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Andre the Seal LbNA #11641 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Oct 15, 2004
Location:
City:Rockport
County:Knox
State:Maine
Boxes:1
Planted by:Hoosier Honey Bee
Found by: Grace to You
Last found:Aug 18, 2011
Status:FFFOFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFr
Last edited:Oct 15, 2004
STATUS: BOX PULLED TEMPORARILY FOR MAINTENANCE ON 11-1-12, WILL POST WHEN IT'S BACK IN PLACE.

NOTE:

Box moved, slight change in clues. Received several e-mails that it couldn't be found. To my dismay, I noticed some large rocks in the wall had been pulled out and were lying on the ground. I'm hoping it was vandals not boxers. I carefully replaced them.

HISTORY:

Rockport Marine Park is located on the Town Landing in Rockport Harbor. This small waterfront park showcases several events in the history of this quaint village in midcoast Maine.

There is a granite statue of Andre the Seal who gained notoriety from several children’s books and a movie about him. Andre was an orphaned harbor seal pup that was adopted, raised and trained by the harbormaster of Rockport and his family in the early 1960’s. Every summer evening, people would gather on the dock and watch him perform. I have fond memories of my grandfather taking my brother Stu and I to see Andre. As Andre got older, he would spend the winters in the New England Aquarium in Boston. Come spring, he would be released to swim all the way back to Rockport. Andre died in 1986 at the age of 25.

This park is also the site of the historic Rockport Lime Kilns and a Vulcan Steam Locomotive that carried limestone from the quarries in Simonton’s Corner along a 3-mile narrow gauge railway to the kilns. The limestone was burned in the wood fired kilns, driving off the carbon dioxide and converting it to lime. The lime was then packaged and loaded onto schooners and taken to Boston and New York City. Lime was used to make mortar and plaster for construction.

There are several picnic shelters with grills, a public boat launch ramp, and plenty of park benches to sit on and enjoy the views of the harbor and Indian Island Light. You can also book a sail on the schooner Timberwind or the schooner yacht Heron.

CLUES:

Take Pascals Avenue off of US Rte 1 into the town of Rockport. Just before crossing the Goose River Bridge, you will see the turn off for Rockport Marine Park on your right. However, you have to enter from the opposite direction because of the sharp angle and steep incline of the road leading down to the park. So you’ll need to cross the bridge and turn around. There are quite a few parking spaces but depending on the season, you may need to wait for someone to leave.

Between the far end of the lime kilns and the boat launch ramp you will see a path with wooden steps that leads, at a steep incline, to the road above. Start climbing and stop at the beginning of the green chain link fence. Standing in front of the corner post, take a compass reading of 255 degrees and walk to the stonewall. You should see an iron bar at eye level rising vertically out of one of the rocks. You will find Andre in a crevice just to the left of the base of this bar behind some small stones that are easily removed. Please replace the stones so the box remains well hidden. Many thanks to Phyto for replacing the logbook and sending the first one to me in Indiana.