Penobscot Marine Museum
Twenty eight ASC members gathered at the Penobscot Marine Museum on June 10th to spend the morning perusing the fascinating exhibits housed in twelve historic buildings. Docents greeted us at three of the main buildings, including a sea captain's house, and shared some history of the area as well as orienting us to the exhibits.
We saw historic maps, scrimshaw, marine paintings, and 19th century Chinese pottery. Some went on to the library, which houses a historic collection of over 200,000 photographs. Others looked at the boat sheds, one of which holds a Rusticators' Collection of hand-built canoes and rowing dinghys.
Several of those attending commented that they had passed the Searsport Museum dozens of times, always thinking that they'd make time to stop "someday." Others had visited before and appreciated the opportunity to explore in more depth. Gail Rieber was keeping an eye out for objects she had donated to the Museum, items belonging to her grandfather, who was a 19th century sea captain based in Seal Cove.
It was a beautiful spring day, and most of the group proceeded down the road for lunch at Young's Lobster Pound. There we sat out on the pier eating lobster rolls, watching the boats in Belfast Harbor, and discussing what we'd seen at the Museum.
(Written by Ann Caswell, photos by Nat Fenton)
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