Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory

Author's Comments

Four hundred and twenty feet is a strange altitude. Higher than any hill nearby, lower than the small planes that occasionally drift over the bay, and reached by an elevator inside a concrete pylon that does not feel quite real until the doors open and the floor of Maine spreads out beneath you. The observatory inside the Penobscot Narrows is an engineering curiosity first and a viewpoint second, and I think that is the honest way to approach it. You came to ride an elevator up a bridge tower. The view is the bonus. But what a bonus. On a clear afternoon in late September, with the haze burned off and the light beginning to angle, you can see Cadillac Mountain rising in the east and the whole silver run of the Penobscot River bending south toward the bay. Fort Knox sits below in granite miniature. The cables of the bridge fan down and away in a geometry that wants a wide lens and a careful composition - the temptation is to include everything, and the photograph almost always asks for less. I would not drive across the state for this. But if you are passing through on the way to Acadia, and the day is clear, the detour is worth the admission. Go in the afternoon when the light is warm on the river and the eastern view is lit rather than backlit. Stay longer than you planned. The windows wrap all the way around, and the view changes depending on where you stand.

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