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| DH holds a piece of moon rock. |
We recently took our first long-distance field trip in months. Two lures - Maine rescinded travel restriction on visitors from our state, and we read about the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum. After visiting friends in Portland, on their outdoor terrace, we continued on to Bethel, Maine.
The museum is right on the main street, and has a rock garden - emphasis on rocks - skirting the building. This the 200th anniversary of Maine's statehood and Maine's state gem is the tourmaline. Sadly, the planned celebrations of both Maine and the tourmaline had to be post-poned. At the time of this writing, the museum has had to shutter its doors again due to a water leak.
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| Banners give a hint of the goodies inside. |
One thing we like very much is that this isn't just a display of interesting objects - the museum makes a real effort to tell the stories of the people behind the work of prospecting for minerals such as feldspar, used in the production of porcelain, and for gemstones. One long-time "rock whisperer" is Frank Perham, a senior statesman among Maine geologists and miners. The museum founders, Mary McFadden and Lawrence Stifler, acquired much of the core collection from Mr. Perham, whose father Stanley and mother Hazel managed a mineral and gem retail store for many years. Many of the historic finds in Maine have been acquired by Harvard and the American Natural History Museum, so it is particularly pleasing that many items will remain in the state in which they were discovered.
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| Monocline feldspar and paver dedicated to Frank and Mary Perham. |
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| Large samples of Maine's minerals and ores in the rock garden. |
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| Note the crystal motifs of the window grilles. |
We had the museum pretty much to ourselves when we visited; the masked volunteers were helpful and enthusiastic, but not intrusive. One highlight is the opportunity to hold a piece of the moon (see first image above). Not a lunar rock retrieved by astronauts, but a chunk ejected from the moon which fell to earth as a meteorite. Very cool. We'll be returning.