Campobello Island

Campobello Island with its lighthouse, May, 1973, U.S. EPA photo National Archives # NWDNS-412-DA-7873

[cam-poo-BEL-loo] is an island in Canada, joined by a causeway to Lubec in Washington County. Acquired by  FDR’s father James Roosevelt in 1883, the house was ready for the family in 1885.  It became the summer retreat of Franklin D. and Eleanor Roosevelt, even before he became President of the United States. Franklin spent most…

Presidential Visits

President Kennedy at the wheel of the US Coast Guard Yacht "Manitou,. Boothbay Harbor, August 12, 1962

Presidents of the United States visit many states during their tenures. Maine is no exception. Sometime in 1789 George Washington visited Kittery on a fishing trip. In 1841, recently elected President William Henry Harrison visited Bath and the Clark  and Sewall shipyard, where he witnessed the launch of the Rappahannock, at the time the largest…