Criterion C: Architecture
Period of Significance: 1906
Local Level of Significance
The Mary E. is a two-masted, auxiliary schooner designed and built in 1906 by Thomas Hagan in Bath, Sagadahoc County, Maine. Designed as a 46' fishing schooner, she was used in various fisheries and as a coastal trader for more than fifty years before being converted to recreational use in 1965 after having been abandoned. In 2017-18 she was acquired by the Maine Maritime Museum and restored to her original design. The vessel is berthed at their dock on the Kennebec River south of the shipyard from which she was launched. Although currently fitted out as a fishing schooner, she is used as an educational vessel providing short sails and day trips from the museum. The original design and rig have been restored reflecting a typical Maine gaff-rigged, mid-sized fishing schooner that is adaptable for multiple uses and sailing environments. The Mary E. is a good example of the characteristics of her type, period and method of construction. She is eligible for listing in the National Register under Criteria C Architecture at the local level with a period of significance of her 1906 construction date. Such wood schooners were once common along coastal U.S. waters, and the Mary E. is the oldest known purpose-built wood fishing schooner built on the Kennebec River.