Owl's Head Transportation Museum

Just a couple of miles from Jim and Mary's new home is the Owls Head Transportation Museum, which we had not been to before, and which is quite an amazing place. It is open every day except four major holidays. It contains hundreds of antique cars, airplanes and motorcycles, and a few other things as well, like an old circus wagon. Anyone who loves old cars or planes would love this place. I'm not exactly an aficionado of these things, but I do enjoy seeing them. Here is a little sample of what is there - three early automobiles, each using a different source of power: gasoline, electricity and steam.

This is a replica of the 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen, said to be the first automobile propelled by an internal combustion engine. About 25 were built.

This shows the engine for the Benz. Pretty simple, though it utilized several new inventions. If you want details, go to Wiki.

This is the 1912 Woods Electric Brougham. Before 1908, electric vehicles were in the majority. By 1912, gas-powered engines were becoming more popular. This car cost $3000. The Model T was $350. Therein lies the problem, still true today.

This is a model of the famous Stanley Steamer - the 1904 Model B Runabout. Ironically, it relied for its viability on the existence of numerous water troughs alongside the road - for horses to drink from - because it had to make frequent stops for more water. Thus it was dependent on a technology it was helping to make obsolete.

This is a steam-driven motorcycle! The 1868 Roper Steam Velocipede. Not sure what it was like having that steam engine right under your seat!! It was fired with charcoal fed into the bottom of a copper boiler. The seat doubled as a water tank.

When we first went to this museum, I was confusing it with the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, ME, which I had visited decades ago. I thought I would find there in Owls Head a sample of the street car I used to ride in Minneapolis, MN, when I was a boy, which I had remembered seeing years ago in a Maine Museum, and I was excited by that prospect. Wrong Museum. That thrill will have to wait for another time.