Midcoast

The Region begins in the Brunswick area, the home of Bowdoin College and its Maine State Music Theatre, Museum of Art and Peary/MacMillan Arctic Museum, which features polar artifacts and exploring lore.

Brunswick Naval Air Station is home to the Navy’s North Atlantic antisubmarine and general patrol squadrons.

Brunswick also features the Harriet Beecher Stowe House where the author wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Moving north you discover Bath, one of the major shipbuilding towns in the world. Between 1862 and 1902, Bath was the nation’s fifth largest seaport, and more than 4,000 wooden vessels were built there. Records indicate that Bath built more than half of the ships in America during this same time period. Today, Bath Iron Works still manufactures ships for the U.S. Navy. To the south of Route 1, the waterfront is dominated by a 400-foot-high construction crane, the tallest on the East Coast. The company produced more destroyers during World War II than the entire country of Japan. For an in-depth look at the ship building industry, visit Maine Maritime Museum in Bath.

Nearby, Popham came close to becoming the first permanent English settlement in New England. Settlers established Popham in 1607, the same time as the colony of Jamestown in Virginia, but settlers were not ready for the harsh winters and left.

Sea captains’ mansions and mid-19th century shops line the streets of Wiscasset, frequently referred to as Maine’s Prettiest Village. The Lincoln County Historical Society operates the old 1811 Jail and 1839 Jailer’s House as museums here.

Just north of town, the 1761 Pownalborough Courthouse is the only remaining pre-Revolutionary War Courthouse left in Maine. 18th century notables such as John Adams tried cases here.

From Wiscasset, Route 27 takes you south on the Boothbay/Boothbay Harbor peninsula. The charm of these towns is highlighted by their working harbor.

These are active communities with many festivals, including the Maine Windjammer Festival. Visit the Carousel Music Theater, the state’s only dinner theater and the Boothbay Railway Village with its narrow gauge railroad and historic exhibits.

A slight detour to the Owl’s Head Transportation Museum is well worth the trip. More than 100 historic aircraft, automobiles, bicycles, carriages and engines are on permanent display and special events are held frequently.

Rockland boasts the Farnsworth Art Museum and adjacent Farnsworth family homestead. The Farnsworth Art Museum is home to the most extensive collection of Wyeth art in the world with works from N.C., Andrew and Jamie Wyeth. The Victorian Era residence is open to tours.

The granite used to build the towers of New York’s Triboro Bridge came from granite quarries on Vinalhaven Island in Maine.

The movie Peyton Place was filmed in Camden in 1957, and the U.S. National Toboggan Championships are held at Camden Snowbowl every January.

Rockport’s Aldermere Farm is home to the first U.S. herd of belted galloways, better known as the Oreo Cookie Cows.

Belfast had many industries over the years including shipbuilding, shoe manufacturing and chicken processing. In the 1940s, local farms supplied factories with up to 200,000 birds a day.

Searsport boasts that one of ten captains of all wooden vessels was from the town. Much of that heritage may be discovered in the eleven buildings of the Penobscot Marine Museum.

In Prospect, Fort Knox stands high atop a bluff overlooking the Penobscot River and the town of Bucksport. It was built to protect Bangor from British invasion when the United States and Great Britain had a dispute about the Maine/New Brunswick Border. During the dispute, Bangor was the lumber capital of the world and the U.S. was afraid it would be a target for the British.

The picturesque village of Damariscotta is the gateway to Pemaquid Point Lighthouse.