1. Fort George
City: Castine, ME
Category: Tours & Attractions
Address: Battle Avenue
Description: Not much is left of this fort built in 1779, but it saw its share of action back in the day. The British erected it, lost it to the upstart Americans, gained it back, and lost it again. This was the last post surrendered by the defeated redcoats at the close of the Revolutionary War, but they took it again a few decades later during the War of 1812. Legend has it that you can hear the sounds of a ghost drummer boy if you visit during August. It’s mostly grassy hills and picnicking facilities here now, but placards tell the site’s rather amazing story. Free.
2. John Perkins House
City: Castine, ME
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (207) 326-9247
Address: Court St.
Description: The town of Castine is a treasure trove of American architecture, and this is the only pre-Revolutionary building left in town, a white clapboard classic, built in 1763. It has all the details of an early American home, from hand-split, feather-end clapboards on the outside to the beautiful timber framing on the inside. The furniture is accurate to the period. Open daily from 2 to 5 p.m. from Memorial Day through September.
3. Wilson Museum
City: Castine, ME
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (207) 326-9247
Address: Perkins St.
Description: All of Castine feels like a museum, so historic and well-preserved is the old village. The former home of John Howard Wilson is an actual museum, though it’s as eccentric as Wilson must have been. The anthropologist first came to town in 1891 and over the years amassed a unique collection of everything from Native American artifacts to ship models to antique tools to rocks to seashells to firearms. It’s an amazing assortment of unusual items and spreads across two floors. Open daily from 2 to 5 p.m. from Memorial Day through September.
4. Dice’S Head Light
City: Castine, ME
Category: Tours & Attractions
Address: Battle Ave.
Description: Castine positively looks historic, with its white clapboard homes, tidy streets, brick downtown, and all-American campus, and Dice’s Head Light certainly doesn’t detract. The old town sits at the end of an ax-head-shaped peninsula, dangling into East Penobscot Bay, and the lighthouse itself occupies a headland at the top cutting corner of that ax, with panoramic views all around. It was built in 1828 to help guide ships to the opening of the Penobscot River, not far away, and the stone tower was once wrapped with a wooden frame. The site is owned by the town and is no longer operational, but a neat set of stairs leads down to the rocks on the shore below where there is a small working beacon built to replace Dice’s Head.