Fort Preble, Military fort in South Portland, United States
Fort Preble is a former coastal defense installation on the shore of South Portland, Maine, where brick and earthen gun batteries once overlooked the entrance to Portland Harbor. The site is now part of the Southern Maine Community College campus, with portions open as a small public park along Fort Road.
The installation was established in 1808 under orders from Secretary of War Henry Dearborn as part of an early national effort to protect the American coastline. The site remained in active military use through both World Wars before eventually being transferred to civilian hands in the mid-20th century.
The fort is named after Commodore Edward Preble, a naval officer known for leading American forces against the Barbary pirates in the early 1800s. Visitors today share the grounds with students of Southern Maine Community College, giving the site an unusual mix of old military purpose and everyday campus life.
The grounds are accessible from Fort Road in South Portland, and parking is available on site for visitors who arrive by car. Most of what there is to see is outdoors, so choosing a dry day will make the visit more enjoyable.
Some of the concrete gun batteries built in the early 1900s are still standing and can be walked around, even though they have not served any military function for decades. These batteries were designed to sit low to the ground so they would be hard to spot from the sea, which is the opposite of the tall walls typical of older forts.
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