Maine Lobsterman Memorial

In a town known for statues of military figures on horses, the modest Maine Lobsterman Memorial makes for a refreshingly modest tribute in the nation’s capitol. A seven foot tall bronze figure hunches over a captive crustacean, sliding a claw plug into place to ward off unwanted pinching. The effect is simultaneously a sincere tribute to blue collar fishermen, and a obvious-but-harmless constituent boondoggle from the state’s political representatives.

The first Lobsterman Memorial was created for the 1939 / 1940 World’s Fair in New York, and based on a real life lobsterman. Great Depression-era funding constraints ruled out the priciest materials, and the artist opted to finish his commission in plaster and painted bronze. The Lobsterman returned to Maine after the World Fair, and bounced about from museum to museum before damage from rats threatened to destroy the tasty plaster figure.

To recast the plaster lobster as a bronze $30,000 was raised from Mainers, and Senator Edmond Muskie introduced a joint resolution to accept the permanent Lobsterman Memorial on behalf of the federal government. And in 1983 the completed shrine was unveiled outside the Maine Avenue Fish Market. (A fitting location at first glance, though a purist would point out that the Potomac River is crab country).

All was well and good until a 2011 redevelopment proposal along Washington’s southwest waterfront added the Lobsterman Memorial onto the list of endangered statuary species. Luckily, the state’s congressional delegation stepped up again, with Sen. Susan Collins arguing that the Lobsterman “should always be respected and remain near the water.” Preservation won the fight, and the Maine Lobsterman Memorial was recently unveiled at an equally respectful spot nearby on the wharf.