Steamboat Wharf & Ottawa Landing
The Casco Bay Line pier that served the Ottawa House
The stone-and-timber pier on the west shore that connected the Ottawa House era to Portland. Casco Bay Line steamers unloaded guests, trunks, mail, and provisions here; the same landing later served the fort's supply runs. Traces of the original crib work are still visible at low tide.
- Squared granite blocks and iron fastenings mark the base of the original pier crib.
- A graded cart track climbs east from the landing toward the Ottawa House terrace.
- The cove is deep enough at mid-tide for a shallow-draft steamer to lie alongside.
A resort landing is a two-part machine: a stone crib in the water sized for a specific vessel, and a graded road ashore sized for luggage carts. Read the road grade and the block spacing together — they date the pier as clearly as any document.
Detect only on the upland approach, never on the intertidal crib. Photograph any iron fastening in place — the pattern of pins is more informative than any single object.
- 1.Do the surviving crib blocks match the pier shown in the 1880s Casco Bay Line advertisements?
- 2.Where did the cart track meet the Ottawa House terrace before the fort era regraded the slope?