We arrived on 06/06/2012 at ODW Moody Beach in Wells, ME. On 06/10/2012 we visited the ME Capitol in Augusta, ME. The Maine State House in Augusta, Maine, is the state capitol of the State of Maine. The building was completed in 1832, one year after Augusta became the capital of Maine. Built using Maine granite, the State House was based on the design of the Massachusetts State House (Maine was formerly part of Massachusetts and became a separate state in 1820). When Maine separated from Massachusetts and became a state in 1820, a number of cities and towns sought the honor of becoming the state capital. The principal aspirants were Portland, Brunswick, Hallowell, Waterville, Belfast, Wiscasset, and Augusta. The first capital of Maine was Portland, but it moved to Augusta because of its more central location. The Legislature passed and Governor Samuel E. Smith signed the bill establishing Augusta as the capital in 1832.
We drove to Cape Porpoise, Kennebunkport, ME on 06/11/2012 to visited Goat Island Lighthouse. Three-and-a-half-acre Goat Island is located roughly a mile offshore from Cape Porpoise, a quiet vacation spot with “a few shops, a few eateries, a few guesthouses, and a lot of Maine atmosphere.” 1833 Goat Island Lighthouse attached to newer dwelling.
When Samuel de Champlain sailed along the coast of Maine and Massachusetts in 1605, he made detailed observations and drew numerous maps and sketches. Upon encountering Cape Porpoise, he named it Le Port aux Isles (Islands Harbor), due to the small islands at its entrance, and noted it was “favorable for vessels of a hundred tons.” John Smith sailed by in 1614 and bestowed the name that has stuck to this day: “Cape Porpus.”
Congress appropriated $6,000 on March 3, 1831 for a lighthouse at or near Cape Porpoise, and later that year John Chandler, local customs collector, called for proposals to construct a tower and dwelling on Goat Island. The resulting conical rubblestone tower, topped by an octagonal wrought-iron lantern, was first lit in August 1833. The lighthouse stood twenty feet tall and had a focal plane of thirty-eight feet above mean high water. The original keeper’s dwelling was a stone house with three rooms on its first floor and another three rooms in its smaller upper story. Adam McCulloch was finally paid $300 for the title to Goat Island in 1846.
Then on 06/11/2012 we saw Cape Neddick (Nubble) Lighthouse, York, ME. Cape Neddick Light, also known as Nubble Light and Cape Neck to locals, has always drawn hordes of tourists, and the light’s early keepers were quick to cash in on the interest. Today an estimated half million people visit Sohier Park every year to gaze across the channel at the lighthouse. A digitized image of the lighthouse was even sent into space aboard Voyager II as part of the collection of materials designed to teach extraterrestrials about Earth.
Nathaniel H. Otterson, the light’s first keeper, blatantly courted the tourist trade with the help of his family. The Portsmouth Journal announced, “Visitors are not allowed to visit the lighthouse at York Nubble between the hours of 6 P.M. and 10 A.M.; but at other times the son of the keeper will row you over and back in his boat for ten cents.” Despite inflation and the dismissal of more than one keeper, the practice of ferrying sightseers continued for many years at the same ten-cent rate. In 1898, Keeper Brackett Lewis was prohibited from admitting visitors to the island on Sundays. Lewis said the restriction was because he was making too much money, but the more likely reason was that the throngs of visitors were interfering with his duties.
On 06/13 2012 we moved to Blake’s Brook Campground. We drove to Boscawen, NH on 06/15/2012 to see the Hannah Duston Memorial SHS. Hannah Duston Memorial was erected in 1874 and is the first publicly-funded statue in New Hampshire. Located on a small island at the confluence of the Contoocook and Merrimack Rivers, the statue commemorates the escape of Hannah Duston, who was captured in 1697 in Haverhill, Massachusetts during the French and Indian War. A short walk from the parking area brings visitors to a pretty picnic spot on the shore of the river.
We visited the NH Capitol in Concord, NH on 06/17/2012. The New Hampshire State House, located in Concord at 107 North Main Street, is the state capitol building of New Hampshire. The capitol houses the New Hampshire General Court, Governor, and Executive Council. The building was constructed on a block framed by Park Street (named in honor of the architect, Stuart James Park) to the north, Main Street to the east, Capitol Street to the south, and North State Street to the west. The current statehouse was designed in 1814 and paid for by the city of Concord. In 1816, local Quakers sold the lot where their meetinghouse was to the state of New Hampshire, and the building was built between 1816 and 1819 by architect Stuart Park.
The building was built in the Greek Revival style with smooth granite blocks. The entrance is covered by a small projecting portico supported by Doric columns. The balcony above is lined with a balustrade separated by Corinthian columns supporting a pediment. Another balustrade lines the edge of the flat roof.
The windows on the first floor are rectangular in shape, those on the second floor are arched, and those on the third floor are square panels. An octagonal drum with large arched windows supports a golden dome with bull’s-eye windows and supporting a small lantern. A statue of a huge gold-painted wooden war eagle looking to the left was raised in 1818. In 1957, it was replaced with an element-proof peace eagle statue looking to the right, with the original eagle given to the New Hampshire Historical Society.
