Cape Elizabeth, Lighthouses and the Atlantic Coast

Hope you had a truly blessed 4th of July. We had a wet one, Gus was happy, not a lot of fireworks popping. We had quite a bit of rain last week. We did manage to get out to Cape Elizabeth and that was beautiful. Hubby also was able to fly his drone a few times. He is getting better at controlling his newest toy. I am just so glad he enjoys it.

Can you see it? It is that tiny black dot above the tree line.

As early as 1529, Cape Elizabeth appears as a nameless headland mapped by a Spanish cartographer.

Girolamo de Verrazzano's 1529 map of his brother 

Giovanni's 1524 voyage along the East Coast of America.

In 1604, Samuel de Champlain charted the raised mass of land around the Cape Elizabeth, and in 1615, the explorer John Smith, gave that land mass its name in honor of Princess Elizabeth, sister of King Charles I of England.

Princess Elizabeth (1596-1662), the only daughter 

of King James VI. She was also the sister of Henry, Prince of Wales, 

and the future King Charles I. She is depicted here around the age of 14. 

She married in 1613 to the Elector Palatine, Frederick V of Bohemia.

Events of the years that followed make an intriguing story: the 1632 establishment of Richmond's Island as a fishing and trading post, the struggles of settlers in small, isolated groups as they began fishing and farming, conflicts between immigrants and the region's Native Americans, occasional pirating from the seas, the Revolutionary War. These and other events marked the first 200 years of colonial history in the region.

Circa: 1859

Circa: 2023

Originally a part of Portland (named Falmouth at the time), the citizens petitioned for and obtained their own government in 1765, thus including all the area lying south of Portland Harbor and east of the Spurwink River. Commercial and industrial growth in the north end of the town, nearest the harbor (now South Portland), was in sharp contrast to the continuing rural character of the southern tip of the Cape. In 1895, the two sections agreed to separate, and from that date forward the southern end of the original town became the present town of Cape Elizabeth.

Another lighthouse off the shore.

Beautiful water crashing on the rocks.

Compass.

Another view of the lighthouse at Fort Williams Park.

"let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having

 our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." 

Hebrews 10:22 (NASB)

The 20th century history of the community has been one of gradual residential growth. The majority of inhabitants now work in the Greater Portland area, and only very few of the working farms still exist. As the town embarks on the 21st century, townspeople recognize the importance of their farming and fishing heritage and have taken legislative measures to protect and encourage Cape Elizabeth's rural character.

Inn by the Sea, Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

Fort Williams is a former United States Army fort in Cape Elizabeth which operated from 1872 to 1964. It was part of the Coast Defenses of Portland, Maine, later it was renamed the Harbor Defenses of Portland, a command which protected Portland's port and naval anchorage 1904–1950. After its closure, it was redeveloped into Fort Williams Park.

Fun fact: off the shoreline of Fort Williams the USS Eagle 56 was a United States Navy World War I-era patrol boat that remained in service through World War II. On 23 April 1945, while towing targets for U.S. Navy bomber exercises off the coast of Maine, Eagle 56 was sunk by the German submarine U-853. Only 13 of the 62-crew survived.

USS Eagle 56.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine, and would often walk to the lighthouse. The keepers were his friends. It is believed that he sat here for inspiration for his poem "The Lighthouse".

1807-1882

"Sail on" it says, "sail on, ye stately ships! 

And with your floating bridge, the ocean span

Be mine to guard this light from all eclipse;

Be yours to bring man near unto man." 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

One of the most memorable events at Portland Head Lighthouse involved the Annie C. Maguire, shipwrecked next to the beacon on Christmas Even in 1886. Joshua Strout was the lighthouse keeper at the time.

Joshua Strout

The Annie C. Maguire was a converted bark vessel built initially as a speedy clipper ship, named the Golden State, narrowly breaking sailing distance records on some of its voyages. As a clipper ship, it had a 30-year career involved in trade with China. Afterward, it was converted to a three-masted bark sailing vessel for carrying heavy cargo. Its owners, however had run into financial difficulties and owed money to their creditors. A few days before Christmas Eve in 1886, a sheriff's officer had received word that the Annie C. Maguire may be passing by or anchoring near Portland Harbor. He stopped by the Strout's house next to lighthouse and asked Joshua to keep an eye out for the vessel and to notify him if the vessel was sighted along Casco Bay.
 
On Christmas Eve in 1886, members of the Strout family were gathered for the Christmas holiday at the keeper's house. Joshua's wife, Mary, had made her famous chicken pies for Christmas dinner. Joshua went up to the tower to remain on the lookout while everyone was settling in for the night. As the evening wore on, the winds were blowing but not gusting, and a mixture of rain and snow was falling over the area from a heavy storm raging offshore. Later, around 11:00 pm, the Annie C. Maguire was headed for Portland Harbor in route to Quebec from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Suddenly, around 11:30 pm, the vessel ran aground on the rocks nearly 100 feet from Portland Head Lighthouse. Captain O' Neil could not see the lighthouse and he misjudged his location. 

Annie C. Maguire

He quickly had the crew take down the sails and lower the anchors to keep the vessel lodged on the rocks. He then realized they had landed next to the lighthouse and knew they would be rescued shortly. Joshua saw the wreck from the lighthouse tower and couldn't believe his eyes. He ran into the keeper's house and burst through the door, yelling, "All hands turn out! There's a ship ashore in the dooryard!" The family had felt the ground shake and hear the noise from the impact of the vessel slamming into the nearby rocks. Strout's wife, Mary, grabbed a blanket, cut it into strips and soaked them in kerosene. She lit them as torches to illuminate the area for rescuing the crew. Joshua and his son Joseph rigged an ordinary ladder as a gangplank between the waves and rocky ledges that separated them from the wreck. They rescued all eighteen people safely while the ship lay wedged on the rocks.

On Christmas Day, the deputy sheriff was notified of the wreck and came to claim the ship. He put Joshua in charge of salvaging anything from the wreck for the creditors. When two cases of scotch whiskey were brought into the house, the selfish crew members drank it all. They started to beat up the cook, who had them on a strict diet due to food rations.  Because the ship was so beaten up, the creditors received only $177 at auction. In trying to serve the angry creditors, the sheriff searched the ships sea chest for special papers and cash but found nothing. Years later, it was discovered that the captain, with the help of his devious wife, had ransacked the chest and carried the cash, papers, and other items of value in her hatbox during the rescue.

In remembrance of the wreck. Annie C. Maguire, 

shipwrecked here Christmas Eve 1866.

We also found another Road Food Book restaurant The Lobster Shack. It was really good food and we enjoyed fried shrimp, onion rings, fries and hubby enjoyed the coleslaw. The restaurant is located at the end of Two lights Road on the rocky shores of Cape Elizabeth overlooking the Casco Bay. The Lobster Shack is an award-winning restaurant that has been a local landmark since the 1920's.

YUM!

Casco Bay

"Keeping it real" we were in Lebanon, Maine for three weeks and left yesterday to go to Woodstock, New Hampton. I wasn't really in the mood to pack up and then set back up, but I survived. We will be here for two weeks in the White Mountain Region. It has 800,000 acres of natural splendor. I hope that we will be able to explore, due to all the rain we have had in Maine, we haven't been walking and I can tell. I haven't stepped on the scale yet. Trying to lose some weight before I look at the numbers on the scale.

If there is something special you would like me to take a picture of, please let me know!
 
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God, the RV & me...