A Bath museum has earned top honors from USA Today readers, who gave it top billing in a list of the 10 best maritime museums in the country.
USA Today’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards named the Maine Maritime Museum the Best Maritime Museum after members of the public and readers of USA Today voted on the choices at the beginning of this year.
Maine Maritime Museum bucked national trends of declining attendance, increasing its visitation by 40%, roughly 72,000 visitors, in 2025, according to Amanda Pleau, the museum’s marketing and communications manager.
Nearly one-third of museums reported a decrease in attendance in 2025 due to changes to travel and tourism in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report by the American Alliance of Museums.
“We also experienced folks coming from around the state and New England, even around the country, to visit the exhibit or attend one of the readings of Chris Van Dusen,” Pleau said.
The museum’s “Upon That Isle in Maine: The Story and Works of Chris Van Dusen” exhibit and free admission for children 17 and under helped increase visits. Maine Maritime Museum is extending the “Upon That Isle in Maine” through the rest of the year.
“Looking ahead to the summer season, visitors can expect expanded hours at Flight Deck Pizza and Beer Garden, the continuation of ‘Upon That Isle in Maine,’ and exciting updates to the Percy and Small Shipyard,” Pleau said.
Updates to the Percy and Small Shipyard include a structural remodel of the orientation wing in the Maine Maritime History Building. The remodel will give visitors a better understanding of the Percy and Small Shipyard and serve as a secondary option in case visitors can’t visit the older buildings because of inclement weather, Pleau said. The renovations will conclude this summer.
Boothbay attraction ranks seventh in Best Botanical Garden category
Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay was voted seventh in the Best Botanical Garden category of USA Today’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards, a national honor recognizing outstanding travel and cultural destinations across the United States.
Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens continued to grow its attendance for a fifth straight year, surpassing 2024’s summer attendance by 10%. According to MaineBiz, the gardens ranks as the third-most-visited tourist attraction in Maine, welcoming more than 300,000 guests each year.
“We are so proud of being included in the top 10 for the third year in a row,” said Gretchen Ostherr, president and CEO of Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. “While we rank alongside giant 100-plus-year-old organizations, we have only been around for 19 years, and we’ve got big plans for the future! We are grateful to our community, our members and all the visitors for supporting us and shining a light on the world-class work we are doing in the Midcoast.”
Others in the Best Botanical Garden category are: Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden; Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania; Lauritzen Gardens in Nebraska; Missouri Botanical Garden; Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Michigan; Botanica, The Wichita Gardens in Kansas; Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens in California; Cheekwood Estate & Gardens in Tennessee; and Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens in Florida.
The other top 10 maritime museums were the National Museum of the Great Lake in Ohio, Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut, Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial, Dossin Great Lakes Museum in Michigan, Columbia River Maritime Museum in Oregon, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in Maryland, South Street Seaport Museum in New York, and the Lightship Overfalls in Delaware.
“When I look at the other museums in this category, I see museums in more populated areas, museums with higher attendance and bigger operating budgets,” Pleau said. “I think it is really meaningful that our little corner of Maine took the top spot.”
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