8/21 Searsport, Maine, and Penobscot Marine Museum

This little town was a very pleasant surprise.  I was driving along, past the usual seaside towns with white painted buildings, and then came here.  I was immediately struck by the fact that most of the town buildings and even many of the homes were made of brick. 

This was a town worth investigating, so I drove a few miles down the road before I could find a place to turn around and return.  Found a place to park right on the main street, right next to the Penobscot Marine Museum.

I wish I could have taken more photos of the town, but the traffic was bad and the streets were narrow, which is a bad combination for my big vehicle.  I might drive back this way next week, in which case I will try to photograph more of the homes.  This is downtown.

It turns out that this small town was the home of several shipping captains who became extremely wealthy and wanted to show their wealth by building in expensive brick that had to be brought in from other parts of Maine.

Isn't it amazing that this sign on the side of this building has survived?

 

And here is a church right across from the museum.  It is unusual to find a brick church in New England.

 

Not sure what this building is, but it looked interesting. 

 

This church is behind the museum. 

 

The next slides were taken inside the museum.  This is a ship model that is at least 8' long.  Very impressive detail.  Note the female figurehead on the left background.  The golden eagle is also a figurehead.

Two more female figureheads.  These were attached to the very front of a ship, just under the bowsprit.  They were supposed to symbolize the spirit of the ship placate the gods of the sea.

Lots of small fishing boats in this museum.

 

A chest containing carpentry tools.

Maine also was/is a source of granite, so this was a display of old stone cutting and working tools.

More fishing memorabilia.

This is sail-making and repairing equipment.

A seven-masted schooner??  Wow.  This has to be the Thomas W. Lawson, the only seven-masted schooner ever built.  (I looked it up.  Check out this site:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_W._Lawson_(ship) 

 

 

The next two boats are racing skiffs.  Beautifully shaped hulls!

This one needs a little more repair.

Two photos of canoes and rowboats.

All in all, I spent almost two hours at this museum and in this town.  This is a lot, considering that all I had originally planned was to drive through!