We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Peaks Island back in June and wanted to return, this time biking around the island. We parked in the Back Cove area and rode along the coastline bike path to the Portland waterfront, where we boarded the ferry for Peaks Island.
We went with our friends from Gainesville, Lorraine and Mike. As we started riding along the coast road, we enjoyed the views of the water and nearby islands. But we had reason to stop along the way to view some special creations lining the rocky coastline.
Here we are at a rock art garden along the rocks lining the island coastline. Both residents and visitors have taken a lot of time to make these artistic sculptures. There was significantly more sculptures here now than we saw in June.
We were surprised that the tall structures were so stable and had not toppled over.
The most creative sculpture we saw was this fisherman. The "artist" used dried greenery for the fishing pole as well as a bit of fishing line going down into the water. Representative of the laid back lifestyle of island living.
While riding around Peaks, we passed the only grocery store on the island, Hannigan's Island Market. The Hannigan's truck was on the ferry back to Portland to get groceries for the store. We liked their unique way of saying that they have everything you might need if you are living on Peaks Island.
After a nice lunch at the Peaks Inn, we headed back to Portland on the ferry. Downtown Portland is picturesque from Casco Bay.
We returned to the campground for a nice visit complete with a picnic supper. We thank Lorraine and Mike for sharing a lot of local information with us to help us explore the Greater Portland area on our days off.
We have had the Maine Maritime Museum on our list of things to see and do all summer. We made the 60-minute drive to Bath and spent the day visiting both the museum and the out-buildings which are part of the museum.
The Grand Banks Schooner Museum, Sherman Zwicher, was on display behind the museum in the Kennebec River. The Zwicher was a wooden fishing schooner, built in 1942 in Nova Scotia, hence the Canadian flag. Even though she was rigged for sail, her primary means of propulsion was by a large 320 HP marine diesel engine.
The method of fishing was to use the dories to spread 1 1/2 mile long fishing lines with baited hooks at 9 feet intervals, called a trawl. Crew on the ship would lower and raise the dories by hand three or four times a day. Paul is standing next to one of the dories on the deck.
In the out-building devoted to the history of lobstering, we were amused by reading a list of superstitions commonplace among lobstermen in the past, as follows:
1. Do not have any item or article of clothing on the boat colored black.
2. Do not turn a hatch cover, bait barrel, or basked on the boat upside down.
3. Do not say the word "pig" on a boat.
4. Do not paint your boat blue.
Odd taboos for the lobstermen, but superstitions usually are. We were not told the meanings behind any of the superstitions - just a bit of historical trivia to enjoy.
Here is one of the older lobster boats on display. Notice, there is no power winch to haul up the lobster traps. The old wooden lobster trap is an item of the past. Most traps now are made of either heavy duty plastic wire or metal wire.
We took a trolley ride to the nearby Bath Iron Works, where many Navy ships have been made and continue to be made. Cameras and cell phones were not allowed aboard the trolley for security reasons. We were told about a new class of Navy stealth destroyer that is being built there. The first ship in this class, The Zumwalt, is scheduled to be christened on October 19, 2013. When we left the shipyard, we were given an artist rendering of the Zumwalt.
The photo below was taken in January and appeared in a newspaper article about the October 19 christening. All the parts to the ship are made nearby and shipped on tractor trailers and welded together at Bath Iron Works. If you look closely at the photo, you can see the lengths with weld marks on the side of the hull, the reddish brown part.
We were glad we spent a interesting day learning about ships and shipbuilding in the past. Having the opportunity to view the newest technology of today was an added plus.
We have known Randy and Ruth Parker since the 1980's, when Paul and Randy served on a national athletic director committee together. In fact, Randy followed Paul as chairperson when Paul left the committee in 1991. Ruth and Randy have a summer home in New Hampshire and drove north to Portland to visit.
We decided to visit Prouts Neck, a small peninsula jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean with panoramic views along coastline cliffs. We had done this walk once before and knew it provides panoramic views of the southern Maine coast; especially with a near cloudless sky. This is the view northward from the start of the walk..
Randy, Ruth, and Paul enjoying the view from a bench along the walk.
As we walked further towards the Point, the cliff seemed to get higher up from the Atlantic Ocean. Paul and Randy take a closer look.
We passed this huge home overlooking the cliffs.
There were beach roses all along our walk. No, these are not grape or cherry tomatoes but the fruits this plant produces when its flowers have finished blooming.
You can tell fall is just around the corner when the Queen Anne's Lace and Ragweed are in full bloom.
Ruth, Paul, and Randy taking in some great views from a small bridge along the walk.
To the left, you could see Black Point Beach.
It was a perfect day weather wise, with the temperature in the low 70's and an ocean breeze keeping us extra cool. We were surprised by how few people were out enjoying the wonderful weather.
Another view of many more miles of shoreline.
By the end of our walk, we worked up a hunger for lunch. So we drove to nearby Cape Elizabeth to eat some fresh seafood at the Lobster Shack. How many times can you have a nice lunch with a picture window view of the Atlantic Ocean?
After lunch we walked out onto a rock jetty to get a better view of the Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse.
We returned to the campground for an afternoon of visiting, a good chance to get caught up in each other's lives and families. What a perfect day - awesome scenery, beautiful weather, and great fellowship. We plan to stop to visit Randy and Ruth in New Hampshire on our return trip to Florida.
Bradbury Mountain State Park is one of Maine's five original state parks, with over 21 miles of trails. More importantly for us, the trail from the parking lot to the mountain top, which is less than 500 feet above sea level, is only about a mile and a half long. Within a quarter mile of the parking lot, we found the Cattle Pound.
Here is the view from the other side. As you can see from the sign, this Cattle Pound was built in 1818. It was about 50 feet square with stone walls about 4 feet high. Stray cattle were put here until the rancher paid a poundage (English form of currency) to get his wayward cattle back. As we hiked toward the top, we saw remains of several stone walls about 3 feet high. We imagined the walls were used to separate ranches. It was probably easy for cattle to climb over these walls.
Most of the trail was easy to follow since there were color-coded marks on the trees every 50 feet or so. Some of the trail was over solid rock surfaces like shown below.
The top of the mountain was also solid rock.
The view from the summit was spectacular. This view is looking towards Freeport and beyond to the Maine coast.
This was
our first ever hike to the summit of a mountain. Now, Bradbury Mountain
at 485 feet above sea level does not compare to the Grand Teton in
Wyoming at 13,775 feet, but we still can say we climbed to the top of a
mountain.
After our hike, we drove east past Freeport for a lunch at the Haraseeket Lunch and Lobster Company, next door to the Freeport Yacht Club. Which boat or yacht should we put our offer on?
The Haraseeket Lunch and Lobster Company was recommended to us by several friends who know the area well.
While we were enjoying our fresh seafood lunch, this lobster boat pulled up to the dock. Notice how the whole family is involved in the lobster business. There is a boy about 11 years old bent over fixing a net, a girl in her teens standing on the gunwale, a young man holding the aft line, and an older grandfather type at the helm as this commercial lobster boat comes to the dock.
How can a day off be any better? We enjoyed blue skies with cool temperatures in the low 70's, a nice hike of about 3 miles, followed by a fresh seafood lunch.
The
southern Maine coast is filled with great beaches, even though the water in the bays and Atlantic Ocean is always cold. Many are covered
with soft sand, while some others we have found were much more rocky.
After nice dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, we took a short drive to find Pine Point Beach for the first time. We had been to
dinner several times near the beach but finally decided to drive all the way out to
the beach. It rained while we were eating dinner, which produced this
beautiful rainbow out over the water.
We enjoyed an after dinner stroll along the beach on the cool sand. We almost had the beach to ourselves. The water wasn't warm either; maybe 60 degrees. So we were satisfied to let others walk in the water while we stayed on dry sand.
On a recent day off, we were exposed to another beach area nearby. We visited some Gainesville friends who have a summer home in Biddeford, Maine, a small coastal town about 10 miles south of Portland. Mike and Lorraine Hoctor grew up in the area and moved to the warmer climate of Florida after their senior year of college in the frigid weather conditions of northern Maine. However, they returned many summers with their family to enjoy the glorious Maine weather and decided to purchase a summer home in their old hometown.
Lorraine and Mike took us for a walk on the local beach, named Biddeford Pool. It was near low tide so there was lots of exposed sand. It was around 4 pm in the afternoon; notice how few people are on the beach. At this time of year, there are plenty of tourists in the area, just not here at the beach.
Resting before our walk on the beach. Left to right--Lorraine, Mike, and Paul.
We then went for a walk along around the point where the Saco River spills into Casco Bay. This is the view of some of the more pricy homes towards the north from where we were sitting. Several of these beach homes are for sale. Supposedly, the taxes are very high. Would we want to live in a beach front mansion like one of these? Maybe, if we could afford the domestic staff to keep the large house clean. And that is not happening anytime soon!
This is the fabulous view northward from the point across the Saco River to Biddeford Light, one of our many picture postcard settings here in Maine.
We concluded our visit with a cookout on the deck of Lorraine and Mike's house. During our visit, they shared stories about what it was like to live in Maine year-round when they were growing up.
Wonderful views, good times with friends, and what could be any better.
We recently received an invitation to visit one of Ann's former co-workers, Faye Farrington, and we jumped at the chance to visit with her and explore more of Maine's mid-coast. Faye has a summer cottage near Popham Beach State Park. This is her third summer living in this quaint New England village of less than 100 summer residents, with only about a dozen of these residents calling this Maine coastal village home year-round.
The biggest attraction in this area is Popham Beach State Park, with a wide sandy beach where tourists and locals alike can enjoy the gorgeous Maine summer weather. The large parking lot was about 2/3 full when we arrived at 11 am. When we got back from our hike about 90 minutes later, the lot was completely full. Because so many people wanted to be on the beach on this warm day, those still in line waiting to get in the park gate parked their cars along the road and took the long walk to the beach, carrying their beach paraphernalia with them.
Popham Beach has played a part in Maine history, dating back to the early exploration of the New World to the defense of our national coastline. As part of our visit, we wanted to see the local historical sights.
Fort Baldwin was built between 1905 and 1912. This location, overlooking the mouth of the Kennebec River was key to protecting the interior regions of Maine prior to World War 1.
To see the remnants of Fort Baldwin, we hiked about a mile through a forest to discover the ruins of Fort Baldwin. The fort consisted of three batteries; the Hardman Battery is pictured below. We interpreted the lower "rooms" to be storage for explosives and cannon balls, as well as living quarters for the men stationed here. Many of the rooms had brick fireplaces.
The Hawley Battery was constructed differently. The roof was covered with dirt and grass/weeds and there were less rooms in the lower level.
Here is the view of the top of this battery from the bay side. Observers would look out through the narrow opening to spot where the cannon balls landed and holler down corrections in aiming the cannons.
There was a separate observation tower. After I climbed four flights of stairs to the top, the view of the entrance to the harbor was magnificent. The only way the enemy was going to sneak past would have been during the dark of night.
After visiting Fort Baldwin, we hiked to the shore of Atkins Bay and the site of Fort Saint George, the 1607 English settlement site in Maine. This monument shows the Virginia, a sailing vessel that was built here and later sailed to England when the one year old colony was dissolved after the harsh Maine winter. The mouth of the Kennebec River is visible beyond Atkins Bay.
We could see Fort Popham across the water from the site of Fort St. George.
We later took the short drive to Fort Popham, a semi-circular granite fort that was abandoned before it was completed. The fort was begun in 1862 for use during the Civil War. After some modifications, the fort was used again during the Spanish American War and World War I.
Fort Popham was built two levels high, with this view from the parade ground in the center of the fort. A cannon would have been located in each alcove.
If you look to the upper left of this photo, you will see the last two alcoves on the left are unfinished. The granite was never put over top of the layer of brick.
From Fort Popham, we could look to the south to a stretch of beach. The building with the red roof was once a Coast Guard rescue station to try to save shipwrecked sailors. It is now a bed and breakfast inn.
Looking across the water to the north, we could see Georgetown, an area we visited about a month ago. Another postcard photo.
A second postcard view of Georgetown.
Here is a view of Popham Village taken from the dock in front of Fort Popham. Does this look like a typical New England village?
We had lunch at Anna's Waters Edge Restaurant, right on the water.
We enjoyed our lunch while sitting at an outdoor picnic table like this one. We had the majestic view of this coastal cove.
While enjoying the cool breeze coming off the water, we viewed other coastal islands. The American flag indicates the amount of breeze.
Another view in a different direction showing the working lobster dock.
After lunch we went back to Faye's cottage. In the late 1800's and the early 1900's, her cottage was the local elementary school. A bit of interesting trivia about her cottage - L.L. Bean dressed the door on the right with green garland and lights for Christmas and pictured this door along with the three evergreen bushes, complete with artificial snow, on the cover of their 1999 Christmas Catalog.
We had perfect weather for our journey to yet another part of the central Maine coastline. Our thanks to Faye for guiding us through a wonderful day off. We renewed past friendships, learned some history, and enjoyed a nice "Maine lunch" overlooking a small Maine coastal cove. Can it get any better than this?
