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Belfast:
The only city in this region (population 6,400) and the location of health
services including the hospital, home health, two nursing homes (one has
an Alzheimers’s unit), family planning, mental health services and assisted
living apartments. The adopted home of many artists and artisans, musicians,
writers and craftspeople, Belfast has a thriving theater and gallery community.
There is a public indoor and outdoor pool, hiking trails, rivers for canoeing
and kayaking, a YMCA, parks and a public boat launch at the harbor. Belfast
real estate consists of residential streets lined with historic homes,
condominiums (at the ocean and in residential neighborhoods), farmhouses
in the outer city limits and some lovely oceanfront homes.
Main St. Belfast, 2006 |
Belfast Harbor, 2006 |
Blue Hill: Located
on the easterly side of the Blue Hill Peninsula and at the base of blueberry-covered
Blue Hill (elev. 950’) is the village of Blue Hill (population 2,400).
Blue Hill harbor is a protected port for sailors because it is not at
the very tip of the peninsular and misses high winds and stormy seas in
many storms. There is a public boat launch in the center of town, but
avoid it at low tide because it is muddy. Blue Hill is 14 miles from Ellsworth
and 36 miles from Bangor, although groceries, wine shops, bookstores,
banks, a bakery and art galleries are all right here. Blue Hill has a
history of shipbuilding, copper mining and granite mining and in 1876
the granite for the Gothic towers of the Brooklyn Bridge was shipped to
New York for the construction. Blue Hill has two private high schools,
a public and a private elementary school and a library and hospital among
the finest in the state.
Views of Main St. Blue Hill
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Blue Hill Falls:
To the south of Blue Hill is Blue Hill Falls where the original village
settlement was located in 1762 (several citizens served in the Revolutionary
War). There are Cape Cod style homes in this area with unusually long
histories, but the spot is now best known for the Reversing Falls. This
phenomenon is created by the tide being funneled into a narrow channel
created between an island and a point of land to create standing waves
up to three feet high along a stretch about 100 to 200 yards in length,
depending on the tide. Once called “Fire Falls”, it is now a favorite
spot for sea kayaks, canoes, rafts and inner tubes. You can observe the
fun from the bridge spanning this channel or with a picnic on the shore.
Castine:
Located at the mouth of the Penobscot River, Castine is one of the oldest
towns in New England, predating the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts by
seven years. Discovered and drawn on the first map of the area in 1604
by the geographer for France's King Henry IV, the village was officially
founded in 1613 when a trading post and crude fort were erected. The area
now has over 20 historical sites marked by signs describing the significance
of the spot over a span of 250 years. The excellent deep harbor has tie-ups
for small boats outside the river currents and other tourist amenities
including a non-exclusive club offering golf, tennis and yachting facilities,
restaurants and lodging. A picturesque village green, the oldest post
office (in continuous operation) in the United States and lovely Cape
Cod and neo-Colonial houses give the town (population 1,300) added charm.
Castine is also home to the Maine Maritime Academy, established in 1941
to train merchant seamen. Beginning in the 1870s Castine was the summer
home of many well-to-do urban families and well known notables including
Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Since the 1890s
families from Boston, Hartford and Chicago have been buying old farms
and sea captains' houses and establishing a civilized pocket in this part
of rural Maine.
East Blue Hill:
To the north (up the coast) from Blue Hill about 6 miles is the little "village-ette"
of East Blue Hill, consisting of a one-room post office with a wood stove,
a library in a former summer cottage, a church and a stone lighthouse.
Local commercial fishermen dock at a pier and marina here which gives
this area a less "tourist feel". There is no gift shop in sight! There
are actual salt water farms in East Blue Hill and clam flats. It is located
on a road less traveled and many visitors to the area miss it entirely.
East Blue Hill Lighthouse |
Hope:
This lovely village amid the rolling hills west of coastal Camden has
a population around 1,500 and includes a Hope Center at the intersection
of two roads and South Hope which has the actual Main Street. Hope Center
is the heart of the community in part because the current owner of the
Hope General Store has become a "mover and shaker" not only introducing
a new look and new products in his store (there are inported British and
Irish products, a wine selection and over 100 beers) but also generating
ideas for town activities and enthusiasm promoting them. This year, for
example, there is a Jazz concert in the park and a triathalon (swim, bicycle
and run) in addition to more traditional community events like the 17th
annual Hobbs Pond Swim, an event with no registration, no prizes...just
show up and swim! There is a modest library, historical museum and ice
cream stand in this rural town known for its wild blueberry and apple
harvests plus a lot of community spirit.
Hope Town Office and Library |
True Park at Hope Center |
Hope General Store |
Liberty:
Located about 30 minutes from the coast, Liberty (population 925) is best
known for its State Park on Lake Saint George. The largest employer is
Liberty Graphics, designers and makers of silk-screened t-shirts, but
the biggest draw for visitors is Liberty Tool, a store that feels like
a museum of old tools you can buy. There is a main street and a town center
plus a rural health center and ambulance service affiliated with the Belfast
hospital here.
Main St. Liberty |
Liberty Tool Entrance |
Lincolnville:
There are two parts of Lincolnville (population 2,000): Lincolnville Beach,
located on US Rt.1 and Lincolnville Center located a few miles inland.
Lincolnville Beach has a sand beach on the ocean, health center, restaurants,
motels, B&Bs, gift shops and the ferry terminal for the Islesboro ferry.
Lincolnville Center is the quiet side of town which has a municipal park
and gazebo, a cluster of older homes along a main street, the “petunia
pump” and general store/café. Lincolnville real estate offers year-round
homes on ponds and Megunticook Lake, oceanfront homes, rural and residential
homes.
Lincolnville Beach |
Lincolnville Beach Shops |
Lincolnville Center General Store |
Northport:
There are two parts of the village of Northport (population 1,400): west
of US Rt. 1 is rural and sparsely developed; east of US Rt.1 is the ocean
side and the dense communities of Saturday Cove, Temple Heights and Bayside.
Northport has a golf course (9 holes), a yacht club, town wharf, village
green and yet lobster fishermen still dock (at Saturday Cove). Bayside
has a charming cluster of gingerbread cottages over 100 years old on tiny
lots along street grids (some streets have never been paved). It is a
place where people take an after dinner stroll on summer evenings and
talk with their neighbors sitting on their front porches. Temple Heights
is a cluster of cottages perched on a steep hill overlooking the Bay on
former tent sites designed for a Methodist summer camp a hundred years
ago.
Park Row Cottages |
Victorian Cottages |
Bayside Harbor |
Searsmont:
The economic life Searsmont (population 1,250) is centered around wood:
there is a family-owned business that manufactures wooden building trusses
and a family-owned business that mills lumber and has 150,000 Christmas
trees on its plantations. Although there is no village common here, there
is a strong sense of community. The antique general store on Main Street
is also a café (specializing in home-made pies) and the architecturally
designed and newly built town office/library/historical museum is always
a-buzz with activity. There is conservation land, a campground and the
swift waters of the St. George River that rage through town in the spring
for the annual race for canoes and kayaks. On the Fourth of July there
is an annual parade through Main Street that includes everything from
kids on decorated bicycles to a proud farmer driving his shiny, new tractor.
Searsport:
The town of Searsport (population 2,800) is on the coast and is one of
the few remaining towns to have U.S. Rt.1 as its Main Street. Once known
for shipbuilding and the home of 10% of all American sea captains in the
1880s, the town is now best known for its marine museum. The museum consists
of a village setting including seven homes, a church and Main Street stores
where visitors walk from building to building to see art galleries, sea
diaries and memorabilia, antique furniture and live demonstrations of
rigging the sails. Many former sea captains’ homes are now Bed and Breakfast
Inns. Sears Island, connected by a man-made causeway, is the largest uninhabited
island (7 miles of coastline) on the east coast and a popular spot for
hikers and dog walkers. Searsport is also one of the deepest ports in
Maine and accommodates oil tankers and other international ships at the
Mack Point terminal.
Main St. Searsport |
Stockton Springs:
There are three settlements within Stockton Springs (population 1,400): Stockton
Village, Sandy Point and Cape Jellison. The village area is the streets
off the main street (formerly U.S.Rt.1) and main street itself. Services
such as a health center (affiliated with the Belfast hospital), the post
office and town office are in this area, but there is no shopping district
except for an art gallery and ceramic artist’s shop. Sandy point has salt
water frontage with a current, so the sandy expanse of beach is more for
doggie frisbee than boat launching, but there is a State Park and hiking
trails here. Cape Jellison juts out into the ocean and although there
is a current at one corner of the triangular cape (Fort Point lighthouse
was built there to warn seamen and is now a State Park), there is a good
mooring area and boat launch on the quiet side.
Cape Jellison |
Main St. Stockton Springs |
Surry:
Located on the west bank of the Union River Bay, Surry (population 1,360)
has both salt water and fresh water frontage. The fresh water is Patten
Pond (Upper and Lower connected by a stream) and Toddy Pond (which consists
of three long ponds connected by a passable waterway). The salt water
frontage is along the Union River and Newbury Neck, a 10-mile peninsular
extending into Blue Hill Bay. Newbury Neck was originally settled by the
French, but the first actual settlement was in East Surry by an Indian
tribe (its summer camping ground) prior to 1600. Deposits (which were
originally piles) of clam shells are still found there. Once known for
silica, gold and copper mines, Surry today consists of a large area in
miles but has no "downtown", village green or gift shops. If you sail,
however, there is a public boat launch and mooring available for many
waterfront homes.
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