Special exhibit to showcase 200 years of small Maine boats

ROCKLAND, MAINE— For 200 years, Mainers have built some of the world’s best boats. This tradition continues to this day. In celebration of Maine’s Bicentennial, a special exhibit at the Maine Boat & Home Show on the Rockland Waterfront from Aug. 13-15 will honor this heritage. 

The exhibit—200 Years of Maine Boats—will be located in Buoy Park, adjacent to the Maine Boat & Home Show grounds, and open free to the public. Here, people can see a wide selection of boats from Maine’s past, present, and future. Around the grounds, discover the historic and the new, the unique and the familiar, including birch bark canoes, peapods, knockabouts, and modern designs built with cutting-edge materials, including the ultra-modern 3D-printed boat 3Dirigo from the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center. 

“We are thrilled to bring a special retrospective of Maine’s boatbuilding history to the public with the 200 Years of Maine Boats exhibit, says show organizer John Hanson. “The exhibit is unique in its telling of the state’s boatbuilding history by bringing both private and museum-owned craft to the public on Rockland’s working waterfront. The Maine Boat & Home Show, in many ways, has always been a celebration of Maine’s boatbuilding, and we look forward to celebrating Maine’s 200^th birthday.”

This special display is hosted by the Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors Magazine, with support from the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts; the City of Rockland, The Apprenticeshop, and the Penobscot Marine Museum.

The ticketed area of the Maine Boat and Home show will include a demo day of kayaks, canoes, and paddle boards with guides from Maine Sport Outfitters, a children’s area run by the Coastal Children’s Museum, and a radio-controlled model sailboat regatta. There will be sea chanty singing by the renowned Maine group, Roll and Go.

For tickets and more information about the Maine Boat & Home Show go to www.maineboats.com/boatshow or call 800-565-4951.

Captions: 

Peapods such as this one being used to haul traps off Matinicus Island were first developed on Penobscot Bay and became a popular work boat. The exhibit will feature several examples.

3Dirigo was printed in 72 hours at the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center by the world’s largest polymer 3D printer. This hi-tech boat of the future will be on display in the special 200 Years of Maine Boats Exhibit.