Other MoA event in United States of America on Thu 4th December 2025

CASTINE (WGME) – Dozens of old cannonballs, some about 200 years or older, are in the hands of state police.

The Castine Historical Society says it recently found out it had two cannonballs in the museum dating back to the War of 1812.

The museum called the state police bomb squad, who looked at all of the cannonballs and found another that could possibly still be explosive.

The museum's executive director mentioned the nearby Wilson Museum also had a lot of cannonballs, and the bomb squad seized about two dozen from that location.

The director says the discoveries show the wartime history of the coastal community.

"Castine was occupied by the British during the Revolutionary War, beginning at the Penobscot Expedition in 1779 until 1783," Castine Historical Society Executive Director Dr. Kate McMahon said. "And then we were occupied again during the War of 1812 from September 1814 to April 1815, so we just have this intensive amount of military action in this place because of our strategic position at the mouth of the Penobscot River."

Just one of the museum's three cannonballs was still explosive.