film, an exploration of family, history, and identity, and how a journey into the unexpected inevitably leads home.

The film, followed by a question and answer session with both Ray and Tonya Shevenell, will be screened at Lincoln Theater at 2 Theater Street in Damariscotta.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for Lincoln Theater members. Tickets and will be available at the door starting at 1 p.m. 

For additional information, visit lcct.org or call the theater at 207-563-3424.