Moosehead Marine Museum To Produce Film About Sunken Steamboats In Moosehead Lake [VIDEOS]

Just imagine back in the year 1900, twenty-five steamboats transporting hundreds of tourists to and from the grand hotels on Moosehead Lake.  Some of those boats still rest on the bottom of the lake.

The Moosehead Marine Museum in partnership with Ryan Robbins, founder of Moosehead Lake Divers, are about to kick off production of their historical documentary film:  The Sunken Steamboats of Moosehead Lake, and the Weyerhaeuser Giving Fund has awarded $5,000 to the project. The new documentary will feature underwater video of steamboat wrecks in the lake, historical photos, and excerpts of oral history interviews.

"There's a sense of urgency once you start meeting and talking to people who were personally involved with the steamboats, said Liz McKeil, Executive Director of the Moosehead Marine Museum said in a recent press release.  "There just aren't many people left who remember that time.  We want to capture this while we still can…and we're really excited Weyerhaeuser is kicking things off with the first major contribution."

As it is today, the Moosehead Lake region is a very popular vacation destination.  In the early 1900s tourists from Boston and New York would take a train to the area and then hop onto a steamboat for a ride to their hotel.  The video above is an older documentary titled "The Shipwrecks Of Moosehead Lake" which actually shows some underwater footage of  those discarded steamboats that are still located there today.

The project is looking for donations to pull off the new movie, and have set up a GoFundMe account.

Both Robbins and McKeil are actively pursuing other grant sponsors to keep the project moving forward.  They plan to conduct a dozen or so oral history interviews and have an updated trailer featuring the oral history part of the project ready in time for the 40^th anniversary of the Moosehead Marine Museum this summer!