From US Route 1 in Bath (home to Bath Iron Works) take the High Street/Phippsburg/Route 209 Exit. Follow this road through a residential area, you will also pass the Hyde School on your left. The road will jog across the Winnegance bridge.( this is where the Indians use to portage into Winnegance Lake to get to the New Meadows River to head south for the winter). Continue on Route 209 south skirting Drummore Bay and riding through historic Phippsburg. The highway will junction with Route 217, a spur road to Sebasco Estates and resort golf club. Keep left at the junction and continue on Route 209 where the road drops through low lands and a large marsh area of salt and seagrass. As you continue, the road will twist and turn around Spirit Pond. As you approach within a mile of the beach, the road will dip steeply and your next right turn is a very sharp turn, so please take caution here.
A mile later you will reach Popham Beach State Park. Popham Beach is a beautiful Beach with long sand strands, nearby islands and is one of Maine’s best beaches, as well as the longest. At low tide, you can actually walk to one of the islands. Continue on Route 209 to the end of the route, go past the State Park entrance
and ride another two miles until you reach Fort Popham State Historic Site. The fort is the stone remains of a Civil War fortification built to protect the mouth of the Kennebec River. Reverse your riding directions head north back along Route 209 and back Through Phippsburg center, and just past the center about a ¾ of a mile is Stoney Brook Road. Make a Left and follow Stoney Brook Rd. to end. Make a Right on Meadowbrook rd. and about a mile on your left is Meadowbrook Camping Area. This is a good place to stop and have an ice cream or Drifter’s Reef take out you can stop and have lunch. Meadowbrook is also known to cook Lobsters from 4 to 8 pm during the season and visitors are welcome. Continue past Meadowbrook and the roads turns into Campbells Pond rd and then connects with RT 209 again and head back into downtown Bath where you can choose to explore, or shop or head back on Route 1 north or south where you can continue exploring Maine’s coastal U.S. Route 1. For more historic info on Popham Beach go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popham_Colony#Founding
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