Virtual Museum Tours

If you've visited the Sail, Power, and Steam Museum, you'll know that we couldn't possibly give a virtual tour of everything!  But we figured that for those of you who can't readily visit, you'll enjoy an armchair, virtual tour of some of the highlights of our collection. 

​We hope you'll be inspired to put us on your short list of places to visit and maybe even consider joining the museum, right from the comfort of that armchair!  (We'll keep you updated with newsletters, and we'll give you a special welcome when you get to Rockland to visit!).

Introduction
Click Here for an introduction to the SPSM as told by Captain Jim Sharp himself!

Atrium
Click here to tour the Atrium and hear about our own Foucault Pendulum and a great collection of boat models.

Boat Room
Click here to tour the Boat Room, the old entrance to the museum (before the Atrium was built). View the bowsprit of the Schooner Stephen Taber (the oldest commercial sailing vessel in the United States) and see a bit of her history, a 1912 International Harvester truck, and several other sailing artifacts.

Windjammer Display
Click here for the story of the start of the Midcoast's Windjammer fleet. Captain Jim Sharp played an integral part in its development over the years, owning several of these majestic vessels himself.

Steam Room
Click here to not only see some of the steam engines that now live at the museum ... but turn up your volume and just listen to that hisssssss!

Conference Room
Click here to see our conference and event space - but it's so much more than just a conference space ... it's packed with a great nautical collection, featuring the Schooner Adventure. And you can here Capt. Sharp's "Tom Sawyer" theory of getting things done on board when he had a ship full of passengers. Lots of great stories to tell in this room!   (p.s. you can even rent this space for a meeting, event, or concert! Click here for info re: rentals)

Tool Room
Click here to see a fascinating collection of boat building tools - including an amazing wooden bandsaw, built at the Snow Shipyard back when metal was scarce during the First World War. And check out that Stability Calculator ... fascinating!

Fishing Room
Click here to learn about the fishing history here in the midcoast, from lobsters to cod.

Shipwreck Room
Click here for a tour of the Shipwreck Room! The Great Gale of 1898 downed 400 ships and an untold number of lives lost.  The old steamer Portland went down.  (more on that storm on our Special Interest page)

Limestone Room
Click here to learn more about the industry that is memorialized in the name of local town Rockport and the city of Rockland!  You'll even learn how this rock is connected to theater and photography and drove many other industries including barrel  and ship building.

Snow Shipyard Room
Click here to learn about the Snow Shipyard - had a 140 year run. The old yard property is now the home of the Sail, Power, and Steam Museum. We have some wonderful pieces from the old yard and the Snow family.

Bowdoin Room
Click here for the story of Capt. Jim and the Schooner Bowdoin. Built for Admiral McMillan, she has a fascinating history of arctic exploration, restoration, and education!

Navigation Room
Click here to learn the fascinating history of maritime navigation, from the discovery of magnetism (the basis for today's compass), through celestial navigation to more modern equipment such as radar and Loran.

Dynamite Payson Boat Shop
Click here to step into history! The Dynamite Payson Boat Shop is full of boating supplies and hardware, boats, and more.

Simulator Room
Click here to step into the pilot house of a fishing vessel from about 1950, complete with a stunning mural by well-known local artist Carol Seibold.

Thank you!
Click here for a tour of our Gift Shop by Captain Sharp - (he'll even tell you a bit about his book, "With Reckless Abandon"). Thanks for visiting!