Camden MaineA scenic coastal town, full of unique shops, historic homes, and visiting sailboats.
View more info
Camden Hills State Park"Where the Mountains Meet the Sea", right off US Route 1.
View more info
Rockport, MaineA small coastal village with a scenic harbor park and one of Maine's best art galleries.
View more info
Rockland, MaineHome to the country's largest windjammer fleet, and one of New England's most respected art museums.
View more info featured sponsor
Maine Lighthouse Museum
Maine Lighthouse Museum Video
Click the image to play the video.
The museum currently houses the largest collection of lighthouse lenses as well as the biggest and best collection of Coast Guard memorabilia and lighthouse artifacts in the entire country.
Maine Lighthouse Museum Photos
The Maine Lighthouse Museum contains the largest collection of rare and priceless fresnel lenses, lighthouse artifacts, buoys, working lights, sound signals, bells, ship models, Coast Guard search and rescue gear and lifesaving memorabilia in the country.
Maine Lighthouse Museum Info
Maine Lighthouse Museum1 Park Drive
Rockland, ME 04831
Phone: 207-594-3301
Open Every Day
9am to 5pm - Year Round
Website
Check Reviews
Map It
Camden Museums & Learning Centers - from maritime history to modern art, the Camden area offers a myriad of learning experiences
The Camden area is home to some of the state’s foremost museums and learning centers. For example. the Farnsworth Art Museum and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art guide visitors through ever-changing art exhibits featuring some of New England’s finest art collections and artists. The Owls Head Transportation Museum exhibits some of the most unique collections of working antique aircraft, automobiles, bicycles, carriages, motorcycles and engines anywhere in the world. And Aldemere Farm, one of the world’s premier breeders of Belted Galloway Cattle, also known as the "Oreo Cookie Cows", offers live farm tours to help visitors deepen their knowledge and appreciation for sustainable agriculture and conservation.
Outstanding museums and local area learning centers tell powerful stories with their history and beauty and showcase the spirit and resourcefulness of coastal Maine. From maritime history to modern art, the Camden area offers a myriad of potential learning experiences just waiting to be discovered.
Museums & Learning Centers near Camden
Camden Maine Museums & Learning Centers
Camden Maine Area Museums & Learning Centers
 |
|||
70 Russell Ave. |
 |
Aldemere Farm - Rockport, ME Aldermere Farm, a landmark in midcoast Maine, is one of the world's premier breeders of Belted Galloway cattle. The Belted Galloways are also known as the "Oreo Cookie" cows because of their distinct black-and-white coloring. Belted Galloways are primarily raised for their quality marbled beef, although they are sometimes milked and purchased to adorn pastures due to their striking appearance. The 136-acre farm is owned and managed by Maine Coast Heritage Trust, a statewide land conservation organization dedicated to protecting the scenic beauty, outdoor recreational opportunities, ecological diversity, and working landscapes of the Maine coast. The Trust maintains Aldermere as a working farm and educational center, helping visitors deepen their appreciation for land conservation and sustainable agriculture. Trip: 2 miles from Camden village |
|
 |
|||
586 Wiscasset Rd. |
Boothbay Railway Village - Boothbay Harbor, ME The Boothbay Railway Village is a 10-acre re-created historic New England town featuring a village green surrounded by over 25 historic buildings, a working narrow gauge coal-fire steam train, old fashioned shops, beautiful gardens, and one of the finest presentations of antique vehicles in New England. With more than 60 vintage cars on display, including a 1916 Model T Speedster, a 1940 Cadillac convertible limo, and a 1962 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II, the village is also a fascinating look back at the history of automobiles. Village visitors can take a ride on Boothbay's steam train, pay a visit to the village toy shop, stop in at the historic firehouse exhibit to view a collection of horse-drawn firefighting equipment, or simply enjoy the day relaxing at the village's scenic duck pond and gardens. The Boothbay Railway Village is less than an hour's drive from Camden. Trip: 35 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
P.O Box 1767 |
Center for Maine Contemporary Art - Rockland, ME The Center for Maine Contemporary Art is a nonprofit organization advancing contemporary art in Maine through exhibitions and educational programs. Founded as Maine Coast Artists in 1952, CMCA has grown into a hub for the midcoast art community. More than 300 artists exhibit their work at the center’s new building in Rockland Maine every year. The Center offers Maine's most active year-round exhibition schedule, nurtures public understanding of both traditional and nontraditional artistic expression, and provides professional development opportunities for artists. Trip: 6.2 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
75 Mechanic St. |
Coastal Children's Museum - Rockland, ME The Coastal Children's Museum is a place for young children (ages 2-9) and their families to explore, discover and learn through creative play and adult interaction. The museum is a hands-on, interactive venue. In addition to puzzles, labyrinths, an art project room and Wood Workshop, exhibits include Learn About Maine Islands, an Under the Sea room with a tropical fish tank, a Touch Tank containing touchable marine animals from the Gulf of Maine, Sharpies' General Store and an Animal Morphing exhibit. Trip: 9.5 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
132 Botanical Garden Dr |
Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens - Boothbay, ME The Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens occupies over 248 acres of beautiful, natural landscape in the coastal town of Boothbay. The gardens are comprised of a menagerie of natural ecosystems including two-thirds-of-a-mile-long tidal waterfront on the Back River. There is a dramatic landscape with over 300 native plant species. This is the only coastal botanical garden on the entire Atlantic coast and the largest botanical garden in New England. Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens can be found on Barters Island Road in the village of Boothbay. The Garden is open to the public from 8:30 am.- 4:30 pm on Mondays - Fridays and from 9 am - 6 pm on weekends and holidays; admission is free. Trip: 46 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
16 Museum St. |
Farnsworth Art Museum - Rockland, ME The Farnsworth Art Museum located in Rockland Maine is nationally known for its large collection of Wyeth family paintings in the new Wyeth Center. The museum highlights works of art from American artists primarily from the late 18th to 20th century as well as exhibits featuring the local history of Rockland and the Farnsworth Family in its 20,000 square feet of exhibition space. Admission to the museum includes the Victorian Farnsworth House Homestead, where you can learn about how a rough & tumble town became the community it is today. Trip: 8.5 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
Box 1156 |
Fawcett's Antique Toy & Art Museum - Waldoboro, ME Fawcett's Antique Toy & Art Museum is located in Waldoboro Maine. This unique and quirky museum exhibits an extensive collection of antique toys and original comic art that is among the finest on public display anywhere in the country today. Exhibits include Mickey Mouse and all his friends as they were originally crafted in the 1930s, one of the finest collections of Lone Ranger art, toys and memorabilia in the world, and an extensive collection of Betty Boop dolls and figurines. A visit to the museum has always been enjoyed by curious, intelligent adults. Please note that this is not an interactive museum for children. The museum welcomes all well-behaved children under the supervision of an adult. Trip: 15.5 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
711 Fort Knox Rd. |
Fort Knox Historic Site - Prospect, ME Located on the west bank of the Penobscot River in Prospect, Maine, in an area known as the Penobscot Narrows, Fort Knox is one of the best preserved fortifications on the New England seacoast. The Fort was was built in 1844 in order to secure the Penobscot River Valley, fortifying the area from British naval attack. The Fort was named for Major General Henry Knox, America's first Secretary of War, who was born in Boston but retired to Thomaston, Maine in 1796. This is Maine's most visited historic site, and well worth the visit. Fort Knox is roughly an hour's drive from Camden. Trip: 35 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
10 Perkins Farm Land |
Fort Popham Historic Site - Phippsburg, ME Fort Popham is a semicircular granite fort built in 1861 for use during the Civil War. It was built to protect the mouth of the Kennebec River and the approaches to Augusta and Bath Iron Works. Originally designed to mount 42 heavy guns in a three tier half moon shaped granite fort, only two tiers of casemates were completely finished. The fort was garrisoned during the U.S. Civil War and shortly thereafter until 1869 when construction was halted. It was regarrisoned briefly during the Spanish American War and for the last time during World War I. It was sold to the State of Maine for $6,600 in 1924 and is now a State of Maine Historic Site. Trip: 49 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
Route 220 |
Friendship Museum - Friendship, ME The Friendship Museum is a small museum in Freindship, Maine which exhibits and preserves artifacts, documents and historical memorabilia pertaining to the fishing village of Friendship, its history, origin and the world renown Friendship Sloop. The small brick schoolhouse that houses the museum is itself a museum artifact. Measuring only 20 by 25 feet, it is a typical one-room schoolhouse of the mid-19th century. It served as a grammar school from 1851-1923. The museum is located a quarter of a mile north of Friendship village at the corner of Route 220 and Martin Point Road. Admission is free and visitors are welcome July 1st to Labor Day. Hours are: Monday - Saturday 1 pm to 4 pm and Sunday 2 pm to 4 pm. Trip: 26 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
P.O. Box 204 |
Lincolnville Schoolhouse Museum - Lincolnville, ME The Lincolnville Schoolhouse Museum is operated by the Lincolnville Historical Society. The small one room 1892 wooden schoolhouse that houses the museum is itself a museum artifact. The old schoolhouse room retains much of its character with the original blackboard, bell and woodwork still in place. The museums's collections include Native American artifacts, early settler's tools, historical documents. genealogies, old photos, a detailed time line of the area from the ice age to present, numerous tools of the ice and wood industries, and displays of every day life in early America. Trip: 6.2 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
One Park Drive |
Maine Lighthouse Museum - Rockland, ME The Maine Lighthouse Museum located in Rockland, Maine contains the largest collection of rare and priceless fresnel lenses, lighthouse artifacts, buoys, working lights, sound signals, bells, and ship models in the country. The Maine Lighthouse Museum also hosts a large collection of search and rescue gear including lifesaving memorabilia along with fascinating stories of life-saving heroics of both the Coast Guard and many lighthouse keepers, some of whom were strong Maine women. Trip: 8.5 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
243 Washington St. |
Maine Maritime Museum - Bath, ME Maine Maritime Museum offers a myriad of opportunities to relive Maine's maritime past. Located on the scenic Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, the large Museum site includes early shipbuilding sites where rich seafaring heritage comes to life. In addition to many scheduled programs including demonstrations, reenactments, lectures, tours, boat cruises and more, the Museum offers visitors a first-hand look at thousands of historic maritime artifacts, many of them unique to the Maine Maritime Museeum collections. Visitors from around the country, as well as travel writers worldwide rate it a "Must-See." The Maine Maritime Museum is roughly 49 miles drive from Camden. |
||
|
|||
Fairgrounds Lane
|
Matthews Museum of Maine Heritage - Union, ME The Matthews Museum of Maine Heritage is located in Union, Maine, close to the coastal towns of Rockport and Camden. The Museum houses more than 10,000 artifacts, including carriages, agricultural tools, musical instruments, books, collection of photo prints and a research library. It also houses a sizeable collection of Moxie memorabilia that occupy among other things the new annex, at the west end of the museum. (Moxie is a carbonated beverage that was one of the first mass-produced soft drinks in the United States.) East of the museum's main building you will also find "the Hodge," a one-room schoolhouse, that appears as it was when it stopped operations in 1954. Trip: 14 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
Box 326 |
Montpelier: General Henry Knox Museum - Thomaston, ME The General Henry Knox Museum is located in a house that is a replica of the home of the first U.S. Secretary of War, General Henry Knox. (In 1775, General George Washington chose Knox as his Chief of Artillery. Knox spent most of the Revolutionary War by Washington’s side and following the war, he was chosen to be the first Secretary of War.) The house is decorated in period settings and features a double flying staircase. The house contains many of Knox's original furnishings and possessions. Tours conducted by guides in period costumes are available and last between 45 minutes and 1 hour. Trip: 12 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
US Route 1 |
Old Conway Homestead - Rockport, ME One of the oldest homesteads in the Camden and Rockport area, the Conway House offers a peek back into early American history at the time of the first white settlements. The house is a fine example of the 18th century type of rural construction in the American Colonies known as "Cape Cod". The inside of the house is a fascinating study in the architecture and building techniques of the late 18th century. Roof timbers are fastened with treenails (trunnels).Laths in the wall and ceilings are of hand-split hemlock; beams and heavy sills are hand-hewn with broadaxe and adze, and early rosehead nails are used in some of the fastenings. On the grounds are a Blacksmith Shop with an oxen lift, a barn filled with a fine collection of carriages, sleighs, farm implements and early tools, a Maple Sugar House for making maple syrup, and the Cramer Museum and Gift Shop that features sailing ship models, a collection of early glass, period costumes, vintage American paintings, guns, sabers, musical instruments, and historical records and documents. The Conway House is recorded on the Maine State Register of Historic Sites as well as the National Register of Historic Places. Trip: 1 mile from Camden village |
||
|
|||
117 Museum St.
|
Owls Head Transportation Museum - Owls Head, ME Founded in 1974 and located 3 miles south of Rockland on Route 73, the museum is home to an extraordinary working collection of antique automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles, carriages, airplanes and engines, nicely exhibited in a tidy, hangar-like building at the edge of the Knox County Regional Airport. The museum hosts a variety of special events and demonstrations throughout the year that include vintage car rallies, antique airplane shows, classic car auctions and free Model T rides. Trip: 11.5 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
5 Church St. |
Penobscot Marine Museum - Searsport, ME The Penobscot Marine Museum is located in Searsport, Maine and is Maine's oldest maritime museum. The museum is made up of 12 historic buildings that have become the site for this important northeast New England Coastline museum where archives, displays, and exhibits all tell the story of the fishing industry and other New England maritime exploits. The museum is home to the largest collection of historic boats and impressive collections of marine paintings, ship models, China Trade artifacts, and schrimshaw objects, as well as historic maritime documents and photo archives for researchers interested in the New England maritime history and industry. Trip: 25 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
711 Fort Knox Rd |
Penobscot Narrows Observatory - Prospect, ME The Penobscot Narrows Observatory in Prospect, Maine, adjacent to the Fort Knox Historic Site, is the tallest bridge observatory in the world. The fastest elevator in Northern New England shoots you up to the top of the observatory at 420 feet above ground level to witness 360 degree panoramic views of Fort Knox, the Penobscot River Valley and the surrounding bay, and on clear days astonishing views all the way to Mt. Katahdin. The 2120 foot cable-stayed Penobscot Narrows Bridge is also an impressive engineering marvel itself. Trip: 35 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
311 Main St. |
Project Puffin Visitor Center - Rockland, ME A successful seabird restoration program started in 1973 by the Audubon society to reintroduce Puffins back into the coastal habitat of Maine after Puffins abandoned their historic nesting grounds, the Project Puffin Visitor Center in Rockland educates the public on seabird conservation efforts with informative exhibits, educational films and information on boat tours to puffin islands along the Maine coast. The walls of Project Puffin Visitor Center surround visitors with colorful murals, maps, and other fun educational information about seabird conservation in Maine, plus outstanding photographs of seabirds by Project Puffin photographer Bill Scholtz. The center also has a live "Puffin cam" that broadcasts live images of a puffin colony that is located 20 miles offshore from Rockland on remote Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge. Visitors can operate the camera remotely from the center, changing and zooming in on different views of the colony. The Visitor Center also offers a gift shop where you can buy Puffin-themed novelties and gift items Trip: 8.5 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
75 Mechanic St. |
Sail, Power, Steam Museum - Rockland, ME The Sail, Power & Steam Museum is a treasure trove of interesting and exciting displays. Located on the old SnowShipyard property on the shores of Rockland Harbor, it is the only maritime museum in Maine located on an authentic, historic shipbuilding site. The museum educates its vistors through hands on, interactive, and educational experiences with historically significant sailing, power and steam driven vessels, ships and small boats while providing instruction as to their origins, construction, and original commercial and recreational purposes. At the museum, visitors can see the builders models of amazing, huge, trading schooners and learn the means by which they were launched. Visitors can also view old images and photographs of these vessels under sail. Many displays at the museum are operating, "hands on" exhibits. The museum also offers rides in a Model T Ford or short cruises around Rockland Harbor aboard the museum's Flagship vessel, "the Rekord," a 1914 60 foot freight and passenger boat. Trip: 9.5 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
80 Knox St. |
Thomaston Historical Society Museum - Thomaston, ME The Thomaston Historical Society Museum's collection focuses on the Revolutionary War, with special emphasis on General Henry Knox and his family, artifacts relating to the history of the Town of Thomaston, especially its sea faring past and the area involvement in the Civil War. The Thomaston/Rockland area was the home of the 4th Maine Infantry Regiment and 1st Maine Calvary Regiment that played such pivotal roles in the success of the Union Army during the Civil War. The museum has an extensive collection of old photographs, memorabilia, letters, ledgers, and historical documents depicting the growth and development of Thomaston. Trip: 12.8 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
P.O. Box 154 |
Union Historical Society Museum - Union, ME The Union Historical Society is housed in the Robbins House, a charming house shared with the local library. The Museum collection includes a number of old photos and postcards of Union, family histories and interesting local artifacts. Specifically, the Union Historical Society Museum houses artifacts from wooden ship building era and records of the town's and area's historic past. It has an extensive collection of old photographs, memorabilia, letters, ledgers, and historical documents of townspeople and town places. Trip: 14 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
P.O. Box 339 |
Vinalhaven Historical Society Museum - Vinalhaven, ME The Vinalhaven Historical Society has an extensive collection of photographic, genealogical and historical documents. The museum includes artifacts from the Civil War, Vinalhaven schools, homes, farms and the fishing & horse net industries, as well as an impressive exhibit of the once thriving granite quarrying and shipping industries on the island. The goal of the Society is to exhibit information and artifacts which illuminate the history of Vinalhaven and its families from its beginning to the present. Trip: 18 miles from Camden including 10 miles via the Maine State Ferry to Vinalhaven Island. |
||
|
|||
PO Box 110 |
Waldoboro Historical Society Museum - Waldoboro, ME Step back in time to visit a truly unique collection of items of interest, not only to Waldoboro, but to all who want a glimpse of life "back in the day". The Waldoboro Historical Society Museum features a wide range of historical items including house hold items, fire fighting equipment, ship models, farming equipment, and other miscellaneous artifacts. The Waldoboro Historical Society Museum consists of three building, Boggs School House, the Hauck Building and The Barn. The Barn has been reorganized to display an area that will charm any lady visitor. There are vintage clothes, an antique beading center, sewing machines, jewelry and hand-made quilts. There are also Waldoboro rugs, and a newly organized children's display with dolls and toys. The Hauck Building now houses a special exhibit area that will periodically change as well as being the "tool and transportation" exhibit building. There is also a Town Pound, built in 1819, and used as the first place to keep stray horses and sheep. Open daily 1-4 during the summer. Trip: 20 miles from Camden village |
||
|
|||
Location Map of Museums & Learning Centers near Camden Maine
Click on map to open a new browser window with a Google Interactive Map of all area museums and learning centers near Camden Maine.
