Tag: Forts

At the Fort

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Oftentimes we take for granted the fact that Portsmouth and the NH/ME seacoast played a vital role in the freedom of the United States.  The area is rich with history, as it was originally a rich and successful port in the trading of various goods, with many Brits in the newly established colony and the convenient access to the Atlantic Ocean etc. not far.

It’s these various facts that seem to rise into my head when I see places such as Fort McClary in Kittery, Maine. When I see fortifications lining the coast such as these, I can imagine soldiers either waiting aimlessly for nothing to happen – or a concentration of people hunkered down, surrounded by tons of ammunition and ready for who knows what.  I’m thankful that we still have some wonderful places to enjoy such as this…and others including Fort Stark in New Hampshire and others lining the coast from Maine to Massachusetts.

Fort Stark | New Castle, NH

philipcase1 Comment

I was out riding my road bike over the weekend, and decided to visit a couple streets that I hadn’t been on in a few years.  I meandered down Wild Rose Lane in New Castle after spotting the sign for Fort Stark, saying it was open for the afternoon.  I decided to investigate….the fort played a fairly critical role in the Seacoast’s military history through the wars of the 20th century….and the “Ordnance Machine Shop” seen in the photo above featured a cool map with lights depicting various guns at the forts in NH/ME/MA from Cape Ann in Rockport, MA all the way north to Biddeford, ME…including how far their various weapons could fire out into the ocean to deter enemies.

Pretty darn cool to see some of the working history of the New England seacoast. One of the coolest parts was the gun propped in the middle of the Machine Shop that had formerly been fixed onto one of the cement columns overlooking the harbor at Fort Stark.