Hunting for Sea Glass at Historic 1807 Fort Popham Beach

The Fort Popham site along the Kennebec River has long been a part of history going back hundreds of years and several battles. The architecture lends itself to some amazing photo opportunities and sea glass treasures.

Fort Popham is a crescent shaped civil War-era coastal defense fortification made almost entirely of granite blocks, with 30-foot-high walls. It spans almost 500 feet in circumference and is located at the mouth of the Kennebec River in Phippsburg, Maine. It protected the Kennebec settlements during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. The Fort was actively manned until 1815, it's now on the National Register of Historic Places since 1969.

To the right of the fort is the path that leads to the beach, there you will find the old rock pool on the right side of the fort. This pool fills with sea water during high tide and I have read you can find sea glass in this pool. I would recommend going at low tide, the pool was already filled with water by the time we arrived. We continued to walk along the beach towards Spinney's Restaurant.The beach is a sandy and scattered with loads of small pieces of driftwood as well as complete tree trunks and other flotsam. There were a few patches of pebbles and shells in the area behind the ice cream shop, this is where we found just a few pieses of sea glass. 

If you're up for a nice long beach walk you could stroll along the beach to the Popham State Beach Park, It's about a 45 min walk. As you approach Popham State Beach you will see Fox Island and at low tide you can walk across the sand bar to rocky Fox Island. But be careful to follow warning signs to ensure you don't get trapped on the island by the incoming tide.

We may not have found many pieces of sea glass here,  we did however, collect lots of driftwood. For us, life is all about the journey and any day spent on the beach is a good day.

Popham’s history is still being uncovered. Excavations of the Popham settlement of 1607, an American settlement that history forgot. This colony actually preceded Plymouth Rock by 13 years and was only discovered in the last 20 years. Excavations continue each summer Maine's Lost Colony. Oh, the pottery and sea glass they must be finding!.