Fort Allen Park unfolds around you on Munjoy Hill in Portland, Maine. This nine‑acre park — 3.6 hectares — abuts the Eastern Promenade to the south, and the green you’re in was laid out in the 1890s by the city’s chief engineer, William Goodwin, with the support of Mayor James P. Baxter. But the place is older than that plan: 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 thanks to this high vantage overlooking Casco Bay.
As you walk, you’ll pass 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), and two Civil War‑era 4.5‑inch siege rifles. Nearby is an American Civil War memorial bench erected in 1929 and the historic bandstand built in the 1890s. A local group, Friends of the Eastern Promenade, sought restoration in 2012, and by 2016 that work added interpretive plaques and other improvements.
Notice the bay beyond, and the artifacts and plaques scattered through the park.