A short trip to Belfast

Part of the working waterfront - click to enlarge/slideshow

  On our short/medium trip the other day we drove through Belfast.  Located in Waldo County and Penobscot Bay, Belfast is kind of right at the start of ships going in to Searsport or Bangor/Brewer.  It's also an easy drive, and we went there so we could use Route 3 on our way to China (see previous post).  On our way home we stopped and took some photos.
  Belfast continues to grow as it ages, it's a really nice town that has either grown or shrunk in spurts.  At the turn of the twentieth century it was shipbuilding, after World War Two came poultry processing, then it became potato processing and an empty waterfront, for the most part; and I forgot about shoes that occupied space for a while too.
  In about the 1990's or late 80's credit card servicer MBNA built a new set of buildings and had over 2000 employees when it was bought out by Bank or America, which quickly laid off a lot of workers, and emptied buildings.  Some of which have reopened with new employers, and BofA has kept some of the processing in Belfast.  It's a good thing that Maine workers are adaptable as industry comes and goes just like a heart beat; shoes, textiles, paper and pulp, lumber, shipbuilding - you name it and it's come and gone and some have come again.  In Belfast the newest to build is the Front Street Shipyard, which will, and already is, repairing and storing boats of all sizes including some very large ones.
  Belfast is always worth a visit, it a gracious and friendly place, try it for yourself.  I just found out you can click on a photo and see all of them in a slideshow, all new-all the time.

One of the shipyards in 1905

The new shipyard is still building - click to enlarge

The footbridge across the Passagassawakeag River as it enters the bay.
This photo from halfway across - click to enlarge