• Home
  • Travel
  • Articles
  • Create
  • About
    • FAQ
    • About
  • Shop
    Login/ Signup

    • Home
    • Travel
    • Articles
    • Create
    • About
      • FAQ
      • About
    • Shop
    Sign in Sign up
    On route and almost there !
    loading spinner outerloading spinner inner

    Calais Observatory-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 various 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.
    The Calais Observatory site is located on a granite knob in Meridian Park, on the grounds of the former Calais Academy, at the corner of North and Lincoln Streets. The surviving elements of the observatory are two granite fixtures, flat pads chiseled out of the bedrock, and several drill holes. The site was known to be sheltered by a nominally permanent structure in both 1857 and 1866 but had by 1895 lost whatever shelter it had.

    Amy Jeanroy ME Calais Sep 22, 2022 History

    Next
    Location: Calais ME
    Get Directions
    creator image
    Amy Jeanroy
    Sep 22, 2022
    follow button
    Share Calais Observatory-Calais, Maine
    SHARE

    1
    Like
    1
    'been there
    1
    Comment
    0
    Share

    Located on the hill behind the community center, formally known here in Calais as Meridian Park. Lots of free parking, no walking paths. Not handicapped accessible. Site Marker #1 NOAA. Beware of deer ticks and poop. Deer poop, not tick poop which would not even be worth mentioning if it weren't for the confusion mistaking one for the other would bring. Soon to be the site of one of the most eastern, historically important geocache sites. 
    1
    Like Reply 2 months

    Profile Photo
    Dex Lavin commented: "Located on the hill behind the community center,…" 2 months ago
    Profile Photo
    Amy Jeanroy created this post 3 years ago

    Related Experiences

    Have you had an experience at this place?

    Share your own experience here!

    Share Your Experience
    More Views For You!

    Have another story to tell? Create an account and get started. It's free!

    Top
    Show List See Map
    Trending Now Icon Generic placeholder image Generic placeholder image
    Posts View History

    Loading Views . . .

    Looking for something different?
    Go on a journey through East Coast States
    Go back destination: Current Screen:
    Browsing History

    FOLLOW US

    GET IN TOUCH

    Question? Request? Issues? Get in touch with us here.

    Contact
    • About
    • FAQS
    • Login
    • Shop
    • Register
    • Travel RT1
    • Privacy Notice
    • Terms of Use
    • About Route 1

    © 2025 Double Ohs Music, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

    Route1Views
    Loading