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A Very Cool Visit

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Good morning everyone. We had a fabulous weekend with the kids playing tourist in our own backyard. Guests always ask what we do during the winter and this weekend was “Courtney’s Pick.” We were celebrating her 8th birthday and she wanted to go visit Fort Knox (no gold here) and Fort Point State Park. Just a 45 minute drive from home and with a few friends in tow we explored the coldest day of the season. Wow, was it cold! See what I mean about bragging rights. It was so cold… well, you get the point.

Fort Knox is a small state park built around the largest granite fortification in Maine. Built between 1844 and 1864, long after the Revolution was over, the fort protects the narrowest section of the Penobscot River, the key to the highly valued timber resources up river in the deep Maine woods. I can’t imagine the amount of energy it must have taken to cut, move and build the fort from the tremendous number of granite blocks that are still as intact as the day they were placed. I can only guess that many schooners were kept busy moving granite blocks in their holds. The kids loved running through the tunnels armed with headlamps and wild imaginations.

Just a short drive away we visited Fort Point Sate Park, a place quite familiar to Mary Day. We anchor up in Fort Point Cove a few times each summer especially during our lighthouse and natural history tours. Ranger Terry Cole always welcomes us ashore and gives tours of the lighthouse (complete with original fourth order fresnel lens). The Coles were not home, nor were the summer residents of this berry filled nest but the familiar fruit trees, the bell hanging in its tower, and the sand spit of a beach covered with rockweed were in season. Walking around the park was like visiting an old friend. As we walked back to our car a lone seal poked its head up from the icy waters below the bell tower. I did my usual "oooh-oooh-oooh... look, a seal" dance, as much a kid as the kids. How cool is that?

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.
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AL from Alabama said…
We had the opportunity to visit Fort Knox on one of our recent trips to Maine. My understanding was that it was built to protect the valuable timber from a possible invasion from the British. It was manned during the Civil War, but I do not believe it saw any action then. Speaking of such there is one historical note I have found to be interesting. Some historians aver that the action at Little Round Top, during the battle of Gettysburg was the turning point of the war. Little Round Top was defended by the 20th Maine, under the command of Joshua Chamberlain, who was a graduate of Bowdoin and it's future president. The Confederate troops were the 15Alabama Regiment, under the command of Colonel William Oates, who was born in Pike County Alabama. Chamberlain was a brilliant leader and tactician. At the end of the war he was put in charge of the surrendering troops at Appomatox, but he was later criticized for his actions there, because he saluted the confederate troops as they marched past, in honor of their heroic efforts. Maybe that is why some of us feel close ties to the State of Maine.
November 25, 2008 at 10:52 AM
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