Portland

The Portland Observatory, built in 1807 at Portland, Maine, is the last surviving maritime signal tower in the United States. Using both a telescope... and signal flags, two-way communication between ship and shore was possible several hours before an incoming vessel reached the docks. Portland has a deep harbor sheltered by numerous islands. Ships entering the harbor are not directly visible from the wharfs, which created problems for merchants trying to prepare for the arrival of cargoes. This problem was solved in 1807 when Captain Lemuel Moody organized the construction of an observatory on Portland's Munjoy Hill, visible from both the open ocean and the wharfs. During the War of 1812, the observatory was used as a watch tower. The 86-foot tall observatory is octagonal and lighthouse-shaped, with a fieldstone base, and stands 222 feet above sea level. The observatory's 'lantern' included a P & J Dolland Achromatic Refracting Telescope, which could identify ships 30 miles to sea. That telescope disappeared from the observatory in 1939.
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Victoria Mansion, also known as the Morse-Libby House or Morse-Libby Mansion, is a landmark example of American residential architecture located in... downtown Portland, Maine, United States. The brownstone exterior, elaborate interior design, opulent furnishings and early technological conveniences provide a detailed portrait of lavish living in nineteenth-century America. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971. This stately brownstone Italianate villa was completed in 1860 as a summer home for hotelier Ruggles Sylvester Morse. Morse had left Maine to make his fortune in hotels in New York, Boston and New Orleans. The house was designed by the New Haven architect Henry Austin. Its distinctive asymmetric form includes a four-story tower, overhanging eaves, verandas, and ornate windows. Frescoes and trompe l’oeil wall decorations were created by the artist and decorator Giuseppe Guidicini. The building is recognized as one of the finest and least-altered examples of a large Italianate Villa-styled brick and brownstone town house in the United States. Gustave Herter created the interiors in a range of styles; this house is his earliest known and only intact commission.
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The McLellan-Sweat Mansion is a historic house museum at 111 High Street in Portland, Maine. It forms the rear component of the Portland Museum of... Art complex. Constructed in 1800-1801 for shipping magnate Major Hugh McLellan, the brick mansion was designed by John Kimball, Sr. , an architect/housewright originally from Ipswich, Massachusetts. The cost was $20,000. After a change of owners, the property was purchased in 1880 by Lorenzo De Medici Sweat. In 1908, his widow bequeathed it to the Portland Society of Art . The L. D. M. Sweat Memorial Galleries, designed by John Calvin Stevens, were added in 1911 behind the house, to which they connected by corridor. In 1957, two mantelpieces salvaged from the 1805 Commodore Edward Preble House, designed by Alexander Parris, replaced originals lost during a Greek Revival remodeling of the drawing and dining rooms. In 1970, the house was added to the National Historic Register as a National Historic Landmark. The Charles Shipman Payson Building by Henry N.
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Brett Somers was an American actress, singer, and comedienne who was born in Canada and raised in Maine. She was best known as a panelist on the... 1970s game show, Match Game and for her recurring role as Blanche Madison opposite her real life husband Jack Klugman on The Odd Couple. Born Audrey Johnston in Saint John, New Brunswick. Somers grew up near Portland, Maine. She ran away from home at age 17 and moved to New York City to pursue a career in acting. There she settled in Greenwich Village. She changed her first name to "Brett" after the lead female character in Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, and the surname "Somers" was her mother's maiden name. She became a U.S. citizen late in life. After moving to New York City, Somers married and had a daughter, Leslie, before divorcing her first husband. In 1953, she married actor Jack Klugman; they had two sons: Adam and David. The couple separated in 1974, but never divorced.
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Judd Asher Nelson is an American actor, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for being a member of the "Brat Pack" in the mid-1980s; and for... his roles as John Bender in The Breakfast Club, Alec Newbary in St. Elmo's Fire, and Jack Richmond in Suddenly Susan. Nelson was born in Portland, Maine, the son of Merle , a court mediator and former member of the Maine state legislature, and Leonard Nelson, a corporate lawyer. His family is Jewish and his father was the first Jewish president of the Portland Symphony Orchestra. He has two sisters, Eve and Julie. He went to school at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire and Waynflete School in Portland, Maine, and studied at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, leaving during his sophomore year. He subsequently moved to Manhattan to study acting with Stella Adler. Nelson began acting in the early 1980s, starring in Making the Grade and Fandango , the latter in which he starred opposite a young Kevin Costner. It was nevertheless his roles in Joel Schumacher's St.
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Thomas Hodge "Tom" Allen is a former member of the United States House of Representatives representing Maine's 1st congressional district, and the... Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2008 against Republican incumbent Senator Susan Collins. Allen lost to Collins . Allen was first elected in 1996, defeating Republican incumbent James Longley, Jr. with 55 percent of votes cast to Longley's 45 percent. Allen was re-elected five times, receiving over 55 percent of the vote each time in his district, until his defeat in his 2008 run for the U.S. Senate. After, Allen was appointed president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers external link and began his term on May 1, 2009. Allen was born in Portland, Maine to Genevieve Lahee and Charles W. Allen. He graduated from Deering High School. He went on to Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine before winning a Rhodes Scholarship to Wadham College in the University of Oxford. During this time he became friends with fellow Rhodes scholar Bill Clinton. After Oxford he went on to Harvard Law School and practiced as a lawyer.
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Scott Ronald Garland is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Scotty 2 Hotty. He is best known for his appearances with... the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment. When approximately 14 or 15 years old, Garland wrote to Sue Aitchison, the Community Relations Specialist of the World Wrestling Federation, inquiring from which professional wrestling school the company recruited the majority of their employees. Aitchison responded by telling him that they did not recruit from any particular school and wished him luck. Garland then attempted to call Vince McMahon, but was unable to speak to McMahon directly. Garland began attending shows at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine, helping the ring crew to construct the wrestling ring. After an independent promoter saw Garland wrestling with his friends, he offered Garland a job. In his first match, Garland wrestled Steve Ramsey in a Portland armory on November 23, 1989, the same night the Survivor Series was taking place. In the same year, Garland began wrestling for the Massachusetts-based New England Wrestling.
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Christopher Daniel Barnes , also known professionally as C.D. Barnes and C.B. Barnes, is an American actor. He is best known for his voice roles as... Prince Eric in Disney's The Little Mermaid and the title superhero of the 1990s Fox animated television series Spider-Man, as well as his on-screen portrayal of Greg Brady in the films The Brady Bunch Movie and A Very Brady Sequel. He was also once the national teenage spokesperson for Greenpeace. Vocally, he is best known for his lead role in the 1994-1998 Spider-Man cartoon, which remains to be the longest-running TV series based on the superhero. He also provided the voice of Spider-Man Noir in the 2010 video game Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, and Spider-Man 2099 in its 2011 sequel Spider-Man: Edge of Time. He has done voices for other animated series including several characters in Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Target McStone in Jackie Chan Adventures and Stripes the Tiger in Sonic Underground.
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Andrea Louise Martin is an American and Canadian actress and comedienne. She has appeared in films such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, on stage in... productions such as My Favorite Year, Fiddler on the Roof and Candide, and in the television series, SCTV. Martin, the oldest of three children, was born in Portland, Maine, in 1947, the daughter of Sybil A. and John Papazian Martin. Her paternal grandparents were Armenian immigrants who moved to the U.S. from Turkey to escape the Armenian Genocide. Her father owned Martin's Foods, a grocery store chain. Her maternal grandparents were Armenians from Yerevan and Istanbul. She has two sons, Jack and Joe , with ex-husband Bob Dolman, a screenwriter. Through this marriage, she was the sister-in-law of Dolman's sister, actress Nancy, and her husband Martin Short. Soon after graduating from Emerson College, she won a role in a touring company of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. After frequent visits to Toronto, she relocated from New York City to Toronto in 1970 and immediately found steady theater work.
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Judd Asher Nelson is an American actor, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for being a member of the "Brat Pack" in the mid-1980s; and for... his roles as John Bender in The Breakfast Club, Alec Newbary in St. Elmo's Fire, and Jack Richmond in Suddenly Susan. Nelson was born in Portland, Maine, the son of Merle , a court mediator and former member of the Maine state legislature, and Leonard Nelson, a corporate lawyer. His family is Jewish and his father was the first Jewish president of the Portland Symphony Orchestra. He has two sisters, Eve and Julie. He went to school at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire and Waynflete School in Portland, Maine, and studied at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, leaving during his sophomore year. He subsequently moved to Manhattan to study acting with Stella Adler. Nelson began acting in the early 1980s, starring in Making the Grade and Fandango , the latter in which he starred opposite a young Kevin Costner. It was nevertheless his roles in Joel Schumacher's St.
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Thomas Hodge "Tom" Allen is a former member of the United States House of Representatives representing Maine's 1st congressional district, and the... Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2008 against Republican incumbent Senator Susan Collins. Allen lost to Collins . Allen was first elected in 1996, defeating Republican incumbent James Longley, Jr. with 55 percent of votes cast to Longley's 45 percent. Allen was re-elected five times, receiving over 55 percent of the vote each time in his district, until his defeat in his 2008 run for the U.S. Senate. After, Allen was appointed president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers and began his term on May 1, 2009. Allen was born in Portland, Maine to Genevieve Lahee and Charles W. Allen. He graduated from Deering High School. He went on to Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine before winning a Rhodes Scholarship to Wadham College in the University of Oxford. During this time he became friends with fellow Rhodes scholar Bill Clinton. After Oxford he went on to Harvard Law School and practiced as a lawyer.
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Christopher Daniel Barnes , also known professionally as C.D. Barnes and C.B. Barnes, is an American actor. He is best known for his voice roles as... Prince Eric in Disney's The Little Mermaid and the title superhero of the 1990s Fox animated television series Spider-Man, as well as his on-screen portrayal of Greg Brady in the films The Brady Bunch Movie and A Very Brady Sequel. He was also once the national teenage spokesperson for Greenpeace. Vocally, he is best known for his lead role in the 1994-1998 Spider-Man cartoon series, which remains to be the longest-running TV show based on the superhero. He later provided the voice of Spider-Man Noir in the 2010 video game Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, and Spider-Man 2099 in the 2011 video game Spider-Man: Edge of Time. He has done voices for other animated series including several characters in Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Target McStone in Jackie Chan Adventures and Stripes the Tiger in Sonic Underground.
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Andrea Louise Martin is an American and Canadian actress and comedienne. She has appeared in films such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, on stage in... productions such as My Favorite Year, Fiddler on the Roof and Candide, and in the television series, SCTV. Martin, the oldest of three children, was born in Portland, Maine, in 1947, the daughter of Sybil A. and John Papazian Martin. Her paternal grandparents were Armenian immigrants who moved to the U.S. from Turkey to escape the Armenian Genocide. Her father owned Martin's Foods, a grocery store chain. Her maternal grandparents were Armenians from Yerevan and Istanbul. She has two sons, Jack and Joe , with ex-husband Bob Dolman, a screenwriter. Through this marriage, she was the sister-in-law of Dolman's sister, actress Nancy, and her husband Martin Short. Soon after graduating from Emerson College, she won a role in a touring company of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. After frequent visits to Toronto, she relocated from New York City to Toronto in 1970 and immediately found steady theater work.
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Victoria "Vicki" Lynn Rowell is an American actress and dancer. She is best known for her portrayal of ballerina-turned-model Drucilla Winters on... the CBS daytime drama The Young and the Restless, and medical examiner/pathologist Dr. Amanda Bentley on the CBS drama Diagnosis: Murder. From 1993 to 2000, she appeared on both series simultaneously. Rowell was born in Portland, Maine on May 10, 1959. Her biological mother, Dorothy Rowell, was of English descent and a Mayflower descendant, and her birth father, whose surname was Wilson, was of African-American descent. Rowell knew very little about her father. Dorothy, who suffered from schizophrenia, took a taxi to a hospital to give birth to Rowell, leaving a son and two small daughters unsupervised. When she was 16 days old, Rowell, along with her two sisters, Sheree and Lori, was surrendered to child services. While living in Maine with foster parents Agatha C. and Robert Armstead, Rowell, then eight, began ballet lessons. She became a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, an African-American Greek-Lettered Sorority.
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Robert William "Bob" Stanley is a former Major League Baseball right-handed relief pitcher who played with the Boston Red Sox. He is currently the... pitching coach for the Las Vegas 51s of the Pacific Coast League. Over his 13-year career, Stanley played only for the Red Sox from 1977-89. Bob was a first-round pick of the Boston Red Sox in 1974. A sinker ball specialist, Stanley was the club all-time saves leader with 132 until Jonathan Papelbon passed him on July 1, 2009, but to most Red Sox fans, he is simply known as "The Steamer" . He is also the all-time leader in appearances with 637 and is a member of the Red Sox Hall of Fame since 2000. His best season came in 1983 when he led the Sox with 33 saves and posted a 2.45 ERA. Stanley was a key member of the 1986 Red Sox team that came within one strike of winning the World Series but ultimately fell to the Mets in seven games. Stanley entered Game 6 with the Red Sox one out away from clinching their first World Series since 1918. But his wild pitch to Mookie Wilson allowed the Mets to tie the score and then New York won it on Bill Buckner's error.
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