Portland Harbor Museum's exciting new exhibit honors the tall ship's Portland Year 2000 visit and illustrates the harbor's rich maritime heritage. "Heroes of the Tall Ships: Portland Harbor in the Great Age of Sail," tells the story of 19th century Portland mariners and their wooden ships.
The daily working life of sailors on board ship as well as the time they spent ashore is illustrated in the exhibit through log books, diaries, letters, and newspapers of that era. A section of the exhibit looks at shipwrecks and storms at sea through actual historic documents, photographs and artifacts which are on display. Informative text panels richly illustrated with images of people, ships and maritime objects provide an interesting experience for young and old.
In addition to the new exhibit, the museum's permanent display on the clipper ship Snow Squall and 19th century wooden ship building has also been redesigned and expanded. Prime sections of the bow of the only surviving clipper ship - the waterway, deck hook and J section - illustrate the lines of an "extreme clipper."
Portland Harbor Museum's collection of ship building tools also provide insight on how early wooden ships were constructed. Also added this year is a special display on the lighthouses of Casco Bay, including the museum's own Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse, which is located outside the museum's doors at the entrance to Portland Harbor.
Portland Harbor Museum gratefully acknowledges grant funding from the Daveis Benevolent Fund and Margaret Burnham Charitable Trust for its exhibits. To make them readily available to the public, the museum will be expanding its hours in 2000. Beginning July 1 through Labor Day, its doors will be open seven days/week from 10am to 4:30pm.
According to Director Linda McLoon, the number of visitors to the museum has sky rocketed the last few years, partly due to the museum's web site. "A lot of people coming to Maine check out the web first to see what attractions are available. They can't resist the combination of a maritime museum with its own Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse located in the cannon repair shop of historic Fort Preble with a spectacular view of Portland Harbor."
Portland Harbor Museum and Gift Shop are located on the SMTC campus on Fort Road in South Portland. 799-6337.