THE PORTLAND OBSERVATORY

I visited the Portland Observatory on Tuesday, March 11th. The Portland Observatory is located at 138 Congress St. Portland atop Munjoy Hill.

The Portland Observatory was built in 1807 by order of Captain Lemuel Moody The 86 feet-high, 103 step tall tower was built to communicate with merchant vessels entering Portland Harbor. The Observatory was used for 116 years until 1923 and has been own by the City of Portland since 1937. The observatory is the last signal tower in the United States. It is now used as a tourist attraction and is hard to miss from most parts of Portland.

OBSERVATIONS: The observatory is in great shape and is still used as a museum. I can be seen for miles away, but I think most people think its a lighthouse. It is located next door to the fire department on Munjoy Hill. The bricks used to construct the tower look as if they are fairly new even though the tower itself is 200 years old. It gives the impression that it is well taken care of.

Visit http://24.39.36.60/view/view.shtml to see The Portland Observatory’s web cam.

References: http://portlandme.about.com/cs/mainehistory/a/Observatory.htm
http://www.portlandlandmarks.org/portland_observatory/observatory.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Observatory