Staff and Volunteers
Executive Director
Kate McMahon Ph.D.
director@castinehistoricalsociety.org
Dr. Kate McMahon joined Castine Historical Society as the Executive Director in June 2025. She previously served as Historian of
Global Slavery and lead historian on the globally traveling exhibition In Slavery’s Wake: Making Black Freedom in the World that opened at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in December 2024. She also co-coordinated the Slave Wrecks Project, a global initiative that investigates the history of the African slave trade through the lens of maritime archaeology. She currently serves on the Operational Committee of SlaveVoyages.org. She received her B.A. in Art History and M.A. in American and New England Studies from the University of Southern Maine. She completed her Ph.D. in History at Howard University in 2017. Her dissertation was entitled The Transnational Dimensions of Africans and African Americans in Northern New England, 1776-1865. Her current research explores New England’s connections to and complicity in the illegal slave trade and colonialism, 1809-1900. She is committed to exploring the living legacies of slavery and the slave trade in the present day and interpreting this history for a broad public through frequent public speaking engagements and scholarly production.
Collections Manager
Jules Thomson
collections@castinehistoricalsociety.org
Jules came onboard with the Castine Historical Society in February, 2022 as the Collections Manager. She holds advanced degrees in Mediaeval History and Archeology from the Universities of St Andrews and Oxford, UK, and a MLIS from Simmons University in Boston. In 2013 she completed a traineeship in digitization and digital archives with the National Archives UK, and went on to work for 4 years as Digital Access Officer with The Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland. Back in the U.S., she worked from 2017-2022 with the Congregational Library & Archives in Boston, first in a CLIR grant-funded role publishing collections for the “New England’s Hidden Histories” digital humanities project, and later as the Library’s Associate Archivist. She is honored to be able to steward the history of Castine and facilitate access to the collections.
Office Manager
Mary Caron Durost
admin@castinehistoricalsociety.org
Mary joined the staff in March 2022. From 2004-2022, Mary was the manager of the Castine Inn, greeting and assisting hundreds of visitors to our town. Prior to this position, she was a teacher at George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill for 24 years.
Docent Coordinators
Dabney McKenzie
info@castinehistoricalsociety.org
Dabney Hunter McKenzie earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Auburn University in 2003. Prior to joining the faculty at Troy University, she taught Gifted Education in Montgomery (Alabama) Public Schools for twelve years. In early 2020, she retired from her administrative responsibilities at Troy, but still teaches the graduate Capstone course for education majors. Dabney has always enjoyed serving others and has found that her time as a docent and walking tour guide with the Castine Historical Society has enriched her local experience by broadening her knowledge of the town and the people who call it home.
Ginny Hilton
info@castinehistoricalsociety.org
Ginny earned her Bachelor of Nursing from Michigan State University (1971) and a master’s from UMAB (1986). During a long and varied nursing career, she has held mid-level administrative positions in Maryland, Washington, and Florida. Now in semi-retirement mode, she and her husband, Bruce, spend time in Sarasota, FL, and, since 2022, Castine. She enjoys tennis, sailing, and volunteering at the CHS.
Walking Tour Guide Coordinator
info@castinehistoricalsociety.org
