The 10 Best Specialty Museums in Maine, United States

Museum dedicated to preserving and displaying Maine's land transportation equipment.

A small community museum emphasizing American art history.

Featuring a world-class, operating collection of antique ground vehicles, engines and aircraft the Owls Head Transportation Museum is open seven days a week, year-round. Exhibits include "Faster: The Quest for Speed" featuring racing vehicles from some of New England's premiere collections.

Real, working telephones and the switchboards and switching systems that powered the network are featured at this hands-on, interactive museum. You are encouraged to use wall-mounted, hand-crank magneto phones, dial phones, and manual switchboards. And you will see, hear and enjoy the electro-mechanical marvels that led the way to computers, cell phones, smart phones and other wonders of telecommunications.

Maine Maritime Museum is located on a beautiful 20-acre campus on the banks of the Kennebec River in historic Bath, Maine, and open year round. May through October, visitors can enjoy one of our daily lighthouse cruises or saiI on the historic 1906 schooner Mary E. Our BIW Story tour provides an exclusive look at modern-day shipbuilding. Indoors, visitors enjoy air-conditioned galleries with exhibits and hands-on activities for all ages. Outdoors, visitors can join a guided tour of the historic Percy & Small Shipyard, learn about lobstering, enjoy lunch under the sculpture of the schooner Wyoming (the largest wooden sailing vessel built in North America), see a blacksmith at work in his shop, watch wooden boats being built in the Boatshop, or play on a pirate ship. There's so much to see, admission is good for tow days. See why USA Today named Maine Maritime Museum the best museum in Maine!

We invite you to travel back in time to vintage Vacationland with us. Nowhere else in New England can you ride the rails behind an vintage steam or diesel locomotive surrounded by historic Maine buildings preserved in a recreated village, and view a collection of 60 antique autos. When you visit the Museum you'll learn about how technologies like steam engines and the automobile changed life along the coast of Maine between 1850 and 1950. In addition to the opportunity to ride in a vintage coach behind a vintage locomotive, the Museum also occasionally offers rides in one of our Ford Model Ts. Two of our most popular attractions are the resident goats who delight visitors of all ages with their antics. From a display of hundreds of salt & pepper shakers to a collection of engines that powered everything from small boats to whole factories, there truly is something for everyone in your family here. Throughout the season a wide variety of special events are hosted on the Village Green from vintage ball games to car shows and family festivals. The Museum is also a unique location for wedding ceremonies and receptions.