Summer's the Time to Visit Maine's Small Coastal Museums

By MLCA staff

Commercial fishing has been a mainstay of Maine’s coastal economy since European settlers first landed on the shore. Beginning on Damariscove Island, fishermen harvested what the Gulf of Maine offered, founding towns and thriving harbors in the process.

Kenneth E. Stoddard Shell Museum. Atlas Obscura photo.

The stories of those coastal communities can be found in some of the small museums run by volunteers from Kittery to Calais. These are not high-tech museums full of interactive bells and whistles. They are more like fascinating cabinets in your elderly uncle’s house, full of treasures from a long-ago time, perfect for visiting on a foggy summer’s day. Here are a few of note.

Swan’s Island Lobster and Marine Museum

Swan's Island Lobster and Marine Museum

The museum tells the history of fishing on Swans Island. It was begun by two brothers, Theodore (Ted) and Galen Turner, who lived on Swans Island their entire lives. The two men were aware of the rich maritime history of their community and of the fact that it was rapidly disappearing. For several decades, they retrieved boat models and artifacts from island attics, talked to island old-timers, dived in the harbor to retrieve old equipment, restored old motors, and researched newspapers and historical archives for details about fishing and boat building on the island. After years of storing the collection in their homes and outbuildings, they were able to arrange for the use of a building across from the ferry terminal, which has been the ferryboat captain’s home and the island library. The museum opened in 2000.

Visitors can explore the history of Swans Island fishermen, fishing and boat building and learn about fishing for cod, haddock, mackerel, halibut, swordfish, herring and lobster.

121 Ferry Road, Swans Island

526-4423 or 526-4282

www.swansislandmarinemuseum.org 

Beals Heritage Center

The Beals Heritage Center is dedicated to the local fishing and boatbuilding industries of the Moosabec Reach area. Displays include community artifacts, historic photographs, and tributes to local legends like the 19th-century folk hero “Tall Barney” Beal. Operated and staffed by Beals Historical Society, the Heritage Center provides a common space for the community and researchers to explore artifacts and documents of historical importance. Special emphasis is placed on the Moosabec region’s rich shipbuilding industry, fisheries, local sports legacies, and genealogical studies. It also features a special exhibit about Tall Barney and His People, which explores the legends of the national folklore hero and his family. A media center provides an archive of video and audio. 

Big Pond Road, Beals Island

497-3191

www.moosabec.org

Great Harbor Maritime Museum

Founded in 1982, the Museum operates out of the former Municipal Building on Main Street in Northeast Harbor. The Museum has an extensive collection of photographs and artifacts pertaining to Mount Desert Island and its maritime past as well as historic artifacts related to local lighthouses, shipbuilding, boat models, transportation, and noteworthy houses of Mt. Desert Island. It also has an extensive online archive of historical materials.

124 Main Street, Northeast Harbor

276-5262

www.greatharbormm.org

Kenneth E. Stoddard Shell Museum

The Kenneth E. Stoddard Shell Museum began as hobby of Kenneth Stoddard. Serving in the U.S. Navy during WWII, Stoddard traveled throughout the South Pacific, collecting shells as he went. Whenever he was able to get leave, Stoddard would make a trip to a local beach, to collect shells which he sent home to Maine every few weeks.

Like many collections, his shells were ultimately consigned to the attic where they sat for many years. When Stoddard was diagnosed with cancer more than twenty years ago, his son Lee Stoddard made a promise to create a museum for the shells named after his father. Since that time, he has continued to add to the selection of shells originally collected by his father.

Now one of the world’s largest private collections of shells, the museum’s collection is housed in a covered bridge located on the grounds of the Dolphin

Mini Golf course in Boothbay.

510 Wiscasset Road

Boothbay