Wiscasset was a major shipbuilding port for many years, and the wealth from this trade was used to create many fine houses and buildings. This is a "pretty village" indeed!

Grand four-masted schooners were made here, and sent down the broad Sheepscot River to the Atlantic where they pursued the Triangle Trade among New England, the West Indies, and Great Britain, carrying cargoes such as molasses, salt fish and of course Maine timber.

You will certainly see Wiscasset because US 1 passes right through the middle of it (map) in order to reach the bridge across the Sheepscot River.

As US 1 is the major artery along the coast, the slow progress through Wiscasset becomes a long chain of cars on any summer day—particularly weekends.

So stop for a snack, a drink, a meal, to admire the fine old houses such as Castle Tucker (1807), High and Lee streets. Built to resemble a castle in Dunbar, Scotland, it was bought by Captain Richard Tucker in 1858, and acquired its current name.

Not far away is the Musical Wonder House, 16-18 High Street, an amazing and amusing collection of antique music-making automatons and instruments, including music boxes, player pianos and "talking machines."

Wiscasset's Old Jail Museum (1811), on ME Route 218 a half mile north of US 1, chronicles the town's history. It's open daily except Monday in July and August.

The Nickels-Sortwell House (1807), in the center of Wiscasset just downhill from the Bailey Inn on US 1 at Federal Street (ME Route 218), is open to the public, and allows you to examine the lifestyle of wealthy Wiscassetians during the town's 19th-century heyday.

For a rest stop, picnic, and/or exercise break, turn right (south) just after crossing the Sheepscot River bridge and drive a half mile (1 km) to Fort Edgecomb (1808) on the river's eastern shore, an octagonal wooden blockhouse that guarded Wiscasset's valuable shipyards.

Wiscasset's restaurants, snack shops and ice cream stands are concentrated in the town's commercial center right at the western end of the Sheepscot River bridge.

Any town with old houses is likely to have a few antique shops. Wiscasset, with lots of rich old houses, has many antique shops that are fun to poke through.

—by Tom Brosnahan

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