After a beautiful day and night at Sebasco Harbor Resort we left next morning, driving up highway 209 to the town of Bath, home of the Maine Maritime Museum and, it's chief employer, the Bath Iron Works. This great little town of 8000 or so people on the Kennebec River is renowned for shipbuilding, which began here around 1743 and has over the years launched more than 5000 vessels, from wooden clipper ships that sailed around the world to steel warships for the US navy. Which also sail around the world and keep you and me safe in our warm beds at night. While we were there three Zumwalt-class destroyers were being built at BIW, oddly shaped ships that are designed to better deflect radar from their angular hulls. Unfortunately since 911 security has become tight and there are no longer tours of the dockyards. So we walked instead up onto the Sagadahoc bridge that crosses the river to get a better view of the ships and to take some photos. An amazing place building amazing looking war ships!
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| View of the Bath Iron Works from the Sagadahoc bridge (US 1) |
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| Bath waterfront |
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| Kennebec River, Bath |
After breakfast at a small café downtown (Betty's Homestyle Cooking) on Front street we drove over to the Maine Maritime Museum. This well laid out (and one of the world's best museums of it's kind) is set on a scenic and active waterfront on the banks of the Kennebec River. We spent a good part of the day here as it was so interesting - full of sextant, spyglasses, captains chests, maps, ship models and every conceivable exhibit about Maine maritime heritage, culture and the role the State has played in global and regional maritime activities. Outside on the grounds of what was the historical Percy and Small Shipyard there are five original 19th century buildings as well as a Victorian-era shipyard owners home, and a large building housing a vast array of lobsterboats, dorys and artifacts from the very beginning of this fishing industry. My favorite sight was a huge, white steel sculpture, built to scale, representing the 6-master
Wyoming, the largest schooner ever built in the USA. It overwhelms you as you stand beneath it, on the same spot this huge wooden ship was launched from. I even found part of the old wood slipway by the shore amidst some weeds where the
Wyoming had slid down into the river in 1909 (shown below, one of the few surviving pictures of this coal carrier).
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| view of Bath Iron Works from Museum |
After taking lots of photos (Maine and the coast is so photogenic especially in the morning and late afternoon with that special light you only find by the water) we had a late lunch at the Museum, trying their delicious and fresh lobster (as they say here "wicked good, Maine lobstah!") rolls, before leaving for Brunswick, our next stop for the night. We had been there before but had decided to stay an extra 24 hours in the US to be able to maximize our duty-free allowance. I highly and enthusiastically recommend a visit to Bath and this area to anyone who wants to get that "down home Maine" hospitality. gws
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| Miss Lobstertrap, 2014 |
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| Marie and lobsterboats |
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me and capstan
Maine Maritime Museum, Bath |
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| Marie & Moose, Brunswick, Maine |
