Darling Marine Center

Welcome

Located in the small town of Walpole, 60 miles northeast of Portland and 100 miles south of the University’s Orono campus, the Darling Marine Center (DMC) functions year round as a research and educational facility serving the marine interests of faculty, staff, students, and visiting investigators from around the world.

The Darling Marine Center was founded in 1965 upon the donation of a 127-acre farm by Ira C. Darling, a retired Chicago insurance executive, to the University of Maine with the purpose of establishing a marine laboratory. Today the Center occupies 170 acres of largely wooded property with 2 km. of pristine water frontage on the Damariscotta River estuary. The DMC has a year-round population of about 50 people, including faculty, staff, and students. In the summer our population swells to over 100 people with undergraduate interns, course participants and visiting scientists.

The University of Maine‘s Darling Marine Center is part of the College of Earth, Life, and Health Sciences. Faculty at the Center are members of the University’s School of Marine Sciences. The Darling Marine Center is a member of the National Association of Marine Laboratories and the New England Association of Marine and Great Lakes Laboratories. Dr. Heather Leslie is the Director of the Darling Marine Center.