Popham Beach

Popham Beach State Park is consistently ranked among the finest state park beaches in New England and one of the best beaches on the entire Maine coast. Located at the tip of the Phippsburg Peninsula where the Kennebec River meets the Atlantic Ocean, Popham is a tidal barrier beach of exceptional beauty — a broad crescent of smooth tan-to-white sand flanked by the Kennebec River inlet to the north and Fox Island to the south, with dramatic rock outcroppings and extensive tidal sandbars that emerge at low tide to create a seemingly endless expanse of walkable beachscape.

The defining experience of Popham is exploring its vast tidal sandbars during low tide. As the ocean retreats, Sand Bar Island and Fox Island become connected to the main beach by wide sandy flats, allowing visitors to walk well out into the harbor on hard-packed sand surrounded by gentle tidal channels. The effect is spectacular — a feeling of walking on a mid-ocean sandbar while surrounded by the granite-dotted Maine coast. The Kennebec River channel at the north end of the beach is popular for kayaking and paddleboarding in calm conditions.

Popham Beach has significant historical importance: Fort Popham, a partially completed Civil War-era granite fort, stands at the river mouth adjacent to the beach and is open to visitors as a Maine state historic site. Even more historically significant, the site was near the location of the Popham Colony of 1607 — America's first attempted New England settlement, established the same year as Jamestown though ultimately abandoned after one winter. The colonists built the pinnace Virginia here, the first English vessel constructed in the New World.