Recent photos of Bridgewater, ME GFA
September 2006 photos & notes contributed by David Dauphinee
David writes: The Bridgewater Radome is located about 10 miles west of Bridgewater, ME off of Route 1. It�s about 2.5 hours north of Bangor if you take I95 north to Houlton and then take Route 1 north towards Presque Isle. A nickel�s worth of free advice: don�t bother using a GPS to get here. Buy a DeLorme Maine Gazetteer and take Boot Foot Rd west off of Route 1 towards Number 9 Mountain and you�ll be all set. My friend�s GPS acted like it knew where we were going and had us driving in circles for a while. We back-tracked to Route 1, used the Gazetteer and drove right in.
There are signs at the entrance road to the tower itself that say it is private property and only authorized employees of the paper company that owns the land should enter. Both gates were wide open, but I would suggest entering at your own risk. We weren�t heading up to vandalize anything, but I�m sure we could have been handed a summons for trespassing, so keep that in mind.
The road through the woods is a little bumpy, but you could probably make it with a car if you had to.
This feller-buncher was part of a large paper company project that was taking part in the woods near Number Nine Mountain.
This Maine swamp donkey (aka moose) was in the middle of the road and not budging. September is around the time that mothers kick yearlings out and send them on their own, so this guy was obviously a little territorial and a little wary of SUVs. We backed up and gave him some room, because occasionally, a moose will charge.
VIews from the summit
Radar end (north) of the building, showing conduit, cables and waveguide still very much intact.
First section of tower steps have been removed.
Undeterred by missing stairs, up we go. You can clearly see the four-legged layout of the tower here.
The view from the top of the tower, just below the radome.
Conduit and cabling to the antenna.
Looking down.
Locked hatch to the radome interior.
East side of the building showing diesel wing & radar ventilator. Note the peaked roof modification to the radar end.
Close-up of one of the ventilation hoods and moveable baffles.
2006 photos contributed by Geo Herrick
George writes: There is a cell tower just to the north of the old radar tower. As you can see building is intact and various antennae have been tacked on to tower. there is some equipment inside as you can hear a humming just like the old days. Propane tanks apparently for heat and/or back up power. First flight of stairs have been removed from tower to keep people off. I would have loved to climb it for the view but I`m not quite as spry as I was in 1961-1962.
Quite a few camps on #9 Lake now. Probably not many lakes that far back in the woods with electric power,thanks to the USAF.
Contributed by Dave Larsen
