10 museums you may have missed (but shouldn’t)
A portion of The Beaded Square Project at the Museum of Beadwork in Portland, Maine. PHOTO: AMY PARADYSZ.
By Amy Paradysz
MAINE HAS MUSEUMS packed with vintage ski equipment, early aircraft, historic globes, old ship captains’ diaries and artifacts of Arctic exploration. You can see ancient indigenous tools, contemporary art and meteorites from Mars. Maine museums are places where we honor our resiliency as survivors, our creativity as artists, and our strength as athletes. And they are increasingly interactive places of wonder, curiosity and play. Here are 10 year-round museums—including a new one and several that have expanded or relocated in recent years—that you may have missed.
1. Museum of Beadwork in Portland
The Museum of Beadwork’s Grand Opening Gala in 2023. PHOTO: MUSEUMOFBEADWORK.ORG
A nonprofit museum of beadwork art opened in the back of retail shop Caravan Beads in August 2023. Rotating exhibits of sculptural beadwork take a variety of forms—mythical figures, insects, teapots, urns, you name it. Covering an entire wall, the Beaded Square Project is a “quilt” of 541 6-inch by 6-inch artworks made by 400 bead artists from 18 countries during the pandemic. Featured artists include Nick Heller, maker of larger-than-life political statements and Jan Huling, who 3D-printed a copy of her mother’s wedding gown and covered it in vintage Czech glass seed cabochons.
Visit the Museum of Beadwork
915 Forest Ave, Portland, Maine
Open Friday and Saturday 11 a.m.–4 p.m.
Tickets sold inside Caravan Beads
museumofbeadwork.org
If this whets your appetite for more, you’re 4 miles from the Portland Museum of Art.
2. Owls Head Transportation Museum
Bi-wing ornithopter, ca. 1900. PHOTO: OWLS HEAD TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM
Did you know that electric vehicles were produced in the early 1900s alongside gas-powered cars? Transportation history like this is the focus at Owls Head Transportation Museum, which has 150 rare and beautifully restored engines, bicycles, automobiles and aircraft. Exhibits explore the two centuries of travel that shaped Maine’s tourism industry, investigating early engines that powered the Industrial Revolution and considering how competition speeds technological progress. Cool items include a 1926 Model T Snowmobile and a bi-wing ornithopter, a birdlike contraption designed by James W. Clark in 1900 loosely based on Leonardo da Vinci’s renderings. Clark rebuilt the ornithopter one more time than he crashed it, and it was stored in a carriage house for over 60 years.
Visit the Owls Head Transportation Museum
117 Museum Street, Owls Head, Maine (3 miles from Rockland)
Open daily 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
owlshead.org
For more in this area, stop at the Farnsworth Art Museum or the Center for Maine Contemporary Art
3. Maine Ski & Snowboard Museum in Carrabassett Valley
Maine Ski and Snowboard Museum is a cool place to warm up at Sugarloaf Mountain. PHOTO: MAINE SKI AND SNOWBOARD MUSEUM
If you’ve never visited Sugarloaf Mountain, you might not know about this museum dedicated to celebrating Maine’s place in the history of skiing and snowboarding. The Maine Ski and Snowboard Museum has all sorts of antique equipment, skiing-related toys, a replica of a King & Dexter ski shop and memorabilia from all of Maine’s ski mountains. The exhibitions cover Maine Olympians and the history of skiing in Oxford County and include a Maine Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame.
Visit the Maine Ski and Snowboard Museum
Sugarloaf Access Road in Carrabassett Valley, Maine, in the old condo check-in building
Open Thursday–Saturday, 10:30 a.m.–4 p.m.
maineskiandsnowboardmuseum.org
4. Maine Maritime Museum in Bath
The immersive exhibit “Into the Lantern: A Lighthouse Experience” allows guests to enter a replica of the Cape Elizabeth Two Lights lighthouse lantern room, see the original Fresnel lens and, with time-lapse video projection, experience the changing views of the Gulf of Maine. PHOTO: MAINE MARITIME MUSEUM
Maine Maritime Museum includes the country’s only surviving historic wooden shipyard. Rotating exhibits showcase the museum’s extensive collections, explore the interconnections between art and natural science and delve into contemporary topics such as sea level rise and human impacts on the oceans.
Visit the Maine Maritime Museum
243 Washington Street, Bath, Maine
Open daily 9:30 a.m.–5 p.m.
mainemaritimemuseum.org
5. Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum in Brunswick
The Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum’s new home—the John and Lile Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies—was constructed of mass timber to reduce the project’s carbon footprint. PHOTO: MICHELE STAPLETON PHOTOGRAPHY
Did you know that Bowdoin College in Brunswick houses the only museum in the lower 48 states dedicated to all things Arctic? Arctic explorers and Bowdoin graduates Robert E. Peary (class of 1877) and Donald B. MacMillan (class of 1898) donated thousands of objects, photos and films from their many expeditions. The Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, which first opened in 1967, got a refresh in 2023 when it moved to a sustainably built facility that students have nicknamed the “black iceberg.” There, new interactive exhibits feature the collectors speaking about the significance of the items. The museum also includes content and programs about contemporary Inuit art and the worldwide ramifications of global warming as icebergs melt ever faster.
Visit the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum
10 Polar Loop, Brunswick, Maine
Tuesday–Saturday 10 a.m.–5 p.m. and Sunday 1–5 p.m.
Free admission
bowdoin.edu/arctic-museum
6. Brick Store Museum in Kennebunk
The Brick Store Museum on Main Street in Kennebunk. PHOTO: BRICKSTOREMUSEUM.ORG
Local history, art and culture are the focus here. Maritime history fans will delight in half hull models and equipment from the shipbuilding trade, objects that sailors brought home from all over the world, and archival materials such as captains’ diaries. And there’s a whole lot more—from centuries-old indigenous stone tools to New England’s largest collection of propaganda posters from the World Wars. The museum rotates exhibits through six galleries, showcasing their collection of 70,000 artifacts by topic and engaging local artists. Here’s the story behind the Brick Store name: Back in 1825, William Lord built a general store out of bricks and folks called it “Lord’s Brick Store.” His great-granddaughter Edith Cleaves Barry inherited it during the Great Depression and started a museum. The rest is history.
Visit the Brick Store Museum
117 Main Street, Kennebunk, Maine
Open Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.–4 p.m. and Sunday 12–4 p.m.
brickstoremuseum.org
7. Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine in Portland
Nobody overlooks this brightly colored three-story museum right off I-295 in Portland, but many people underestimate how much there is of interest for school-age kids. PHOTO: LISA FEHL FOR THE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM & THEATRE OF MAINE
If you have kids with ages in the single digits and you haven’t been to the Children’s Museum since it moved to Thompson’s Point in 2021, prepare to be impressed by 15 interactive exhibits, from STEM to the arts to cultures and traditions. There’s a MakerSpace for open-ended creation, an Optics exploration of the behavior of light and a Water Play kinetic sculpture that encourages problemsolving and experimentation. Other favorites include a giant playscape, an observation beehive and a 10-foot sculpture where you can engineer a ball roller coaster with tracks and ramps, then observe the power of gravity. Maddy’s Theatre celebrated 100 years in May 2023, making it the longest continually run children’s theater in the nation. Families enjoy professional productions, intergenerational plays and youth theatre ensembles. You might even catch a pop-up play during your visit to the museum.
Visit the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine
250 Thompson’s Point Road, Portland, Maine
Open Wednesday through Sunday from 9 a.m.–4 p.m.
kitetails.org
The Museum’s neighbor, the Rink at Thompson’s Point, offers public skating and rentals. Dress warm! The family-friendly International Cryptozoology Museum is also located at Thompson’s Point—look for the 10 foot tall Bigfoot outside their entrance.
8. Osher Map Library in Portland
Chromolithography pictorial map of a bird’s-eye view of Mount Washington in New Hampshire, issued by Passenger Department of the Boston & Maine Railroad in 1902. IMAGE COURTESY OSHER MAP LIBRARY
The Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education at the University of Southern Maine has nearly half a million historic cartographic items—local, statewide, national and global. The current exhibit “A Pageant of Spectacles: Chromolithography in America,” curated by Dr. Matthew Edney, runs through June 2024. Chromolithography is a process of printing pictures in colors from a series of lithographic—or printmaking—stones or plates. To see the exhibit or browse maps and globes, make an appointment online.
Visit the Osher Map Library
314 Forest Ave, Portland, Maine, in the three-story building at the corner of Bedford Street that is attached to the seven-story university library
Open 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Tuesday–Friday when the university is open; Saturday by appointment only
Free admission
oshermaps.org
9. Maine Mineral and Gem Museum in Bethel
Space Rocks Gallery, showcasing the Stifler Collection of Meteorites. Photo courtesy of Maine Mineral and Gem Museum.
The largest piece of Mars on Earth can be seen in Bethel at the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum, which also houses one of the world’s largest meteorite collections. In addition to having 6,000 space rocks, this nonprofit museum is the place to learn about Maine mining—past and present—and see exceptional displays of our state gem, tourmaline. The facility was expanded and updated in 2019 to include modern interactive exhibits designed by firms that work with the Smithsonian and a state-of-the-art research lab. The Discovery Gallery includes drawers filled with minerals, rocks and fossils for hands-on exploration. The Lapidary Arts exhibit presents the exacting process of gem cutting, and the Museum Store features jewelry made from Maine gemstones, including, of course, tourmaline. The Rock Garden provides an introduction to Maine’s geology, highlighting 26 specimens from around the state, and is open year-round.
Visit the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum
99 Main Street, Bethel, Maine
Open 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Wednesday–Monday; closed Tuesday
mainemineralmuseum.org
10. Maine Jewish Museum in Portland
These magnificent stained-glass windows are original to Etz Chaim, the 101-year-old synagogue that houses the Maine Jewish Museum. PHOTO COURTESY MAINE JEWISH MUSEUM
If you’re not Jewish, don’t let that stop you from enjoying this public arts and culture museum housed in the restored Etz Chaim Synagogue in Portland’s East End. Exhibitions featuring established artists with a Jewish and Maine connection change every eight weeks, with free opening receptions open to the public. Exhibits feature cantorial music, Holocaust survivors who settled in Maine, and Maine synagogues past and present. The Maine Jewish Hall of Fame highlights stories of notable community members. Diverse programming includes artist talks and demonstrations, poetry readings, book discussions and concerts.
Visit the Maine Jewish Museum
267 Congress Street, Portland, Maine
Open Sunday–Friday 11 a.m.–4 p.m.
Free admission
mainejewishmuseum.org
On the cover: Judi steps out of a cabin in the 100-Mile Wilderness to fresh falling snow.