Maine Minutiae : Augusta

I have been doing these posts on Maine for a few months now, and have written very little about where I live - Augusta . Augusta, the State Capital of Maine, is a town of about 18,000 people which makes it the third smallest capital city in the US (just ahead of Montpelier,VT and Pierre,SD). The first Europeans to explore the area did so in 1607. It wasn't until 1629 that English settlers from the Plymouth Colony first inhabited the area. About a mile and a half from where I type this sits a National Historic Landmark, Fort Western. Built in 1754, Fort Western is the oldest wooden fort in America. The Kennebec River runs through the middle of Augusta and has some pretty good fishin' (I caught my first smallmouth bass there). The Kennebec starts north of here at Moosehead Lake and runs 150 miles southward and eventually empties into the Gulf of Maine.
Despite its status as the state capital, Augusta often plays second fiddle to the larger cities of Bangor and Portland, however, there are, comparatively speaking, as many things to do here as there are in the other two cities - shopping, outdoors activities, nice parks, movie theatres, some names-you'll-recognize eateries, etc. I like living here in this safe, clean and friendly city and I'm certain that you'd love to visit Augusta.