Fort Knox Where's The Gold?

     Fort Knox.  It was not too far away.  Just a short half hour drive down Highway 1.  I had heard about Fort Knox all my life.  It is where the United States stores all of it gold.  I have always wanted to see tons of gold.   As it turns out, this was a different Fort Knox.   The fort was named after the same guy that the gold storage fort was named after.  This however had no gold stored in it. The fort is located on the Penobscot River.  It was built in or around 1830 to 1850.  It was made mostly out of granite.  

 The fort never really saw any action.  It was never completed and never had a complete installation of all its cannons.  While I was walking around the fort I felt that I was in an old castle somewhere.  The fort did have a couple of cannons on display.   




The fort was in excellent condition.  Even slightly unfinished it was an impressive structure.  The  workmanship on the stone is impressive.  

There was a free tour that lasted about a half an hour.  The guide gave a history of the fort.  The cannon was fired sometime in the 1970's to salute a Civil War veteran that was passing on a ship going up river.  The signal gun salute broke all the windows in the town across the river.

     The fort is said to be haunted.  There are long dark passageways all through the fort.  A flashlight would have been handy for getting around the bowels of the fort.  The masonry acted as a thermal mass that kept the temperature twenty degrees lower than the outside temperature.

This is a picture of the entrance looking out.  Originally there was no floor here.  The State of Maine installed the bricks to make entry into the fort easier.  

   



 I do plan on going to the other Fort Knox someday.  I don't think that they will let anyone see the gold.  This Fort Knox was definitely worth the visit.