Well over a century since she wrote it, Nellie's diary remains a vital portrayal of life in Calais, Maine at a time when women - particularly young women - were rarely given equal ground as their male counterparts. Beginning when she was 11 years old and continuing to just past her 13th birthday, her journal offers perspective into every day life, school, relationships, and society in the early 1850s. Nellie's diary is a direct window into days of innocence, adventure, and dreams of the future in a small-but-bustling Eastern Maine City. Through her words and the days she chose to share, Nellie's voice lives on in every entry of her diary.