A Community Education Center
“Within each of us lies the potential to create innovations that can change culture, society and the tools that control our lives.”
~ James S. Rockefeller, Jr., Founder
A Tradition of Hands-on Education
The Owls Head Transportation Museum’s capital campaign will expand the Museum’s opportunities to serve as a cultural learning center. With flexible spaces, the Museum draws on its expertise, experience and resources to offer exciting new educational programming for members and visitors.
The most significant expansion of the Museum’s education programs will focus on developing a professionally led program for kindergarten through eighth grade students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). From the Museum’s collection, examples of different eras of energy used to power transportation will enable students to connect STEM concepts to working history, including transitions from horse to steam to fossil fuels and now to solar and wind energy systems.
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STEM Education Rooms & Exhibits
The Museum applies examples of experimentation and discovery developed by pioneering inventor-entrepreneurs, within the framework of a modern STEM educational environment. The Race to Power the Future connects the Museum’s historic collection with student activities in the newly expanded Energy Room and complements existing education programs.
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Outdoor Event Pavilion & Diamond Portal
The Diamond Portal and Outdoor Event Pavilion are new exhibit and education spaces with displays that highlight the pioneers of transportation with access to the Museum’s runway. Glass doors from the Diamond Portal open to the Outdoor Event Pavilion to create a unique indoor/outdoor event space with multiple entry points to accommodate school and tour groups of all sizes.
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Energy Room The Race to Power the Future
New STEM education programming fills a unique hole in both Maine’s STEM education community and museum landscape. Our unrivaled collections provide an excellent foundation to build a STEM education program that is unlike any other in New England. The Race to Power the Future gives students access to, and hands-on experience with working models of four energy production concepts:
Steam Power
Combustion Engine
Aerodynamics and Wind Power
Solar Power
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Multi-Use Auditorium & Learning Space
A series of folding walls will allow the Museum to create multiple flexible spaces that can expand or contract based on the needs of each day or event.
An Enhanced Visitor Experience
“Owls Head Transportation Museum is a world class experience.”
~ Tom Rudder, Chairman of the Board
A Growing Museum and a Destination
The Owls Head Transportation Museum’s community is growing. The Museum currently hosts 30,000+ visitors per year on-site, 1,800+ members, 5,000 free 18-and-under admissions, 2,000 exhibitors displaying vehicles at summer events, 200+ volunteers supporting Museum activities — and increasing every year.
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Space Frame
A NASA designed space frame immediately provides visitors with a novel experience. Aerodynamic materials reflect the cutting-edge technologies that continue to inspire transportation pioneers.
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Glass Entry
A panoramic design gives visitors their first taste of the exciting exhibits ahead.
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Main Lobby & Rotunda
An assembly area for students and visitors with access to the museum and student learning spaces.
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Event Pavilion Courtyard
A distinctive covered patio is a connection to the restoration workshops with outdoor dining areas and an entrance via the Diamond Portal for large groups.
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Library & Learning Center
A presentation area historic transportation artifacts.
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On-Site Café and Food Service
The Museum’s café and indoor/outdoor dining spaces will enable families to extend their visit to the Museum.
“It’s like the difference between a house and a home — without people the Museum is just a collection.”
~ Charlie Chiarchiaro, Founding Executive Director
An Innovative Restoration Shop
“Volunteers who have a real feeling for the collections were critical. They give the place real character.”
~ Steve Lang, Founder
New Buildings Completed for a Working Museum
For the past 45 years, the Museum’s extensive collections of historic aircraft, automobiles, bicycles, carriages, and engines have been maintained in increasingly crowded workshop buildings. By doubling the size of restoration facilities, the Museum will expand volunteer education and enable visitors to get a first hand look at Maine’s tradition of mechanical arts.
Volunteer Education
From its earliest days, the Museum has attracted a core of volunteers who have helped maintain the historic collection of ground and air vehicles. Part of the Museum’s mission requires growing the pool of people able to maintain and operate the collections.
Innovative Restoration Shops and Annex
The newly built restoration shops are designed to accommodate expanding aircraft and auto collections and integrate space for a wood shop, machine shop, paint shop and volunteer instruction space. This part of the Museum creates opportunities for visitors and students to see the mechanical arts of the restoration process, as part of its volunteer program.
Ten thousand square feet were added to the existing hangar for a total of 20,000 sq. ft. of integrated restoration workshops. An attached 3,000 sq. ft. addition houses a woodworking shop, paint shop, spray booth, fabrication shop, metal working and welding shops, plus a volunteer break room and offices.
A safe viewing area within the new building visually connects students and visitors to the restoration process as part of their museum experience.
Throughout the year, over 100 volunteers learn and practice a variety of skills including mechanical work to keep engines running and planes flying. Over the past several decades, total volunteer hours have been valued at between $500,000 and $750,000 per year.
“I’ve been involved in lots of living museums. This is the best volunteer program I’ve ever seen.”
~ Karl Erickson, conservator
The newly completed restoration workshop provides for a more productive space for maintaining the historic collection of working automobiles and airplanes while allowing for visitors to observe the restoration process.