Maine - October 4-5/14 - Fort Knox - L.L. Bean, Freeport

Saturday, October 5

We made one more stop in Bar Harbor before touring Fort Knox, on the Penobscott River at Bucksport and ending the day in Freeport, where the L.L. Bean flagship store is the big attraction.

A foggy morning as we left Bar Harbor

The Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory at Bucksport. The top of the tower
had an observation deck, but it was too hazy to take advantage of it.

Fort Knox was the first and largest granite fort built in Maine and is named after Major General Henry Knox, America's first Secretary of War. The other Fort Knox in Kentucky was also named after him. 

Construction of this massive fort was started in 1844.

Gun powder magazine

Cannons were situated completely around the fort.

No ships ever appeared on the Penobscot River to threaten the towns during the Civil War or the
Spanish-American War.

A 10-inch Rodman cannon.

The outer wall

The fort had 135 cannon mounts, but only 74 were brought to the site.

This 15-inch Rodman cannon could fire a solid 450-pound canon ball over 3 miles.

Cannon ball were to be fed into the furnace, heated red hot and then fired, but it was never used.

A brick outer wall to the fort.

Another seaport along Route 1.

An arts and books market was underway at Camden.

The Camden harbour 

A very popular seaport.

This small river ran out from under shops in town.

Would have loved to spend a bit more time here, but the pouring rain made us move on to Freeport.

 Freeport

Store founder

Freeport had almost every kind of high end store. 

Decorated for the season

We were lucky to find a spot right in town that was very RV friendly and were able to park there for the night.
After a short walk in town we called it a day, and a full one it was, once again.

Sunday, October 5

How's that for colour?

The sun was out today and so were the many tourists, especially since there was a Fall Festival underway, featuring art, food and music, being held at the L.L. Bean centre.

Who could fill this shoe?

Great entertainment

Some tasty tomatoes

A flowing stream outside the store

Two full size moose are on display inside the store. The racks of two moose that were locked together when found, in 2005 and died of starvation, were used to show how they might have fought. The bodies were recreated around the locked racks that were never separated. 

This boot was made for driving

After walking, shopping and just plain checking everything out in town, we were ready for another quiet night in the parking lot. Getting two free nights right in a busy tourist town was such a treat.