The Giant Lobster at Pemaquid Point

While visiting Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, I expected to learn about shipwrecks, lighthouse keepers, and Maine’s rocky coast. I didn’t expect one of the exhibits that would capture my attention most to be a giant lobster.

Displayed inside the Fishermen’s Museum at Pemaquid Point is a mounted lobster weighing twenty-eight pounds. It was caught off the coast of Rhode Island during the 1960s and serves as a reminder of the remarkable size these crustaceans can attain. A nearby display estimates the ages of lobsters by their weight, suggesting that an animal of this size had spent many decades growing beneath the waters of the North Atlantic. While modern scientists recognize that a lobster’s exact age cannot be determined from its size alone, there is little doubt that this was an exceptionally old animal.

For centuries, lobsters have been an important part of life along the New England coast. Early colonists considered them so plentiful that they often washed ashore after storms. They were commonly used as fertilizer, fed to livestock, or served to prisoners and indentured servants. Over time, however, improvements in transportation and changing tastes transformed the lobster into one of New England’s most celebrated seafood delicacies and one of Maine’s defining industries.

The lighthouse and the lobster may seem like very different exhibits, yet together they tell the story of a coast shaped by both the sea’s dangers and its abundance.  Sometimes the most memorable museum exhibits are the ones we never expected to find. This giant lobster is more than a curiosity. It is a reminder of the rich maritime heritage that has sustained New England communities for generations and continues to define the character of Maine’s coast today.