Fort Knox State Park
Fort Knox State Park is a structure in Prospect, Maine, listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 1, 1969.
Plan your visit
- Access
- Open to visitors
Source: Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands: https://apps.web.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/doc/parksearch/details.pl?park_id=37 · last verified November 1, 2026 - Hours and tours
- Fort open daily May 1 to October 31, 9 a.m. to sunset; park grounds open year-round (Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands) (from the official site, verified November 1, 2026; check before you go)
- Admission
- Fee charged; see the official fee page
- Location
- Prospect, Waldo County, Maine
- Official website
- See the official website
- Directions
- Get directions
National Register listing does not mean a place is open to the public. Parking and accessibility are shown only when verified.
History
Fort Knox, now Fort Knox State Park or Fort Knox State Historic Site, is located on the western bank of the Penobscot River in the town of Prospect, Maine, about 5 miles (8.0 km) from the mouth of the river. Built between 1844 and 1869, it was the first fort in Maine built entirely of granite; most previous forts used wood, earth, and stone. It is named after Major General Henry Knox, the first U.S. Secretary of War and Commander of Artillery during the American Revolutionary War, who at the end of his life lived not far away in Thomaston. As a virtually intact example of a mid-19th century granite coastal fortification, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 and declared a National Historic Landmark on December 30, 1970. Fort Knox also serves as the entry site for the observation tower of the Penobscot Narrows Bridge that opened to the public in 2007.
Excerpt from the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The official nomination form is linked under Sources.
Other listings in Prospect
- Marsh School Building · listed 2013
Nearby historic places
- Barncastle Blue Hill, ME · about 16 mi
- Williams, Gen. John, House Bangor, ME · about 16 mi
- Great Fire of 1911 Historic District Bangor, ME · about 16 mi