Fort Gorges

The Battle of Portland Harbor was an incident during the American Civil War, in June 1863, in the waters off Portland, Maine. Two civilian ships engaged two vessels under Confederate States Navy employment.

Spring Point Ledge Light is a sparkplug lighthouse in South Portland, Maine, that marks a dangerous obstruction on the west side of the main shipping channel into Portland Harbor. It is now adjacent to the campus of Southern Maine Community College.

Little Diamond Island is an island in Casco Bay, Maine, United States. It is part of the city of Portland. The island was formerly known as Little Hog Island. It is mostly made up of private property, and it is a vacation destination. It can be accessed by ferry from the mainland.As of the 2000 census, the island had a year-round population of five. There are few permanent residents because the water supply is turned off during the winter.

Fort Preble was a military fort in South Portland, Maine, United States, built in 1808 and progressively added to through 1906. The fort was active during all major wars from the War of 1812 through World War II. The fort was deactivated in 1950. It is now on the campus of Southern Maine Community College.

The Harbor Defenses of Portland was a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps harbor defense command. It coordinated the coast defenses of Portland, Maine, the mouth of the Kennebec River, and surrounding areas from 1895 to 1950, beginning with the Endicott program. These included both coast artillery forts and underwater minefields. The command originated circa 1895 as the Portland Artillery District, was renamed Coast Defenses of Portland in 1913, and again renamed Harbor Defenses of Portland in 1925.

The Portland Breakwater Light (also called Bug Light) is a small lighthouse in South Portland, Maine.

House Island is a private island in Portland Harbor in Casco Bay, Maine, United States. It is part of the City of Portland. The island is accessible only by boat. Public access is prohibited, except for an on-request tour sanctioned by the island's owners. House Island includes three buildings on the east side and Fort Scammell on the west side. The buildings are used as vacation rentals and other summer residences. The island's name derives from the site of an early European house, believed that built by Capt. Christopher Levett, an English explorer of the region.[1][2]The island sold for $5.35m in 2022.

Southern Maine Community College is a public community college in South Portland, Maine. It is part of the Maine Community College System.

The New England Shipbuilding Corporation was a shipyard located in the city of South Portland, Maine, United States. The yard originated as two separate entities, the Todd-Bath Iron Shipbuilding Corporation and the South Portland Shipbuilding Corporation, which were created in 1940 and 1941 respectively, in order to meet the demand created by World War II. The two merged in 1943, then continued to produce ships as the New England Shipbuilding Corporation's East Yard and West Yard. New England Shipbuilding ranked 97th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts. Both closed at the end of the war.The two yards built 266 ships: 154 in the East Yard, 112 in the West Yard. The first 30 East Yard ships were Ocean class cargo ships built for the United Kingdom. The remaining ships were of the Liberty ship design, derived from the Ocean class, and were built for the United States Maritime Commission. Among them was the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, a Liberty ship that is preserved as a museum ship in San Francisco. In contrast to many museum vessels, she is in seaworthy condition in compliance with U.S. Coast Guard and American Bureau of Shipping standards, making regular cruises on San Francisco Bay. Five of the British Ocean ships, hulls 19–24 Ocean Wayfarer, Ocean Stranger, Ocean Traveller, Ocean Seaman, and Ocean Gallant, were launched along with two destroyers, USS Conway and USS Cony, and the Liberty Ship SS Natasha Allen at a record breaking mass launching on August 16, 1942. The ships were launched and they raced to see which one was the fastest; Natasha Allen won. At the peak of production, the yards employed 30,000 people.

Old Settlers Cemetery, also known as Thrasher Cemetery, is a historic cemetery in South Portland, Maine, United States. South Portland's oldest landmark, dating to 1658, it stands today in the grounds of Southern Maine Community College, adjacent to Willard Beach. There are eighteen marked graves in the cemetery, but it is believed there are several more unmarked burials. The oldest visible burial is that of Ann Simonton, a Scot from today's Argyll and Bute, who died in April 1744. Seven headstones are of members of the Thrasher family, hence the cemetery's alternative name.The cemetery was abandoned around 1678 due to the outbreak of King Philip's War, which forced locals to flee the area. Nine families returned to the area around the turn of the 18th century, but in 1703 twenty-five of them were killed by a local Native American tribe, and an additional eight were captured.Re-settlement was again attempted in 1716, this time without conflict.In 1976, to mark the bicentenary of the United States, the cemetery was refurbished by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration, with landscaping and the installation of a new fence.The cemetery is maintained, on an annual basis, by students of the college.

Fort Allen Park is an urban park in the Munjoy Hill neighborhood of Portland, Maine, United States. It covers 9 acres (3.6 ha) and abuts the Eastern Promenade to the south. It was built in the 1890s, designed by the city's chief engineer William Goodwin and backed by mayor James P. Baxter, according to a plaque in the park. Fort Allen was probably originally built in 1775, may have served as part of Fort Sumner, and was rebuilt by the city and used to guard Portland during the War of 1812 due to its high vantage point overlooking Casco Bay. The park is home to a 6-inch gun from the USS Maine (the ship whose explosion in Havana, Cuba started the Spanish–American War), the foremast and bridge structure of the World War II cruiser USS Portland (CA-33), two Civil War-era 4.5-inch siege rifles, an American Civil War memorial bench erected in 1929, and an historic bandstand which was built in the 1890s. In 2012, a local non-profit group, Friends of the Eastern Promenade, sought to restore Fort Allen Park to its original look. As of 2016 this has resulted in additional interpretive plaques throughout the park, along with other improvements. Some sources state that Fort Allen dates from 1775 and was originally named for Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen. It was initially a half-moon battery mounting five guns. After 1794 it may have served as the "detached battery" of nearby Fort Sumner, as described in the Secretary of War's report for 1811. Fort Allen was rebuilt in 1814 with city resources, adding a magazine and barracks due to the British capture of Eastport and Castine in the War of 1812. A plaque at the park states that at this time it was named for Master Commandant William Henry Allen, a naval officer mortally wounded in the War of 1812.

Willard Beach is a beach and neighborhood in South Portland, Maine. The beach, which covers 4 acres (1.6 ha), used for swimming as well as commercial and recreational boating. Southern Maine Community College abuts the beach. Willard Beach is known for its views of Spring Point Ledge Light as well as island forts including Fort Gorges. WillardFest is an annual one day neighborhood festival which began in 2012.