May 1, 2025 - July 31, 2025

Ship ahoy!  If you’re interested in wooden ships of the 19th century or Blue Hill’s maritime history, you will want to see the current exhibition “Blue Hill Maritime History” at the Blue Hill Public Library now through July 30. Created by the Blue Hill Historical Society and the Blue Hill Maritime Heritage Festival, the exhibition is a tribute to the area’s shipbuilding industry that saw more than 133 wooden ocean-going sailing vessels built between 1792 and 1891, many captained and crewed by Blue Hill residents.

The exhibit includes shipwright tools, navigation instruments, models, and even a Knox marine engine, as well as pictures and explanatory text and diagrams.  The artifacts were selected from the archives of Blue Hill Historical Society, augmented with contributions from the Penobscot Marine Museum, the Wilson Museum, and local residents Beth & Dan Lane, Gardner Pickering, Hugh Durgin, and John Brooks.

This year’s Blue Hill Maritime Heritage Festival is scheduled for Saturday, August 9, 2025. A fun summer day by the bay, with a lot of maritime and historical-related activities, it will include boats, boat building demonstrations, art on the lawn, sea shanties, seafood, and more. See https://bhmhf.org/ for details. For more information on the Blue Hill Historical Society and its Holt House museum see https://bluehillhistory.org/.

“Blue Hill Maritime History” can be viewed in the display cases in the Howard Room on the 2nd floor of the library now through July 30, 2025, subject to the meeting room schedule. For more information, contact the library at 374-5515.