The Port of Rockland is a small town with big-town appeal. Downtown Port of Rockland offers a variety of boutiques, art galleries, and wonderful restaurants. The Port of Rockland is a haven for artists, and the Farnsworth Museum proudly shares a large collection of pieces created by the Wyeth family. The Port of Rockland is a base where travelers can board a ferry to one of the surrounding islands in Penobscot Bay and find extraordinary natural beauty. The Port of Rockland is also surrounded by 14 of Maine's 68 enchanting lighthouses.
The Port of Rockland has a humid continental climate with big seasonal temperature differences. It enjoys warm, even hot, summers and sometimes severely cold winters. Snowfall can be heavy in the winter, and heavy rains come with thunderstorms and the rare tropical storm. Temperatures range from an average high of 32°C (almost 90°F) in July and August to an average low of about 12°C (10°F) in January.
The Port of Rockland is home to the Maine Lighthouse Museum at the Maine Discovery Center. The Maine Lighthouse Museum holds the country's most substantial assemblage of lighthouse artifacts and Coast Guard memorabilia as well as the biggest Fresnel lighthouse lens collection. Open from Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm, the museum is open on weekends from 10am until 4pm. Adults pay $5 for admission, and children are admitted free. While visiting the museum, visitors can buy tickets for
The Port of Rockland's Maine Lighthouse Museum is great for aficionados of lighthouses and maritime history. The Maine Discovery Center that is home to the museum also houses the Lighthouse Depot gift store and the Penobscot Bay Chamber of Commerce. This popular visitors' center also boasts exhibits from a number of Maine Discovery Coast museums like the Island Institute, the Owls Head Transportation Museum, the Penobscot Marine Museum, the Knox Museum, and the Farnsworth Art Museum among many others. During the summer and fall, the Maine Discovery Center in the Port of Rockland is open from 9am until 4:30pm on weekdays and from 10am to 4pm on weekends. In the winter and early spring, the Discovery Center is closed from Sunday through Wednesday.
A popular walk in the Port of Rockland is the .9-mile breakwater that leads to the Breakwater Lighthouse. The breakwater was built in the 1899s after several serious nor'easters damaged much of the Port of Rockland waterfront, including some ships. After storms demonstrated that the breakwater wasn't tall enough, a four-foot cap was added with a base for the lighthouse at the end. The breakwater was a navigation hazard, and a beacon was placed there until a lighthouse could be built. In 1902, the lighthouse began operating with a fourth-order flashing white light.
In 1998, the Town of Rockland took maintenance responsibility for the lighthouse from the US Coast Guard. The non-profit Friends of Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse was formed to restore the structure (uninhabited since 1965). Today, this Port of Rockland lighthouse is open for self-guided tours during weekends in the summer from 9am until 3pm. Visitors must be at least 42 inches tall to climb the tower. Several sailing vessels offer cruises that pass the lighthouse.
The Farnsworth Art Museum & Wyeth Center contains more than ten thousand works of many great American artists. It features the works of Andrew, Jamie, and N.C. Wyeth, and it also has one of the biggest collections of sculpture by Louise Nevelson in the country. With an incomparable collection of American art related to the State of Maine, this Port of Rockland museum also houses the Farnsworth's library (the Farnsworths were an important lime merchant family that also founded the local water company). The museum complex contains two historic buildings: the Olson House and the Farnsworth Homestead. During the winter (January until early May), the museum is open from Wednesday through Sunday from 10am to 5pm. In April and May, this Port of Rockland museum opens Tuesday through Sunday. During the summer (June to late October), it opens every day from 10am until 5pm. On Wednesdays, it stays open until 8pm, and admission is free to all from 5 until 8. Admission for adults is $12. Seniors and students over 16 years old pay $10 to enter. Members, Port of Rockland residents, and children under 17 are admitted free.
Travelers who want to visit the Port of Rockland by sea can find available cruises on the Cruise Compete website.
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