Traveling Tuesday: Portland, Maine

 

Traveling Tuesday: Portland, Maine

First settled in the early 1600s as part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, then formally founded in 1786, Portland, Maine was the first stop on our cruise. The city’s early history was fraught with attacks during colonial conflicts and suffered four devastating fires prompting the depiction of a phoenix rising from ashes on the city seal. As a deep-water port, Portland has a long history of commercial shipping and marine economy.

During the American Revolutionary War, Portland heavily supported Patriot activities and at one point humiliated British Captain Henry Mowat in an incident known as Thompson’s War. In retaliation, Mowat bombarded and burned the town on October 18, 1775. About four hundred buildings were destroyed leaving hundreds of residents homeless. The event served a catalyst that moved the Continental Congress to establish a naval defense. As a strategic port, Portland also saw action during the War of 1812. On September 9, 1813, a major battle occurred between the USS Enterprise and Britain’s HMS Boxer. Britain lost the battle, and tragically, both captains died. The Civil War brought a Confederate raid that led to the Battle of Portland Harbor, one of the conflict’s northernmost battles.

With the completion of the Grand Trunk Railroad to Montreal, the city became the primary ice-free

winter port for Canadian exports. The Portland Company manufactured locomotives as well as engines for ships, trains, and fire engines. Many of the company’s employees were Canadian immigrants.

Portland’s growth was exponential, increasing from a population of 8,500 in 1820 (the year Maine was established as a state) to 12,500 in just ten years. By 1860, the city more than doubled in size, doubling again by 1900.

World War II saw Portland become a strategic naval base with the establishment of the US Naval Station in late 1941as well as the location for shakedown training for new vessels and anti-submarine warfare exercises, refueling and repairs at the Long Island Fuel Annex, outfitting of destroyers for convoy escort, and major anchorage for the Atlantic Fleet. Located off the coast of Portland, the Casco Islands were also commandeered during the war, with fifty-eight military structures on Peaks Island alone. From gun emplacements and watchtowers to barracks and fire-control posts, the islands were transformed.

Education plays a key role in the city with three major universities all founded from 1865 to 1878. Healthcare is also well-represented with US Marine Hospital in 1855, Maine General Hospital founded in 1868, Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary in 1891, Children’s Hospital in 1898, St. Barnabas in the early 20th century, and Northern Light Mercy Hospital in 1918. When Maine General opened, it was the first hospital in the state available to the general public.

Commercial fishing and lobstering continue to play large roles in the city’s economy, but rife with history, Portland also has a strong tourism industry, including the arrival of multiple cruise ships each day during season. An interesting and beautiful city to visit any time of year.

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Swedish Sunrise

Espionage. Diplomacy. Resistance. Is there any room for love?

Weeks after being accepted into America’s Office of Strategic Services, Birgit Westgard finds herself in Stockholm, Sweden - “Casablanca of the North.” The job is supposed to be easy: typing and filing. Then her handsome boss taps her to be his “plus-one” at social events where they collect intelligence, plant propaganda, and dance the nights away. How much longer can she remain impervious to his charm?

Silas Cronin is one of the lucky ones, and his plane crash lands in neutral Sweden. Bored with cooling his heels in an internment camp, he raises his hand when the government comes looking for someone who can type. Suddenly, he’s in Stockholm, mired in intrigue and subterfuge, and more than a little attracted to his new secretary who wants nothing to do with him. Is she right that wartime is no time for romance?

Link: https://books2read.com/u/3RRqyv

Sources
https://www.discoverconcordma.com/articles/697-the-destruction-of-falmouth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland,_Maine
https://www.visitportland.com/
https://www.mainehistory.org/maine-connection/casco-bays-front-line/
https://www.portlandpaddle.net/6-historic-forts-you-can-see-from-a-kayak/
https://www.islandinstitute.org/island-journal/world-war-ii-left-a-big-footprint-on-casco-bay-islands/
https://sphistory.pastperfectonline.com/Archive/56EA2046-A54C-4C8C-BC6B-403953237868
https://www.mainememory.net/record/67327/image/67327


Photo Credits: All photos taken by Linda Shenton Matchett

Traveling Tuesday: York, Maine

Traveling Tuesday: York, Maine 

After spending a week in Lincoln, New Hampshire we traveled to the southern coast of Maine. Surprisingly, despite being “off-season,” the area was quite busy. We stayed in Ogunquit (beautiful place by the sea in Algonkian) and wandered into York several times during our stay. 

A summer-resort town, York encompasses four villages: York Village, York Harbor, York Beach, and Neddick Harbor. Its history hearkens back to 1624 when it was first settled by British colonists who later renamed the area from the original Agamenticus – the Abenaki term for the York River. The area was claimed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but would be contested during numerous skirmishes between the French and English during the French and Indian Wars. Decimated during King William’s War (1688-97), attacks by natives continued through the years until they slowed with the French defeat at the Siege of Louisbourg (1745) and finally stopped after the Treaty of Paris in 1763. 

Within a few years, York had become a major trading center, with dozens of warehouses and storage

facilities being built along the harbor and main thoroughfares of town. Founding father John Hancock was a successful merchant who had property in York (now a museum). Unfortunately the Embargo Act of 1807 devastated trade, with the exception of lobstering that had been a large industry in Maine since the 1840s. The town lost much of its prosperity until after the Civil War. 

Nathaniel Marshall, a well-to-do lawyer is credited with the idea of converting York into a summer resort. He purchased property and constructed a grand hotel in 1871 near the already existing Union Bluff Hotel. Soon other lodging establishments popped up. As the Gilded Age continued, the rich and famous built summer homes rather than stay in hotels. Many of these “shingle houses” still stand. 

Cape Neddick Light (also called Nubble for having been built on a “nub” of land off Long Sands Beach) was built in 1879 for $15,000. Forty-one feet tall, the tower is lined with brick and sheathed in cast iron. Care for the lighthouse came under the U.S. Lighthouse Service until 1939 when the Coast Guard became caretakers. Automated in 1987, the town of York became the permanent guardian of the lighthouse in 1997. 

 York continues to be a summer resort with hotels, motels, B&Bs, and cottages mingled among the mansions, some of which have remained in families since the late 1800s. Three golf courses, four beaches, and Mount Agamenticus are just a few of the places visitors can play. 

Have you been to Maine?

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Legacy of Love

Will their love come at a cost? 

Escaping Boston to avoid a marriage of convenience aimed at garnering society’s respect for her family name in the shadow of her father’s war profiteering, Meg Underwood settles in Spruce Hill, Oregon. Despite leaving behind the comforts of wealth, she’s happy. Then the handsome Pinkerton agent, Reuben Jessop, arrives with news that she’s inherited her aunt’s significant estate, and she must return home to claim the bequest. Meg refuses to make the trip. Unwilling to fail at his mission, Reuben gives her until Christmas to prove why she should remain in Spruce Hill and give up the opportunity to become a woman of means. When he seems to want more than friendship, she wonders if her new-found wealth is the basis of his attraction.

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/32QiixP