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This summer we got to check out the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, Maine. This is a great option for families who want to take in some great lessons on the maritime heritage and culture of this region!
Maine Maritime Museum Overview:
The Maine Maritime Museum is located in Bath, Maine and is about a 40 minute drive from Portland or about a 45 minute drive from the Augusta area. It is located on about 20 acres of land just past Bath Iron Works and you can visit 15 different structures on the property that are full of permanent and rotating exhibits.
The Museum is open daily from 9:30am to 5pm except on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Google Map directions are accurate and once you are in the town of Bath, there is excellent signage directing you to the Museum’s location. There is general parking as well as parking further down the property for larger vehicles or perfect if you are towing an RV.
Service animals are welcome on the premises but pets and supports animals are restricted to the South End of the campus and not permitted in any of the buildings. Dogs must be leashed, and please clean up after your pet.
Prior to even heading into the Museum’s primary building, there is a wonderful exhibit on the sidewalk that shows how vast and far the Kennebec River travels through the state of Maine. My daughter and I had a great conversation about fresh water and she enjoyed following the river from Moosehead Lake to the Sea and back to the Lake!
Once inside, there are several exhibits that we found to be very child friendly. They include:
- Into the Lantern; A Lighthouse Experience. This exhibit is able to recreate Portland Headlight using a makeshift lighthouse and visual technology. My daughter was fascinated by how real the exhibit felt.
- The Tugboat exhibit: This exhibit is where children can pretend they are the captain of the boat. This exhibit gives off a more quiet pretend play v. children’s museum vibe.
- And our personal favorite was SeaChange: Darkness and Light in the Gulf of Maine. A very interesting and neat ecoarts exhibit with a crafting space. If your children love to craft, you could easily spend 30 minutes in this exhibit.
There are PLENTY of maritime heritage and culture items to look at and read about in the main building of the Museum. However, we didn’t check everything out because even 5 year olds have their limit on listening and looking at artifacts! If you love looking at artifacts and reading about the history, in order to take in all that the museum has to offer, I would suggest bringing an extra adult for easier tag teaming; or come back solo as your admission ticket is good for another visit back (as long it’s within 7 days of initial purchase)!
Once outside, there are an additional 14 structures to visit! Be sure to grab a campus map so you can make sure you don’t miss any sites on the property!
Sample Itinerary:
Here is how we traversed the property:
Part One:
After visiting the main building, we went outside for some more exploring. The first thing my daughter was interested in was the Ship Launching Demonstration down by the river. Afterwards, we hung out at the Pirate Ship Playground and checked out the Lobstering and the Maine Coast building and exhibits. There are also convenient bathrooms near the playground as well.
Part Two:
One Hour River Cruise with a BYO lunch.
*Read about the River Cruise under the splurge options down below!
If you choose to forego the River Cruise but would like to eat lunch on the campus. They have plenty of beautiful picnic tables under some amazing trees that provide excellent cover from the sun. They do offer some food on site through The Sail Shed by Long Reach Kitchen. It is open from 11:30-4:30pm Thursday through Sunday. They offer sandwiches, baked goods, and drinks. The sandwiches were more geared for adults. If you are looking for a place to grab sandwiches and yummy treates, my favorite stop is Wild Oats on the former Naval Air Base (and just a quick exit from Route 1).
Part Three:
Once off the River Cruise boat, we finished up by visiting the caulker’s shed, mould loft, blacksmith shop, paint shop, mill and joinery, the Donnell House, the boat shop, and small craft exhibits.
In all, we spent 4 hours at the Museum with 1 hour being on the River Cruise. I will definitely say that this adventure works for those kiddos that are a bit older, 5 years and up, or those who are very young and content to sleep through it all in a Baby Bjorn. 🙂
If you were to ask my daughter about her favorite things from our visit here, she would say: boat ride, ship launching demonstration, and the blacksmith shop.
While I can’t say for sure, I wonder if these three things she selected were because of the staff engagement with her. From the female (yah!) boat captain, to the volunteer staff member who let her launch the boat over and over again, to the blacksmith shop volunteer sharing how he was making a bottle opener, the staff here are PHENOMENAL and OVERWHELMINGLY KIND! There appears to be a combination of staff and volunteers on site and each were incredibly helpful anytime we needed directions and had questions.
Accessibility and Accommodations:
I am SO IMPRESSED with the Maine Maritime Museum’s focus on accessibility and accommodations. While they devote an entire page of their website, it is very obvious that they want to make the museum available for ALL. While I will highlight my favorite features, I strongly suggest checking out their website for more information!
The Maine Maritime Museum’s campus has a mix of pavel and gravel sidewalks along with large grassy portions. Any kind of stroller will have no problem traversing the campus. While you will not have any issues in the main building of the Museum with your stroller, some of the historic buildings on the campus will be slightly harder to navigate given the uneven floors and stairs to upper level features. Golf cart service can be arranged at Guest Services should you need that too.
The Museum also offers Sensory Friendly Hours about once a month where they modify the lighting and volume levels as well as provide additional signage throughout the high-level audio-visual areas to create a more inclusive and accessible experience.
They also offer sensory bags for both adults and childrens with headphones, fidgets, and additional items. They are FREE and available at the front desk at any time.
I learned during our visit that the sensory bags are part of the Museum’s ongoing certification work with Kulture City. Kulture City works with businesses and organizations to train staff on sensory inclusion, sensory bags, and app integration. I love seeing this partnership here! And while I can’t be certain, while we were touring the Donnell House, there was a group of Museum staff discussing how to bring elements and signage of the exhibits in the Donnell House to the porch for those who might not be able to enter.
The only growth area I would say is around the playground structure. It is hard for anyone with mobility concerns to navigate a majority of the pirate ship structure. My hope is that in the future, they will redesign the playground area because the only thing that’s missing is a killer playground structure. I think a CedarWorks playground here would be *chef kiss* AMAZING!
Costs for Museum:
Adults: $20
Seniors: $18
Children 17 years and younger: FREE
Members: FREE
If you plan to visit the Museum more than 3 times in a year, a membership might be worth it for your family! A membership to the Museum gives you free admission, access to databases such as ancestry.com and newspapers.com, 10% discount in the Museum store, The Rhumb Line newsletter and e-newsletter subscriptions and discounted rates for events, programs, lectures and classes.
Be sure to check out their events page as they offer a variety of events, programs, lectures and classes!
Budget Friendly Options:
Prior to heading to the Museum, check out the AMAZING FREE ADMISSION options below and see if you qualify!
- Blue Star Museums: FREE admission for active military and their families
- Museums for All: FREE admissions for up to four adults for those receiving food assistance
- New England Museum Association: FREE admission for self and guest
- Maine Public MemberCard Holders: FREE admission 1 time per year
- Counsel of American Maritime Museum Member: FREE admission
- North American Reciprocal Museum Association Member: FREE admission
- Do you work at a Museum? Bring your photo ID and business card for FREE admission
- The following 12 LIBRARIES offer FREE day passes to the Museum:
- Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library
- Bethel Library
- Bremen Library
- Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick
- Louis B. Goodall Memorial Library, Sanford
- Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth
- Patten Free Library, Bath
- Prince Memorial Library, Cumberland
- Skidompha Library, Damariscotta
- Southport Memorial Library
- Thomas Memorial Library, Cape Elizabeth
- Topsham Public Library
The Splurge Option:
The splurge option here is taking advantage of one of the numerous boat cruises they have! The cruise will take you by Bath Irons Works and to banks of the City of Ships (Bath) and then down the river to the two most popular lighthouses on the Kennebec river: Doubling Point Light and the Kennebec Range Lights. They offer 1-hour and 3-hour cruises and with little ones in tow, a 1-hour is perfection!
The cost for a ticket on a 1 hour cruise will also include admission into the Museum::
Adults: $40
Children 6-17 years old: $21
Children under 6: $6
Initially, I did not think a river cruise was going to be a good idea and I wasn’t planning on doing it until my daughter showed enthusiastic interest in getting aboard a boat. I am happy to report that when we were talking about our favorite things this summer, this cruise was her FAVORITE summer activity.
While I had to quickly pivot to make the cruise work with our schedule (a run to the car for sunscreen, water refill, and lunches), it was amazing to be out on the water. We grabbed a spot on the top deck of the boat (stairs are VERY steep) and had a wonderful mother/daughter lunch. While I was interested to learn about the history of this part of the river, my daughter was enjoying seeing the eagles, osprey, and jumping fish. By the end of the cruise, my daughter snuggled up in my arms and was lulled into a relaxing state that only a slow boat cruise can do!
Due note: If choosing a boat cruise, the floating docks can be reached via the accessible ramp. Strollers will be limited to the main cabin, and on-board restrooms are not wheelchair accessible.
Also, as I previously mentioned, the stairs to the top deck are very steep and while not as challenging to get up, I would advise waiting to be the last ones down to alleviate any stress of holding up the line to help a little one down. 🙂
The Bathroom Low Down:
There are three convenient inside bathroom locations during your visit to the Maine Maritime Museum
- In the Main Campus Building. These are sex separated bathrooms. In the bathrooms you will find infant changing situations.
- By the Playground: There are two all gender/single user bathrooms in a building just up from the playground. There are stairs heading up to the bathrooms so taking a stroller to these bathrooms may be problematic. Both bathrooms are very large and have infant changing stations in them as well.
- You will see showers in both bathrooms. At first I couldn’t make sense of why but if you are coming to the Museum by boat and are docking overnight, you have access to these facilities for showering and laundry services.
- On the Cruising Boat: There is one all gender/single user bathroom aboard this boat. It is NOT handicap accessible and while it works, it’s a tight squeeze.
What’s in my car or backpack for this visit?
Key Takeaways:
- The Maine Maritime Museum is a 40 minute drive from the Portland area and a 45 minute drive from the Augusta area. This Museum is great for kids that are a little older (5 years and up) and with all the things available, you could spend 2-4 hours visiting and learning about the maritime history surrounding Bath, Maine.
- The Museum offers sensory kits and sensory-friendly hours for those who need it.
- As a special educator, here is my public service announcement: Please only take kits and/or access the sensory-friendly hours if you need to. If you do show up during the sensory-friendly hours, as the Museum is open to the public during this time, please be mindful of those who are taking advantage of this option.
- Food options are available but I would suggest a BYO lunch to eat on the River Cruise or in their large picnic area. Wild Oats in Brunswick is a great stop for grab and go sandwiches and goodies.
- Packing Essentials:
- Water
- Sun Protection (It’s a must if going on the river cruise!)
- Snacks
- Lunch
- Bathroom Situation Rating: A-
- With 3 separate indoor bathroom locations, you will be sure to be close to one if you need it!
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~Natalie
This post may include affiliate links. If you click on one of them, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you.
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