| A Brief History of Castine Maine |
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| Wednesday, 06 February 2008 | |
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Castine, Maine is the town you picture in your mind when someone mentions Maine's existentially beautiful coastline. In addition to its profoundly picturesque nature, Castine also happens to be one of America's most historical towns. 1/12/2008
A Brief History of Castine MaineCastine, Maine is the town you picture in your mind when someone mentions Maine's existentially beautiful coastline. In addition to its profoundly picturesque nature, Castine also happens to be one of America's most historical towns. This tiny little Maine enclave is the only North American city to ever be held by four world super-powers, including Holland, France, Great Britain and the United States of America. As you drive its winding roads into the center of town off aptly named Battle Ave., you cannot help but imagine Tory soldiers charging up the hill after a barrage of cannon fire from British ships to overtake the American defenders only to be repelled by an American counter-attack. Castine, at the mouth of the Penobscot River, is a major location in the ill-fated Penobscot Expedition of 1779. The failed attempt to attack the British stronghold of Fort Pentagoet (Castine's old name) led to an American retreat up the river and eventual scuttling of many naval ships. It amounted to the United States' greatest naval defeat until Pearl Harbor. The British even managed to re-take the town for eight months in the War of 1812. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Harriet Beecher Stowe all spent time in Castine in the 1870s. By the 1890s, wealthy families from Boston, Hartford, and Chicago, were buying up old farms and sea captains' houses and establishing a flourishing summer colony. Castine also became the location of the Eastern State Normal School. In the 1930s, Castine reach its economic apex, attracting wealthy and famous inllectuals, artists, and business people known as 'summer people'. Their homes and their social clubs all still exist today in the form of exquisite inns and bed and breakfasts. Castine is the home Maine Maritime Academy, a four-institution training engineers and merchant marines. Established in 1941 to train merchant seamen, by the 1980s the Academy offered a range of courses in engineering, management, transportation, and nautical and ocean science. Its handsome campus, once the home of the Eastern State Normal School, boasts an excellent library (which is open to the general public). Make sure to stop in at Castine Variety and get one of Maine's best lobstah rolls, too. More Maine Travel More New England Travel |
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