The Great Cranberry Island Historical Society

Historical Museum

Opened August 6, 2000 in temporary rooms.

Opened June 15, 2008 in Cranberry House, our permanent home, with support from: the MBNA Foundation, the New Century Community Program, the Island Institute, and generous donations from local donors and GCIHS members.

Finding Aid

opening hours | directions to the museum | exhibits | display panels | kiddy korner

Open every day,
June 15 through Sept. 20, 2008
(except, closed July 4)
10:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Admission free (donation appreciated)

Telephone: (207) 244-7800

Also Open by Appointment, call: 244-3594, 244-9055, or 244-3682.

Our 2007 Exhibit
The Prebles of Cranberry Island
click to enlarge

Ask to watch our Storm at Sea video!
Ask to see our Hitty video!

Directions to the Museum

  • Take the ferry, either from Northeast Harbor or Southwest Harbor, to Great Cranberry Island.
  • Walk off the dock and up the main road.
  • Continue about 1/3 mile along the main road.
  • The museum is at the top of the small hill, just past the first paved side road.

The museum is handicap-accessible,
on the ground floor of Cranberry House.


Other sights

During your walk you'll go past the store (by the dock), and the Preble House (just before the tennis court).

Continue past the museum to the church, school, and The Whale's Rib, a popular gift shop.

Enjoy yourself on Great Cranberry Island!
Llama Sha-Day II,
born March 2000.

Exhibits

Drop the little ones off at the Kiddy Korner and let them amuse themselves while you perambulate the premises.

Be sure to visit our growing Hitty Collection, featuring BIG Hitty, plus other Hittys donated to us because Great Cranberry Island is Hitty's Home.

In the museum we have an eclectic assortment of artifact exhibits, most displayed in groups with a common theme.  Objects include quilts, Indian sweetgrass baskets, braided rugs, old household items, old photos and marriage certificates, a shark harpoon, duck decoys, lobster buoys, ship models, farming tools, old bottles and electrical insulators, shipwright's tools, shipwreck remains, and even the original rusticator's sitz bath, complete with personalized towel.
Host Charlene Allen
welcomes you to the museum.


Steve Spurling bravely shows Lena Wallace
his old grade school report card,
part of the school exhibit.
She is not impressed.

Display Panels

We also have eight artistic and informative display panels, with accompanying photos, descriptive text, and detail books, which highlight different aspects of the island's past.
The Prehistory and Indians
display panel.

Kiddy Korner

Our newly-installed sand table is customized with a map of Great Cranberry Island.  Both land- and sea-based toys are available for play.  The little ones are fascinated when they find they can play with sand inside the Museum.

Chaulk, chaulkboards, crayons, and paper are also available.

You may purchase a unique Great Cranberry Island Historical Coloring Book to take home.
Sand table based on a map
of Great Cranberry Island

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