The only unlucky thing about this Friday the 13th was that it was raining quite hard from the start. Clearly not a day for climbing the modest coastal mountains so we decided to head off to the nearby town of Bucksport, which is much more of a working town than Castine, to pick up a few bits of shopping and try to organise hair cuts - we've been away close to eight weeks so both felt the need for a trim. The cleaners, who we met yesterday, had advised appointments were not necessary but this turned out not to be the case so Jill had to book an appointment for next week and we returned to Castine.

As the rain was easing we decided to walk around more of the town and explore the paths of the Witherle Woods preservation area. The latter was a little disappointing as the woodland didn't seem to be particularly well preserved or managed, but it may be that the drizzle was jaundicing our opinion. The view across Penobscot Bay at the far end of the wood was literally and metaphorically a dull sea of grey. The one highlight of this part of our jaunt was seeing a porcupine which just sat on the edge of our path before ambling away into the wood as we approached.

Wandering around Castine itself is much more interesting. There are lots of picturesque wood and shingle walled homes and civic buildings, mostly white providing a backdrop for the stars and stripes flags that fly outside many if not most homes. Also adding to the beauty are the town's famous elm trees surviving when 77 million US elms were wiped out by disease. It turns out that a tree vaccine research project was based in Castine in the 1970s and this and geographical isolation seem to have saved the up to 150 year-old trees. Even then there has been considerable felling due to storm damage in recent years and now the trees are more actively pruned to try to preserve those that remain. They are quite a sight along the streets where they grow tall and relatively slim with few if any low branches. We don't know when we last saw a mature elm tree: a sad reminder of the impact of Dutch Elm Disease in the UK.

More interest in Castine is provided by what seem like dozens of information plaques, all over the town, which point out historical sites and events. Some of these plaques hold more interest than others so we will spare you the dull bits in the following summary.

The Castine area was home to several nations of Native Americans prior to becoming the first European settlement in New England in the early 1600s. From this point on the area was fought over time and time again. First (1630s) the French built a fort as they held land to the north. The British colonists to the south took the land twice but on both occasions the French recaptured the area only for the Dutch to destroy their fort in the 1670s. The French recaptured it only for the British to take it again and by 1713 Castine was part of the British Empire. Quite a lot of too-ing and fro-ing in a hundred years!

Then came America's war of independence and Castine proved a tough British nut to crack. The famous Paul Revere with 1200 men, 43 ships and 344 guns suffered a humiliating defeat to the heavily outnumbered Argyle Highlanders who repelled attacks for three weeks until reinforcements arrived. The Americans then retreated destroying the whole of their own fleet to avoid it being captured and put to use by the British. The defeat here has been described as the American navy's greatest defeat prior to Pearl Harbor. Castine was the last fortification that the British defended at the close of the War of Independence.

The 19th century was a prosperous time for Castine with fishing and shipbuilding prominent, and tourism increasingly important. Fish stocks dwindled and the oak forests that provided the raw material for shipbuilding were exhausted and by the 1920s tourism too followed into decline. However, many Georgian homes survive as summer homes and Castine remains on the discerning tourist trail today.