Fort Popham in Phippsburg Maine

Congress authorized the War Department to start building Fort Popham at Phippsburg, Maine in 1857, and construction began in 1861. Designed as a three-tiered granite fort, Popham would guard the Kennebec River’s entrance against enemy warships. Construction continued during the Civil War, and a much ballyhooed excursion saw notables from Bath travel downriver by steamer to enjoy a luncheon at the fort as Confederate and Union armies converged on Gettysburg. Construction stopped in 1869. Fort Popham State Historic Site now preserves the fort, for which there is no entrance fee and inadequate parking on this narrow spit of land along the Kennebec.

[jeremytibbetts]

I spent many a summer day in that forts shadow