The Bath Freight Shed is a long, low building that smells like wood shavings and is lit by twinkling strings of lights in the rafters. When you first enter, a small exhibit space introduces the significance of the place, complete with historic artifacts and models of a tall ship and a fort. Farther in is a sectioned-off workshop where you may meet a rigger parceling line or preparing wooden blocks. Beyond that is a door that leads out onto a deck overlooking the Kennebec River—a deep blue sash through Maine’s verdant landscape, tangling with other rivers and fraying into a vast estuary that’s been the home waters of countless vessels over the centuries. Standing on this same deck, you will find yourself in the shadow of an enormous white shed incubating the latest addition to that timeless fleet.
For the past two decades, volunteers have been hard at work reconstructing the first English-designed oceangoing ship built in the Americas: the 51ft pinnace , launched in 1608 just 10 miles south of where the Bath Freight Shed sits today. Though much of the knowledge about the original 30-ton ship has been lost in the intervening centuries, careful investigation has brought the project back to life with
