Buzzy World Tour--Maine Adventure
30 August, 2003--Fort Knox

Buzzy saw Fort Knox on the Maine map and (pleadflicked) to go see all the shiny yellow metal. I tried to explain to him that this was not that other Fort Knox in Kentucky, but he insisted, not believing me. My kid brother, Jon, tagged along.

The ORIGINAL Fort Knox here in Maine was named for the nation's first Secretary of War (Defense), General Henry Knox, who made his home down the road in Thomaston, Maine. Fort Knox is located on the west bank of the Penobscot River across from the town of Bucksport, just off US Route 1. Built over a 25 year period from 1844-1869 at a cost of one million dollars (mid-1800's dollars), it was located at a strategic bend in the river to protect the river from invasion. The fort was manned during both the Civil War and the Spanish-American War, but never shot a gun in wartime. By 1923, the fort was declared obsolete and sold to the state of Maine for just over $2,000. It has served as a historical education site since then and is a National Historical Landmark.

Maps are scanned from the brochure that the Maine State Department of Conservation, Bureau of Parks and Lands hands out about this fort. Some of the facts listed further below come from this brochure.

It didn't take long for Buzzy to get into trouble as he ignored the Please Keep Off Walls sign. I guess he assumed it didn't apply to natural climbers like himself.

Labor Day weekend was a good time to come see Fort Knox as the Twentieth Maine B-Company Civil War Re-enactment group was on sight providing demonstrations all weekend. Rumor had it that a Rebel group was also present, but I doubt the Twentieth Maine would have put up with that for long. Buzzy quickly hid in my pack after he learned that soldiers of that time period lived off the land when possible.

Inside the fort, one of the two remaining cannons can be seen. This 10 inch Rodman Cannon was one of the smaller guns in the fort, seen here with Buzzy and my brother. Cannon size is based on the size of the bore (the inner diameter of the barrel).

The fort contains mounts for 135 cannons, but no more than 74 were ever brought on sight. Most of those cannons were scrapped as part of Maine's war effort contribution for the two World Wars.

One of the park officials stated that a re-enactment group a few years back tested out the decibel levels of firing a cannon in one of these placements. However, they didn't roll their cannon all the way out the port hole before firing. The resulting deafening BOOM shattered windows throughout the fort.

The Rodman was quite modern for it's time, mounted on two rails that help absorb the recoil from firing a shot.

After exploring some of the darker parts of the fort, we went up on the roof, where once again, Buzzy disregarded the signs. The bridge in the background is the aging Waldo-Hancock Suspension Bridge. Built in 1931, it carries US Route 1 for a half mile over the Penobscot River. It is slated for replacement in the next couple of years due to its present poor condition.

Down on "A" Battery is the large 15 inch Rodman Cannon. Again, Buzzy disregards the signs and even shows his bravery/foolery by crawling into the 15 inch diameter barrel.

This cannon weighs in at 25 tons. It used a 100 pounds of gunpowder to fire its 450 pound cannon ball. At an elevation of 20 degrees, it could fire that cannon ball 3 miles. It took a twelve man crew to operate just one cannon. Do the math, if the fort had ever been fully equipped with 135 cannons, the fort would have needed 1,620 men just to fire them all at once! These Rodman cannons were common in forts of this era and those else where did see use in some battles of the Civil War.

At the end of the day, Buzzy was so disappointed not to find any gold, but I had warned him!

I almost forgot! On our way to Fort Knox we stopped at Perry's Nut House in Belfast, a well known tourist-trap that dates back to before Spencer's Etc. with the same kind of joke items (foam rocks, fake dog droppings, etc.). We didn't go in, however, Buzzy got his picture taken with Nutzy the Squirrel outside. Wow that's a big squirrel!