MCCURDY SMOKEHOUSE MUSEUM
and Mulholland Market Gallery
ABOUT US
The Historic McCurdy's Herring Smokehouse complex, owned since 1996 by Lubec Landmarks, Inc. (a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable corporation), is a unique site in both Maine and the United States. Its buildings stand on tall log pilings in the swift tidal currents of the Lubec Narrows where the Bay of Fundy tides can range as high as 25 feet twice daily. Beginning in the 1890s and until 1991, herring were smoked here in the traditional process with European roots.
At one time during the peak of the fish industry in Lubec in the 1920s, there were over 20 sardine canneries and almost 30 herring smokehouses. By the mid-1970s McCurdy's stood alone, the last smokehouse still curing herring for markets around the country.
The history of herring smoking is being told today in our Skinning/Packing Shed museum, which opened to the public in 2007 with exhibits and tours. The McCurdy Smokehouse Complex was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993, based on its significance as an industrial site where a unique trade was practiced. When it closed in 1991, it was the last herring smokehouse in the U.S. still in operation. Afterwards, commercial herring smoking completely vanished in the U.S.
McCurdy's was an important economic hub of the community when it closed, as all of the sardine canneries had already closed their doors. All but a couple of the sardine cannery buildings are gone.
McCurdy's is not just the last site where the buildings of herring smoking - one of the most important industries of downcast Maine - are preserved, it also stands for some of the only buildings representing the working waterfronts of the region from a vanished era. There used to be many different types of buildings along the Lubec waterfront. There were "coal pockets", lumber wharves, ship chandleries, boat building yards, sardine canneries, and of course the other smokehouses that at one time lined the waterfronts on all the Water Streets of Washington County towns. McCurdy's is truly the "last of the last".
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OUR BOARD
WHAT WE DO
It is the mission of Lubec Landmarks to encourage widespread appreciation and understanding of the maritime and coastal cultural heritage of this rural Downeast community through preservation of the McCurdy Smokehouse complex and through education and public outreach.
We operate the Historic McCurdy Smokehouse Museum, a "period" style museum currently located in our Skinning/Packing Shed. Inside, our docents help visitors discover how Atlantic herring were pickled, smoked, and processed in the traditional method brought over from Europe hundreds of years ago. We often feature former employees of the McCurdy Smokehouse operation, who use their firsthand knowledge and museum artifacts to explain and demonstrate the process of the commercial herring smokehouse industry. We recognize the efforts taken by generations of local workers who made the smokehouse industry an economic success. We are open to the public for drop-in tours, private group tours, and enjoy engaging with all people curious about heritage and the industries that sustained Lubec, Maine. We charge a modest entrance fee ($4) to help pay for the upkeep of our historic buildings.
We also operate an art gallery and gift shop in our Mulholland Brothers Market building, which was built in the late 1860s and was a grocery store for many years before it served as a storage building for the smokehouse operation. We typically have a series of art exhibitions during the summer months, and we also sell craft items from local artisans in our gift shop. Commissions from these sales also serve as income to support preservation efforts and programs.
The museum, gallery, and gift shop are staffed completely by unpaid volunteers who believe in and strive to carry out the mission of Lubec Landmarks. We have a crew of volunteers who serve on the Preservation Committee and are responsible for maintaining our buildings. We also have a crew of volunteers on the Grounds Committee who are responsible for our gardens and grounds.
EVENTS of 2025
May 28-June 3
Artwork from children attending the Lubec Community Outreach Center After School Program.
June 5-24 Reception: Saturday, June 7
Linda Buckmaster: Elemental: A Miscellany of Salt Cod and Islands Banners
Writing workshop Landmarks in conjunction with the Library June 7, 10:00-12:00 pm
Writing About Place: Landscape, People and Story.
Leslie Bowman - Oil Paintings
June 26-July 15 Reception: Saturday, June 28
Heidi Herzbereger - Watercolors
Debra Olson - Oil Paintings and Sculpture
July 10 Gretchen Mead Book Reception and Signing: “What is Winter Like Here?” she asked.: A Natural History of Winter.
July 17-August 5 Reception: Saturday, July 19
Sherry Ashby - Woodcuts
Robin Rier - Plein Air Oil Paintings
August 7-August 26 Reception: Saturday, August 9
Alison Brynn Ross - Oil Paintings
Donna Steisfeld - Pastel Drawings *August 7-15 only
August 28-Sept 16 Reception: Saturday, August 30
Group Show: Eight Artists – variety of art from sculpture, oil painting and pastel painting to printmaking and photography.
Sept 18th-Oct 1 Reception: Saturday, September 20
Jason Overby – Photography
Group Show
All receptions are from 5:00 to 7:00 pm
GALLERY
ABOUT LUBEC
Lubec, Maine is the easternmost place in the United States (yes, even further east than Eastport). A thin ribbon of water separates "downtown" Lubec from the Canadian island of Campobello. This ribbon of water, the Lubec Narrows, is a virtual reversing river, with fast currents fluctuating with the massive tides of the Bay of Fundy, home of the highest tidal range in the world. Currently, over 1300 people call Lubec "home" year-round. In the 1920s, there were over 20 sardine canneries, a sardine can factory, a movie theater and bowling alley, about 20 herring smokehouses, and about 4,000 people residing here. Now, none of the smokehouse or sardine operations are left.
However, Lubec is still a fishing community for clamming, lobstering, scalloping, urchin and mussels. Increasingly, tourism is becoming an economic driver of the region. We are home to West Quoddy Head Light, the picturesque candy-striped lighthouse and easternmost point in the U.S., which attracts many travelers. Lubec also has many gorgeous hiking trails on the "bold coast" between Lubec and Cutler. The beautiful blue waters of the Bay of Fundy, Cobscook Bay, and Passamaquoddy Bays are making this an eco-tourism destination for kayakers, sailors, whale watchers, and adventurers.
A good deal of tourism traffic passes through Lubec each day and over the bridge to Campobello Island, New Brunswick. The island is home to the Roosevelt Campobello International Park (RCIP), where Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt's summer cottage is located.
HOURS
The McCurdy Smokehouse Museum and The Mulholland Gallery have closed for the 2025 season. We look forward to seeing you in the spring.
The Mulholland Gallery will be open as follows:
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Sunday: 10:00 to 3:30
Monday: 10:00 to 4:00
Tuesday: 10:00 to 1:00
Most Wednesdays: 10:00 to 4:00
Thursday. 1:00 to 4:00
Summer Keys Student Concert Afternoon
Friday: 10:00 to 4:00
Saturday: 10:00 to 1:00
Volunteers are not always available so call ahead to be sure
207-733-0114
The Smokehouse Museum will be open as follows:
Thursday: 10:00 to 4:00
Friday: 10:00 to 4:00
Saturday: 10:00 to 4:00
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*Please note that both our Museum and Gallery are run by volunteers and as such, hours can change based on availability. Please be sure to call ahead to confirm we are open at (207) 733-0114 or check our Facebook page*