Portlandia

From Dave Brigham:

Beth and I took the kids to Portland, Maine, recently via Amtrak's Downeaster train. It's a trip we'd been talking about for quite some time, and while we were only there overnight, we had a lot of fun. We didn't have a car, so we walked quite a bit around the Old Port, a great part of town filled with restaurants, bars, shops and cool buildings.

Here are some rotting pier pilings near the ferry terminal:

This is the former headquarters of the Grand Trunk Railroad (yes, I'll post a video below from Grand Funk Railroad). According to the web site for the Maine Irish Heritage Trail, this building was also once used by companies including H & A Allan Line Steamers, White Star-Dominion Line Steamers, International Mercantile Marine Co. and the Cunard Line.

I love this building, the former Workingmen's Club. According to the Maine Irish Heritage Trail web site, a club "was needed where the longshoremen and railroad workers (the vast majority were Irish) could gather to stay out of the cold and out of the saloons when not working. The Workingmen's Club's nature, it was said, was of temperance and total abstinence. It was built for the 'men of brawn, muscle and industry' who numbered a thousand in 1905, men employed by the Grand Trunk Railroad, the English steamers, and New York & Boston steamship lines."

I think it's great that this sign was kept when this building was rehabbed in 2000. According to Waymarking.com, the sign "was painted sometime after 1924, since a photo from that year shows a different style sign. (During the renovation) a request was made to the Historic Preservation Committee to create new window openings on this wall. The request was granted and the windows were placed to avoid a major impact to the sign."

Here's some Grand Funk Railroad: