KNOX - Drivers traveling on Route 220 during the past week may have noticed a ring of unusual steel structures and a lot of displaced dirt on a rise just south of Knox Ridge Baptist Church. But what is it?

After toying with the idea of a missle silo or a sculptural mash-up of Stonehenge and the Eiffel Tower, PenBay Pilot asked around and found the site is about to be home to a new communications tower.

On closer inspection, the cluster of metal cross-bracing turns out to include the base of the tower surrounded by pre-assembled segments ready to be stacked on top of one another. A concrete foundation accounts for the piles of dirt on the periphery.

Debbie and Rodney Ingraham, who own the property said they were approached by a telecommunications consultant from Boston. The man wanted to build the tower on the property of the family business, Ingraham Equipment Co., but the couple had reservations about having the tower next to the store, Debbie said, so they bought the piece of land on Route 220 from a cousin and offered it as an alternative.

Attempts to reach the consultant were unsuccessful. Information on the website of the firm with which he is affiliated, C. Davis Associates, suggests working relationships with numerous telecommunications companies. Rodney Ingraham said he thought AT&T might be one of the users of the tower, but said he wasn't sure.

The new telecommunications tower will stand a short distance from another tower and local landmark, the windmill at Knox Ridge Holstein Farm. That piece of equipment dates to the 1980s and stands around 120-feet tall from the base to the highest reach of the blades. By one account, the new tower will stand 140-feet tall.

"The cell phone service around here is horrible," said Debbie Ingraham. "So we thought, why not?"

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Ethan Andrews can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com