Famed Moosehead Lake steamship Katahdin celebrates 109 years Sunday

GREENVILLE — Birthdays are milestones. They offer us an opportunity to reflect on the chapters in our lives: the early years, the middle years, the later years and, if we’re lucky, the retirement years. For some, each new chapter offers an opportunity for adventure! The beloved steamship, Katahdin, docked at the Moosehead Marine Museum in Greenville, will be celebrating her 109th birthday on Sunday, Aug. 20. The Katahdin, affectionately known as “The Kate,” continues to explore new chapters including becoming a movie star! Retirement is not in sight!

Her continued operation today serves to remind us of the region’s rich history and her illustrious role in it. As far back as the mid-1800s, people from all over the eastern seaboard were discovering the North Maine woods and lakes. The launch of the Katahdin in 1914 signaled a new era when grand hotels such as the Mount Kineo House and Squaw Mountain Inn dotted the shores of Moosehead Lake and offered relief from urban heat and stress as well as exciting outdoor experiences. Back then, steamships were the only means of travel for tourists who reached Greenville by horse and buggy or by train.

As this glorious chapter came to a close in the late 1920s and 1930s, and a global depression, steamships began to go the way of the horse and buggy. Also at this time, the arrival of automobiles led to the abandonment of the Katahdin’s sisters — some to decay on the shore, others to be burned or just sunk.

But the Katahdin persisted. Her next chapter was hauling logs down the length of the lake for the pulp and paper industry. She maintained this activity for nearly 40 years. But as always happens in life, changes occurred. The log drives across Moosehead Lake came to an end in 1975. Thus, after 61 years of continuous service, from 1914 to 1975, it looked like life might finally be handing The Kate a retirement slip. Her work for all those years had been purely industrial under harsh conditions, and attention to anything other than engines and propellers was limited. She was in rough shape!

Retirement was not in the cards. The Kate was rescued by visionary community leaders who saw the potential for her to be a floating exhibit. They formed the Moosehead Marine Museum and acquired the Katahdin as its sole asset. At the end of a 10-year effort to restore her, the Kate resumed providing tourist rides in 1986. The Katahdin we know today has continued to provide service to tourists and locals for nearly 36 years, sailing rain or shine.

Because the Kate remains in the water all year and is not put in dry dock in the off season the boat does experience wear and tear. Notably, few, if any vessels, have served their communities, especially in the rigorous yearlong conditions of the Central Highlands of Maine, for such an extended period of time.

Today, the Moosehead Marine Museum is two years into a 5-year effort to replace and/or restore worn sections of the boat including restoring railings and decking, painting the hull, and ensuring the continued operation of the Katahdin on Moosehead Lake for 25 years!