7/1/2008, The Maine Switch
Observations along the Fore River Trail
By Aurelia C. Scott, Portland Trails Trustee

So far, I have identified three of the Fore River Trail's many tree species, which is not an impressive count, particularly as one of them is the ubiquitous Eastern White Pine. But the other day as I stood beneath a tall specimen, I realized that the pine that made New England rich actually symbolizes the river.

It's a story of commerce, which begins in 1605 when arrow-straight white pine ‘mast trees' lured the English to Maine. After being cut, the trees were floated down the Stroudwater and Fore Rivers to Portland Harbor. I like to sit on a colorful boat-bench near the Portland Transportation Center trailhead and imagine the water filled with future masts for the King's Navy. It was big business until the Revolution interrupted supply.

Trade didn't lag long. From 1830 to 1870, barges plied the Cumberland and Oxford Canal, which paralleled the river for part of its length, carrying manufactured goods into interior Maine and returning with boatloads of raw material. Mid-way along the trail, you can see the canal's turning basin where sixty-foot canal boats were pulled in, three or more on either side, and turned around. If I half-close my eyes, I can visualize horse-drawn wagons loading and unloading, carpenters repairing barges, and the barges themselves moving slowly toward the open Fore River.

Once away from the turning basin, the trail opens into meadow. In the summer, I always see dragonflies, particularly when I'm standing on the wooden footbridges that cross a couple of marshy areas. I may even have identified a blue-black one as the Mustached Clubtail or gomphus adelphus, but don't hold me to it.

The trail crosses Hobart Street and wends its way through chest-high grass to a small dock on the Fore River. It's an uncommonly peaceful spot, perfect for bird- and kayak-watching, which is surprising, as we're across the river from the Portland airport. Yet seeing the planes helps bring the Fore River Trail's history of commerce and transportation into the present. From sail to jet, with time along the way to identify a hemlock. Or was it a cedar?