A tall ship is set to visit ports on the lower Penobscot River to mark the country’s 250th anniversary this summer.
The schooner Harvey Gamage, a training vessel built in South Bristol and launched in 1973, will come to Bucksport for four days and visit Bangor, Brewer and Castine between July 29 and Aug. 3.
It may be joined by other historic and educational vessels throughout the course of the “4PortLoop” event organized by the Penobscot Maritime Heritage Association, led by Dick Campbell, who is also a Republican legislator representing Bucksport and Orrington.
Tall ships first returned to the river five years ago for a celebration of Maine’s bicentennial organized by the same organization. Among them was the Nao Santa Maria, a replica of a ship sailed to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492, which drew opposition from members of the Penobscot Nation and progressives that shortened the tour.
The 2026 lineup will feature all new ships, Campbell said, with a focus on education about sailing skills and the area’s maritime history. It comes among other plans along the East Coast to mark the 250th with events featuring the masted ships that were once common sights on the water.
Campbell’s request to dock in Bucksport from July 30 to Aug. 2 at no cost to the town met with little discussion and a nod of approval from officials at a Thursday council meeting. It was presented on his behalf by the town’s economic development director, Rich Rotella.
Rotella said he had vetted Gamage’s history to avoid controversy and noted how much business the previous ship’s visit had brought.
The schooner was built at the South Bristol yard of the same name. Designed as an educational vessel, it taught students to sail for decades and was relaunched last year after a hiatus by a new nonprofit, the Marine Learning Project, that runs “discovery voyages” for students ages 7 to 18, according to its website. The project also aims to provide workforce development for Maine’s marine industries.
Through the tour, the heritage association wants to educate about past uses of Maine’s waterways with a focus on reaching students, Campbell told the Bangor Daily News. He described the state’s rivers as predecessors to the interstate highway system and pointed out Penobscot Bay’s historical role as a point of entry to the United States.
He previously said this summer’s events would also include student training vessels from Sailing Ships Maine with a stop in Searsport, but those details weren’t presented Tuesday. Campbell didn’t respond to a request before the meeting to confirm whether plans had changed.
For Bucksport, the event is an opportunity to draw visitors without cost to taxpayers, according to Rotella, who said businesses saw record-breaking traffic that made up for their pandemic-year losses when the Nao Santa Maria visited in 2021.
“I am going to vet [the ship] to its fullest extent … to make sure it’s not another Santa Maria incident,” he said before the 2026 visit moved ahead, saying the town aimed to avoid controversy.
Campbell doesn’t view the last event as a major controversy, he said. Rather the association felt publicity enhanced their work and brought crowds eager to board the replica.
That tour was the first time a tall ship had visited the Penobscot River in 37 years.
Festival organizers and ship officials initially canceled it after members of the Penobscot Nation criticized the inclusion of the Nao Santa Maria, which was part of an expedition that opened the door to European colonization in the Americas. The real ship ran aground near Haiti and never visited Maine.
“While offensive in numerous ways, as well as historically inaccurate, it is also deeply harmful to the Wabanaki Nations as well as the descendants of all Indigenous Nations,” leaders said of the ship’s inclusion in a joint statement at the time.
Organizers said they “failed to appreciate the significance” of bringing it to port here in their excitement to celebrate local maritime heritage and apologized to those who were offended.
They then resumed tours in Bucksport — where the Nao Santa Maria was initially met by protesters but also drew crowds of paying visitors — followed by a quieter visit to Castine.
That ship won’t return this summer, according to Campbell.
“We’re interested in more student participation and training,” he said.
This year, the event is themed around the Penobscot Expedition during the Revolutionary War.
In the summer of 1779, British forces occupied land around Castine and built Fort George there, when Maine was still part of Massachusetts, according to the Castine Historical Society.
Nearly three dozen ships carrying militiamen — some commanded by Paul Revere — arrived from Boston to push them out.
But expedition commander Dudley Salstonstall started a siege on British ships in the bay that turned into a stalemate, giving them time to call for reinforcements. When those ships arrived, Saltonstall fled up the river to Bangor. British forces kept the land until the end of the war.
Campbell expects tall ships will next return in 2029 to mark the 250th anniversary of that expedition.
Local museums are expected to have displays to complement this summer’s visits, he said in March, and the association is encouraging towns to contact them about ideas for other joint activities.
