Foggy Friday shoot on Peaks Island – Beth Bandy Photography

I have been working on a project about the physical remnants of World War II and the Cold War around Casco Bay. This topic first piqued my interest a few years ago when a friend took me on a hike at the then-new Kate Furbish Preserve, which is on the former Naval Air Base in Brunswick.

Munitions bunkers on the former Naval Air Base in Brunswick, Maine.

Trailhead access to the eastern side of the preserve is on Ordinance Road, which is lined with small grassy “hills” that are actually empty munitions bunkers. After many hiking and photography trips to the preserve, this project began taking shape last winter. I originally thought I would just focus on the former base in Brunswick, but a recent hike around Fort Baldwin in Phippsburg made me think about expanding the project to include Cold War landscapes around Casco Bay. After all, these sites were not isolated. They connected into a strategic defense network.

Friday’s foggy ferry ride to Peaks Island.

On Friday, I took an extremely foggy ferry ride over to Peaks Island to make images at Battery Steele. During World War II, according to the State of Maine Historic Preservation Commission,

“The battery was armed with two 16 [inch] guns capable of firing a 2000 pound shot 26 miles to sea. These were the largest, land based guns in the history of American Coastal Defenses… the final development in the 170 year history of defending the Port of Portland and Casco Bay from naval attack.”

Battery Steele is now a popular hangout for young people and the location of a semi-secret annual festival called Sacred and Profane. The site has been a National Historic Landmark since 2005.

The battery is an ever-changing canvas for graffiti. I was crouched down, taking a shot of some of this work inside the battery when I heard voices coming from inside a tunnel to my left.

Two young women were emerging from the tunnel, small headlights shining, holding hands as they made their way out of the darkness. I started to shoot images of them with their headlights in the tunnel, but I realized they had seen me crouched there by the tunnel entrance and were startled.

“Someone’s out there,” one of them said to the other.

I didn’t want to scare them just to get the shot, so I stood up and started talking. As they came out into daylight, I briefly explained what I was doing and asked if they would go a few yards back into the tunnel so I could take the shot of them with their headlamps that I had started to take a moment earlier. Still holding hands, they humored me and went back into the tunnel.