Portland Observatory, Maritime signal tower in Munjoy Hill, Portland, US
The Portland Observatory is an octagonal wooden tower on Munjoy Hill in Portland, Maine, originally built as a signal station for the harbor. The tower has several interior levels connected by narrow stairs and ends at an open observation deck with views over the bay.
Captain Lemuel Moody had the tower built in 1807 so that merchants could be warned in advance of ships arriving in Portland Harbor. As the telegraph spread, the station lost its original purpose but survived as a historic structure.
The tower was built by shipwrights, and their craft is still visible in the way the wooden beams and joints fit together inside. As you climb the narrow stairs, you can see how techniques from boat-building were applied to a structure on land.
The tower sits on Munjoy Hill and can be reached on foot from downtown Portland. The climb involves several flights of narrow stairs, so it helps to be reasonably mobile, and clear days give the best views from the top platform.
This is the only surviving wooden signal tower built before the Civil War still standing in the United States. It rests not on bedrock but on a foundation packed with rubble stone ballast, which gives the structure its stability.
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