Cobscook Bay State Park
The Cobscook Bay State Park is a State Park in Washington County in the US state of Maine . The 359 acre park is located six kilometers south of Dennysville on a peninsula in Cobscook Bay .
geography
The Cobscook Bay is an unusual estuary with only a narrow entrance to the open sea, a long and winding coastline and relatively few tributaries. The tidal range in Cobscook Bay averages seven meters and can reach up to 8.5 meters, while it averages 2.7 meters on the Maine coast. The area of the park was first explored geologically in 1885 by Nathaniel Shaler , who recognized that the landscape was shaped by three forces of nature: the powerful tides, volcanic rocks and glaciation during the ice ages. The tuff breccias occurring in the park are geologically the Silurianassigned and are therefore up to 420 million years old. The surface was formed by the last ice ages about 12 to 18,000 years ago. Due to the high tides and the low water circulation in the bay, silt is deposited , in Whiting Bay silt thicknesses of up to 28 meters have been measured.
Flora and fauna
The nutrient-rich water flowing from the Gulf of Maine is very rich in plankton , which means that Cobscook Bay has a rich marine fauna of mussels, crustaceans and shellfish, herrings, sea trout , rock bass and Atlantic salmon . Bald eagles and ospreys , seals , otters and occasionally even bears use the bay for foraging. In total there are over 200 species of birds in the park. Cobscook Bay is a resting place for thousands of migratory birds in the spring and autumn park , the peak of the bird migration is late August to early September. In the inner bays, dark ducks and Maine's largest population of bald eagles overwinter . Midges and other mosquitoes are very common from late May to July .
history
The name Cobscook comes from the language of the Native Americans of the Maliseet tribe - Passamaquoddy and means “boiling tide” because of the high tidal range. The park area is part of the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge , which was founded in 1937. In 1964, the sanctuary administration offered the state of Maine the free and perpetual lease of a recreation area created on Whiting Bay. The Maine Parliament voted and Cobscook Bay State Park was established.
Tourist facilities
There is a fee to visit the park. The park has a campsite with 100 spaces, sanitary facilities, a picnic area and a boat dock. The park is open from May 15th to October 15th. There are two short walks through the park that run along the coast and to lookout points.
Web links
- State Park website
- Maine Geological Survey information on the geology of the park
- Cobscook Bay State Park on the United States Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System
Coordinates: 44 ° 50 '29.3 " N , 67 ° 9' 0.9" W.