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Awaiting Your Return From Shore |
The largest
city in Maine, Portland was founded in 1632 on the Casco Bay Peninsula. It
quickly prospered through shipbuilding and the export of inland pines which
made excellent masts. A long line of wooden wharves stretched along the sea
front, with the merchants’ houses on the hillside above. From the earliest
days it was a cosmopolitan city. When the railroads came, the Canada Trunk
Line had its terminal right on Portland’s quayside, bringing the produce of
Canada and the Great Plains one hundred miles closer to Europe than it would
at any other major US port. Some of the wharves are now taken up by new
condo developments, with the exception of Customs House Wharf which remains
much as it used to be.
Grand Trunk Station was torn down in 1966 and a revitalization program of
this historic section was spearheaded by a group of committed residents. The
result was the revival of the Old Port Exchange District with its red-brick
streets built in the 1860s following a disastrous fire. The area today
features a wide variety of restaurants, specialty and antique shops and
makes for a pleasant place to go strolling. Congress Street and its many
side streets are an engaging mixture of culture,
commerce and history. Art is everywhere, from the Portland Museum of Art to
the many statues and monuments throughout the city. Other points of interest
include the Portland Observatory, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s childhood
home, several colonial mansions and Fort Williams Park, with the adjacent
Portland Head Light. Further afar one can visit the charming yachting and
fishing village of Kennebunkport, also noted as the locale of the home and
former summer White House of ex-President George Bush.
Other attractions include the factory outlets of Freeport. About a 45 minute
drive north of Portland, this shopping mecca is crammed with serious
shoppers who come from as far away as New York. |
Awaiting Your Return
From Shore |
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Complimentary
Spirits Await |
Return to Your
Suite and Sail Away to The Next Adventure |
Entertainment
and Dancing Await You |
