Museums & galleries in Mid Coast Region offer depth to your vacation

The Maine Lighthouse Museum is the home of the largest collection of Fresnel lighthouse lenses and the most important landmark collection of lighthouse artifacts and Coast Guard memorabilia in the United States. A few years back, the museum merged its collection with that of the former Museum of Lighthouse History of Wells (now closed). The two collections are now on display and marvelously compliment each other. Visit the museum gift shop and find lighthouse models and miniatures, replicas, clothing, gifts, art, toys, memorabilia, and exclusive regional favorites.
Hours: Open Thursday–Saturday, 10am – 4pm.

The lighthouse was built in 1826 and marks the entrance to Muscongus Bay and John Bay. Today it is a major attraction in Maine and receives almost 100,000 visitors each year. The keeper’s house has been converted into the Fishermen's Museum. On display are items related to the local maritime history.
Hours: Open daily during park hours, 9am - 5pm. Free Admission

Bowdoin College's collection of fine art features American and European classic work. Of particular interest, however are the exhibitions of works by Maine artists Winslow Homer and Andrew Wyeth.
Hours: Open Tues-Sat, 10 am - 5pm; Thursdays 10am - 8:30pm.; Sundays 1-5pm. Closed Mondays. Free Admission.

Visitors will enjoy exhibits featuring a collection of early air and ground vehicles. Trace the history of the bicycle and the horse-drawn carriage. Many of the vehicles are in operating condition and are demonstrated on the museum grounds. Hours: Year-round, daily, 10 a.m.-5 p.m

The stern beauty of Maine and the manifold ways it has been expressed by Maine-loving artists is the driving theme of the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, just steps away from the coastline that has inspired artists for centuries. The museum was opened in 1948 and it quickly acquired paintings by, among others, George Bellows, William Zorach, and Andrew Wyeth. These and others established Farnsworth’s main strength: landscapes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Early purchases included Eastman Johnson’s American Farmer, George Inness’s In the White Mountains, and Winslow Homer’s New England Coast. From the start, the Farnsworth built a relationship with the Wyeth family of artists, including Andrew, N.C., and Jamie Wyeth. The museum’s holdings of contemporary art have been significantly expanded.

From the beginning of the Civil War to the turn of the century, Bath was the one of the nation's most important seaports and ship-building cities. The Maine Maritime Museum tells the story of Maine’s ship and boat building history with multiple rooms of exhibits, all contained beside a 19th century shipyard on the Kennebec River.
Hours: Open daily, 9:30am - 5pm. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Days.