Project Puffin Visitor Center

We went for a nature cruise out of Port Clyde. Very enjoyable including a visit to Eastern Egg Rock with nesting puffins.
We stopped at the visitor center in part to answer my burning question; why are people so infatuated with puffins?
All the brochures show majestic, colorful and penguin-​like creatures.
In person they are tiny and aloof.
But upon our visit and viewing the documentary I now see the puffin as a symbol of hope and some what understand the emotional attachment to the tiny and still aloof birds.

An excellent little shop in the front if the visitor center. Back room includes an example of the blind that are used on the islands. The live camera from the puffin burrow provides an interesting window into the birds lives, and the video explains how these colonies were restored. This visitor center is paired greatly with a trip to seal island.

If you have children you must stop here if you are around Rockland. They have a little presentation about puffins, gift shop, habitat for the kids to climb into as well as a live camera set up for streaming of the puffins that are currently living on the islands off the coast. Always good to support a good cause.

Certainly a cute place to stop if you’re walking around Rockland. Parking is just across the street. A guide in the giftshop or a documentary video in the back will tell you the story of how Maine lost their puffin population and the partially-​successful efforts they’ve made to reestablish them.
I particularly enjoyed the hand-​painted wood puffin models they placed on the islands to entice the puffins to come back (you can see a few in the shop), and the images of puffin-​feather fashionable attire that drove the local population down.

Interestnig and informative film about the puffins on the Maine coastal islands, and a nice gift shop.

This little shop is a larger part of the Project Puffin supported by the Audubon Society. The gift shop itself sells just about anything puffin (puffin dolls, jewelry, bookmarks, educational books, t-​shirts, art, etc.) with profits going to Project Puffin and there is a 20 minute educational video on the origins of the Project Puffin and the Northern Egg Rock Island re-​inhabitation. In June and July, they feature a live video of a puffin colony. There are some other hands on exhibits that are great for kids. I enjoyed this place the most in my tour of Rockland and my nieces enjoyed it too.
The video and the shop are free to enjoy, but they do ask for donations (suggested amount is $ 5).