VisitMaine, the official tourism site of the State of Maine, just tipped us on several museums in Maine that offer affordable admissions charges and lots of educational and entertaining cultural offerings…

The L.C. Bates Museum in Hinckley features a collection of natural history and cultural exhibits, including exotic bird and butterfly specimens  as well as a marlin caught by Ernest Hemingway. The admission is only $1 for visitors under 18, and $3 for adults. The George B. Dorr Museum of Natural History, at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor (near Acadia National Park), offers fine exhibitions on whales, seabirds and land animals. Admission to to the museum is by donation. Additionally, The University of Maine, Bates, Bowdoin and Colby College art museums offer free admission year-round. The Portland Museum of Art in Portland has free admission every Friday evening from 5-9 p.m., as does the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland every Sunday from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. For more information, log onto www.maineartmuseums.org.