The Arts District

Portland's Cultural Center

Uptown, a few blocks from the waterfront, is Portland’s secret treasure—the Arts District. With Congress Street as its spine, this once traditional shopping street has turned into a mecca of art galleries, antique shops, and artist studios. The world class Portland Museum of Art, the Children’s Museum of Maine, the Institute of Contemporary Art at the Maine College of Art, the Center for Cultural Exchange, the State Theater, the Portland Stage Company, the Center for Maine History, and the stunningly-renovated Merrill Auditorium all line Congress Street.

Walking Congress Street provides a glimpse of office buildings intermingled with historically preserved buildings. The Wadsworth-Longfellow House is the 19th century childhood home of the poet. The First Parish Church has an original cannon ball from the revolutionary war as a chandelier. Portland’s City Hall was built by Carrere and Hastings, best known for their design of the New York Public Library. And, Portland High School is the oldest standing high school in the country. If you listen closely, you can hear history continuously in the making.