America’s oldest English colony is on a Maine peninsula most people drive right past

Phippsburg’s secret is how much it holds

Drive 14 miles south of Bath on Route 209 and the road narrows, the trees close in, and you start to feel the Atlantic before you see it.

Phippsburg wraps around the mouth of the Kennebec River where it spills into the ocean, shaping a peninsula of coves, salt marshes, and offshore islands. Most people have never heard of it.

The ones who have tend to come back every summer, and they don’t talk about it much.

English colonists landed here before the Pilgrims

In August 1607, about 100 men and boys sailed into this coast on two ships, the Gift of God and the Mary and John.

They landed at Sabino Head, built a fort called Fort St. George, and established the Popham Colony, a full 13 years before the Pilgrims reached Plymouth.

The settlement lasted just over a year, but before the colonists sailed home, they built the Virginia, the first English ship ever constructed in North America.

The exact site of the colony stayed lost until a 1607 map turned up in Spain in 1888.

Popham Beach stretches where two rivers meet the sea

Popham Beach State Park draws more visitors than any other state park beach in Maine, and once you see it, that makes sense.

The beach runs along the south side of the Kennebec’s mouth, with the Kennebec on one end and the Morse River on the other.

That double-river geography makes it a rare landform for a state known more for its rocky coast than its sand. On a clear day, you can look offshore and pick out Fox, Wood, and Seguin islands sitting on the horizon.

Lifeguards patrol during summer.

Walk out to Fox Island when the tide pulls back

At low tide, sandbars surface between Popham Beach and Fox Island, and sometimes you can walk all the way across.

The route shifts every season, moved around by currents and storms, so what worked last July might not work this one. The tides move fast here, so you need to time the crossing carefully.

Park staff post notices at the entrance when conditions make it unsafe. If the crossing is open and you make it, turn around and look back at the beach.

The view from the island is worth every step.

Popham Beach rewards the patient beachcomber

The Atlantic surf here has real force, with riptides and undertow that lifeguards watch closely on busy days.

Swimmers share the sand with surfers and people who come just to walk the edge of the water with their eyes down, hunting sea glass, shells, and smooth stones.

After a big storm, the beach reorganizes itself, and new sandbars and tidal pools appear where there weren’t any before.

Picnic tables and charcoal grills sit near the entrance for all-day stays, and bathhouses with freshwater showers let you rinse off before the drive back.

Fort Popham’s granite walls rose during the Civil War

At the river’s mouth, a half-moon of granite rises 30 feet from the ground and curves about 500 feet around the point. Construction on Fort Popham started in 1862, with blocks hauled from Fox and Dix islands nearby.

Work continued for seven years and then stopped in 1869, leaving the fort unfinished. No battle ever tested its walls.

The federal government added it to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969, a century after the stonemasons set down their tools.

Every level of the fort is yours to explore

You can go anywhere inside Fort Popham. Spiral stone staircases cut through the walls and bring you up to the old gun platforms, where the Kennebec opens up below you and the Atlantic sits beyond.

The curved casemates still carry the tool marks left by the men who shaped the granite, and old brick fireplaces survive in some of the interior rooms.

A picnic table at the base of the fort puts you right at the water’s edge. One more detail worth knowing: the fort’s Civil War commander later went on to invent Moxie soda.

Fort Baldwin hides in the hill above the river

Climb Sabino Hill above Fort Popham and you reach a different kind of fort entirely. Built between 1905 and 1912, Fort Baldwin traded granite for concrete and height for concealment.

Three low-profile gun batteries, named Cogan, Hardman, and Hawley, were buried under mounded earth so passing ships couldn’t spot them from the water.

During World War II, the Army added a five-story concrete fire control tower to the summit. From the outside, most of the fort is invisible.

You have to walk right up to it before it appears.

Tunnels and gun mounts run through the hillside

A short uphill trail from the parking area brings you into the batteries, where concrete rooms, tunnels, and old gun mounts sit under a canopy of trees and moss.

The three batteries spread across the hill, connected by worn paths that loop through the woods.

Gaps in the trees open up toward the Kennebec below, and on a clear day you can sometimes spot the Pond Island Lighthouse from the summit.

A longer trail branches off and runs down toward Popham Beach, connecting both forts on foot.

Bates-Morse Mountain leads to a two-mile stretch of open Atlantic

The Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area covers about 600 acres managed in partnership with Bates College, and the only way in is on foot.

A 3.8-mile round-trip trail climbs a low hill and winds through salt marshes and pine woods before opening onto Seawall Beach, a two-mile stretch of open Atlantic with no buildings in sight.

Parking at the trailhead is limited, and it fills early on summer mornings. Dogs are not allowed on the trail or the beach.

Rare birds nest in the dunes at Seawall Beach

Seawall runs quiet for a reason. The dunes along this stretch provide nesting ground for piping plovers, which are listed as a threatened species, and least terns claim the same area each summer.

Walk slowly and keep your distance from any marked nesting zones.

Ospreys work the shallows, sandpipers run the tide line, and the whole beach carries the feeling of a place that hasn’t been developed because people chose to leave it alone.

On clear days, you can see the White Mountains rising to the west across the New Hampshire border.

Hermit Island puts you to sleep with the sound of waves

Cross the sandy causeway onto Hermit Island and you enter a 255-acre peninsula that has been running a campground since 1952.

About 270 sites spread across beaches, forested interior, and rocky cliff edges overlooking Casco Bay. No RVs are allowed, only tents, pop-up trailers, and truck campers, which keeps the place quiet.

Small beaches and rocky tide pools sit within walking distance of most sites, and a network of trails connects the coves and dunes. Hermit Island fills up early in the season, so reservations in spring are not optional.

Explore Phippsburg’s beaches and forts in Maine

Popham Beach State Park sits at 711 Popham Rd and opens daily at 9 a.m., with an admission fee for adults. Fort Popham State Historic Site is just up the road at 219 Popham Rd and opens at 9 a.m. on weekdays.

Fort Baldwin State Historic Site is a short drive away at 46 Fort Baldwin Rd. Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area, at 372 Morse Mountain Rd, is free to enter.

For current fees and seasonal hours, check the official Maine state parks website before you go.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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