Experience the History of Trolleys

A weekend road trip, sometimes even a day trip in the New England area, is the best way to enjoy a beautiful late spring day. On the drive up to Maine, all I knew was I was going to see a trolley museum. This museum was supposedly the ‘oldest railway museum in the country’. Up until recently, I didn’t even know the form of mass transit in the shape of trolleys had its own museum.

Cable cars, street cars, trolleys – call them what you want, but there’s a lot of history behind these vehicles. From being the main mode of transportation before the great explosion of cars on the road to the now only seen in major cities, there have been a lot of changes in trolley cars over the years. My boy is only just starting to walk now, but this Seashore Trolley Museum is a must see attraction for kids of all ages for toddlers up to teens who geek out over trains.

I’ve always loved trolleys, and I didn’t think it would be so interesting. But this museum had trolley cars of all different shapes, sizes, and from all over the United States. During the trolley ride, there were at least 3 other young kids on the trolley – all full of happy smiles.

The Seashore Trolley Museum had a whole building with a model train set of the Maine Central Railroad, which will be much more exciting when my kid is a few inches taller. Another part of the museum’s campus is a dumping ground of buses, and across the way is a barn called the Restoration Shop. the Restoration Shop displays the history of construction of trolley cars, as well as showing renovations of trolleys.

The fun part about this museum for little ones is there are a couple interactive exhibits. The big interactive exhibit is the trolley ride that is included with admission to the museum (kids under 2 is free), but there is another barn that houses different model trolley cars.

There is nothing more exciting than stepping inside the trolley car, and being taken back in time to long ago – a far away time when electricity was the newest invention in technology. On a day with nice weather, walking in the grass between different buildings on the Seashore Trolley Museum’s campus is a fun adventure for litle explorers and their grown ups.

In the visitor center, there is a huge gift shop with lots of Daniel the Tiger stuffies for any kids who love the show Daniel the Tiger. A lot of toy train sets, train decorated cups/bottles, and other train themed accessories were decorating the gift shop for visitors. Across the hall from the gift shop was an exhibit room lined up with a timeline on the history of trolley cars around the US.

Around the holidays, there are seasonal events such as a trolley ride to a pumpkin patch in late Sept-October and a trolley ride all decorated for Christmas during the Prelude (the first two weeks in December). For admission on the trolley in October, you get to pick one pumpkin from the field along the trolley route. And don’t worry about the cold weather, back at the turn of the century these trolleys had heat so the trolley car will be heated for you.

Rainy day or sunny day, this is an all weather kind of museum that is great for all ages. I highly recommend bringing your kids here on your next trip to Southern Maine. It is a hidden gem in the north of Kennebunkport. Seashore Trolley Museum is at 195 Log Cabin Road in Kennebunkport, and their website is trolleymuseum.org.