Moosehead museum receives $25,000 grant Award will aid steamboat deck planking project

GREENVILLE – The Davis Family Foundation of Falmouth has awarded $25,000 to the Moosehead Marine Museum to help finish the first deck planking on the steamboat Katahdin.

The Davis Family Foundation was created by the family that started Shaw’s Supermarkets in Portland, a chain found throughout New England. This is the second $25,000 grant given by the foundation since the Moosehead Marine Museum began its capital campaign six years ago, according to Richard “Duke” McKeil, museum director.

“I’m really tickled,” McKeil said, Tuesday. “We’ve had a good year with the Kate; this year has been extraordinary.”

The award earmarked for the “Hit the Deck” project will finish the work that began in the spring of 2000. The first deck is about 40 percent complete with 3- to 6-inch fitted southern yellow pine, McKeil said.

The Davis grant will allow the vessel to qualify for a grant from the Community Development division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture which required that its $22,750 be the last dollars spent on the $65,000 project, McKeil said. The difference between the grant from the foundation and the federal funds has been raised through the capital campaign, donations and other grants.

The funds also will provide for an archival project which will inventory the museum’s collection and scan all photos, letters, documents and memorabilia into a computer program to be shared with interested individuals, scholars and museum.

With the completion of the restoration campaign, the museum hopes to catalog its collection, emphasize its education mission and provide better access for historical research, according to McKeil.