A little Hawaii at Nantasket Beach
This was the day I had planned to drive up to Pemaquid. Everyone tells me that the best time to photograph the lighthouse is at dawn. My research makes me think I will have an hour and a half drive from Portland. That means if sunrise is 5:30 am I have to be on my way by 4 am.
Beep Beep Beep my cell phone alarm let me know that it was time to rise and shine. Boy was it dark! I peeked out the window and the reason for the extreme darkness (besides being 4 am) was that it was raining, hard and from the looks of the halos around the street lights it was foggy too. The storm predicted had finally arrived.
In that case there was only one thing to do….Go back to bed.
Nite….
On April 13, 1899, President McKinley named the one-time subpost of Fort Preble, Cape Elizabeth’s first military fortification, Fort Williams. Named after Brevet Major General Seth Williams, Fort Williams grew to be a tremendous military asset during World War II. Besides protecting the shoreline of Cape Elizabeth, the infantry and artillery units provided the Harbor Defense for Portland. After the war, many of the forts in Casco Bay were closed, including Fort Williams, which traded in its defense of the coast for caretaker status and Army Reserve accommodations. Fort Williams was officially closed and deactivated on June 30, 1963. (from Cape Elizabeth’s web site)
Today, Fort Williams is still one of the most treasured sites of Cape Elizabeth. Home to the oldest lighthouse in Maine, Portland Head Light.
As I made my way back to Fort Williams and Portland Head Light the bright blue skies faded and the wind began to blow. There’s be no sunset shots tonight. The predicted storm was on its way.
While I was out chasing the other lighthouses the tide had gone out so there wasn’t much surf even with the wind. But I was there and intended to make the most of it. I would stay until one of 3 things happened
I’m happy to report that I didn’t have to stay until full dark and I didn’t get rained on. Did I get the shot? Well I’ll let you be the judge.
With the clock heading into the late afternoon it was time to see if I could find my way back to Portland Head Light. I wondered if I could get an evening picture. The weather report had said there was a storm coming but you’d never know it by looking at the blue sky and sunshine of late afternoon.
My path took me over “The Bridge” . The Bridge is a wide span that takes you over to Cape Elizabeth.
The view from the bridge of Casco Bay is great. I got a good look when I was on the trolley tour but driving was a different story.
Especially driving during “rush hour”. I admit Portland’s rush hour isn’t anything like Boston’s. Boston’s rush hour is more congested, stop and go, a tough on the brakes kind of drive. On a bad night it can take hours to get from one end of the expressway (AKA distressway) to the other. On the other hand being on “The Bridge” in Portland during rush hour has earned the name “Rush”. I felt like I was driving in the Indie 500. Cars were flying by me like I was standing still! I checked and I was doing the speed limit which was plenty fast for someone who doesn’t know the road.
Once off “The Bridge” I was doing pretty good from memory until I hit a large intersection that I didn’t remember from the trolley tour. I made my best guess and of course, it was wrong. After a few more tries I was hopelessly twisted around. Time to break out the trusty GPS. Back on track I finally pulled into Fort Williams Park and Portland Head Light. Even getting twisted around it was way too early for the photo I was trying to get. So I decided to back track and see if I could find the lighthouses I’d seen from the “Sea” part of the Land and Sea Tour.
Since I didn’t have an address I couldn’t use the GPS and was left to my own devices. It wasn’t too long before I found a lovely park and there was Portland Breakwater Light in the distance.
There was a parking attendant but she really only gave me directions. She pointed out another entrance to the park and told me to drive down that and it would take me much closer to the lighthouse. Success! I could walk the large rocks of the breakwater right up to the “Bug” light.
This is really a cute lighthouse. It’s classical Greek Styling combined with its short stature (the tower is only 13 ft tall) makes this little lighthouse look like it belongs on a chess board.
After exploring the light I spotted another interesting structure. It was a giant hull of a boat with ribs exposed. I’d seen this on the boat tour as well but up close it was enormous. It’s a monument to the men and women that worked in the shipyards that built the vessels for the war effort in World War II. This is the Monument to the South Portland Liberty Ships. It was building ships like these that made Rosie the Riveter and Wendy the Welder household names. 
Beyond the “ship” I could just see the Spring Point Ledge Light so I headed back to the car to see if I could find my way to that lighthouse. Several bumps and turns later I was pulling into the Portland Harbor Museum parking lot. To reach the lighthouse you walk through the ruins of an old fort, climb a short set of stairs and there you are.
The breakwater stretches out before you, at the end, another “spark plug” of a lighthouse.
This one much more simple without the Greek frills. The design of this lighthouse was intended to help it survive the gale force winds , high water and pressure from winter ice floes.
I sat on the steps leading down to the breakwater watching the boats sail past and the sun sink toward the horizon. It was time to head back to Portland Head light.
American Bald Eagle
