Penobscot Marine Museum

06/07/2026

If you are looking to complete Task No. 27 on this year's , you'll want to mark your calendar for June 13. The Penobscot Marine Museum is hosting a free community celebration welcoming the iconic 40-foot-tall Big Jim road sign to the museum's campus. Just remember to get a selfie with this colossus of coastal Maine. Learn more about the celebration at penobscotmarinemuseum.org/event-single/big-jim-celebration/.

Check out what else is on the hunt at downeast.com/travel-outdoors/greatmainescavengerhunt/.

Special thanks to Poland Spring Resort, the Frances Perkins Center, and
Wells Reserve at Laudholm for sponsoring this year's hunt.

📷 Courtesy of the Penobscot Marine Museum

06/04/2026

With lambing season behind us, we decided to pay tribute to sheep, those even-toed ungulates who showed up here with Europeans centuries ago. They were often “penned” by water on the small islands of Maine, left there to graze for the summer. Fleece was good business here in Maine up through the mid-20th century, with the last traditional New England woolen mill closing in Camden in 1988. Wool production in the state has shifted to a smaller-scale, artisanal industry.

-Alice and Horace Coombs pose with a lamb and an unidentified woman, Maine location unknown, c. 1910; Charles Coombs Collection
-Sheep stand on a cliff on Brimstone Island in Penobscot Bay in late summer 1970; Eliot Elisofon Collection
-Anne Bray visits sheep at Kings Landing, Prince William, New Brunswick, March 1994; Maynard Bray Collection
-Sheep graze in a pasture on Thorn-Mar Farm in Lithopolis, Ohio, 1945; Kosti Ruohomaa Collection
-A ram, possibly a Merino, gazes at the photographer at the Allentown Fair in Pennsylvania, August 1944; Kosti Ruohomaa Collection
-A girl enjoys the close companionship of two lambs, possibly in Sedgwick, ME, c. 1905; Sedgwick Brooklin HS Collection
-A fall lamb stands in the grass, possibly in Cushing, ME, Oct 1954; Berry Collection
-Lambs, a few months old, cavort in a farmyard, unknown Maine location, Aug 1965; Berry Collection
-Guy Hastings struggles to restrain his pet lamb, location and date unknown; Red Boutilier Collection

06/03/2026

A heartfelt thank you to Hamilton Marine for their continued support of the Penobscot Marine Museum through their Premium Business Membership.

Hamilton Marine is a trusted resource for Maine's maritime community, and we're grateful for their commitment to preserving and sharing our state's rich coastal heritage. Partnerships like theirs help make our exhibits, programs, collections, and educational initiatives possible.

Thank you, Hamilton Marine, for helping keep Maine's maritime stories alive!

Visit there website here: https://hamiltonmarine.com/

06/02/2026

Cape San Roque, Brazil and Sierra Leone are the closest points of land between South America to Africa, about 1,675 miles apart. As evidenced by his course markings over multiple voyages, Captain William H. Goodell sailed within 1,050 miles of Cape San Roque, Brazil and about the same distance from the Gambia in Africa in the 1870s and 1880s. William H. Goodell Chart Collection, 2025.11.33.

06/01/2026

Thanks WOW Collective for sharing this!

WOW! Collective presents time-lapse footage of the repainting of th...

06/01/2026

Big Jim is taking shape! This view offers a unique look at Big Jim fully assembled on the ground as restoration work continues. While he's not standing tall just yet, seeing all the pieces come together is an exciting milestone in the project.

If you're participating in Down East Magazine's Great Maine Scavenger Hunt, Big Jim is stop #27 on the list—and right now he's resting on our campus while restoration work continues. It's a rare chance to see this iconic giant up close before he returns to Prospect Harbor this fall.

A special thank you to our Big Jim partners, Belmont Boatworks for their extensive help throughout the process, WOW Collective for their incredible artwork, David Wyman for his engineering expertise, and the many project volunteers and staff. We also thank Bold Coast Seafood for allowing the museum to borrow Big Jim, and the Gouldsboro Historical Society for entrusting the museum with such an important icon from their community.

Photos by Nick Woodward.

05/30/2026

See what’s new at Penobscot Marine Museum this month, including upcoming events, museum news, and stories from around campus. Summer is underway, and there’s plenty to explore!

Email from Penobscot Marine Museum ⚓ June 2026 ⚓   Upcoming Events Big Jim Celebration June 13, 2pm Free, donations welcome  Celebrate Big Jim’s Searsport visit! Join us for an afternoon of fun and m

05/29/2026

A big thank you to our friend and neighbor Rolf Olsen for sharing these wonderful photos and stories from IDDIS, the Norwegian Printing Museum and Norwegian Canning Museum in Stavanger, Norway. During a visit tracing his family’s immigration journey, Rolf discovered fascinating connections between Stavanger’s sardine industry and Maine’s own maritime history — including references to U.S. sardine brands and even Port Clyde!

We love seeing how coastal communities across the world are connected through working waterfronts, canneries, and shared stories. Thank you, Rolf, for helping us broaden the conversation beyond Maine’s shores.