A cool morning today waking up to 14C. But it warmed up nicely and was a beautiful sunny day. Unhappily due to low wind speeds and often being on our nose it was a full motoring day. The usual crab pots along the way but hardly any at all as we neared Castine. We think it’s because the Maine Maritime Academy is here with it’s 500’ 160,000 ton training ship that plies these waters and doesn’t dodge crab pots!
About mid afternoon we fetched mooring balls at the yacht club and dinghied ashore to pay and then explore the town. The town is older than the settlement at Plymouth Rock by 7 years ergo 1613. It is a fine example of 1700s style housing many of which survive today. However, not all or st least not here. Some houses were built prior to the American Revolution and when the Loyalists departed after 1783 some took their houses with them. There is a vacant lot on Main Street that speaks to this, they all went to St Andrews New Brunswick.
We got directions to the History Center from a very kind, elderly woman. I read within the last few years Bernard Cornwell’s, “The Fort”, about the American army and navy from Massachusetts trying to take the British fort, The George, in 1779. I had some notion that it was near Castine but I discovered at the museum that the fort and battle were only a few blocks away. So we walked over to see it. Nothing like seeing the real thing to bring it alive. So our boats are where the British ships would’ve lined up to defend against the Americans. Unfortunately for the American forces no one was in charge so the whole operation ended badly. It’s been listed as the worst US naval disaster until Pearl Harbor.
