The Penobscot Narrows

by Tom Seymour

Sometime in prehistory, a group of people in canoes silently swept down the Penobscot River on their way to the shore. These were Native Americans, coming to fish, relax, trade and fashion stone tools from the plentiful Rhyolite, a flint-like material that littered the beach.

In time, Colonial American sailing vessels sailed up that same stretch of river, in a desperate attempt to escape pursuing British warships after the disastrous American naval defeat of the Penobscot Expedition at Castine during the Revolutionary War.

And later, in 1814, toward the end of the War of 1812, British warships again sailed up the Penobscot, on their way to pillage, burn and destroy river towns all the way up to present-day Bangor.

After that, things calmed down and commercial and private traffic comprised the bulk of vessels sailing up, down and across the river. Colonial records from the hand of Jonathan Buck, founder and namesake of Bucksport, show Buck paying for the use of a gundalow (a small, solidly-built boat) to haul a load of stones across the Penobscot.

With its beginnings just east of the north end of Baxter State Park, the mighty Penobscot neatly bisects central and eastern Maine on its path to the sea. A major transportation route in pre-Colonial days and for many years thereafter, the Penobscot presented a formidable barrier to those wishing to cross. Over the years, canoes, both birchbark and dugout, horse-powered ferries, steamboats and eventually, bridges, answered the need.

Near the end of the Penobscot’s journey to the sea, travelers have historically sought passage across the river as they traveled up and down the coast. At first, conveyances were catch-as-catch-can, nothing formal, but usually available. And around the beginning of the 19th century, ferrying people and their loads across the river became a money-making business. To that purpose, plots of land on both sides of the river, one in present-day Prospect and one on the Bucksport side, were set aside for the ferrying business.

The Ferry

Records of deeds to ferry landings abound, one of the earliest dating to 1807, when Ephriam Merchant was deeded title to lands on both sides of the river. After that, ferries and ferry landings changed hands many times. For example, in 1891, ferry owner John Lee paid $1,000 for the right to operate his ferry. The final conveyance was dated May 18, 1934, when the State of Maine paid $1.00 and other valuable considerations to O. Olsen for title to the Bucksport side of the ferry landing and ferry house.

The ferry house, during the heyday of ferries, was a center of community activity and besides signing up for passage and boarding at the slip there, people could also purchase supplies.

The reason for the state purchasing the ferry land was that it was no longer needed. A modern marvel took the ferry’s place, the now-gone, Waldo-Hancock Bridge. This bridge made ferries unnecessary.

The Bucksport Ferry was an integral part of the communities of Prospect and Bucksport for many years and as such, it helped create lasting memories and was near and dear to people’s hearts. One person, well-known Maine singer Dora Wiley, got her start with a song she penned and sang about the old ferry. The chorus went as follows:

“Day by day and hour by hour

Upon the same old river,

Life would be but a joy for me

Could this go on forever.”

Waldo-Hancock Bridge

The age of automobiles brought increasing amounts of traffic to the old ferry. In time, queues of motor vehicles, along with horse-drawn conveyances, became exceedingly long and the wait to board the ferry stretched out even longer. Indeed, the wait was so interminable that many people opted to make the 19-mile trip north to cross over the Bangor-Brewer Bridge. Clearly, some other option for crossing from Prospect to Bucksport was needed.

To that end, in 1929 the Maine Legislature passed a bill authorizing funds to design and construct a state-owned toll bridge. This necessitated asking voters whether or not to approve a bond for needed funds. The bond question was passed and Maine then had funding, up to but not to exceed, $1,200,000 for bridge construction.

The engineering company of Robinson and Steinman of New York, New York, was awarded the job of engineering, surveying, designing and constructing the new bridge. The actual construction was let out to the lowest bidders. Work commenced quickly and on November 16, 1931, the bridge opened to traffic.

The Waldo-Hancock Bridge, as it was named, was a twisted wire strand cable suspension bridge, with a main span of 800 feet, nine, 60-feet approach spans and side spans of 350 feet each. Total length of combined spans was 2040 feet. The bridge had two, upright, Vierendeel trusses.

The bridge, besides being the first long-span bridge in Maine, was considered a modern marvel and, according to The History of Prospect Maine, Alice Verrill Ellis, 1980, won the title of the “most beautiful steel bridge constructed in the United States in 1931 costing less than one million dollars.”

Another Bridge

Construction of the Waldo-Hancock Bridge made it simple to drive from Prospect to Verona Island, but at the same time, put undue stress on the existing Verona-Bucksport Bridge. It immediately became apparent that the old, creaking structure needed replacing and in 1931, the Maine Legislature approved using unspent funds from the Waldo-Hancock Bridge for “extending and improving its approaches and culverts.” This freed up money to build the 1,120-foot Verona-Bucksport Bridge.

Because of wording in the legislative document, this bridge was long known locally as “the culvert.”

Penobscot Narrows

The old Waldo-Hancock Bridge served Maine well from its opening in November, 1931 to the opening of the new Penobscot Narrows Bridge on December 30, 2006. As the former bridge became less secure and difficult to repair, it was decided that building an entirely new bridge and demolishing the old suspension bridge was the most practical solution. And so the Maine Department of Transportation, the FIGG engineering group and Cianbro/Reed & Reed LLC, together planned, engineered and built the new bridge.

The Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory (PNBO) took only 42 months to complete. It has a number of unique aspects, among those being that it is, according to the brochure available at the Fort Knox Gift Shop, “the only observatory bridge in the entire western hemisphere and the tallest in the world.”

The bridge covers a 2,120-foot span. The pavement of the bridge sits 135 feet above the surface of the Penobscot River. The 42-story observatory is 420 feet tall, which makes it the tallest occupied structure in Maine. The two pylons are obelisks designed to resemble the Washington Monument. Interestingly enough, granite from nearby Mount Waldo was quarried to build a portion of the Washington Monument.

The observatory floor is constructed of granite from another local quarry, that one in Deer Isle.

Also, the PNBO is something of a test case for a cable-stayed-type bridge. The stays are the large, white tubes connecting the towers to the bridge platform. Inside the stays are cables. These are appointed in such a way that individual strands can be removed, inspected and replaced if necessary.

Some of the strands are steel, the others carbon. The PNBO is the first bridge in the country to utilize carbon strands. Carbon strands are thought to have more resistance to corrosion and also, to be stronger than steel.

The PNBO has in its short existence become an icon of Down East Maine. It has worldwide recognition for being a marvel of engineering and beauty. And, too, it is a fitting replacement for the old Waldo-Hancock Bridge. From canoes to manually-powered boats, from steam-driven ferries to the old suspension bridge and now the technical marvel, the Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory, the section of Penobscot River between Prospect and Bucksport has a long history of practical, ingenious and beautiful modes of crossing.

As of September, 2013, rates for the Observatory and Fort are $5.00 for Maine residents 12 years and older, $5.00 for non-residents and $2.50 for Maine seniors. Children 5-11 years of age are $3.00. Hours of operation are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 1 to June 30, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. July 1 to August 31 and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. September 1 to October 31. Even when the observatory is closed, the grounds remain open to foot traffic. For more information call 1-207-469-6553 or visit www.maine.gov/observatory.