The History of Vegetarianism & The Good Life

BROOKSVILLE, MAINE — Food columnist Avery Yale Kamila spoke July 30 to a full house at The Good Life Center about “Vegetarianism & The Good Life.” Kamila discussed her work to unearth 300 years of lost vegetarian history in Maine. Her research reveals that the pursuit of the Good Life has always been integral to Maine vegetarianism.
Kamila said Father Sebastian Rale is the earliest vegetarian she has documented in Maine. She shared an excerpt of a 1722 letter Rale wrote where he reported exclusively eating what we would today call vegan meals. She also discussed how vegetarianism was part of the early 19th century Temperance movement, talked about the significance of the 1834 Sylvester Graham riot in Portland and surveyed Maine native Ellen G. White’s influence on the national vegetarian movement.

Kamila capped her presentation with an overview of Helen and Scott Nearing’s influential vegetarianism. The Nearings moved to Brooksville in 1952 to create their Forest Farm, which is now the nonprofit The Good Life Center. They are the authors of the 1970 vegetarian bestseller "Living the Good Life." Helen was a lifelong vegetarian, which Kamila said is rare, and Scott adopted vegetarianism in 1917. She also said current reporting on the Nearings often omits their vegetarianism, which she said was central to The Good Life.

Kamila’s research into Maine’s vegetarian past is available in the open access Maine Vegetarian History Project website, https://scalar.usc.edu/works/maine-vegetarian-history-project/. Since 2009, Kamila has written a column about vegan and vegetarian food for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram and its affiliated newspapers. https://www.pressherald.com/foodanddining/vegan-kitchen/


About the Author:

Avery Yale Kamila

207-780-0915

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The Good Life Center

372 Harborside Road

Harborside, Maine, 04642

(207) 374-5386 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

https://goodlife.org/

Update – Forest Farm Added to the National Register of Historic Places (2026)

In January 2026, pdf Forest Farm(1.65 MB) —the Brooksville homestead of Helen (1904–1995) and Scott Nearing (1893–1983)—was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places as a nationally significant property. The designation formally recognizes the Nearings’ lasting influence on the back-to-the-land movement, simple living philosophy, organic agriculture, and vegetarianism in both Maine and the broader American cultural landscape.

Also known as the Good Life Center, the 4.7-acre property at 372 Harborside Road includes the chalet-style stone house hand-built by the Nearings, a stone garage, greenhouse, stone-walled garden enclosure, outhouse, and three wooden yurts—the Gathering Yurt, Meditation Yurt, and Small Yurt. The structures were constructed primarily between 1973 and the 1980s using locally sourced materials, reflecting the Nearings’ philosophy of self-reliance and ecological harmony.

The listing highlights the national impact of the Nearings’ work, particularly following the 1970 reissue of their bestselling book Living the Good Life: How to Live Sanely and Simply in a Troubled World, which inspired thousands to visit Forest Farm and explore alternatives to industrialized living. Helen Nearing later documented the couple’s building process in her 1983 book Our Home Made of Stone: Building in Our Seventies and Nineties.

Today, the nonprofit Good Life Center continues to steward the property and preserve the Nearings’ library and legacy. Open seasonally from Juneteenth through Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the Center hosts lectures, workshops, and gatherings focused on sustainable living, social and economic justice, organic gardening, and the non-exploitation of animals and the environment.

The official National Register listing can be found via the U.S. National Park Service’s weekly register publication (January 2, 2026).