Penobscot Marine Museum – Searsport Maine

We took our time driving north along the Maine coast, stopping to take photos, shop a little, etc.  It’s only a little over 33 miles from Rockland, where we were staying, and our objective for the day in Searsport…

This is the Visitor’s Center, admissions desk and museum store at the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport.  The museum was established way back in 1936 by descendants of former sea captains, with the objective of celebrating, preserving and promoting the area’s maritime heritage.  This multi-faceted museum covers a total of 3.1 acres.

Of the 13 buildings comprising the Museum, a total of 8 structures are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The brick building in the photo is a former Congregational Vestry that dates back to 1841.   

The Greek revival style First Congregational Church was built in 1834.  Although it is contained within the boundaries of the Penobscot Marine Museum, it isn’t owned by it.  It is still an active congregation.  As it turned out, we were fortunate to arrive close to the time that a guide was scheduled to give a tour of this magnificent building.

This is a view toward the altar and the church’s impressive organ.  Although it isn’t readily visible in this photo, the oak church pews are bowed/curved…much like a boat’s hull.  Due to repairs and refurbishment necessitated by water damage, the old pews were removed ca. 1902 and the new ones were bent in a steam box, the same way ship’s timbers were fashioned in some older shipyards.

The organ was installed in 1905, replacing an earlier one.  It was built by the E.W. Lane Organ Company in Massachusetts.  It has 1,116 pipes!

The stained glass windows pictured above are representative of the spectacular windows installed here that were completed by a man named George Spence from Boston.  They too were installed in 1902 and had all been recently cleaned and restored at the time of our visit.

This is the Captain Jeremiah Merithew House.   FYI, Captain Merithew was not captain of a boat per se, but rather the owner of a ship building company.  The house was situated so he could oversee the operation as well as observe the bank that he also owned.  The exhibits in this house are quite amazing and varied.  There are marine related paintings, scrimshaw, ship models, porcelain from the Far East, furniture, photographs and much more.  

Laurie and I really enjoyed and marveled at a 1929 film of a ship called “The Peking” sailing around Cape Horn.  It was narrated by a seaman (later Captain) who had made the trip.  “The Peking” is still afloat and undergoing restoration in Germany.  She was launched in 1911 and she made 34 voyages around Cape Horn carrying nitrate and wheat.  For more information on this ship, you can go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peking_(ship).

We love antiques from China, Japan and Korea.  This intricate chest guarded by oversized Foo Dogs certainly caught our attention.

Actually, Chinese guardian lions are miscalled “Foo or Fu Dogs” in the West 

This walrus tusk is one of the largest and most intricate pieces of scrimshaw artistry that we’ve ever seen.  The collection of scrimshaw at the museum is quite extensive.

I took a large number of photos of ship paintings while touring the museum…mainly because I love classic old ship paintings!  This painting is entitled “Wharves at Castine” and it was painted ca. 1900 by George Savary Wasson.

This painting is entitled “Ship Hibernia in Storm”.  It was painted by an unknown artist ca. 1835.  The ship was built in New York in 1830.

This painting by Thomas Butterworth Sr. was completed in 1815.  It’s titled “HMS Shannon captures USS Chesapeake – June 1, 1813”.  FYI, in this battle, as he was dying, US Captain James Lawrence, coined the phrase “Don’t give up the ship”.

FYI…feeling generous?  I’d love to have any painting done by any of the 3 generations of Butterworths…Thomas Sr., Thomas Jr. or James E.  Thanks in advance!

In addition to many, many paintings, there were a wide variety of intricate ship models.  This is the “B. Ayman”, a full-rigged ship built in Searsport in 1840.  This model was completed by Capt. Phineas B. Blanchard. (1879 – 1962)

This strange looking ship is the schooner “Thomas W. Lawson”.  This steel hull ship was the only schooner with 7 masts ever built.  The model was built by Eugene F. Porter.  The actual ship was 385 feet long and each of her masts were 193 feet high.  She was built in 1902 and sank in a storm near England in 1907.

This is another example of the variety on display at the Penobscot Marine Museum.  From left to right, we have the following uniforms: Bavarian soldier’s tunic; US Army tunic from the “All American” 82^nd Division, and; a US Navy tunic.

Photos were plentiful throughout the museum.  I loved this old photo of downtown Searsport.  Too bad I didn’t think to take a current one to compare… I did locate a current copyrighted photo on the Internet that shows that the two buildings at the far right of this old photo are still standing.  

From the time of Searsport’s founding until the present day, the town has been home to more than 500 master mariners.  I took a photo of one segment of a display that includes photos of 293 of these Captains.  Those with a black star by their photo went to sea and didn’t return. 

This is the Nickels-Colcord-Duncan House.  It was built ca. 1845 and it now houses the museum’s administrative offices.

The Stephen Phillips Memorial Library is a research library that houses the museum’s photographic collection.  One of the archivists showed us some of the old negatives that they have in the collection and he gave us some information on a few of the photos on the walls. 

This unusual old ambrotype photo is labeled “Chinese Steward with Captain C.F. Carver”.  Captain Carver mastered ships to the Far East from 1870 until 1901.  Just who this person was is a matter of conjecture.

This attention getting device is referred to as a “Tramp Chair”.  It was created by a deputy sheriff from Oakland Maine who built several of them in 1896.  He thought that they could be the answer to the “hobo nuisance” that existed at that time.  He wanted the state to support their use but his suggestion was rejected.  They became sideshow attractions at fairs…

This is Peapod: the Savage Education Center.  It’s located in the Josiah Dutch House, which was built ca. 1848.  This former home of a shipbuilder now serves as a place for hands-on activities and learning for children.

This is an interior photo of the Education Center.  Kids can be a ship’s captain, a shopkeeper, dress up in clothing from the 1800's, play with ship models, tie knots, use their imagination, etc.

This is the Nickels-Colcord-Duncan Boat Barn.  It was built ca. 1845.  Its home for many of the traditional boats of Maine that were built in the late 1800's and early 1900's. 

I’m not even sure which buildings these photos were taken in… However, they  do give viewers a glimpse of the extensive variety and scope of the artifacts and photographs on display at the Penobscot Marine Museum!  

This is a lobster trap.  Without this equipment, Laurie wouldn’t be able to find her favorite food on a menu. 

While there are several types of lobster traps, most of the newer traps in New England consist of a plastic-coated frame.  A piece of bait is placed inside the trap and the traps are dropped onto the sea floor.  A long rope attached to the trap reaches up to the surface to a marker buoy that is imprinted with the trap’s owner’s lobster fishing license number.

This may look like a canoe but it really is a canvas covered “peapod”, a traditional Maine boat.  This one was built in 1982…and it’s stretched canvas over a frame.  The original “peapods” made with wood, weighed 300 lbs.  “Peapods” were developed by Native Americans before the arrival of Europeans.  They were for use on salt water and are perhaps best described as a canoe adapted for rough water with a heavy carrying capacity.

This old boat is called a “Yawl Boat”.  This one is from the coastal schooner “Lillian”.  Both this boat and the “Lillian” were built in 1876.  The yawl boat (motorized) was suspended from the stern of the schooner and her job was to help maneuver the larger vessel to and from the dock. 

This rough looking boat was made from hackmatack knees and pine planking with oak rails.  It is a ‘smelt scow’ that was built in 1934 and which was used until the mid-1950's for commercial smelt fishing on the Penobscot River.  This scow is 30 feet 10 inches long.  It was originally propelled with a sculling oar at the rear although in later years an outboard motor was used.

Note: I learned something new… The tamarack tree is a bog tree, fast-growing with shallow roots.  Their ‘hackmatack’ roots are prized because of their strength and durability to create braces in building of wooden ships.  The roots are also decay resistant…a big win on ships.

We didn’t know what this was either… It’s a herring scaler.  Herring were pumped in water into this cage which spun rapidly.  The metal mesh striped off the scales which fell through the mesh with the fish going into the ship’s hold. 

This device wasn’t just a convenience for cleaning the fish.  Herring scales are a valuable commodity in making cosmetics.  The scales were processed, becoming ‘pearl essence’.  Fish scales are still used in various products in this day and age.

The proceeding 3 photos show the front of the Fowler-True-Ross House, the master bedroom and the parlor.  This Sea Captain’s home was built ca. 1815.  It’s completely furnished to include Chinese and Japanese export porcelain, paintings, textiles as well as period furniture.

I know that this has been a long blog post.  Still, I only utilized a fraction of the photos we took at the museum.  I didn’t show the tools used by loggers, farmers, housewives, ice harvesters, ship builders and mariners.  I left out ship figureheads and dioramas.  The ship models, paintings and small craft that I featured were a tiny fraction of those on display. 

The Penobscot Marine Museum is a big, well organized museum.  It is a very interesting place and we highly recommend it to others.  The museum is located at 2 Church Street in Searsport Maine.  Phone: 207-548-0334.  Website: www.penobscotmarinemuseum.org.  It is closed for the season and will reopen on Memorial Day weekend in 2019.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit…and for persisting until the end!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave