Front Street, Downtown Bath

Here in Bath, Maine we’re all excited by the fact that the American Planning Association (APA) has just named our Front Street among America’s Top-10 best downtown streets. Here’s the explanation from the APA web site:

The center of commerce, government, and fellowship in Bath for 200 years, Front Street is one of Maine’s architectural treasures. Bath’s maritime and shipbuilding history permeates the street, which affords scenic views of the Kennebec River and the city’s place-defining trademark, the giant red-and-white Bath Iron Works crane. Familiar with adversity, the street has rebounded from hardships, disasters, and disinvestment time and time again. Bath’s merchants and citizens, unwilling to concede defeat, have stood together and rebuilt what was razed and revitalized what was shut down or boarded up.

Here are the top-10:
Skagway, Alaska – Broadway Street
Little Rock, Arkansas – President Clinton Avenue
Bath, Maine – Front Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan – South Main Street
Traverse City, Michigan – Front Street
Collingswood, New Jersey – Haddon Avenue
Greenville, South Carolina – Main Street
Williamsburg, Virginia – Duke of Gloucester Street
Wheeling, West Virginia – North Main Street
Milwaukee, Wisconsin – East Newberry Boulevard

So, if you’re headed up our way for Fall Family Weekend, be sure to take a spin thru town and check us out!

Onward, Malcolm Gauld