Muscle Ridge Shoals Township

Otter Island Ledge Day Beacon in Muscle Ridge Channel (2015)

This island group township in Knox County is just offshore from South Thomaston in the Gulf of Maine. Its more than a dozen islands includes the larger Andrews, Dix, Fisherman and Pleasant.  [click images to enlarge and clarify, for these and all others] The “shoals” refer to ledges and reefs that threaten safe passage.  Otter…

Lighthouse Photo Galleries

Halfway Rock Lighthouse with birds circling a lobster boat on Casco Bay (2004)

Lighthouses are specialized architectural structures.  As they dot the Maine coast, they are impressive as much for their settings as for their designs, of which there are many variations. Many are recognized on the National Register of Historic Places. To see names and locations, hover over an image with your mouse or click the image…

Atlantic Puffin

Puffin near Machias Seal Island (2011)

This sea bird with a colorful bill lives year round near the coast of Washington and eastern Hancock counties. The largest concentration of puffins is at Machias Seal Island, off shore from Cutler in Washington County. The island is claimed by Canada. At twelve inches tall, the birds seem tiny in the water among the…

York

1787-1794 John Hancock Warehouse and Wharf in York (2018)

Most of the town’s inhabitants are located between U.S. Route 1 (inland) and U.S. Route 1A which runs along the coast. Its population has more than doubled in the past thirty years, and grew by nearly 31 percent between 1990 and 2000. Beaches and cottages characterize the coast.

Winthrop

Maranacook Lake in Winthrop (2013)

n addition to its recreational attractions, the town is a suburban community serving both the Augusta and Lewiston-Auburn areas. See photos. Winthrop is the birthplace in 1899 of Delphia Louis “Del” Bissonette, who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Tenants Harbor

Sign: Welcome to Tenants Harbor (2005)

is a village in the Town of St. George in Knox County, incorporated on February 7, 1803 from a portion of Cushing. In 1865 it ceded some land to South Thomaston. Maine Route 131 from Thomaston runs along the eastern portion of St. George and passes through Tenants Harbor village, about halfway to the tip…

Port Clyde

Port Clyde (2005)

Port Clyde is a village in St. George at the southern tip of its long peninsular. Port Clyde has long been an attraction to artists, including N. C. Wyeth, and tourists, who can take the ferry to Monhegan Island, visible in the distance. It is a base for lobster fishing and fin fishing. The village…

Tremont

Bass Harbor Light with the Gott Islands across the Water (2003)

Tremont’s Bass Harbor is the terminal for the Swan’s Island ferry and the Frenchboro ferry. See photos. Located on Mount Desert Island, it also hosts a much photographed lighthouse on its rocky shore and two nature preserves. Tremont’s cove-rich shoreline abuts Blue Hill Bay, which includes the town’s Tinker and Hardwood islands, among others.

Southern Maine Community College

Sign for SMCC (2012)

located in South Portland, is one of several community colleges across the state.  It was formerly know as Southern Maine Technical College, but has expanded its offerings to include additional academic courses. The college has been in existence since the mid-twentieth century and had a student body of over 7,000 in 2012.  Its Mid-coast Campus…

South Portland

A residential community serving the greater Portland area for over a hundred years, the City has developed independent economic resources. See photos. It is part of the Port of Portland and home to a major railroad yard and fuel tank storage facility. The Southern Maine Community College campus includes Fort Preble, named for Commodore Edward Preble.

St. George

In a park near the town office, St. George and the dragon reenact their famous battle. See photos. The Fort St. George’s memorial is nearby.St. George was the site of granite quarries and was the birthplace of the Granite Cutters Union in 1877, the first in the state’s history. The town may be better known by some by its villages of Port Clyde, at the southern tip of its long peninsular, and Tenants Harbor.

Rockport

Rockport Harbor in Autumn (2001)

The main village lies north of Rockland and boasts its own, attractive harbor near Camden. The harbor was once the home of “Andre the seal,” a local attraction and mascot of the community and summer visitors. Atteeactions include its lighthouse, opera house, and waterfront park .

Rockland

The Farnsworth Museum (2005)

a city in, and the county seat of, Knox County, it is the home to the Farnsworth Art Museum, the Maine Seafood Festival, a historic working waterfront, historic structures, and birthplace of notable cultural and political figures. Located on U.S. Route 1, the city is a regional service and retail center.

Pemaquid

Pemaquid Point (2007)

[PEM-ah-kwid] was an early settlement on Pemaquid Point in the town of Bristol in Lincoln County. Early explorers such as David Ingram (1569) and Captain Bartholomew Gosnold (1602), visited the area before the Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts. The Popham colonists visited Pemaquid before sailing on to their site on the Kennebec River. They returned a…

Owls Head

The Knox County Regional Airport is located in Owls Head and is one of Maine’s busiest during the summer months. Owls Head State Park offers views of Penobscot Bay and the nearby Owls Head Transportation Museum contains vintage aircraft frequently flown over the Bay. Owls Head Light Station marks the southern entrance to Rockland Harbor.

Milbridge

The town lies at the mouth of the Narraguagus River where it empties into the Bay of the same name. U.S. Route 1 splits here with Route 1A. The town lies at the mouth of the Narraguagus River where it empties into the Bay of the same name. Blueberries and the Wyman Company in particular are important elements of the local economy. Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge is here.

Lubec

West Quoddy Head Light is the eastern most lighthouse in the United States.

Lubec contains the easternmost point in the United States: West Quoddy Head, on which the famous lighthouse of the same name sits. See video and photos. A State Park is nearby. Lubec is the birthplace of Myron Avery, a key to the creation of the Appalachian Trail and a founder of the Maine Appalachian Trail Club. The sardine industry important in the late 19th & early 20th centuries.

Lighthouses, Fort Point

Earliest known phtotograph of Fort Pownal (1859)

one of about seventy lighthouses on the Maine coasts, was established in 1836, a year after the U.S. Government purchased ten acres of land on Fort Point in Stockton Springs. Joseph Berry of Georgetown built the tower and station for $2,500. This structure was a cone-shaped tower build from granite blocks. The octagon shaped lantern…