In 1776, Maine wasn’t even a state yet. But the land and its people played important roles in the difficult years of the American Revolutionary War.

This month as the nation marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Mainers and visitors may want to tour these historically significant places.

From the site of one of the first Naval battles of the war, to being home to one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Maine has several claims to fame in the founding of the United States of America. Visiting these locations is an opportunity to reflect on how hard our colonialist forebearers struggled all those years ago to make this place what it is today.

Here’s a suggested driving tour around Maine.

• Burnham Tavern, Machias
• Fort George, Castine
• Old Fort Western, Augusta
• Knox Museum, Thomaston
• Thornton Homestead, Brunswick
• Falmouth Neck, Portland
• Bonus sites

BURNHAM TAVERN, MACHIAS

Standing in the center of Machias, looking up toward the hill on Colonial Way, a yellow house stands at attention — almost as if keeping watch over the town and the river below. Today, the Burnham Tavern is a museum and historical center, but 250 years ago it was a beacon of revolution.

Machias, a patriot-leaning port town, was the site of one of the first naval battles of the American Revolution. According to the Maine Historical Society, in June 1775 a trade of salt pork or lumber ended as a chase through the harbor to take possession of the British ship Margaretta.

The tavern, built in 1770 and run by Job and Mary Burnham, was a meeting place for local militia. The tap room became a place where settlers “grappled with betraying the American cause or standing up to British demands,” according to the museum’s website.

Jeremiah O’Brien, whose house is preserved on the campus of the University of Maine at Machias, advocated strongly for aggressive action. Plans were hatched to capture British Midshipman James Moore while he attended church on June 12, 1775.

The battle that followed saw Moore wounded and the Margaretta seized, transforming the Burnham Tavern into a makeshift hospital for the wounded.

Today, the Burnham Tavern Museum preserves artifacts from the battle of the Margaretta, and offers insight into daily life at that time. The tavern stands as a National Historic Site, preserving not only the memory of the battle but also the lifestyle and architecture of the era.

Since 1910, it has been maintained by the Hannah Weston Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. In 1973, Burnham Tavern was designated a National Historic Site by the U. S. Department of the Interior. It was also selected in 1974 as one of the 21 homes in the United States with the most significance to the American Revolution — and is the only one in Maine.

The museum is open July through September. Tours are offered Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., as long as tour guides are available on those days. Guided tours are also offered in September and in May and June for school groups or individuals by appointment.

For more information during operating hours (Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.), call 207-255-6390; outside of operating hours, call 207-263-3716. Admission is free. A $5 donation is suggested for adults; $2 for students.

FORT GEORGE, CASTINE

Originally built during the war as Fort Castine by the British in 1779 — later renamed in honor of King George III — Fort George was chosen for its strategic location near the Penobscot and Bagaduce rivers.

The British, looking to establish a colony called New Ireland, took up the site as a defensive fort during the failed Massachusetts-organized Penobscot Expedition to retake Castine.

It was the focus of a yearslong dispute among the English, French, Indigenous tribes and colonialists. As the Americans tried to recapture Midcoast Maine from British forces, the site became significant.

The British reoccupied Fort George during the War of 1812, abandoning it for the last time in 1815. It was demolished in 1819 and the state acquired the land and remains of the fort in 1940.

After the war, residents of Castine salvaged materials from the fortification for use in new buildings and infrastructure in town, while other buildings were outright demolished or burned to the ground.

The fort’s grounds, at 7 Wadsworth Cove Road in Castine, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. The nearly 5-acre site is owned by the Maine Bureau of Parks and Land, but the town of Castine is legally responsible for managing and maintaining the site, according to the organization Maine Preservation.

For more information on Fort George, contact Castine Town Manager Shawn Blodgett at 207-326-4502 or [email protected].

If you want to check out other historic Maine forts that aren’t tied to the Revolution, Fort Knox State Historic Site in Prospect, Fort Popham in Phippsburg and Fort Gorges in Portland are also worth a visit.

OLD FORT WESTERN, AUGUSTA

On the banks of the Kennebec River in Augusta a wooden fortress stands out among the modern buildings of Maine’s capital city. It is one of the few places in the state where you can see what a military fortress in revolutionary times in Maine would have looked like.

Construction of Fort Western, and Fort Halifax in Winslow, began in July 1754 as part of a route to bring supplies to the British troops gathering forces in the region. Supplies would come up the river and be unloaded and stored at Fort Western. Capt. James Howard commanded 23 men there, including his four sons. As the French and Indian War waned, the British turned their attention to the Penobscot River, and Fort Western became militarily obsolete. It was decommissioned in 1767. During that time, though, as early as 1761, traders were using Fort Western to supply goods to the settlers. In 1767, the Howard family purchased the fort for $500 and opened the S & W Howard Store, which operated there for the next 40 years.

The old fort took on new military life in the 1770s as it became a staging area for Benedict Arnold’s march to Quebec. In September 1775 Gen. George Washington sent Arnold and 1,100 Continental soldiers on a 350-mile trek through the Maine wilderness to attack Quebec City, part of a two-pronged invasion of Montreal. Among Arnold’s crew was Daniel Morgan and Aaron Burr, who all stayed nearby as supplies and weapons were gathered. The assault on Quebec ultimately failed.

In 1784, a separate building was constructed just north of the old garrison, and the Howard Store continued operating there until the Embargo Act of 1807 put it out of business. The Howard family descendants lived in the garrison until the 1850s. The garrison was made into tenement apartments for those working in the mills of Augusta and Hallowell through the end of the century.

The fort was taken over by the city of Augusta in 1919 and turned over to James Howard’s descendants, William H. Gannett and Guy P. Gannett, in 1920. The Gannetts renovated the garrison and built two new blockhouses patterned after the original blockhouse still standing at Fort Halifax in Winslow. The Gannetts gifted the building back to the city and it opened as a museum on July 4, 1922. In 1976, Fort Western became a National Historic Landmark.

As part of the project to build the new Augusta City Hall in 1983, an archaeological investigation found evidence of the trading post. Fort Western’s blockhouse is one of the oldest standing French & Indian War-era wooden buildings in the country.

The fort is open daily through July and August. Tickets are $15 for adults, $13 for seniors, $13 for veterans, $10 for students, $8 for children 5-14; free for active duty military and free for children younger than 5. Families of up to five people can buy a ticket package for $35.

On Saturday, July 4, a special event and tours will be held at the fort after the parade as part of the America’s 250th Celebration in Augusta. Call 207-626-2385 or email [email protected] for more information.

KNOX MUSEUM, THOMASTON

Henry Knox, a bookshop owner who snuck out of Boston to join a militia to fight the British, was just 25 years old when he joined the American Revolution. The site of his home at 30 High St. in Thomaston is now a museum dedicated to his life and legacy.

Knox was George Washington’s right-hand man during much of the war, standing beside him during the fateful crossing of the Delaware River and eventually serving in his cabinet as secretary of war. Knox played a vital role at Fort Ticonderoga and other key battles in the war.

Knox and his wife, Lucy, began construction on their house, Montpelier, along the St. George River in 1794. He took a special interest in every detail of the home, which was a gift for Lucy. He died in 1806, and his children managed the property until 1854 when it was sold. It fell into ruin and was razed for a railroad in 1871, according to the Knox Museum website.

Boston architect George Putnam helped rebuild Montpelier in 1929 along with other community members and it opened as a museum the following year.

Hours of operation are Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. through Labor Day; Labor Day through Columbus Day hours are Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Tickets: adults, $15; seniors (65+), $10.00; children 13-17, $5; children under 12 and active military are free; retired military, $8. A family ticket package (two adults and two children) is $25.

For more information on coming events this summer, visit the museum’s website. Events include a concert on July 8, a tea party July 11 and a birthday party for Knox on July 25.

For more information, call 207-354-8062 or email at [email protected] to schedule a tour.

THORNTON HOMESTEAD, BRUNSWICK

The Brunswick homestead of Matthew Thornton has been gone a long time — long before the man even reached adulthood, in fact. But the site of the 1714 birthplace of the signer of the Declaration of Independence is still memorialized with a stone marker on Rossmore Road.

There is debate as to whether the site is actually where Thornton’s family homestead was located. Indigenous tribes set fire to the house in 1722 and the family moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, when Thornton was 8 years old.

The marker at the site in Brunswick, however, says the Daughters of the American Revolution identified the exact spot where the house once stood. Thornton spent much of his life as a politician in New Hampshire and lived to age 89.

BURNING OF FALMOUTH NECK, PORTLAND

On Oct. 18, 1775, British Capt. Henry Mowat sailed into Casco Bay to visit the town of Falmouth, present-day Portland. Mowat had stopped in Falmouth before, but the purpose of his visit this time was a surprise to the townspeople, according to the Maine Historical Society. “It had been six months since the battle of Lexington and Concord and the British Navy was on a mission to make an example out of towns that harbored Patriotic sentiment,” the society says.

Mowat warned them that in two hours, their homes will be bombed. Local militias intervened and stopped the townspeople from handing in their weapons and declaring loyalty to the king. The next morning, after a nine-hour bombardment, the town was destroyed.

The burning ignited revolutionary sentiment across the colonies. George Washington called it “an outrage.”

The event is primarily commemorated through historical markers and exhibits across the city, spearheaded by the Maine Historical Society.

Remnants of the attack on the city still remain. The Maine Historical Society Museum at 489 Congress St. has extensive collections tied to the bombardment of the city, including maps and documents detailing the destruction.

First Parish Church: 425 Congress St. — The existing church was built in 1826, but the site itself dates to 1740. According to a history of the church, the first building was called “Old Jerusalem” and was where the peace treaty with the Norridgewock tribe was signed in 1749. It was also where the Maine Constitution was drafted in 1819. “Despite being made of wood, Old Jerusalem survived British attack during the Revolutionary War,” the church’s website says. During the demolition in the early 1800s, cannonballs from the British bombardment were found in the walls. The site is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Eastern Cemetery: 224 Congress St. — Opened in 1668, this is Portland’s oldest historic graveyard. A group of residents formed the group Spirits Alive to help preserve the cemetery, and incorporates the bombardment of the city in their walking tours, which are held from spring through the fall. Tours are daily at 4 p.m.; tickets are $10, free for those 12 and younger. Guests are encouraged to buy tickets in advance.

Tate House Museum: 1267 Westbrook St. — This historic home is planning reenactments and special tours in honor of the America at 250 celebrations. On Friday, July 3, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. reenactors will be dressed in period clothing and give demonstrations. Other special tours are scheduled throughout July.

BONUS SITES TO VISIT

The Maine Historical Society is hosting events throughout the year, including a major exhibition, educational programming, and a 16-county tour of the society’s copy of the Declaration of Independence. Here is some of what’s going on:

The Declaration

The Maine Historical Society has one of 26 surviving copies of the Dunlap Broadside of the Declaration of Independence, printed in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. It was sent to the Colonies to announce American independence. From July to October 2026, the Declaration will travel across Maine to all 16 counties with pomp and circumstance. Stops at various host sites will include public and student visitation, community celebrations, readings and special events.

Pathways to Freedom

The Maine Historical Society Museum’s exhibit Pathways to Freedom: Maine Stories of the American Revolution opened in March and runs through Dec. 1. The exhibit explores the revolution through the lens of key Maine moments, where geography, natural resources, and a contested border with British-controlled Canada shaped the struggle for independence, its website says.

Among the features of the exhibit are the stories of six individuals — Pathfinders — whose stories show how Patriots and Loyalists, Wabanaki people and colonists, navigated the war in different ways, “revealing the complex and often uncertain paths that helped forge a new nation.” The Pathfinder stories are illustrated by Penobscot artist Shannon Sockalexis.

The stories are anchored by four key events of the revolution: Battle of the Margaretta (1775), Benedict Arnold’s march to Quebec (1775), the Burning of Falmouth (1775), and the Penobscot Expedition (1779). The Declaration of Independence is a central component of the exhibit, connecting the events to the larger revolutionary moment.

Museum, exhibit hours and ticket information can be found on the historical society’s website.

18th-century living

While not specifically linked to the revolution, anyone looking to get a closer look at 18th century living can also visit the Wadsworth-Longfellow House on Congress Street in Portland, where the famed poet grew up.

Built in the aftermath of the revolution, the house was built between 1785 and 1786 by Longfellow’s maternal grandparents, Gen. Peleg Wadsworth and Elizabeth Bartlett. The last person to live in the house was Longfellow’s younger sister, Anne Longfellow Pierce, who lived there until her death in 1901. She bequeathed the house and property to the Maine Historical Society.

The Wadsworth-Longfellow House is the oldest standing brick structure on the Portland peninsula. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962, the house was restored by Maine Historical Society in 2002 to its mid-19th century character.

The museum is open Tuesday-Sunday from June to October, and has self- and guided tours available. Members and children under age 5 are free. General Admission $18; students $12.