Maine Lobsterman

The Maine Lobsterman Statue

Like most historical statues in cities around the country, people seem to just walk by this without noticing. Although to be fair that's kind of an unfair observation, people definitely notice it, walking into this thing would hurt.

When we visited it, it was a cold rainy day in Portland and the square this resides in was empty. Not that I blame anybody, we were there to watch a movie in the Nickelodeon and I wanted to get inside as quick as possible. This statue was definitely worth the time we gave it however. I grew up spending most of the time I spent with my dad on a fishing boat so I felt a kind of connection to this statue. I'm willing to say the expression on this man's face was the most seen expression of my childhood.

Fisherman in Maine are true fisherman. They work incredibly hard and are under valued and often mistreated. Especially in cities such as Portland and Portsmouth, cities founded on their sweat and hard work. Cities that despite their founding industries, continue to modernize and push back against the old ways of making a living off the ocean.

Pardon me if I'm getting off on a bit of a rant here, but some of the bravest, hardest working, wisest, funniest, and kindest people I've ever met have been fisherman. Behind their salt crusted and sun dried skins they're just people doing what they have to to survive. My father included in this, some of the best times I've ever had were spent 20 miles out to sea with only the faintest hint of land in sight. Rocking gentle with the waves as you joke and talk about current and most of all past events. Poking fun at the ritzy yacht owners from the Wentworth on the radio. I still remember when one of the rich guys was bragging about eating pancakes and drinking mimosas over the radio, only to be cut off by a lobsterman casually talking about the 4 lobsters he had boiling. That's the kind of people this statue was built for, I appreciate that.

Anyways back to the history of the statue. This isn't the original, the original was build for the worlds fair in 1939 by a sculptor named Kahill. The version that now resides in downtown Portland was made out of bronze in 1977. Two other bronze version exist, one in Harpswell, Maine, and another in the capital Washington D.C..

Even though they're replicas it's good to see this part of our past and present for that matter, preserved for people to see. Even if most ignore it, it will always be there to remind us of what our great city and state came from.