Liberty Ships and Peaks Island

August 20th

My day in Portland was super busy and I took an obscene amount of photos. I encourage you to look through them all here as my camera caught some really nice shots, especially on Peaks Island. However, if I post them all to the blog, I fear it might implode.

My first stop was the S.S. John W. Brown, which happened to be in port.

One of two surviving fully operational Liberty ships preserved in the United States, the Brown is the result of an emergency shipbuilding program from World War II that resulted in the construction of more than 2,700 ships, most of which were dismantled for scrap metal. This ship is on tour (with its team of tug boats) operating as a museum about the men and women who built the fleet and those who sailed them during the war. You can go here to learn more about the boat and the project.

We spent a lot of time exploring the big guns and the engine room. It's amazing this boat still runs on its original steam engine and can power itself around the ocean.

The idea of having to use this medical facility was terrifying.

After the WWII history lesson, we hopped the ferry over to Peaks Island. One of over 211 islands in Casco Bay it is home to 1,000 year round residents. I had a field day exploring the summer houses and photographing the awesome rocks on the shore. People left tons of little impromptu rock sculptures like this on the beach:

There are a ton of photos of the rocks in the full set of photos. Be sure to check them out.

Every time I pass something like this I think, "Well, at least I don't work at THIS museum." My favorite part about the Umbrella Cover Museum was the sign that said they were "mostly" open Monday-Thursday.

After a few cocktails, we caught the evening ferry back just in time to see the amazing sunset over the Portland skyline.