Fort Popham

September 12, 2013

More sketchy weather predicted, so today we took a drive over to Bath and then south along the Phippsburg peninsula to visit Fort Popham.

When we arrived at the site we could hear loud booms of thunder off in the distance and Don got very nervous when I climbed up on a rocky outcropping to enjoy the view.

This fort was built at the mouth of the Kennebec River as a defense post during the Civil War. 1861. Although the construction was never finished the Fort did play an important roll in Jefferson's embargo and was also used in the Spanish American War and the First World War.

The fort has been preserved and is in quite good condition and it is easy to understand what a strategic location this was.  There were very good story boards explaining the design and construction, uses of the fort, types of armaments used there and why it became obsolete.

As we left the fort we began to feel a few sprinks.  We walked the 1/2 mile back to our car and we were just in the nick of time, too.  Just as we sat down and shut the doors the clouds opened up and a downpour ensued for 10 minutes, drenching anyone who was out walking around and leaving puddles 5 inches deep where it was dry as a bone a few minutes earlier.

The rainy weather continued for the next few days.  Friday the 13th came along and we decided on a rainy day lie-in.  We just hung out and Don worked on his pictures and I wrote a bit in the blog.  We did try to take a walk in the afternoon, but even though the sun was poking out when we left the house it began to rain along the way and we were soaking wet by the time we got home again.

Saturday we saw a bit of sun and we thought we would try to catch the harbor cruise which would take us around Casco Bay and over to Portland.  The flyer advertised that these cruises went every Saturday and Sunday through mid-October.  But, when we got to the departure point we found that there would be no cruise that day, so we just hung out and watched the fire ( a controlled burn) on the next island across the bay.

When we got back home we settled in for another lazy afternoon, but pretty soon we began to hear loud claps of thunder and then we saw some bright flashes of lightening and we were  in for an exciting storm for the evening.  The thunder storm went on for a good hour, knocking out the electricity and rattling the windows.  We fired up the kerosene lantern and lit a few candles and were discussing what to do with an evening of darkness.  But, about 8 pm the electricity came back on and the storm quieted down to a steady rain, so we watched a movie before hitting the sack.