After seeing this "little beauty" we moved right along to the Old Town Hall where we met Lew Armstrong. I think the real "unsung treasures" of small local museums are people like Lew. He was a wealth of information about the museum, sailing, and local history. It was a real pleasure to talk with someone who obviously enjoyed what he was doing. One of the things that I learned from looking through the Old Town Hall was that in Maine, it was not uncommon for wives to go to sea with their husbands (the Captains of course). Some ship owner’s would not allow it, while others felt that having their families aboard kept the captains more contented and even tempered. They had a display which included several quotations from a young girl’s diary. Joanna Colcord was born on her father’s ship and spent most of her young life on the high seas. Her diary indicated the difficulties that children faced while onboard ship. One of which was, having to share their quarters with their father who might only get 3-4 hours of sleep at a time. So during this time they learned how to play using only sign language.

After leaving Lew and Town Hall we proceeded to the only new building in the complex the Douglas and Margaret Carver Memorial Art Gallery. Each season they feature a special exhibition here. This year it was an exhibit of scrimshaw. (For those of us who didn’t know what scrimshaw is I found out that it is generally hand-carved objects made of whalebone, whale teeth or walrus tusks.) However, the feature exhibit was a very large display of model ships. As we started in the building we had the good fortune to meet another of the museum’s "unsung treasures" in the person of one Barbara Perry. Barbara was determined that we weren’t just going to go through and miss the "fine points" of the model ships. She was gracious enough to take the time to point out that the entire model ship exhibit was put together as a tribute to the late Jay Hanna (a master model ship builder who tutored some of the people in the exhibit). Some of the models that were on exhibit were models that the builders had actually sold and "borrowed" back to put in the show. I’m sure most of us as kids probably glued together a model car or boat or airplane, and we remember all the patience that it took. Well, believe me that doesn’t even come close. Some of these models had many thousand hours invested in their building. One of the ships Barbara pointed out had little dots on the hull. OK I thought big deal, they took a paint brush and put lots of little dots. NOPE. Each one of these hundreds of dots were slivers of bamboo that had been inserted into the boards. Of course ladies you might be interested in the ship built by Robert Eddy. He, in addition to being a model ship builder, is also a jeweler. One of his ships had a ruby for the port light and an emerald for the starboard light, in addition to several very small diamonds which were embedded in various places around the model. Many of these model ships were commissioned by yacht owners as a replica of their yachts. Besides the model, they had set up two computers. One showed a video of Robert Eddy making various parts for his models. A second computer was set up so that visitors could find out more information on the individual artists and their work. Thanks to Barbara we left with a much greater respect for the model shipbuilders. Again, I can’t emphasize enough the value of those people who work in museum and "infect" visitors with their enthusiasm for their museum and it’s contents.

One of the buildings I failed to mention is the Museum Store. They have a very nice selection of items for sale. Many are items crafted by Maine craftspeople. Plus a number of beautiful prints and posters. We were told that the Museum intends to open a workshop, on the second floor of that building, to do crafts and restorations. The public would be permitted to watch as these are going on.

After touring the rest of the buildings that were open to the public (one of the houses is used for the administration offices) we returned to talk with Ms. Blair. Thanks to the many guides throughout the museum we really didn't have many questions for her. (I really think Ms. Blair knew that her excellent guides would answer most of our questions. Smart lady!) However, we did learn that the museum's primary purpose was to preserve the heritage of the entire Penobscot Bay region and educate its residents. I highly recommend, that if you get anywhere in the vicinity of Searsport Maine that you include a stop at the Penobscot Marine Museum. It is well worth the admission fee and the time spent in seeing it.

Good Luck! Have Fun! and Stay Safe!

Laura

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