Kittery, ME

Just across the Piscataqua River from Portsmouth lives the Town of Kittery, Maine. Home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seavey’s Island. Kittery also includes Badger’s Island, the seaside district of Kittery Point, and part of the Isle of Shoals.

This is part of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. George Washington visited the location in 1789 and it was officially built in 1800. "The Yard" as the local folks call it, first built wooden warships. Their current mission is refurnishing and maintaining nuclear submarines.

Kittery is a tourist destination known for its many outlet stores and proximity to Portsmouth, NH just across the Piscataqua River.

This is in the heart of Downtown Kittery, lots of shops and restaurants. One of my favorite Kittery restaurants, Anneka Jans, is located in this building on the bottom right. Great food!

Settled around 1623, Kittery was incorporated in 1647 and calls itself the “oldest incorporated town in Maine.” Kittery was named after the birthplace of its founder Alexander Shapleigh from his manor of Kittery Court at Kingswear in Devon, England.

Of course Maine lobster is well known all over the world; Kittery is home to lots of lobstermen.

This is Chris, one of the local lobstermen. He is working on his traps which take quite a beating on the bottom of the ocean while waiting for lobsters to walk in. Just to the right of Chris' orange pants are lobster buoys which mark the traps on the surface. Each lobsterman has a distinctive color and pattern on their buoys which are unique to them. Each buoy is attached to a string of from 4 to 6 traps with another buoy on the other end of the line.

Below is the Kittery Public Library named the "Rice Public Library" after a promonent local family.

Frisbee's Market is a Kittery landmark. Founded in 1828, it bills itself as America's oldest family store. The Frisbee family is unrelated to the folks that make the round plastic discs you throw back and forth. ;)