![]() ![]() ![]() Management polled the 40-odd volunteer docents and they preferred to keep wearing them, for now. Bennett / BDNĪfter Saturday’s reopening, the Portland Observatory will only be open Thursday through Monday and advance tickets are required. The observatory, built in 1807, is the only remaining maritime signal tower in the United States. Various boats cross Portland harbor on Tuesday in a view seen from the top of the Portland Observatory on Munjoy Hill. Not a single tourist climbed its 104 steps. Instead, with the pandemic raging, the observatory sat empty. Last summer would have been the 20th anniversary of those latest renovations. Another extensive restoration was then undertaken between 19. Ten years later, inspections revealed serious moisture damage and a large powder-post beetle infestation. Greater Portland Landmarks took over management of the tower in 1984. The Observatory reopened to the public in 1939. Then, the federal Works Progress Administration undertook a restoration. When she died at age 95 in 1937, the tower was left to the city. The article also stated that York climbed to the top twice that Sunday. Bennett | BDNĪnother BDN story in July said that the tower had reopened to visitors, at least for a while. The 214-year-old maritime signal tower will open to the public on Saturday. Alessa Wylie (left) and Nina Miller of Greater Portland Landmarks practice raising a flag at the top of the Portland Observatory on Munjoy Hill on Tuesday. That year, she was forced to lay off the caretaker and halt the signal flag operation. York was already letting visitors ascend to the top to take in the view for a small fee but it wasn’t enough. ![]() The attached story said Moody’s granddaughter, Ellen York, then 86, owned the tower. “Owners lack funds to maintain observatory at Portland.” ![]() “Noted tower, 116 years old, closed,” read an April 1923 Bangor Daily News headline. Moody, who died in 1846, is also buried there.Īfter his death, Moody’s family continued operating the tower until two-way radio rendered it obsolete. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, then a boy, wrote about it later in life: “I remember the sea-fight far away, how it thundered o’er the tide! And the dead captains, as they lay in their graves, o’erlooking the tranquil bay, where they in battle died.”īoth captains, slain in the fight, rest side-by-side in the Eastern Cemetery, just down the hill. Later, Moody watched the victorious Enterprise tow the defeated Boxer into Portland Harbor. As it raged, he yelled the news down to a crowd gathered at the base of his tower. Bennett / BDNĭuring the War of 1812, Moody was even able to observe the famous sea fight between the HMS Boxer and USS Enterprise off Pemaquid Point. The historic observatory, built in 1807, opens to the public on Saturday after being closed last year during the coronavirus pandemic. A woman and dog cross Congress Street atop Munjoy Hill with the Portland Observatory looming behind them on Tuesday. Today, it’s the only remaining maritime signal tower in the nation. Instead, it is held in place by tons of rock ballast. “We were all set to open last year - but we didn’t,” Wylie said. The trio were excited about getting the building reopened with the state’s recent easing of coronavirus restrictions. “Oh the things we do to keep history safe,” said Wylie, manager of education programs for Greater Portland Landmarks, the group which operates the observatory for the city. Closed all of last year due to the pandemic, the 214-year-old edifice is due to welcome visitors again starting Saturday. The bit of padding was the last step in finally reopening one of the city’s most historic, and beloved, buildings: The Portland Observatory. Puza was cutting long strips of fluorescent pink duct tape while Alessa Wylie and Nina Miller, stuck a shocking-green pool noodle on a low overhang where people often bump their heads coming up the stairs. The padding is a final touch before the 214-year-old maritime signal tower is opened to the public on Saturday. Peg Puza (from left) Nina Miller and Alessa Wylie of Greater Portland Landmarks install bright-colored padding where people often bump their heads at the top of the Portland Observatory on Munjoy Hill on Tuesday. “Are these period correct pool noodles?” asked Peg Puza, getting a roar of laughter from her colleagues. ![]()
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