Captain Lemuel Moody built it in 1807, to alert merchants and dockworkers when a ship was coming in. The Maine Historic Preservation Commission started the application process in 1997.Captain Moody's great-great-great grandson, John York, was at the ceremony.
"We've always been very proud not only to have been associated with the observatory since 1807, but so delighted to have it recognized nationally," said York.
In addition to being named a National Historic Landmark, the obervatory also earned the honor of being named a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
The Portland Observatory welcomes as many as 10,000 visitors a year from all fifty states and several dozen foreign countries.
