Our starting point is
South Parish Congregational Church. Large and impressive, this 1865 church is a dramatic Gothic Revival style building, the exterior finished in granite.
The first meeting house on this site, built in 1809, was struck by lightning and burned to the ground in 1864. Construction of this church, designed by notable Maine Architect Francis H. Fassett, was commenced shortly after.
Graced with twelve stained glass windows down the sides of the sanctuary, the church also has a large rose window at the rear. In the balcony is a large pipe organ, beautifully decorated, which was installed when the church was built. It was made by the firm of E. & G.G. Hook in Boston.
Then it's 200 and some metres southwest to
St. Mark's Episcopal Church. Built in 1886, St. Mark's Episcopal was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, at the ripe old age of 98.
The first Episcopal services in Augusta were held in 1763, though the first church was not constructed until 1841. As the congregation grew, fundraising for a new and larger church began in 1884. The church was completed in 1886.The St. Marks' Window, located over the altar of the original church, was moved to the new church.
The church was given a rough granite exterior with a heavy buttressed bell tower on the side of the nave with a very medieval looking wood Gothic entry door. The appearance at the door is of a very thick stone wall, created by the deep granite door frame. Atop is a somewhat subdued pyramidal spire compared to many in the state.
The bells in the tower were given to the church in memory of Ellen Kling in 1925. A carillon of eleven bells cast by Meneely & Co., weighing over 12,000 pounds, was installed in the bell tower, together with the service bell from the original church. These bells have recently been restored as a gift in memory of the Dearborn family.
Another 700 or so metres southwest and we reach
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church. A relatively recent addition to the ecclesiastical scene of Augusta, St. Mary's wasn't built until 1926.
It is, nonetheless, a fine looking church, of rough granite with smooth stone trim and highlights. Especially eye catching is the highly detailed entrance with an ornately decorated rose window above. The nave is long and narrow, with buttressed stone walls and asymmetrical transepts at the rear.
This is the third St. Mary's to serve the congregation in Augusta, the first purchased in 1836, the second built in 1845, both wood framed structures. Groundbreaking ceremonies for the present edifice took place on May 6, 1926, with the dedication of the completed church coming about just over a year later, on May 30, 1927. The cornerstone of the building is dated 1836, to indicate the year of formation of the congregation, and 1926, the year of construction of the church. The building's designer was T.G. O'Connell, designer of many Catholic churches in Maine, and at the time with the firm of Shaw & O'Connell.
Another 500 plus metres on the southeast, one should already be able to ass the Maine State House. The cornerstone of the State House was laid on July 4, 1829, with completion of the building occurring in January of 1832. It is one of ten resources which contribute to the Capitol Complex Historic District in Augusta. The building was designed by architect Charles Bulfinch, who also drew the plans for the landscaping of the State House grounds. In 1890-91 the building was enlarged toward the rear, giving it a T-shaped plan. In 1910 it was further enlarged, these modifications including the replacement of the original dome with the present one, by sculptor W. Clark Noble.
On the grounds one will find Maine's copy of The Liberty Bell. This is Maine's Liberty Bell, one of 55 cast in France in 1950 and given to the United States government by several corporations. The 55 bronze bells were cast in the Christoph Paccard Bell Foundry in Sévrier, France. The bells were to be placed on the grounds of the capitol of each state and possession of the United States.
The Christoph Paccard Bell Foundry is headquartered in Charleston, SC. Each 2,080 pound bell is an exact copy of the original Liberty Bell, with the same tone and the same dimensions.
A short 100 metres or so southwest of the State House we will finish our tour inside the Maine State Museum. Named “one of the country’s best state museums" by Downeast Traveler, the Maine State Museum has something for everyone.
When we visited it was late in the day and they allowed us in free as the museum would be closing in less than an hour. It could easily be said that we got much more than our money's worth on our tour of the museum. Near the entrance is a Lombard Log Hauler, built around 1920, a gasoline powered model, powered by a large six cylinder engine.
Further along, one will find geological displays, natural history displays, cultural history displays, economic and industrial history displays as well natural science displays. There seems not to be a single aspect of the history of the State of Maine that has been overlooked in the creation of this museum. There are even mockups of early Maine industrial enterprises, including a sawmill, a woolen mill and a shoe shop.
Just inside the museum's entrance one will spy entranceThe Lion, an 1846 locomotive, the oldest remaining American-built locomotive in New England.
The oldest in New England and the eighth oldest in the nation, The Lion, an 0-4-0 steam locomotive, was manufactured by Hinkley & Drury (Hinkley Locomotive Works) in 1846 for the Whitneyville and Machiasport Railroad in eastern Maine. Rated at 100 horsepower, it operated as a locomotive on the line until 1890, at which time it was sold to Thoman Towle of Portland. It was later purchased by the City of Portland and appeared in the 1898 Fourth of July parade. In 1905 The Lion was bequeathed to the University of Maine at Machias and remained on display at the University until 1985, at which time it became the property of the Maine State Museum in Augusta. There, it has been put on display, complete with coal and water tender, in a prominent location just inside the entrance.