Penobscot Marine Museum is the oldest maritime museum in Maine. It was founded in 1936 by descendants of local sea captains. From its original home in Searsport's former Town Hall, the museum has grown to include 13 buildings, eight of which are on the National Register of Historic Places. These include other nineteenth-century buildings: houses, a church vestry, barns, and a commercial block. The buildings are in their original locations in Searsport's historic district, near the waterfront where eight shipyards once built wooden Down Easters, schooners, and sloops.