Discover 6 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Calais (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Whitlocks Mill Light, Holmes Cottage, and Ferry Point Border Crossing. Also, be sure to include Calais Observatory in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Calais (Maine).
Table of Contents
Whitlocks Mill Light
Lighthouse in Washington County, Maine. The Whitlocks Mill Light is a lighthouse on the south bank of the St. Croix River in Calais, Maine. It is the northernmost lighthouse in the state of Maine, and was the last light to be built in the state.[1]
Address: Lighthouse Lane, 04619 Calais
Holmes Cottage
Museum in Calais. The Holmes Cottage is a historic house at 521 Main Street in Calais, Maine. Estimated to have been built about 1820, it is the oldest surviving structure in the town, and is notable for its association with Dr. Job Holmes, a leading physician during the community's formative years. The cottage, now owned by the St. Croix Historical Society and operated by them as the Dr. Job Holmes Cottage & Museum, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.[2]
Address: 237 Main St, Calais
Ferry Point Border Crossing
The Ferry Point Bridge Crossing connects the towns of Calais, Maine and St. Stephen, New Brunswick on the Canada–US border. This crossing is located at the Ferry Point International Bridge. Various bridges have existed at this location since 1826. In 1847, a more substantial covered toll bridge was completed. It was replaced by a steel bridge in 1895 that featured a streetcar line, and it no longer required payment of a toll. This bridge was for many years the principal crossing point between the two communities. In 2009, after the completion of the International Avenue Border Crossing, commercial trucks were prohibited from crossing the border at this location, significantly reducing the through truck traffic passing through the nearby downtown areas.
The current US facility, built in 1935–36, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. The current Canadian facility was built in 1955.[3]
Address: New Brunswick, Canada, & Maine, USA, Calais
Calais Observatory
Historical place in Calais, Maine. The Calais Observatory is a pair of granite fixtures in Meridian Park in Calais, Maine. The two stones were used for mounting scientific equipment used in a variety of astronomical observations, principally for the accurate calculation by the United States Coast Survey of Calais's longitude with respect to meridians in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Greenwich, England. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012, and is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Heritage Trail program. At the time of its longitude determination in 1866 with respect to the Greenwich Meridian, it was arguably one of the most precisely located places in the United States.[4]
Thomas Hamilton House
The Thomas Hamilton House is a historic house at 78 South Street in Calais, Maine. Built about 1857, it is a high-style Italianate house, unusual in its sophistication for what was then a remote frontier setting. Thomas Hamilton, the builder, had pretense at grandeur, and his house became a local landmark known as "Hamilton's Folly". The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[5]
St Croix Island Historic Site
Historical place, Island, Park
Address: St Croix Dr, 04619 Calais