Maritime Communities

17th century settlements along the Maine Coast from St. Croix in 1604 to Wells in 1640.

From The Maine Bicentennial Atlas: An Historical Survey, 1976. Courtesy of Maine Historical Society.

Fort Point Hotel was originally built as the Wassaumkeag Hotel, and later also called Fort Point House and The Woodcliff. It was built in 1895 and burned in 1898. It was the largest resort hotel in the area, but the owners lost money. Its foundations are visible at the Fort Point State Park, also the location of the Fort Point lighthouse.

Tied up at Beals Wharf are the lobsterboat Ethel M. II and the sardine carrier Woiee. In 1955, there was still an active sardine canning industry; now the few surviving sardine carriers are used to carry bait. Woiee, built in 1918, was converted to a motor sailing ketch used as charter yacht.

"Design for School House in District No. ____ Searsport, Me., Plan of Principal Floor," showing desks, teacher's platform, and boys' and girls' outhouses. Designed by Harding, architect from Portland, Maine. At the time of the drawings, the architect did not know the district number, but the school has always been called the Union School. Today, the school building is divided into condominiums.

Tennis was a popular sport a hundred years ago, as it is now. Costumes have changed. The tennis court was next to Searsport's Union Hall.

This newspaper Ocean Chronicle, like its predecessor, Pill Garlic, was written and published at sea over a course of years by Captain Edward Payson Nichols, aboard ship. This issue was published aboard the ship Frank Pendleton in 1891. This was purportedly the only newspaper published at sea on a sailing vessel.

Cover of book by Oliver Optic (pseudonym), entitled "Four Young Explorers; or, Sight-seeing in the Tropics." Published in Boston by Lee and Shepard, 1896. Oliver Optic was one of the pen names used by teacher and author William Taylor Adams (1822-1897). A teacher in Boston area schools, Adams wrote 126 books and over 1,000 short stories. These adventure stories had the authenticity that a writer who traveled frequently and read a number of languages could provide, generally with main character(s) overcoming difficult but real challenges.

The Republican Journal has been published in Belfast since 1829. It is the best first-hand source to document the comings and goings of vessels in this area as well as life in Belfast and neighboring communities. This artifact is from 7 September 1837. See bound edition of original newspaper at PMM Library.

This photo of the Sunday School class was taken on the yard of the Jeremiah Merrithew house, next door to the First Congregational Church in Searsport. The brick building on the left was the Searsport Town Hall, built in 1845. This and the building behind it are now both part of the Penobscot Marine Museum.

Interior of the First Congregational Church in Searsport, Maine, after major interior design changes at the end of the 19th century, including stained-glass windows, curved oak pews, and a tinned ceiling. These changes reflect the prosperity of Searsport at the end of the age of sail, when many deep sea sailing captains called Searsport home.