Shackford Head State Park

Bangor, ME U.S.A.

Shackford Head, a 90-acre pristine peninsula in Eastport off Route 190, is home to beaches, protected coves, and a bold headland.

A hiking trail from the parking area through the woods to the rocky headland provides beautiful views of Cobscook Bay.

This park was named for sea captain John Shackford, born in 1753 in Newburyport, Mass. Shackford acquired the headland after he came to Eastport and used Broad Cove for his ship's anchorage.

Shackford Head Overlook offers a spectacular view of the Canadian islands of Campobello and Grand Manan, New Brunswick. Here visitors can see Atlantic salmon cages used in fish farms, the Eastport cargo pier on Estes Head, Treats Island, the town of Lubec, and Campobello International Park.

On the beach below is one of two fossil areas that are within the park boundaries. The other area is on the Schooner Trail near the two land bridges.

Shackford park has a hiking trail system that loops back to the point of origin along trails named Cony, Crescent Beach, Shackford Head, Ship Point, Schooner, Lower Schooner, Deep Cove, and Broad Cove.

The park's Paleozoic fossil beds include some of the oldest marine fossils found in the state. They are about 412 million years old. They are from the time when the sea was warm and shallow; the late Silurian to the early Devonian period. These fossils consist of small snail and mussel like shells. Marine worms left tracks that also fossilized in the shale on the beach.

In the center of the parking lot is a monument with a bronze plaque dedicated to the five civil war ships that were burned on Cony beach. These ships, the USS Minnesota, Vermont, Wabash, Franklin and Richmond, were brought to Eastport because of the high tides for salvaging. The ships were burned just below the parking area between 1901 and 1920. At low tide, some of the remains of the ships can still be seen.

The park is located off Route 1 on Maine Route 190 on Moose Island in Eastport, the most eastern city in the United States.

Explore the rugged beauty of Shackford Head.