Fort Point State Park
The Fort Point State Park is a state park in Waldo County in the US state of Maine . The 48-acre park is located on an elongated wooded peninsula five kilometers north of Stockton Springs at the mouth of the Penobscot River .
history
The park, established in 1974, contains the remains of historic Fort Pownall and the Fort Point Lighthouse .
Fort Pownall
Thomas Pownall , the British governor of Massachusetts , had a fort built as a strategically important outpost at the mouth of the Penobscot River during the Seven Years' War in 1759. The fort was named after him and consisted of a central log house with four bastions at the corners. This star-shaped structure was surrounded by a palisade, a moat and an earth wall. The facility, which was unusual in North America at the time, no longer had to prove itself militarily, as the war in North America was over shortly after the fortress was completed. However, the fort encouraged English settlers to settle on the Penobscot River and the fort served as a trading post.
Shortly before the outbreak of open fighting during the American Revolutionary War , British sailors removed the fortress' cannons in March 1775 so that they would not fall into the hands of the rebels. In return, the rebels burned the log house and filled the trench so that the fort could not serve as a base for the British.
Today only remnants of the earth walls and foundations of Fort Pownall remain. Information boards and a memorial stone point to the former fort.
Fort Point Light
As the port of Bangor became increasingly important, the Fort Point Light beacon was built in 1836 on the western side of the mouth of the Penobscot River . The granite beacon was replaced in 1857 by today's nine-meter-high square brick tower. In the same year the wooden lighthouse keeper's house was built. The top of the tower is 27 meters above sea level, the beacon can be seen from a distance of up to 16 kilometers. In 1890, the lighthouse was supplemented by a small wooden bell tower, the bell of which served as a signal in fog. The lighthouse was operated by civilian lighthouse keepers of the US Lighthouse Establishment for over 120 years before it was taken over by the US Coast Guard in 1957 . The lighthouse is now automated and has been managed as a historic lighthouse by Maine's Bureau of Parks and Lands since 1989 .
Fort Point Hotel
To compete with Bar Harbor , the luxury hotel Fort Point Hotel was built near the lighthouse in 1872 . The house with running water, gas lighting , bowling alley and two dance pavilions had 200 beds. The guests could arrive by ship from Boston and New York. However, the house failed to meet its expectations, burned down in May 1898 and was never rebuilt.
Tourist facilities
The park is open between May and October and there is a fee to visit. The park has a picnic area and a 60-meter-long boat pier is located on the rocky shore, which is over 1.5 kilometers long. An eleven-kilometer circular cycle path along Penobscot Bay and the Penobscot River begins from the park. Several short hiking trails with information boards on the history of the park lead through the park. In winter the park is closed to cars, but open to cross-country skiing.
literature
- Andrew Vietze: Insiders' Guide to the Maine Coast. Guilford, Conn .: Globe Pequot, 2009, ISBN 978-0-7627-5039-9 .
Web links
- Park's website
- Fort Point State Park on the United States Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System
Individual evidence
- ^ Fort Point State Park. Accessed May 31, 2020 (English).
- ^ Fort Point Light on Lighthousefriends.com. Retrieved March 20, 2011 .
Coordinates: 44 ° 28 ′ 0.3 ″ N , 68 ° 49 ′ 8.1 ″ W.