Louise Dickinson Rich

Be creative

Forest Lodge, one of Louise Dickinson Rich’s houses in the Maine area she wrote about. She wasn’t exactly roughing it.

— Photo by Beverkd

"You can think of a lot of things to make out of nothing if you have to.’’

— Louise Dickinson Rich (1903-1991) in her book We Took to the Woods (1942), This, the writer’s most famous book, was autobiographical and set in the 1930s when she and husband Ralph lived near Umbagog Lake, in Maine

Think diffidence, not surliness

Rangeley Lake, Maine, on a postcard, circa 1920. Mrs. Rich's book, first published in 1942, about living  with her family near the lake.

Rangeley Lake, Maine, on a postcard, circa 1920. Mrs. Rich's book, first published in 1942, about living  with her family near the lake.

“In spite of all that is said, and more especially written, about the crabbed New Englander, New Englanders, like all ordinary people, are nice. Their manner of proffering a favor is sometimes on the crusty side, but that is much more often diffidence than surliness.” 


― Louise Dickinson Rich, in We Took to the Woods