Confessions of an RVer: PENOBSCOT NARROWS BRIDGE AND OBSERVATORY/FORT KNOX

It was getting time to leave the Bar Harbor area. So, we had had 2 people tell us to go see the bridge and visit the fort while still there. We decided to go visit the day before we were to leave.

The bridge and observatory offer 360 degree views of the river and country side. This bridge is the tallest observatory bridge in the world. The observatory is 420 feet tall. The observatory opened to the public in 2007. It has one elevator that goes to the top and it takes 59 seconds to go 437 feet. The elevator has had a series of technical issues through the years. In 2014, 13 people were temporarily stuck in the observatory because the elevator doors would not open. I'm glad I didn't know this before I got on that elevator. The observatory has ceiling to floor windows all the way around. You can also get a great view of the cable-stayed bridge from the top. It was a great day to visit the observatory because it was a clear sunny day. You could see forever.

Next to the bridge is Fort Knox. Built between 1844 and 1869, it was the first fort in Maine built entirely of granite; most previous forts used wood, earth, and stone. It is named after Major General Henry Knox, the first U.S. Secretary of War and Commander of Artillery during the American Revolutionary War. Fort Knox never saw battle, though it was manned during times of war. During the American Civil War, volunteers from Maine, mostly recruits in training before assignment to active duty, manned the fort.

A regiment from Connecticut manned Fort Knox during the Spanish–American War. A plaque at the fort describes the laying of a controlled minefield in the river during this war, which Congress appropriated $3,200 for shortly after its outbreak. The garrison was reduced to one man, the "Keeper of the Fort" or caretaker with the rank of ordnance sergeant, at the end of the war. The keeper attended to the condition and maintenance of the fort, and reported to Fort Preble in South Portland.

In 1923, the federal government declared the fort excess property and put its 125-acre grounds up for sale. The state of Maine bought it for $2,121. It has been administered as a Maine state historic site since 1943. The fort today is distinguished as one of the best-preserved and most accessible forts in the United States. Virtually all of the fort is open to the public. The cost to visit the observatory and Fort Knox for senior adults is $5 pp. Free parking is available.