The Portland Observatory: Eyes on the Harbor

At the top of Munjoy Hill stands one of the most unusual buildings in New England, a tapered octagonal tower eighty-six feet tall, built in eighteen hundred and seven by a sea captain named Lemuel Moody. The Portland Observatory is the last surviving maritime signal tower of its kind in the United States, and it solved a problem that tormented every merchant in this city: Casco Bay's dozens of islands blocked the view of approaching ships from the wharves below.

Moody was a practical man. He recruited subscribers among Portland's merchant community, charging them an annual fee for a service that seems almost quaint now but was worth a great deal of money then. From the top of the tower, armed with a powerful telescope, Moody could spot an incoming vessel as far as thirty miles out to sea. He identified the ship's name and home port, then hoisted signal flags so merchants in the harbor knew to prepare their warehouses and arrange their workers before the vessel even rounded the last island.

The tower was built by shipwrights rather than carpenters, and the choice shows. The structural posts at each octagonal corner are native Maine white pine, cut and fitted with the same joinery used to build ship's masts. The whole structure is designed to flex in wind rather than fight it, which is why it has stood through more than two centuries of coastal storms.

Moody's service operated for over a hundred years, until nineteen twenty-three, when radio communication made signal flags obsolete. By then the tower had guided generations of ships into this harbor, connecting Portland's docks to the Atlantic world. The observatory is now open to the public, and climbing it gives you the same view Moody had: the same spread of Casco Bay, the same cluster of islands, and on a clear day, the White Mountains of New Hampshire rising behind the city to the west.