What was it like to travel long distances by sail or steam in the 1850s?  How did the experience of traveling change with the advent of the automobile but before roads were widely paved?  When were the bridges built which made the journey up the coast easier by car?  First came paddle wheel steamboats, then the railroad which competed with the more modern propeller driven boats. Learn what it was like to drive over the rickety bridge from Portsmouth into Maine, take the ferry in Bath, and then drive the winding rural roads to Boothbay in 1915. When the Maine Turnpike was constructed, it was a new and innovative idea by the Maine Legislature, the first of its type in the country.

This talk was presented to a packed audience last winter and is back by popular demand!  Learn the joys and the sorrows of traveling by steamboat, railroad, and eventually by automobile in this illustrated talk by George Barrett, “How We Traveled From Boston to Boothbay, 1850 to 1950,” at Boothbay Railway Village on Tuesday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m.  Admission is free, $5 donation appreciated.

Barrett has a degree in civil engineering and traveled the state of Maine selling machinery to road building contractors as well as loggers, paper mills and municipalities. He taught seamanship and navigation for the Power Squadron and Coast Guard Auxiliary. Barrett has lived in Maine for 40 years, has been involved in Owls Head Transportation Museum and is on the board of the Boothbay Railway Village.

Boothbay Railway Village is located at 586 Wiscasset Road (Route 27), Boothbay, Maine 04537.  For more information call 207-633-4727 or go to www.railwayvillage.org.