Spending the Day in Castine, Maine

August 6, 2019

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There are so many tiny towns up and down the coast of Maine that we just have to throw a dart at the map and choose one! We only have a few more days here so we decided on the city of Castine, Maine and it turned out to be a good choice! What an ADORABLE little coastal town and talk about HISTORY… WOW!!! Sooooo much stuff has happened in this little tiny town, where the streets are lined with beautiful elm trees and shade the lawns of darling cottages, so if you are interested in history I will try and cover a few of the things that we learned today.

First off… we needed some LUNCH, and we headed to the cutest little fish stand right on the docks. I’m not even sure if it had a NAME but the line was long and people just sat wherever they wanted all around the water’s edge. We found a darling hand-painted table and settled ourselves there for a “grilled-cheese lobster sandwich.” OH MY GOSH I can’t believe my parents are still eating lobster!!! ??? We got a little pinch, so we aren’t complaining! ???? After walking around and watching a few boats come in, we decided to see the rest of the town from the truck to speed things up a bit.

Beautiful little cottages dotted the narrow roads, with flower-covered fences and trellises in every yard! The adorable old church called OUR LADY OF HOLY HOPE sat right at the water’s edge and Mummy said if she lived here she would go to church EVERY SUNDAY in that church!!! A plaque out front said that it was the site of “Saint Peter’s Chapel” built in 1648 over the Gateway of Fort Pentagoet by Daulnay, Brother Leo of Paris  was the Chaplain. This house was built in 1880 and was converted into the chapel you now see in 1921.

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There were several hand-painted signs around the town, at various historical locations… each one telling of the event that had happened at that site. We tried to find as many as we could during our afternoon in Castine, and listed below are some that we found. It is just AMAZING to think that so many things happened in this teeny, tiny little town!!!

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* Here landed – November 6, 1611 Sieur de Biencourt, Governor of Port Royal, Sieur Claude de LaTour, Founder of Fort Penagoet, 1613, his son Sieur Charles de LaTour afterwards the forts Commander and Proprietor, and Fr. Pierre Biard, S.J.

The first Europeans positively known to have set foot upon these shores.

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* The site of Fort Pentagoet which was originally a trading post, was built during the winter of 1613. It became the first PERMANENT SETTLEMENT in New England, and its actual Political and Commercial beginning!

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* Burial place of five Dutch seamen and three French soldiers killed during the engagement August 10, 1674

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* Here in 1674, Captain Jurriaen Aernouts of the Dutch Frigate Flying Horse having captured Fort Pentagoet August 1674, took formal possession of Acadia in the name of his Sovereign, William of Orange, by burying a glass bottle containing a copy of his commission and a declaration of his official act, naming the conquered territory NOVA HOLLANDIA.

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* The Battle Line of Four Nations

French-Dutch-English-American

1674-76 and 1779

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* Site of Half Moon Battery -Six Guns-

Near Aaron Banks house

Captured by Americans Aig 1, 1779 and recaptured by the British the same day with heavy losses on both sides.

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* Burial place of American officers, soldiers and marines. Killed while carrying these heights by assault July 28 and during the Seige. July 25-Aug. 14, 1779

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* Site of Hatch’s barn. Seized and used by the British as a hospital. July 1779-Nov. 1783

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* Oakum Bay – On this shore the British transport ship Providence was wrecked by the fire of the American batteries on Nautilis Island and Wescott’s Point, during the Seige, Aug. 1779.

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There were many more plaques around the town but we were just unable to see them

all! What a little GEM we found in CASTINE, Maine. On we drove, until we happened upon the lovely old lighthouse located at the entrance to Castine Harbor. It is called “Dyce Head.” It too has a long history, going back to 1828 when it was first built. The very first lighthouse keeper was 75-year-old Captain Jacob Sherburne. The lighthouse light shined from 129 feet above the water and could be seen 17 nautical miles out to sea, to guide ships safely into the harbor or away from the rocky peninsula. By 1935, it was decided that more modern lighting methods could be utilized and the light was extinguished, replacing it with a light and bell buoy on the rocks below… but in 2007 when a storm destroyed that light, the old lighthouse was RE-LIT AGAIN in 2008! Today the home is a private residence used by the caretaker, but the grounds are open for the public to walk around. You cannot walk inside the lighthouse. Ummmm… just to let you know, Mummy didn’t know ANY OF THIS before visiting the place, and there were LOTS of cars parked along the road with LOTS of people wandering about… so Mummy and Daddy decided to just take turns walking out to see the lighthouse and the view. The first thing Mummy wanted to see was THE HOUSE that was attached to the lighthouse, so she just walked up on the front porch and looked in the windows and saw it was all decorated with cute furniture and stuff. She was just about to open the front door and walk inside, but she noticed that no one else was IN THE HOUSE… or ON THE PORCH! Where WAS EVERYONE??? Uhhhhhh, was she supposed to be on this porch? Was this house part of the tour? She looked up to see Daddy running across the yard saying, “GET OFF THE PORCH! THAT’S SOMEBODY’S HOUSE!!!” OMGOSH… well, yeah… there it was… a tiny little sign on the step saying “PRIVATE RESIDENCE.” JEEZ LOUISE… they should have BIGGER SIGNS and maybe a fence around the place or something!!! Apparently the lighthouse keeper’s actual HOUSE is lived in by the caretaker… but you can’t TOUR their house. Whoops. Well… they have cute furniture in their front room! ???? But if you come here… don’t walk up on the porch of the little house!!! Just sayin ???

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We had seen as much of Castine as we could and now we were hungry and getting sleepy too, so we turned the truck toward our campsite and talked about what we had seen today. Once we ate dinner, we piled into the big bed and CONKED OUT! Man Oh Man we were exhausted! Learning all of this stuff is wearing us out. ????