More Than Vacationland - Homeland

Dr. Robert Abbe, a New York City surgeon and summer resident of Bar Harbor, spent the 1920s assembling a collection of native American artifacts from the Frenchman Bay area, then persuaded others with similar collections to join him in establishing a museum. Dedicated to its founder (who had died earlier that year), and named for him, it opened at the edge of Sieur de Monts Spring in August 1928.
Also that year, the Abbe Museum became the first institution in Maine to sponsor archaeological research, and it is now the main repository for archaeological collections from the Down East region. Since then, the museum’s scope has expanded to ethnography, and — among other collections representing 10,000 years of Native American culture and history in Maine — the Abbe now houses the largest and best documented collection of the state’s Indian basketry.
In the late 1990s the museum, having outgrown its original location, renovated and expanded the 1893 YMCA building on Mt. Desert Street in Bar Harbor. Since September 2001, this downtown building has been open year-round, while the original Abbe at Sieur de Monts Spring remains open seasonally from mid-May to mid-October.
In recent years, the Abbe Museum has grown from a small trailside museum, privately operated within Acadia National Park, to an exciting contemporary museum in the heart of downtown Bar Harbor. In 2013, the Museum became the first and only Smithsonian Affiliate in the state of Maine.
At the Abbe’s downtown museum, visitors find dynamic and stimulating exhibitions and activities interspersed with spaces for quiet reflection. The history and cultures of the Native people in Maine, the Wabanaki, are showcased through changing exhibitions, special events, teacher workshops, archaeology field schools, and workshops for children and adults.
From spring through fall, the Abbe Museum’s historic trailside museum at Sieur de Monts Spring continues to offer visitors a step back in time to early 20th century presentations of Native American archaeology in Maine.
For more information, please visit the Abbe Museum Website.
MUSEUM HOURS & LOCATION
Downtown Location
26 Mt Desert Street
Bar Harbor, ME 04609
Summer Hours:
May 1 – October 31
Open daily 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Winter Hours:
November 2 – April 28
Open Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays 10 am – 4 pm
CLOSED JANUARY
Admission:
May 1 – October 31
Adults:  $8
Seniors: $7
Children 11-17:  $4
Children 10 and under: Free
Includes admission to the Abbe at Sieur de Monts Spring
FREE admission to Native Americans and Abbe members
Sieur de Monts Spring Location
49 Sweetwater Circle
Acadia National Park
Bar Harbor, ME 04609
Summer Hours:
Open daily 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
May 25th – October
CLOSED WINTER
Admission:
Adults: $3
Children ages 11-17: $1
Children 10 and under: Free
FREE to Native Americans and Abbe members.
Visit our downtown location to get your Sieur de Monts ticket price deducted from admission.