Penobscot Marine Museum
The Penobscot Marine Museum is one of the best small museums in New England—and relatively unsung. Housed in a cluster of historic buildings atop a gentle rise in tiny downtown Searsport, the museum does a great job of educating visitors about the vitality of the local shipbuilding industry, the essential role of international trade to daily life in the 19th century, and the hazards of life at sea. Exhibits (such as “The Art of Lobstering”) are uncommonly well organized, and wandering from building to building induces a keen sense of wonderment at the vast enterprise that was Maine’s maritime trade. Also on display is the landscape art of Thomas and James Buttersworth and Robert Salmon. Among the most intriguing exhibits are a wide selection of dramatic marine paintings, black-and-white photographs of many of the 286 weathered sea captains who once called Searsport home, an exquisite collection of scrimshaw, and an early home decorated in the style of a sea captain, complete with lacquered furniture and accessories hauled back from trade missions to the Orient. The museum’s photo archive is also uncommonly rich, with knockout photo exhibits that often veer away from the maritime theme (recent examples on the history of the postcard and Maine’s early women photographers wouldn’t have been out of place at a landlocked institution).
The Penobscot Marine Museum is one of the best small museums in New England—and relatively unsung. Housed in a cluster of historic buildings atop a gentle rise in tiny downtown Searsport, the museum does a great job of educating visitors about the vitality of the local shipbuilding industry, the essential role of international trade to daily life in the 19th century, and the hazards of life at sea. Exhibits (such as “The Art of Lobstering”) are uncommonly well organized, and wandering from building to building induces a keen sense of wonderment at the vast enterprise that was Maine’s maritime trade. Also on display is the landscape art of Thomas and James Buttersworth and Robert Salmon. Among the most intriguing exhibits are a wide selection of dramatic marine paintings, black-and-white photographs of many of the 286 weathered sea captains who once called Searsport home, an exquisite collection of scrimshaw, and an early home decorated in the style of a sea captain, complete with lacquered furniture and accessories hauled back from trade missions to the Orient. The museum’s photo archive is also uncommonly rich, with knockout photo exhibits that often veer away from the maritime theme (recent examples on the history of the postcard and Maine’s early women photographers wouldn’t have been out of place at a landlocked institution).
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