Maine’s First Ship has announced its annual summer woodworking camp. Renamed “Plank and Keel Woodworking Camp,” the summer program is open to students entering grades 7 through 10.

“We offer students a chance to develop and hone woodworking skills related to wooden boat-building,” said instructor George Sprague of Bath, in a press release, including working on Virginia alongside MFS’s volunteer shipwrights.

Virginia is a reconstruction of a ship built by English colonists at the mouth of the Kennebec River in 1607. The replica is being built behind the Bath Freight Shed.

Camp is held in the Bath Freight Shed in downtown Bath. There are two three-week summer sessions being offered: Session I is July 11-28 and Session II will be held Aug. 1-18. Each session is Monday- Thursday 8 am until noon. Students in each session will get to build a half-hull model of Virginia, and construct a 12-foot Bevin’s skiff. Field trips to local woodworking and boat shops, and rowing on the Kennebec River are also included.

Volunteers are also working with the students on the history of Virginia and the colony who built her. “Virginia’s connection to our own maritime history excites the students,” said Merry Chapin, board member and chair of the MFS Education Committee. “They are also excited to be working near Virginia.”

The newly renovated MFS Visitor Center in the Freight Shed that tells the history of the ship and the colony will be a key element of the students’ learning. MFS recently received a grant from the Maine Humanities Council to update its history and archeology exhibit.

“Volunteer docents will also be helping students experience that history,” said Allison Hepler, MFS board member and volunteer docent.

This is the seventh year of MFS’s summer program for middle and high school aged students. There is no cost to the program, and interested students and parents should contact Maine’s First Ship in its new office above J.R. Maxwell’s at (207) 443-4242, or mfs1@myfairpoint.net. Interested people of all ages can also stop by the boat shop on Wednesdays and Saturdays and speak with any of the volunteer shipwrights. Students can download an application from the website, mfship.org.