Day 8 Bath  June 29, 2021

    Yesterday was Bath, ME. It was originally known as Long Reach because of its three mile straight stretch on the Kennebec River.  This made it perfect for ships to land. It is the sight of ship building of old and continues today as one of Maine’s busiest industries. It was home to native people for centuries and there is evidence that the Vikings landed here in 1101.

    We learned how they built schooners of old. Schooners have triangular sails that run even with the keel whereas square riggers like the Mayflower have rectangular sails. They mostly built four-masted schooners, but we also learned about the largest six- masted schooner, the Wyoming. Schooners do not have motors and are assisted by a small boat alongside of them. Had to believe because we sometimes had difficulty docking our ski boat.

  Later, we took a trolley into town. It is definitely not a tourist town like Bar Harbor. It is a ordinary town that supports the ship builders.

More to follow,

Tom & Holly