Penobscot Maritime

Heritage Association

P.O. Box 123

Orrington, Maine 04474

Leave message or text: 207-745-7748

14 Towns in the 4-Port Loop

The Penobscot Maritime Heritage Association helps promote the 14 historical ports of the lower Penobscot River Basin:

Bangor, Brewer, Bucksport, Castine, Frankfort, Hampden, Orland, Orrington, Penobscot, Prospect, Searsport, Stockton Springs, Verona Island and Winterport.

We are just a click away!

See the 4-Port Loop towns come to life with maritime history! Downlad the cell phone app by scanning the QR code below, or clicking on this website: www.4portloop.stqry.app to take self-guided tours. Then pack a picnic lunch and take a leisurely drive by car, boat, bike or even on foot!

Bucksport

Bucksport's festival is set up primarily on Saturday, August 1 along the scenic waterfront and Main Street area of this historic and charming coastal Maine town, overlooking the beautiful Penobscot Bay, the magnificent Fort Knox and the majestic Penobscot Narrows Bridge. This festival is a celebration of life and community in our town and has become a popular tradition for residents of past and present as well as visitors from near and far. This year's festival will be themed around the celebration of America's 250 years and will offer activities reflective of the history of Bucksport and it's involvement with the Penobscot River. To enhance this celebration, other organizations in Bucksport may also be hosting educational, historical and inspirational events and exhibits about town that weekend.

The historic schooner Harvey Gamage will sail upriver and will call Bucksport home for the weekend. They will host a receptions, give on-board tours and even a day trip to Bangor with a lunch! Then on Sunday, their next student crew will board and sail to Castine for their first port visit, then cruise Penobscot Bay as they "learn the ropes" and sharpen their navigation skills.

The Waterfront Exhibit Area will feature vendors offering historical, educational and employment-oriented info, including MMA. See UMaine's 3-D printed boat, 3Dirigo, and learn about the University's Advanced Composites Program's exciting innovative products, such as piers, bridges, ROV boats and more that are used world-wide. Maine's first ship, the Virginia,will offer a video and presentation with the plan for the vessel to attend the Penobscot Expedition's 250th celebration at the Bangor port in 2029. Ken Hendrickson will be displaying his incredibly detailed historical paintings, too.

The Northeast Historic Film and Alamo Theater will reach into their archives and will show movies on Saturday afternoon from 12-3 p.m. reflecting the historical values, industries and events of the town and the Penobscot Bay region.

The Bucksport Historical Society will also have pertinent displays. Guests can tour Fort Knox and the Penobscot Narrows Bridge Observatory will be open for spectacular views of the river to the ocean! 2026 marks the 20th year the Penobscot Narrows bridge was finished.

Local businesses will offer special deals and a tour boat may be available to give tours of beautiful Bucksport Harbor.

Castine

Town of Castine is one of the oldest towns in the USA, home of the Penobscot Expedition Battle and Siege, home to Maine Maritime Academy, and also home to the 2nd oldest continually operated Post Office (Custom House) in the USA. British occupied Castine during the War of 1812. Come see the beautiful historic Elm Trees in Castine, that have survived the deadly Dutch Elm Disease, that are still alive and are given doses of antibiotics.

Dyce Head Lighthouse, which is owned by the Town of Castine, will be open on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. Visitors will be able to go up in the lighthouse tower from 1-4 p.m. Donations will be accepted. The Lighthouse will also have a new display in the lighthouse garage of some historic artifacts and interpretive panels.

Castine Waterfront Wednesday at the Castine Town Dock. A live band, entertainment, food truck and New Town Dock Eatery Restaurant and Danny Murphy's Irish Pub and Restaurant will be open also at the Town Dock. July 29, 2026, from 4- 8 p.m. The State of Maine Training Ship will be sitting in the harbor.

The Castine Yacht Club will host the 27th annual Castine Classic Yacht Race on July 30, 2026. The 19.4nm race from Castine to Camden will attract a magnificent fleet of Classic and Spirit of Tradition yachts and is the first of three days of racing culminating with the Eggemoggin Reach Regatta on August 1st. The race is open to all mono-hull yachts of at least 28' LOA with a valid 2026 CRF rating certificate. We are also excited to welcome to this year's race Viola, a Fife-designed gaff cutter built in 1908, and one of the crown jewels of the Yacht Club of Monaco. Viola, together with Tuiga, a 1909 Fife-design that serves as the YCM's flagship, will be headed across the Atlantic to participate in a variety of celebrations along the East Coast to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Viola will be accompanied to Castine by Notre Dame des Flots, built in 1947 as a gaff-rigged North Sea fishing schooner, which will serve as Viola's mother ship. Notre Dame des Flots was abandoned on the beaches of Dunkirk, before being recovered and lovingly restored from 1975 to 1983.

• Wednesday, July 29 • 1200 hrs – Yachts on Exhibition at the Town Dock, Castine Yacht Club and Eaton's Boatyard

• Thursday, July 30 • 1200 hrs – Race start (first class) Castine to Camden.

All history buffs are invited to a special presentation by David Wyman about the new replica of the Defence, the 85' ship from the Penobscot Expedition, on Thursday, July 30 at 1 p.m. at the Wilson Museum.

• 27th annual Castine Classic Yacht Race, • Presentation by David Wyman about t replica of the Defence, the 85' ship from the

Penobscot Expedition, 1 p.m. at the Wilson Muse

The Harvey Gamage will be at Town Dock in Castine - August 3 and will return again August 10.

Maine Maritime Academy's State of Maine will be at the MMA Dock in Castine arrives July 12

Enjoy these ongoing events and activities

in historic Castine

• Witherle Woods Preserve on Battle Avenue in Castine - Free. Walk the history of the invasion, battles, and siege of the Penobscot Expedition of 1779

• Fort George - British Fort remnants from Penobscot Expedition and War of 1812. Free to tour on your own, sunrise to sunset.

• Fort Madison in Castine - Ramparts of fort built to defend Castine in War of 1812, but also the placement of the British Half Moon Battery in 1779. Free to tour sunrise to sunset. Great Views of Penobscot Bay!

• Virtual History Tour of Two Wars includes maps and links (Penobscot Expedition Siege and Battles of 1779 and War of 1812 Look at the virtual tour, then come and visit and experience the history in person. https://castine.stqry.app/story/93235

• Wilson Museum - Forge connections across history, places, and cultures. Visitors of all ages can tour an early Castine home, watch craftspeople and artisans demonstrate traditional skills and tools, and engage in hands-on learning. Free Admission (Donations Accepted). See the new display of a 1/16th replica of the 85-foot ship, the Defence, display - one of the ships from the Penobscot Expedition which was discovered in the 1970s and parts of it raised and put on display.

• Castine Historical Society Museum includes a professionally researched, designed and built exhibit about the events of a few weeks in Penobscot Bay during the American Revolution. The result was a multi-media installation complete with a mahogany paneled room evoking Commodore Saltonstall's day cabin on the Continental frigate Warren.

• Penobscot Expedition Exhibit in Historical Society Museum

• Walking Tours of Castine History - The Castine Historical Society is offering residents and visitors to this quintessential Maine coastal village a fun and informative way of learning about Castine's multi-layered history.

• Castine Touring Company - Come ride on Sally or Scarlett and learn about the history and the sites that make up Castine. Fee.

• Lil Toot Tour Boat - See the sites and learn the history of Castine from the water. Fee.

• Bastille Day in Castine, July 14 - Lots of special events including the infamous Picnic en Blanc, 400 white-clad festival-goers will be seated at long white tables at 5:30 p.m. under the elms on Court Street.

Bangor

The riverside trail connects to the East Coast Greenway, Kenduskeag Stream Trail, and River City Trail, and features beautiful views of the Penobscot River, sculptures, a public small craft dock, and food trucks. In the summer, the Waterfront Park is home to a number of concerts and festivals.

The Penobscot Maritime Heritage Association is working with Sailing Ships Maine to bring their 32-foot long Whitby (Cornish) Pilot Gigs to Bangor for Gig Boat rowing competitions between local dignitaries and sports teams. They will also be offering free crew rowing lessons!

A training schooner and working ships may also be docked in Bangor for tours... and the American Cruise Line's ship may be in port, too!

Anytime this summer, you can enjoy a leisurely stroll, listen to the Waterfront Concerts, partake of the food trucks' culinary delights, and watch the boats of all sizes cruise by.

Brewer

The Penobscot Expedition Presentation will be held along the Brewer Riverwalkon Sunday, August 2 at 1 p.m. Learn all about the 1779 scuttling of America's Navy ships. They still reside on the bottom of the river between Bangor and Brewer.

The paved Brewer Riverwalk hugs the shoreline of the Penobscot River. It is wide, flat, and lighted, and features numerous benches along the way. The mowed grass between the walkway and shore provide wide-open views of the river for its entire length.

The walkway is ten feet wide and of a mostly level grade. From the parking lot at the northern trail head, the walkway heads downhill for 100 feet at a grade of 10%. There are metal posts to keep out motorized vehicles at each of its entrances, with a minimum of 30 inches between the posts.

The half-acre Children's Garden, located midway along the trail, features themed plantings, short walking paths, a waterfall, and an area for events such as weddings or performances.

The river and shoreline (at low tide) can be accessed by a set of granite steps, which also serves as a hand-carry boat launch.

Searsport

Meet Big Jim! The iconic billboard statue erected in homage to one of Maine's former, and lucrative, industries will soon be back alongside Route 1, this time in the Midcoast, is taking up position in Searsport in front of the Penobscot Marine Museum for the summer and fall of 2026.

More than 66 years ago, the 40-foot-tall fisherman, outfitted in sou'wester gear, stood sentry in Kittery near the edge of the Piscataqua River, which divides New Hampshire from Maine. Traffic streaming north over the "old bridge" (the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge) along Route 1 from 1959 and through the late 1960s, would be met by the fisherman presiding over the landscape, and everyone would then know they were firmly in Maine.

The Big Jim statue then was relocated Down East to Prospect Harbor for 60 years, to Stinson Seafood. Now the Penobscot Marine Museum is restoring it. Big Jim will eventually return to Prospect Harbor, but not before his stint beside Route 1 in downtown Searsport, a tribute to the hardworking people who powered Maine's coastal economy.

The Penobscot Maritime Museum will also have displays on Maine's vibrant maritime history... from boat building to sailing, fishing to lobstering, transporting to processing. See what life was like along Maine's working waterfronts.

The town of Searsport is celebrating it's 180th birthday in 2026. Marking America's 250th birthday makes this year's celebration even more special.

Then

Now

COME CELEBRATE ALL THINGS SARDINES

at the Penobscot Maritime Museum on October 3, 2026 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Free Admission!