Maine Memory Network

"...peculiar indeed we were, for women had never before penetrated thus far into this wilderness." Elizabeth Oakes Smith, 1849

Elizabeth Oakes Smith (1806-1893), recognized as the first woman to climb Katahdin, was a well known author and women's right advocate.

Born in Yarmouth, Oakes Smith married publisher Seba Smith and the couple had six sons. While they moved away from Maine, Elizabeth Oakes Smith remained well-known to Mainers as a lecturer and writer.