Fort Williams Park

Visited the park lush and green. Looks like people love to host pre wedding shoots. I found artist selling painting of the lighthouse and the shores. They are amazing. Visited the light house and you can exp the calmness and how these lighthouse help in fog.

Great park with lots to do! Definitely take your time and check out the fort, abandoned mansion and the lighthouse! Lots of history packed into a confined area. If you’re visiting Portland this should be top priority on your list of sights and things to do!

An iconic Maine site and a must see when passing through Portland, ME. Portland Head light situated on the rocky Maine coast is stunning. Additionally, the park features open space, picnic areas and walking trails along the coast. The one downside of the visit was the large crowd and significant traffic. We went on a beautiful Saturday in October and so did many others. We had to slowly cruise the parking lots for 20 minutes before a parking spot opened up. The visit was worth this minor inconvenience, but if possible you should try to visit during less crowded times. Restrooms Clean and accessible. Dog-friendliness Many leashed dogs present. Picnic area Yes, ample and nicely situated.

This was my first time visiting this park and Portland Head Light! Had a great time walking around and photographing the lighthouse through the smoke and fog on a beautiful 80° morning. Also enjoyed a great Caprese Sandwich and a Maine Blueberry Soda from the Bite Into Maine Food Cart! I was very okay with the $6 parking fee for the minimum 2 hours. Downtown parking was $20 more for the same two hours or $25 for all day parking where available. Dog-friendliness Very dog friendly park and I do believe leashes are required. Picnic area Plenty of places to picnic along the shore, in the park, under the pavilion and elsewhere throughout the park.

Very well maintained park in Cape Elizabeth, ME with a beautiful rocky coastline and an iconic Maine lighthouse. The views are outstanding. The city park is fairly large, beautifully landscaped and maintained by the town of Cape Elizabeth. Be prepared to walk up and down hills (wear good walking shoes). The park gets very crowded on weekends and parking can be hard to find. There is a fee for parking that you need to pay at a kiosk. The park is dog friendly so bring fido! Be sure to bring water for your pup in the hot weather, and for yourself. Toilets consist of porta potties (ick) but at least they are there!

Gorgeous, breathtaking, stunning, amazing…..no word in the English language can describe the views! Very dog friendly as well. We went off season but even for our reactive dog, there was plenty of space to pull off and keep everyone safe. Dog-friendliness We have a reactive GSD and we brought him off season with absolutely no issues. Plenty of space!

Fun place to spend a couple hours. Includes a lot of interesting sites to see and plaques and pictures to know what you’re looking at. The cliff walk had some great views of the rocky shore. The lighthouse and mansion were my favorite parts of the visit. In the summer it would be a great place for a picnic. Very family friendly.

We came to this park specifically to see the lighthouse, but we parked in a lot near an old mansion and Fort, and walked around. The views were beautiful and it was a nice walk. We then drove up to the parking lot, close to the lighthouse and enjoyed walking around and getting as many different angles of pictures as we could. You do have to pay for parking, but it is not pricey. This is definitely a must visit if you are in the Portland area. 0:20 0:16

We visited on a Saturday afternoon in mid-June 2025. Finding parking was a little rough. There were a number of extra spots on grass and in the Fort William Parade Grounds field with sun and no shade. But if you wanted a decent spot closer to water or on more compact surface it was difficult to find. We did find a great spot up on hill by the public bathroom (porta johns). It was a great spot because there is a pavilion right up top that's great for picnicking. We started by visiting the Portland Head Light. We just walked down straight across the field. There is actually a great photo spot right before the steps as you walk down. We noticed a number of people stopped here to take a photo. Because you're so high up, there are no other people in your shot. The actual light house was nice. There is a small museum underneath it but there was a cost to go in. $2/ adult and $1/child. The sign specifically says NO TOWER TOURS, NO FOOD OR DRINK, NO RESTROOMS. We decided on the time that we had here that it wasn't worth it to pay to go in. There is also a small giftshop in an adjacent building. It was about the size of a large shed or small garage. It was also very crowded in and outside of there near the light house. As you walk further away there is less and less people which was nice. We decided to do the Cliff Walk towards the North Viewpoint because we wanted to also explore the abandoned bunker and Goddard Mansion. There are multiple stops heading north on the cliff walk that you can turn around and get a great photo of the headlight. Only issue we had was that it was mid-day and the sun lighting was harsh on the photos. Best to come earlier in the morning and later in the afternoon/evening. We hoped to also explore the Fort Williams Mine Casement but from up above trying to hike down, there was a ton of erosion and we were not sure if we went down, we could get back up. We knew there was possibly another entrance below but to get there from the rocks would've taken a significant portion of our limited time at the park. So we went as far as we could safely and decided to turn around. There were a couple of small signs that pointed out the structure. If you weren't specifically looking for it, you'd easily miss it. We arrived at the Abandoned Fort William Bunker with maybe 2 other groups there. We did climb up on the right side and explored all the way around. The kids really enjoyed it and you can get some cool pictures on top of the bunker. The kids also did the dark tunnel underneath. They said it was very dark and mostly trash and some graffiti in there. We explored here for maybe 20 mins. Lastly we hiked to the Goddard Mansion. The lighting was perfect through the trees. We entered from the back side coming from the Abandoned Fort Williams Bunker. There are trails back here and it looked so cool with the light. We took a number of photos and most people didn't really care it looked like and hiked on the paved asphalt trail to the other side. The mansion interior is fenced off but it was still really cool. I think we timed it just right for photos here. Also there weren't very many people interested in it. Looks like most wanted to see the bunker and then headed back. Overall this was a great afternoon we spent at Fort Williams Park. There were many other things here that we wanted to explore and hike but we only had about 2 hrs. If we were in Portland again we would totally put this on the top of our list to return. However we came in mid-June. I would be a little scared of the crowds later in the summer like July. Playground We did not encounter any playgrounds in our visit to the park. We did not see any near the cliff walks anyways or up towards the abandoned bunker or mansion. Older kids might have fun playing around the bunker although not exactly a playground. Restrooms The only bathrooms we encountered were up on the hill near the parking lot by the Bite into Maine Food Truck. It's more like 3 porta johns behind a wall. I'd be very surprised if this was the only bathroom for the entire park. Dog-friendliness We did see many people walking with dogs at the park. Picnic area We really enjoyed our picnic at the pavilion right by the public restrooms. It was a large covered area just up the stairs with lots of shade trees too. So kids could run around while we ate. Not sure if this pavilion could be rented out or not but tons of tables.

Wonderful spot to spend some time, go for a walk, admire the ocean views, and of course visit Portland Head Light. The park is pretty big and I wish we had time to explore more of it, especially the coastal cliff walk and the fort itself. Portland Head Light is a must-see though. Minus one star for forcing everyone out of the park before sunset was over, it was literally one of the most incredible sunsets we've seen and the ranger kicked everyone out before we could really enjoy it and see how the light was hitting the lighthouse. Be careful because the ranger let people linger a little bit but then he really started confronting people.