1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (9 page)

About ten miles east of Boothbay, the Pemaquid Point Light is situated at the top of a dramatic granite ledge extending into the Gulf of Maine. Exceptionally well preserved, with an on-site art gallery and Fishermen’s Museum, it’s one of the most visited sites along the Maine coast. Visitors can climb the tower for incredible views, and if they’re lucky they’ll catch a distant glimpse of Monhegan Island, site of its own quaint lighthouse (see p. 27).

Seen as you head north toward Penobscot Bay, the Marshall Point Light guards the entrance to Port Clyde, a longtime artists’ retreat where painter Andrew Wyeth held his first one-man show in 1937. The 31-foot lighthouse tower is extremely photogenic, with a long wood-plank walkway connecting to its Colonial-revival keeper’s quarters, which dates from 1895 and now houses a museum.

In the town of Rockland, the Rockland Breakwater Light sits at the end of a nearly mile-long stone jetty. In town, the Maine Lighthouse Museum houses America’s best collection of lighthouse memorabilia, including an extensive collection of Fresnel lenses, the last word when it comes to lighting the seas.

C
APE
N
EDDICK
L
IGHT:
York. Tel 207-565-1040;
www.lighthouse.cc/capeneddick.
P
ORTLAND
H
EAD
L
IGHT:
Cape Elizabeth. Tel 207-799-2661;
www.portlandheadlight.com
.
When:
late May–mid-Oct.
S
PRING
P
OINT
L
EDGE
L
IGHT:
S. Portland. Tel 207-799-6337;
www.portlandharbormuseum.org.
When:
June–mid-Oct.
S
EGUIN
I
SLAND
L
IGHT:
Boat tours from the Maine Maritime Museum, Bath. Tel 207-443-1316;
www.bathmaine.com.
Cost:
from $40.
When:
late June–Aug.
P
EMAQUID
P
OINT
L
IGHT:
New Harbor. Tel 207-677-2494.
When:
late May–early Oct.
M
ARSHALL
P
OINT
L
IGHT:
Port Clyde. Tel 207-372-6450;
www.marshallpoint.org.
When:
Sat–Sun in May; daily, June–mid-Oct.
R
OCKLAND
B
REAKWATER
L
IGHT:
Rockland Harbor. Tel 207-785-4609;
www.rocklandlighthouse.com.
When:
Sat–Sun, late May–mid-Oct.
M
AINE
L
IGHTHOUSE
M
USEUM:
Rockland. Tel 207-594-3031;
www.mainelighthousemuseum.com
.
When:
mid-June–mid-Oct.
B
EST TIME:
summer for weather.

Portland Head Light partly inspired Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem “The Lighthouse.”

George Bush Slept Here

Maine

The Kennebunks—Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, and Kennebunk Beach—are the quintessence of seaside Maine, brimming with magnificent architecture, beautiful lighthouses, rocky beaches, seaside hiking
, bike routes, lobster rolls, and fine dining.

First settled in the early 17th century, the Kennebunks gained fame and wealth two centuries later as shipbuilding towns. That boom went bust after the Civil War, but its legacy—a profusion of grand Colonial- and Federal-style homes sitting amid a picture-perfect landscape—helped transform the Kennebunks into one of Maine’s most popular resort areas. Over the following decades, vacationing notables included St. Louis businessman D. D. Walker, whose son George Herbert Walker later bought property in the area. George Herbert’s grandson and great-grandson, the two President Bushes, still vacation here from time to time.

Kennebunkport’s White Barn Inn is one of New England’s greatest, comprised of an 1820s gatehouse, carriage house, May’s Cottage (where the inn’s original owner once lived), and the main building, a classic autumn-gold clapboard with white trim. Twenty-five meticulously appointed European-style guest rooms are done up with four-poster, canopy, and sleigh beds, and modern amenities including Jacuzzis. A swimming pool offers an alternative to sandy Gooch’s Beach, within walking distance but with water that’s almost always too cold for swimming. A highlight of any stay is a meal in the inn’s restaurant, widely considered the best dining north of Boston. Here, rustic and refined blend seamlessly in two lofty barns, with creaky floorboards and locally crafted antiques, all glowing with candlelight.

As a cozy, romantic alternative the Federal-style Captain Lord Mansion has 16 guest rooms, each named for a ship built by its original owner. Gas fireplaces, Oriental rugs, and
overstuffed furniture lend a period air. A rooftop cupola looks out over the vast lawn toward the Kennebunk River.

Despite their tony reputation, the Kennebunks aren’t all about moneyed luxury. At the west end of the Kennebunkport Bridge, the Clam Shack is one of America’s great seafood dives. No utensils here, and no seats: You just order your fried clams and lobster rolls through the walk-up window and roll up your sleeves.

W
HERE:
20 miles south of Portland.
W
HITE
B
ARN
I
NN:
Tel 207-967-2321;
www.whitebarninn.com
.
Cost:
from $285 (off-peak), from $390 (peak); dinner $81.
C
APTAIN
L
ORD
M
ANSION:
Tel 800-522-3141 or 207-967-3141;
www.captainlord.com.
Cost:
from $125 (off-peak), from $275 (peak).
T
HE
C
LAM
S
HACK:
Tel 207-967-2560.
Cost:
$8.
When:
May–Oct.
B
EST TIMES:
spring–fall for idyllic weather; 1st weeks of Dec for Christmas Prelude festival (
www.christmasprelude.com
).

Where the Arts Meet the Atlantic

Maine

Ten miles out to sea, tiny Monhegan Island is Maine in miniature, a 700-acre artist’s rendering of everything that makes this stretch of coast called Down East great. On its eastern side, towering headland cliffs greet the
pounding Atlantic, while from the western (village) side hikers can set out on 17 miles of wooded trails that crisscross the island. Only about 60 people live here year-round. There are no cars, and no paved roads: Until 1984 there wasn’t even electricity. What there is is peace and quiet—and artists, lots of artists.

First put on the map when Virginia governor John Smith visited in 1614, Monhegan didn’t get any attention from the art world until 1858, when painter Aaron Draper Shattuck paid a visit. Over the years that followed, artists such as Edward Hopper, Robert Henri, and Jamie Wyeth arrived to take advantage of the island’s incredible light and rugged landscapes. Thanks to a preservation movement led by Thomas Edison Jr. in the early 1950s, two-thirds of Monhegan is maintained in its pristine, wild state. Visitors arrive by ferry, stepping off into a tidy coastal village, home to almost every bit of civilization on the island: its galleries, its lobstering fleet, its markets and restaurants, and its hotels. Nothing is more than a few minutes’ walk from anything else, including some 20 artists’ studios open to the public in summer.

Grab a trail map from anywhere in town and take off into the central forests. Head northeast, past the old ice pond toward Cathedral Woods, where tall stands of fir and spruce create a spiritual space Thoreau would have loved, its aisles carpeted with moss, ferns, and wildflowers. From here, head south along the coast to Burnt Head, whose 160-foot sea cliffs are among the highest in Maine, in summer filled with squawking seabirds. At lower points along the coast (especially at half-tide) you can see a profusion of harbor seals playing among the rocks. Ramble back to town by way of the Monhegan Island Light, which has provided a beacon for sailors since 1824. Next door, the keeper’s cottage now houses the Monhegan Historical and Cultural Museum, with displays on all aspects of island life and Monhegan-related works by Rockwell Kent, Edward Hopper, and others.

Back in town, the turn-of-the-century Island Inn dominates from atop a bluff, literally a
stone’s throw from the harbor. Built between 1816 and 1910, it’s Monhegan’s largest and most comfortable hotel, with 34 rooms decorated in typical Maine style—antique furniture, painted wood floors, and cozy down bedding. Since there are no TVs or telephones to distract you, head to the Inn’s wide porch for some real evening entertainment, watching the sun set over the water, with the Maine coast beyond. Now you know why all those artists came and stayed.

W
HERE:
10 miles off the mid-Maine coast.
H
OW:
Ferries run from Boothbay Harbor (Balmy Days Cruises, tel 800-298-2284 or 207-633-2284,
www.balmydayscruises.com;
June–Oct), Port Clyde (Monhegan-Thomaston Boat Line, tel 207-372-8848,
www.monheganboat.com
; year-round), and New Harbor (Hardy Boat Cruises, tel 800-278-3346 or 207-677-2026,
www.hardyboat.com;
May–Oct).
M
ONHEGAN
M
USEUM:
Tel 207-596-7003;
www.monheganmuseum.org
.
When:
July–Sept.
I
SLAND
I
NN:
Tel 207-596-0371;
www.islandinnmonhegan.com
.
Cost:
from $115 (off-peak), from $145 (peak).
When:
May–Oct.
B
EST TIMES:
May and Oct for nice weather and the smallest crowds.

The Gateway to the North Woods

Maine

In 1853, Henry David Thoreau headed north from Boston on his second long trip into the Maine woods. Arriving at Moosehead, he wrote that it appeared “a suitably wild-looking sheet of water, sprinkled with small
, low islands, which were covered with shaggy spruce and other wild wood.” In the decades that followed, the lake became a resort destination of the rich and famous, while at the same time the surrounding woods began to see the birth of a massive timber industry. It’s a duality that persists to this day, with sportsmen, vacationers, and nature lovers pursuing their muses in wild areas wedged between clear-cuts.

At the lake’s southern tip, unpretentious Greenville acts as a hub for both travelers and residents of the region’s scattered villages. From here, visitors can head into the backwoods on wildlife safaris to see some of the thousands of moose that call the area home, or step into a canoe, kayak, or motorboat to explore the lake’s 400 miles of incredible coastline and 300-plus islands. The historic steamer
Katahdin,
built in 1914 and serving over the years as ferry, cargo boat, and loghauling towboat, also runs several different day cruises on the lake throughout the summer. The most interesting visit is Mt. Kineo, the lake’s most striking natural landmark. Located on a peninsula at Moosehead’s midpoint, Kineo looks like a sleeping dinosaur, its eastern flanks a sheer 700-foot cliff rising almost straight up from the water, its backbone a fringe of evergreens. Dock at the site of the former legendary Kineo House resort, which in its 19th-century heyday offered 300 rooms on the shore near the mountain’s base. Hardly a stick of its majestic old buildings remains, but its storybook location is still stunning and provides a dock and two trails to the mountain’s peak. A hike up is the most essential of all Moosehead experiences.

To rusticate in style, book yourself into the Lodge at Moosehead Lake, a 1917 Cape Cod Colonial–style lodge located on a hill just outside Greenville, surrounded by woods, fields,
and stunning lake views. Rooms are appointed with a mix of folksy lodge furnishings, modern lines, and unusual touches like the two beds that are suspended from the ceilings by antique logging chains. Meals in the dining room or on the outdoor deck offer incredible sunset views.

W
HERE:
155 miles north of Portland.
Visitor info:
Tel 888-876-2778 or 207-695-2702;
www.mooseheadlake.org.
M
OOSE SAFARIS:
Moose Country Safaris, tel 207-876-4907;
www.moosecountrysafaris.com
.
Cost:
half-day safari $140 per couple.
When:
late Apr–Oct.
K
ATAHDIN
C
RUISES:
Tel 207-695-2716;
www.katahdincruises.com
.
Cost:
Mt. Kineo cruise $35.
When:
late May–early Oct.
L
ODGE AT
M
OOSEHEAD
L
AKE:
Tel 800-825-6977 or 207-695-4400;
www.lodgeatmooseheadlake.com
.
Cost:
from $225 (off-peak), from $295 (peak).
B
EST TIMES:
late May–early Sept.