There is no better way to see America than on foot. And there is no better way to appreciate what you are looking at than with a walking tour. Whether you are preparing for a road trip or just out to look at your own town in a new way, a self-guided walking tour is ready to explore when you are.
Each walking tour describes historical and architectural landmarks and provides pictures to help out when those pesky street addresses are missing. A quick primer on identifying architectural styles seen on North American streets is included.
Since permanent settlement began on this peninsula in Casco Bay the town has answered to many names: Casco, Falmouth and Portland among them. It has also put on many faces. There was a rebuilding of 75% of the town after British Captain Henry Mowatt cannonballed the lumber port to the ground in the early days of the Revolutionary War.
And there was the recovery from the Embargo Act of 1807 that closed the thriving port. The town of 8,000 people was barely staggering back on its economic feet when it was named the capital of the new state of Maine in 1820. The government sashayed out of town to safer inland quarters a dozen years later but Portlanders paid no mind. The largest fleet on the East Coast was anchored here and railroads were coming to link the commercial wharves to Canada and points West. Landfill created Commercial Street on the waterfront in the early 1850s and it rapidly filled with prosperous shipping and mercantile concerns.
And there was the Great Fire of 1866 that broke out on Independence Day, maybe from some careless handling of fireworks. More than 10,000 people were left homeless - it was the worst urban fire in American history to that point. It sounds bad but only two lives were lost and the city rebuilt with startling alacrity. Scores of brick buildings emerged in the downtown area, many of high Victorian style by talented architects. The Old Port remains a thick tapestry of brick commercial buildings to this day.
Portland became an active player in urban renewal in the 1960s. Several beloved landmarks were lost: the Falmouth Hotel that was the city’s leading guest house of the 19th century, the grand Richardsonian Romanesque-styled Union Station, the Grand Trunk Railroad Station, the old post office. Things were getting so out of hand that Greater Portland Landmarks was hastily started in 1964 to stem the tide.
We will set out to see what was saved from a small park on Congress Street, which transformed after the Great Fire from a residential to commercial showplace, stuffed with fine hotels and department stores which had the goods of the world on offer. Enough remains that the American Planning Association named Congress Street one of America’s Top 10 great streets in 2014...
Each walking tour describes historical and architectural landmarks and provides pictures to help out when those pesky street addresses are missing. A quick primer on identifying architectural styles seen on North American streets is included.
Since permanent settlement began on this peninsula in Casco Bay the town has answered to many names: Casco, Falmouth and Portland among them. It has also put on many faces. There was a rebuilding of 75% of the town after British Captain Henry Mowatt cannonballed the lumber port to the ground in the early days of the Revolutionary War.
And there was the recovery from the Embargo Act of 1807 that closed the thriving port. The town of 8,000 people was barely staggering back on its economic feet when it was named the capital of the new state of Maine in 1820. The government sashayed out of town to safer inland quarters a dozen years later but Portlanders paid no mind. The largest fleet on the East Coast was anchored here and railroads were coming to link the commercial wharves to Canada and points West. Landfill created Commercial Street on the waterfront in the early 1850s and it rapidly filled with prosperous shipping and mercantile concerns.
And there was the Great Fire of 1866 that broke out on Independence Day, maybe from some careless handling of fireworks. More than 10,000 people were left homeless - it was the worst urban fire in American history to that point. It sounds bad but only two lives were lost and the city rebuilt with startling alacrity. Scores of brick buildings emerged in the downtown area, many of high Victorian style by talented architects. The Old Port remains a thick tapestry of brick commercial buildings to this day.
Portland became an active player in urban renewal in the 1960s. Several beloved landmarks were lost: the Falmouth Hotel that was the city’s leading guest house of the 19th century, the grand Richardsonian Romanesque-styled Union Station, the Grand Trunk Railroad Station, the old post office. Things were getting so out of hand that Greater Portland Landmarks was hastily started in 1964 to stem the tide.
We will set out to see what was saved from a small park on Congress Street, which transformed after the Great Fire from a residential to commercial showplace, stuffed with fine hotels and department stores which had the goods of the world on offer. Enough remains that the American Planning Association named Congress Street one of America’s Top 10 great streets in 2014...
