Hilda Edwards Hamlin (Lupine Lady)
Photo: Amaury Laporte
Fields of tall purple and pink lupine are among the most recognizable seasonal landscapes in Maine today. While Maine has native lupine, these are not those, and if not for a “difficult” British child, they may not blanket the coast as they do today.
Hilda Edwards Hamlin came to Christmas Cove in 1904 courtesy of her uncle, Harry Gardiner, a professor at Smith College, who offered to take in the headstrong teenager and enroll her in school in the United States. Harry’s cottage on Rutherford Island was a summer retreat that Hilda inherited after his death.
It was during her summers at the cottage that Hilda began sowing the seeds of lupine that would later make her famous. The story is that she dropped seeds she carried in her pockets while she was out walking coastal paths near her cottage and tossed them from the car she was a passenger in.
Because of her lupine sowing, Hilda became known as “the lupine lady.” She first received attention for her decades-long habit in a 1971 Yankee magazine article, but it was a decade later that she gained nationwide notoriety. In 1982, Barbara Cooney, a resident of Damariscotta who knew Hilda, fictionalized her story in Miss Rumphius, an illustrated children’s book that received the National Book Award and still tops lists of classic children’s books today.
While Hilda died two weeks shy of her 101st birthday in 1989, her legend continues to grow through multiple generations of Miss Rumphius fans and thousands of visitors who associate Maine with lupines.
Author: Stephanie Bouchard
