2 Best Sights in Machias Bay Area, Down East Coast

In this gambrel-roofed tavern home, the men of Machias laid the plans that culminated in the capture of the Margaretta, an armed British schooner, on June 12, 1775. Despite being outnumbered and out-armed, a small group under the leadership of Jeremiah O'Brien took the ship during the Revolutionary War's first naval battle; wounded British sailors were brought to the modest dwelling, where his brother-in-law Job Burnham lived. The mustard-yellow clapboard home at the end of the downtown commercial district has period furnishings and household items showing what life was like in Colonial times. There are also O'Brien family artifacts, including a photo of one of five U.S. Navy ships named for Jeremiah. On the National Register of Historic Places, the dwelling is among 21 in the country deemed most important to the Revolution. There are docent-led tours.

The 1810 home-turned-museum contains an extensive collection of old photographs, period furniture, housewares, and other memorabilia, including quilts and ship models. Operated by and headquarters for the Machiasport Historical Society, the building hugs Route 92 as it winds through the small pretty-as-a-picture village on Machias Bay. The Marine Room highlights the area’s seafaring and shipbuilding past. A model schoolroom and post office, a display about the sardine canning industry here decades ago, and a large collection of carpentry tools occupy the adjacent Cooper House, a utilitarian building constructed in 1850. Guided tours are available.