A Museum You Won’t Want to Leave

Sponsored by the Sail, Power, and Steam Museum

Someone calls a song and starts it off, and whether it’s a Beatles standard, a sea shanty, or a ’70s country ballad, everyone in the circle of two dozen or so musicians falls right in. Their ages run the gamut, and so do their instruments: guitar, harmonica, keyboard, mandolin, fife, fiddle, drum set. I’m tapping my foot, turning my head like an owl, and wishing two things: That I’d brought a tambourine. And that I lived here in Rockland, in the Midcoast region of Maine, where this ring of music makers at the Sail, Power, and Steam Museum is representative of an even larger community of boating and history lovers who are committed to keeping Maine’s maritime traditions—and this spirited non-profit—thriving.

Seated with his guitar, surrounded by exhibits of Maine’s maritime heritage, is 90-year-old Captain Jim Sharp. If I hadn’t met him the day before, there would be nothing to immediately clue me in that this is the legendary Maine windjammer captain and rescuer of historic vessels like the Arctic-venturing schooner Bowdoin, now the official vessel of the State of Maine. Nothing to distinguish him as the author of With Reckless Abandon, an autobiography of his 50 years of voyages, and the founder, with his wife Meg, of the Sail, Power, and Steam Museum.

Jim does halt the music to announce upcoming events and remind the growing audience they must spend time touring “this museum oozing with memorabilia.” He spins a few yarns, as any seafarer worth his salt would, then jokes the donation bucket “takes $1,000 bills, and it doesn’t give change.” It’s a brief interlude, and then the eclectic instrumentation is right back to cobbling together “Mr. Tambourine Man,” and there is a warm-hearted sense of continuity.

“We have great musicians,” says Meg. “We have enthusiastic musicians,” Jim stresses with a chuckle, but also with obvious pride in the support the museum sees for all of its programming, not just Sunday Jams. The organization has grown into so much more than the artifacts inside its walls. It’s not just sail, power, and steam but a team of people propelling the museum forward.

It’s All Hands on Deck

With a mission “to celebrate, honor, experience, and share the story of Maine’s maritime heritage,” it’s easy to understand why so many have been called to the cause. They’re sailors like Robin McIntosh, who co-owned the schooner Appledore with her husband, Rick, for many years. As executive director, she’s steering the organization in new directions and building on programs that range from concerts to group Heritage Tours to “Museum Mondays” featuring films, speakers, and performances. She’s continuing to build on collections like their working steam engines and boat-building tools, as well as attracting boat restoration projects, such as the Friendship Sloop Black Jack, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

They’re folks like board member Jim Bowditch, who convinced his family to donate an astrolabe, backstaff, and books that belonged to his ancestor, Nathaniel Bowditch.  Nathaniel’s calculations revolutionized nautical navigation with the 1802 publication of his book, American Practical Navigator, which is still in use today.

They’re Mainers like Captain Tyler Waterson, who’s been sailing since he was 7 and a captain since 17. He agreed to a job interview solely to meet one of his heroes—Jim Sharp—and came away with a lease for A Morning in Maine, a 55-foot coastal ketch donated to the museum. Now, he takes visitors on memorable sails around Penobscot Bay.

The Sail, Power, and Steam Museum is a magnet for anyone fascinated by the history and science of getting out on the water.  It’s for those who are drawn by all of the dangers and the challenges, and by how interactions with the sea can become the fabric of a city like Rockland. Eclectic displays are devoted not only to boating but also to related industries like fishing, ice harvesting, and lime quarrying and processing—all of which were integral to the area’s maritime heritage.

You can actually visit the museum online, with Captain Jim Sharp as your guide. His exhibit-by-exhibit YouTube videos are always a click away. But you really should make a trip to this waterfront campus that was once the home of Snow’s Shipyard, the busiest boatyard in Maine, located on the shores of the 19th century’s fourth-largest seaport in the country.

Sharing the Joys of Sailing with a New Generation

Ask anyone you meet at the museum, and they’ll tell you there’s one crew the facility attracts that matters most of all. It’s not the grownups who rent boats or take lessons through the museum’s MidCoast Sailing Center, although they’re warmly welcomed, of course. It’s the kids enrolled in SKFF (Sail Kids For Free): the Museum’s donor-supported free sailing program open to any child aged 8 to 14.

“The first thing we do is take their telephones and close them in a drawer,” says Jim. Some are timid at the start of a week of daily three-hour sessions. Some haven’t even yet learned to ride a bike. “It’s one kid in a boat, so they have to grab the tiller, grab the sheet, and learn from experienced instructors with a keen eye on each kid,” Jim explains.  By Friday,” he says, “they’re out there going around the buoys, racing their buddies.”

Waterson says these new sailors are “totally enthralled with being capable with a craft.” They learn to flip their little Optis and set them right again. It’s a lesson about getting out of a jam that can serve them in all aspects of life.

And life goes by fast, especially, it seems, on summer days in Maine. The mesmerizing Foucault pendulum swinging in the museum’s atrium tower demonstrates that earth is always spinning on its axis at 700 miles an hour. It’s a reminder to follow your own passions now.

Meg, who also serves on the board, says her husband “always wanted to start a museum to give back to the community.” And his interest hasn’t ebbed one bit. He’s still chasing artifacts like the Bowdoin‘s original ice barrel where sailors stood lookout. Still dreaming of finding just the right tree to set up a vessel in stocks—a vessel being built from its very first bones. “I’d like to put a keel down here by the waterfront and hew it out with hand tools just like they did back in the 17 and 1800s,” Jim says. “There are people who love to do that kind of thing. Crazy like I am. Crazy is the best mentality.”

I’ve been to more than my share of museums, and the best of them feel like this: like living, breathing organisms. Captain Waterson echoes this notion that the museum is an “active” thing. “It’s about living it. Doing it. Not just preserving it and talking about what we used to do,” he says. “It’s not like our maritime heritage is all in the rearview mirror.”

Anyone who’s sailed or visited the shore knows the whispers you hear on the water are nature’s way of telling you what you alone need to hear, whether it’s “ease up,” or “hold steady,” or “press forward.” As the Sail, Power, and Steam Museum presses forward, continuing to grow and evolve, there are opportunities for you to entwine your passions with its forward-looking aims. Visit. Donate objects, funds, or your time. And tell others about this place that focuses on sharing the stories of Maine’s maritime heritage through music, through experiences on the water, and through fascinating and growing collections.

Plan Your Visit

The Sail, Power, and Steam Museum, located at 75 Mechanic Street next to Rockland’s Snow Marine Park, welcomes guests from around the world. The museum is open Wednesday through Saturday (by chance on Sunday) from May through October. Sunday Jams continue year-round. For a schedule of events, to sign up for monthly e-newsletters, or to donate, visit their website: sailpowersteammuseum.org.