Here in Down East Maine we have an abundance of historic sites and old houses still standing, many in original condition. The first European settlers to these parts could be said to have been the French, with Samuel de Champlain and his crew of men who came in 1604 to build their ill-fated settlement in the St. Croix River, and named Mount Desert Island the same year. There were also early settlements on Mount Desert Island by the French and English, with native settlements dating back as far as 6,000 years. Nearby Castine, which predates the Plymouth Colony by 7 years, has a rich history, with several nations duking it out - the French, Dutch and English conducting raids on each other, trying to lay claim to the area rich with natural resources at the mouth of the Penobscot River. Eastport, on the eastern end of Washington County, was actually captured and occupied by the British during the War of 1812. The stories are many, and the ghosts are abundant, with many houses over 200 years old still standing, either abandoned in ruins or kept up by the same families after all these years. Though we are in a remote area, there is no shortage of history here. There will be LOTS more to come!
Let's visit some now!
Let's visit some now!
In Portland, the old Boys' Home.
This house was built in "Eden", early Bar Harbor in the 1800s for a shipwright. It has been well preserved and today serves as a women's dormitory at Mount Desert Island Biological Labs.
QUODDY VILLAGE, near Eastport. This impressive building was built in the 1930s as Kittery Apartment Court, to house the workers for FDR's Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Project. Afterwards it was used by the National Youth Association, and then as housing for a Navy training camp in WWII. In more recent years, it was known as Grossman's to locals, where it housed a hardware store. It is now not in public use, but is used as a private residence/project.
Update: The building burned completely in November of 2017.
The front entrance of the building. It is massive and fallen badly into disrepair.
Side view.
Side rear view.
In the rear of the building. The original sign from its days as a military camp hangs there: "Camp Lee Stephenson, Quoddy, Maine", with the Seabees emblem.
Up close at Fort Knox in Bucksport. This is a Civil War-era fort on the Penobscot River.
Inside the entrance to the fort.
Inside Fort Knox in Bucksport.
The oldest standing house in Sullivan, built in the 1790s. It's fallen into disrepair but is currently for sale, for the low price of $40k it can be yours!
The front door on the house.
Memorial stone to the first town house built in Eden (Bar Harbor). Just beyond it is an old graveyard.
Built in 1802 in Eastport, the house I grew up in. Benedict Arnold was said to have stayed here on his way to Canada, and during the British occupation during the War of 1812 it served as the hospital.
Raye's Mustard Mill, started in 1900 and is now the only remaining stone ground mustard mill in America.
That is St. Croix Island in the center, with the kayakers in the fore. It was the site of the 1604 settlement by de Champlain.