The largest and most costly church in Portland is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, fronting on Cumberland street. It is one hundred and ninety-six feet in length, by one hundred in width, with a spire rising in the air two hundred and thirty-six feet. It is of brick, and is imposing only on account of its size. Its interior, however, is finished and decorated in a style surpassed by few churches in the country.
NIGHT SCENE IN MARKET SQUARE, PORTLAND, MAINE.
The Eastern Cemetery, on Congress street, is the oldest graveyard in Portland. For two hundred years it was the common burial ground of the settlement, and here, probably, all the early colonists sleep their last sleep, though their graves are forgotten. The oldest tombstone which the yard seems to contain is that of Mrs. Mary Green, who died in 1717. On the opposite side of the yard, near Mountford street, are the monuments erected to the memory of William Burroughs, of the United States Brig Enterprise, and Samuel Blythe, of His Majesty's Brig Boxer, who fought and died together, on September fifth, 1813, and were buried here. Lieut. Kerwin Waters, of the Enterprise, wounded in the same action, lies beside them. Of him Longfellow sung:—
"I remember the sea fight far away,
How it thundered o'er the tide!
And the dead captains, as they lay
In their graves o'erlooking the tranquil bay,
Where they in battle died."
There is a white marble monument to Commodore Preble, and the death of Lieutenant Henry Wadsworth, uncle of the poet Longfellow, who fell before Tripoli in 1804, is also commemorated here.
Congress Square, at the junction of Fore street, has an elevated position, and is surrounded by churches of various denominations. From Congress street, near its junction with Mellen street, the visitor can look off to Deering's Woods, which rise on the borders of a creek, running in from Back Cove. This tract of woodland has come into possession of the city, and will be preserved as a park. Longfellow sings of
"The breezy dome of groves,
The shadows of Deering's Woods."
Again:—
"And Deering's Woods are fresh and fair,
And with joy that is almost pain
My heart goes back to wander there,
And among the dreams of the days that were
I find my lost youth again."