Bug Light Park

Bug Light Park, the eastern terminus of the Greenbelt Walkway, offers expansive views of Portland Harbor and the skyline of Maine’s  largest city. The 8.78 acre park was the site of major shipbuilding activity during WWII. An estimated 30,000 people were employed here from 1941-1945 building liberty ships for the New England Shipbuilding Corp. and the South Portland Shipbuilding Corp. Although far less bustling  today, Bug Light Park is a popular destination for picnicking, boating, kite flying and salt water fishing.  Rest rooms are available seasonally. A busy boat launching area (seasonal fees required) and a  liberty ship memorial are at opposite ends of the park. In between is a  paved walkway along the shore and out to Bug Light itself.  Seasonal events include a Kite Festival, Summer Movie Nights, a car show, and a day-long 4th of July celebration culminating with clear views of Portland's fireworks display across the harbor. The park is also available for private functions and events.

Portland Breakwater Lighthouse was built in 1875 and is one of Maine's most elegant lighthouses. Though modeled on an ancient Greek monument, it was built with plates of cast iron. It was dubbed "Bug Light" due to its small size.

The next day, we had another park day. The weather was cooler so that was nice. The kids had fun at Bug Light Park. They climbed all over the rocks and found all kinds of gross stuff! They came out of the water smelling really bad too! The smell followed us around for a while....

Muppy had a lot of fun running around. 

A pretty view of Portland. 

At the end of this day, we left Maine to head back down to Boston. On our drive to Boston, we got a little lost and somehow missed a HUGE thunderstorm. There was even a tornado warning! 

Welcome back to New Hampshire! 

Kennebec River

We did some relaxing in the heat in some pretty chairs on the Kennebuc River. With the humidity the "real feel" was about 100 even though it was only 90. 

Elizabeth especially loved her teal chair because teal is her favorite color. 

We stopped by the Augusta Police Station. Uncle Brian knew some people there. Jeremy came home with a patch! It looks like the police department was founded the same year as Fort Western. 

Maine State House

We visited the Maine State House. It was a VERY hot day so we just took some pictures and walked around a bit and left. We did not take a tour inside. 

 Augusta was chosen as the capital when Maine separated from Massachusetts in 1820. Augusta was chosen because it was a central city. I did find out the state house was completed in 1832 and was built using granite from Maine.

The state house was very visible driving into Augusta. 

The governor's house

Fort Western, Augusta, Maine

We visited Fort Western in Augusta. This started as a trading post set up by the pilgrims in 1625 called the Cushnoc Trading Post and eventually became a fort. The neat part was when I read the plaque about the pilgrims who found the trading post. The pilgrim that led the expedition up to Maine was my 12th great grandfather John Howland. I had no idea! That was really neat. 

Benedict Arnold led here too. He led an expedition from the fort in 1775 to try to capture Quebec. 

Here was the plaque commemorating the pilgrim trading expedition. It mentions how our ancestor was the leader of the trading group. 

Elizabeth did some amazing gymnastics feats on the rock commemorating Benedict Arnold's adventures. 

I copied and pasted the history of Fort Western below.  The ship they sailed on to establish the trading post was named after Elizabeth Tilley. She was my 12th great grandmother and the wife of John Howland. 

n 1625, the Plymouth Colony Pilgrims sailed to the Kennebec River in hopes of establishing a trading relationship with area Indians. By 1628 the Pilgrims were operating a year-round trading post just south of where Fort Western now stands. The Pilgrims made the voyage in a 38-foof open-hulled, single-masted sailing vessel called a shallop.

A replica of that vessel was designed from information about other shallops of the period and from the notes on its creation mentioned in William Bradford’s history of the Colony. In 2003 the Elizabeth Tilley, named for the original, sailed from Plymouth, Massachusetts and arrived in Augusta at Fort Western on August 7th.

In 1628 Augusta was a trading post called Cushnoc. As interest in trade and protecting the traders expanded, Fort Western was constructed in 1754 under the command of Captain James Howard in what is now Augusta on the east side of the Kennebec River. It was financed by the Kennebec Proprietors, a Boston-based land company seeking to settle the lands along the Kennebec River that had been granted to the Pilgrims. The company and the Province of Massachusetts were interested in expanding their influence in the area as part of an effort by Britain and her colonies to take final political control of North America and to sever the ties between the Abenaki and the French in Canada.

Located at the head of navigation on the river, Fort Western served as a fortified storehouse in support of Fort Halifax, located 17 miles north. Supplies were shipped from Boston as many as four times a year, unloaded at Fort Western, then taken by flat-bottomed boat, against a strong river current, to Fort Halifax.

James Howard was the town’s first permanent resident. At Fort Western alewives were shipped down the Kennebec by the Howard family who operated a store within the fort. Three account books survive from the mid 1700s to the early 1800s.

The secure area attracted trappers and, eventually, other permanent settlers. After Benedict Arnold’s Quebec Expedition left on its northward trek on September 24,1775, the Fort’s military role had ended, though its function as a trading post survived through a store located on the site.

Old Fort Western, whose main house is a National Historic Landmark and America’s oldest surviving wooden military building, was named for Thomas Western, of Sussex, England, a friend of Governor William Shirley.

Portland Maine

We took a tour of Portland. 

Overlooking Casco Bay

The old part of downtown Portland was really pretty! 

Of course, I loved these old homes overlooking the bay. 

It was a very pretty day. It started and ended up very HOT though. Pretty, but hot.