Harrington Travels East 2009
Letter 28: Maine II
Sunday, August 30 we woke up to no rain. It had rained all Saturday afternoon and until about midnight. Good old fashion rain! Probably several inches. We were thankful that Fred’s caulk job over the door WORKED! With clearing skies we departed Arcadia National Park. The waves at
Seawall were rolling in even at low tide. Arcadia National Park has to be a highlight of our trip. See our last letter if you missed it to know what we are talking about.
We drove south on Hwy 1 crossing the Penobscot River near
Bucksport and Ft Knox, not the one with the gold in KY, but named after the same man. The old bridge was discovered to be in bad shape in 2002 and they hurriedly built a 
new bridge with an 
observatory in one of the towers. It is the only bridge with an Observatory in North and South America.
Fred is afraid of edges and this observatory even had Olivia a little uneasy. The viewing room was solid glass,
so it was a little too easy to look down.
Camden Hills State Park was our next destination. It is a pretty park, but Maine has decided to go up on their fees, especially to out of state people so we only stayed one night. Too bad.
Before we left we did drive through Camden and attempted to visit their library book sale across
from their bay. We both read quite a bit, especially Fred. Later we drove up on 
Mt Battie and viewed Camden from above.
Monday, August 31 we headed out to Thomaston and another Passport America campground with full hookups and WiFi, actually $6 less than the state park with no hookups or WiFi. Go figure. Our Sprint air-card and cell phones still don’t service—too far north. Later in the day we drove into town and visited a very unique store.
It is filled with hand made wooden products produced by the inmates at the Maine State prison nearby. We were amazed at all the beautiful work. We were going to take pictures, but were not allowed, however we were told they had a website. It is worth your trip to see all they make. Their motto is FROM THE “BIG HOUSE”…TO YOUR HOUSE.
go to: http://www.maine.gov/corrections/industries/showroomT.htm Just a sample from this website to show some of their products are
inlaid tables, 
jewelry boxes and 
cutting boards.
Tuesday, September 1, can you believe, already September! And it was a beautiful day, Low about 50, high about 70, but we started the day cleaning house. Unfortunately it has to be done sometimes! As soon as our chores were over we headed out to see this part of Maine. We drove north, then east, then back south and we realized we were due east of our campground and sure enough there it was. Can you pick out
which trailer is ours? We have a wonderful view from our perch on the hillside.
Thirty five years ago, Muddie and Cecil, Olivia's parents, RV ’d in this area. Muddie was an artist and she painted everywhere they went. At the art museum in Rockland they met a lady who invited them to see her place, a very popular place to paint. After visiting them, the couple invited Muddie & Cecil to stay with them for a few days. Today we were on a pilgrimage to see if we could find this place. We drove to Sprucehead and prowled around then all of a sudden there were some
artists out painting. This is probably close to where Muddie painted. She must have sold what she did, because Olivia doesn’t remember any of her work that reminded us of this place, but we could see why she like it. This made a nice drive on this beautiful day.
After being with artists we decided to expose ourselves to some culture and see what this art museum was all about. The Farnsworth family fortune was given to create this
Art Museum featuring the Wyeth Family artists. N.C. Wyeth Painter and Illustrator’s works were featured in an old church converted into the
Wyeth Center. We enjoyed seeing the old books he had illustrated such as Robin Hood and Treasure Island. In the main Museum, Andrew Wyeth’s work were in two galleries. We can see why they were featured. Their work is very good and they painted in this area. Andrew painted mostly with tempera on wood, or dry brush on paper. Andrew also painted one of the portraits of JFK.
Other artists featured were
Robert Indiana and the Star of Hope,
Alex Katz and Louise Nevelson. Inside pictures weren’t allowed. For those of you more interested in this Museum go to: www.farnsworthmuseum.org
Wednesday, September 2 was a glorious day and on the spur of the moment Diana Deever Tolman agreed to come to us and go, via ferry, to Vinalhaven Island. Before meeting her at the ferry, we went to see
“Breakwater” in Rockland.
This is a park starting on the mainland and extending out into the harbor for one mile. It is made of huge blocks of granite. The water was so clear we could see the bottom at about 20 feet. At the end of Breakwater was a lighthouse. We didn’t walk all the way out to it, 
but did pass it on the ferry.
As we neared Vinalhaven we could see
homes on the hillside.
This is a working, residential island. We walked around the city of
Vinalhaven and had lunch at a little restaurant on the main drag. The food was good, but the highlight was when Olivia went to the restroom and came out to get the camera.
One of the waitresses told her to take the
men’s room too.
Fred has often wondered about ordinary life in the places we visit. Well Dianna gave us an inside look at life of Vinalhaven. When Diana’s daughter Amy was in high school at Buckfield, Maine, Vinalhaven was in the same sports district. The two district basketball games were both played in the same town in alternating years. The first game was played on Friday night, the second on Saturday morning. This arrangement was necessary due to travel considerations and the ferry runs only during the daytime.
Overnight sleeping accommodations varied, but the host player’s families housed the visiting players. What a wonderful way to get to know kids from other towns!!
She also told us of a friend who was courted by and later married a young man from Vinalhaven. For their dates, he would put his car in line for the ferry so when he was off work it would have worked it’s way to the head of the line to go to the mainland. He stayed with his grandmother, have their date and he would return the next day, by ferry, to his home on the island. Life goes on for island people, especially if there is a ferry.
As we walked back on the ferry we
enjoyed looking back 
on the little town.
The ferry ride was smooth again and we enjoyed the
scenery all around us. Sailboats were enjoying the day as we passed the 
Owl Head Lighthouse. This was a small ferry and on this trip it only held an 18 wheeler, concrete truck, one car and 
walk-on passengers.
On the way back to the trailer we stopped to look at
Montpelier, the home of General Henry Knox, first Secretary of War under Washington after the American Revolution.
That night we enjoyed a
beautiful sunset.
Thursday, September 4 we moved to the Desert of Maine, near Freeport, to be with friends we met last year in Oregon. Jack and Renee are working here for the summer and fall. We joined
Jack on a tour of the Desert and were educated about this rare phenomenon.
The “sand” here is actually sterile glacial silt. It was uncovered by over farming. Over the years the silt blows and makes sand dunes against the
trees and buildings. At this spot, It is hundreds of feet thick because below there is an old glacial lake that caught the washed in silt over the centuries. Several inches below the surface, the silt is always moist because water still seeps into the old lakebed.
The trees are actually a lot taller than they appear as most of their trunks are buried. One pine tree is buried
two thirds and the limbs that are being covered will become roots.
The tour took us all around the
existing desert and up on a 90’ dune, called that because the back of the dune is a 
90’ drop to the forest floor. These trees are actually buried 90’ and what looks like roots are actually limbs.
The family that originally farmed this place moved their home and barn here from a previous farm nine miles away.
It was built in 1793. The house burned years ago and was rebuilt. Inside the original old barn were farm implements and 
sand paintings.
Friday, September 4 we left for a ride with
Jack, Renee, Lucy & Desi going to Booth’s Bay Harbor, 
where the boats were all working boats, not sail or leisure craft. At the tip of the peninsula we stopped to look at the Atlantic out past this little bay. The little house at this pier had a good example of 
Lobster pot markers. Each fisherman has his own coloring, kind of like cattle brands.
Retracing our path back to Booth’s Bay we browsed in a few of the tourist stores before heading back east to Cook’s Corner, then onto another peninsula.
The end of this peninsula was Land’s End. The waves were rolling in on the rocks and
we could see 
Bailey’s Island across the water. Bob Bailey is this any kin to you? If so, you have very smart relatives. The water was so blue. It was a beautiful day. Scuba divers 
were preparing to take a dive.
To get to this point we had to cross an
old stone bridge that is the only one of it’s kind. The road surface had disintegrated, but the foundation is still good, so they are restoring it 
as you can see through the temporary bridge being used now.
To complete the day we stopped in Harpswell to eat at the
Estes Lobster House. We enjoyed sitting on their 
patio and watching the water. In their entry they had a US map with pins to mark where their customers were from. When Fred went to mark Waxahachie, there were three pins in place. OK, who’se been here?
Before we left Fred just had to wrestle
with the giant Lobster inside.
Saturday, September 5 Olivia had a much needed Beauty shop appointment for a hair cut, then we explored the outlets in Freeport. This is the headquarters of LL Bean and they had at least four stores. LL Bean started selling waterproof rubber bottoms to comfortable leather upper boots in 1912 and quickly sold
“The Maine Hunting Shoe” through the mail. Ninety of the first 100 pairs were sent back when the stitching gave way. True to his promise of guaranteed satisfaction, Leon Leonwood Bean promptly refunded the money and improved the boot. LLBean’s world famous mail-order catalog company was born.
Every Saturday night LLBeans has a concert on their commons area and people were allowed to put their
lawn chairs out during the day to save their places. For Labor day there was an extra show with “A Sleep at the Wheel” from Texas performing.
In 2006 Adella Johnson found the remains of two Bull Moose on her property in New Sweden, ME. They had died after their antlers had become locked in battle during the previous fall’s rut. She donated the antlers to the Maine Dept of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to be used for educational purposes. The Dept contacted LLBean with the idea of partnering to bring these moose back to life by recreating their battle and sharing with the public. The antlers have never ever been separated since they first became locked in the fall of 2005. They are now in the window
for all to see.
We went through two of the LLBean stores and didn’t find a thing we couldn’t live without. We browsed a few other stores and decided they were way overpriced. The holiday weekend made the stores crowded so we headed back to the trailer and fixed supper for Jack & Renee as they were working all day.
Sunday, September 6, Last night’s low was a brisk 40 degrees. The high today was in the upper sixties. With light winds and clear skies, the weather is wonderful—perfect! We went back to church and was it a good feeling. We attended the
Tuddle Rd UMC in Cumberland, ME. They were so friendly and kind and the sermon was on Responding to the World and caring for others. It was also nice to have communion. We miss our own church family and this church adopted us immediately.
After church we drove into South Portland. At the Collie’s recommendation we visited the Governor's Restaurant & Bakery for their
crème puffs and 
éclairs. When we opened the door we were met with their pie selection and were amazed 
at this lemon meringue pie. We divided each four ways after dinner and it was more than enough. The pictures don’t show how huge they were. It was a very good recommendation!
Another stop brought us to the Delorme Map Store and Eartha, the Delorme globe which is the world’s largest rotating and revolving globe. It is also the largest printed image of the Earth ever created. Eartha has a circumference of nearly 130 feet and a diameter of over 41 feet. The Earth’s revolution is mimicked as Eartha’s cantilever arm circles it base and it rotates on its axis at 23.5 degrees, just as the earth does.
At night it is lighted for all to see.
Let’s talk about Maine’s coast we've covered so far, from the far north to the Freeport area. It’s a distance of about 200 miles. The rock (mostly granite) formations start far inland and don’t stop at the water. They continue far into the Atlantic. There are no coastal plains and very few sloping sandy beaches. Land doesn’t stop at waters edge. Hundreds of islands dot the coast. This entire stretch is characterized by a seemingly endless wave of peninsulas paired with bays. Some are as long as 40 miles. The land is covered with some conifers and more hardwoods. Every few miles there is a small picturesque fishing village.
The rolling terrain is phenomenally beautiful. With the pending fall colors against the background of the blue ocean, this area will spectacular in a few weeks.
Some of the trees are already showing their colors. We are told the unhealthy trees turn early. We expect better than normal colors this fall because the summer was so wet. We can hardly wait.
We love to hear if you have been to any of these spots or wish to see. For comments on our rambling contact us at:
Olivia@bobheck.com or Fred Harrington@yahoo.com
Letter 28: Maine II
Sunday, August 30 we woke up to no rain. It had rained all Saturday afternoon and until about midnight. Good old fashion rain! Probably several inches. We were thankful that Fred’s caulk job over the door WORKED! With clearing skies we departed Arcadia National Park. The waves at
Seawall were rolling in even at low tide. Arcadia National Park has to be a highlight of our trip. See our last letter if you missed it to know what we are talking about.
We drove south on Hwy 1 crossing the Penobscot River near
Bucksport and Ft Knox, not the one with the gold in KY, but named after the same man. The old bridge was discovered to be in bad shape in 2002 and they hurriedly built a 
new bridge with an 
observatory in one of the towers. It is the only bridge with an Observatory in North and South America.
Fred is afraid of edges and this observatory even had Olivia a little uneasy. The viewing room was solid glass,
so it was a little too easy to look down.
Camden Hills State Park was our next destination. It is a pretty park, but Maine has decided to go up on their fees, especially to out of state people so we only stayed one night. Too bad.
Before we left we did drive through Camden and attempted to visit their library book sale across
from their bay. We both read quite a bit, especially Fred. Later we drove up on 
Mt Battie and viewed Camden from above.
Monday, August 31 we headed out to Thomaston and another Passport America campground with full hookups and WiFi, actually $6 less than the state park with no hookups or WiFi. Go figure. Our Sprint air-card and cell phones still don’t service—too far north. Later in the day we drove into town and visited a very unique store.
It is filled with hand made wooden products produced by the inmates at the Maine State prison nearby. We were amazed at all the beautiful work. We were going to take pictures, but were not allowed, however we were told they had a website. It is worth your trip to see all they make. Their motto is FROM THE “BIG HOUSE”…TO YOUR HOUSE.
go to: http://www.maine.gov/corrections/industries/showroomT.htm Just a sample from this website to show some of their products are
inlaid tables, 
jewelry boxes and 
cutting boards.
Tuesday, September 1, can you believe, already September! And it was a beautiful day, Low about 50, high about 70, but we started the day cleaning house. Unfortunately it has to be done sometimes! As soon as our chores were over we headed out to see this part of Maine. We drove north, then east, then back south and we realized we were due east of our campground and sure enough there it was. Can you pick out
which trailer is ours? We have a wonderful view from our perch on the hillside.
Thirty five years ago, Muddie and Cecil, Olivia's parents, RV ’d in this area. Muddie was an artist and she painted everywhere they went. At the art museum in Rockland they met a lady who invited them to see her place, a very popular place to paint. After visiting them, the couple invited Muddie & Cecil to stay with them for a few days. Today we were on a pilgrimage to see if we could find this place. We drove to Sprucehead and prowled around then all of a sudden there were some
artists out painting. This is probably close to where Muddie painted. She must have sold what she did, because Olivia doesn’t remember any of her work that reminded us of this place, but we could see why she like it. This made a nice drive on this beautiful day.
After being with artists we decided to expose ourselves to some culture and see what this art museum was all about. The Farnsworth family fortune was given to create this
Art Museum featuring the Wyeth Family artists. N.C. Wyeth Painter and Illustrator’s works were featured in an old church converted into the
Wyeth Center. We enjoyed seeing the old books he had illustrated such as Robin Hood and Treasure Island. In the main Museum, Andrew Wyeth’s work were in two galleries. We can see why they were featured. Their work is very good and they painted in this area. Andrew painted mostly with tempera on wood, or dry brush on paper. Andrew also painted one of the portraits of JFK.
Other artists featured were
Robert Indiana and the Star of Hope,
Alex Katz and Louise Nevelson. Inside pictures weren’t allowed. For those of you more interested in this Museum go to: www.farnsworthmuseum.org
Wednesday, September 2 was a glorious day and on the spur of the moment Diana Deever Tolman agreed to come to us and go, via ferry, to Vinalhaven Island. Before meeting her at the ferry, we went to see
“Breakwater” in Rockland.
This is a park starting on the mainland and extending out into the harbor for one mile. It is made of huge blocks of granite. The water was so clear we could see the bottom at about 20 feet. At the end of Breakwater was a lighthouse. We didn’t walk all the way out to it, 
but did pass it on the ferry.
As we neared Vinalhaven we could see
homes on the hillside.
This is a working, residential island. We walked around the city of
Vinalhaven and had lunch at a little restaurant on the main drag. The food was good, but the highlight was when Olivia went to the restroom and came out to get the camera.
One of the waitresses told her to take the
men’s room too.
Fred has often wondered about ordinary life in the places we visit. Well Dianna gave us an inside look at life of Vinalhaven. When Diana’s daughter Amy was in high school at Buckfield, Maine, Vinalhaven was in the same sports district. The two district basketball games were both played in the same town in alternating years. The first game was played on Friday night, the second on Saturday morning. This arrangement was necessary due to travel considerations and the ferry runs only during the daytime.
Overnight sleeping accommodations varied, but the host player’s families housed the visiting players. What a wonderful way to get to know kids from other towns!!
She also told us of a friend who was courted by and later married a young man from Vinalhaven. For their dates, he would put his car in line for the ferry so when he was off work it would have worked it’s way to the head of the line to go to the mainland. He stayed with his grandmother, have their date and he would return the next day, by ferry, to his home on the island. Life goes on for island people, especially if there is a ferry.
As we walked back on the ferry we
enjoyed looking back 
on the little town.
The ferry ride was smooth again and we enjoyed the
scenery all around us. Sailboats were enjoying the day as we passed the 
Owl Head Lighthouse. This was a small ferry and on this trip it only held an 18 wheeler, concrete truck, one car and 
walk-on passengers.
On the way back to the trailer we stopped to look at
Montpelier, the home of General Henry Knox, first Secretary of War under Washington after the American Revolution.
That night we enjoyed a
beautiful sunset.
Thursday, September 4 we moved to the Desert of Maine, near Freeport, to be with friends we met last year in Oregon. Jack and Renee are working here for the summer and fall. We joined
Jack on a tour of the Desert and were educated about this rare phenomenon.
The “sand” here is actually sterile glacial silt. It was uncovered by over farming. Over the years the silt blows and makes sand dunes against the
trees and buildings. At this spot, It is hundreds of feet thick because below there is an old glacial lake that caught the washed in silt over the centuries. Several inches below the surface, the silt is always moist because water still seeps into the old lakebed.
The trees are actually a lot taller than they appear as most of their trunks are buried. One pine tree is buried
two thirds and the limbs that are being covered will become roots.
The tour took us all around the
existing desert and up on a 90’ dune, called that because the back of the dune is a 
90’ drop to the forest floor. These trees are actually buried 90’ and what looks like roots are actually limbs.
The family that originally farmed this place moved their home and barn here from a previous farm nine miles away.
It was built in 1793. The house burned years ago and was rebuilt. Inside the original old barn were farm implements and 
sand paintings.
Friday, September 4 we left for a ride with
Jack, Renee, Lucy & Desi going to Booth’s Bay Harbor, 
where the boats were all working boats, not sail or leisure craft. At the tip of the peninsula we stopped to look at the Atlantic out past this little bay. The little house at this pier had a good example of 
Lobster pot markers. Each fisherman has his own coloring, kind of like cattle brands.
Retracing our path back to Booth’s Bay we browsed in a few of the tourist stores before heading back east to Cook’s Corner, then onto another peninsula.
The end of this peninsula was Land’s End. The waves were rolling in on the rocks and
we could see 
Bailey’s Island across the water. Bob Bailey is this any kin to you? If so, you have very smart relatives. The water was so blue. It was a beautiful day. Scuba divers 
were preparing to take a dive.
To get to this point we had to cross an
old stone bridge that is the only one of it’s kind. The road surface had disintegrated, but the foundation is still good, so they are restoring it 
as you can see through the temporary bridge being used now.
To complete the day we stopped in Harpswell to eat at the
Estes Lobster House. We enjoyed sitting on their 
patio and watching the water. In their entry they had a US map with pins to mark where their customers were from. When Fred went to mark Waxahachie, there were three pins in place. OK, who’se been here?
Before we left Fred just had to wrestle
with the giant Lobster inside.
Saturday, September 5 Olivia had a much needed Beauty shop appointment for a hair cut, then we explored the outlets in Freeport. This is the headquarters of LL Bean and they had at least four stores. LL Bean started selling waterproof rubber bottoms to comfortable leather upper boots in 1912 and quickly sold
“The Maine Hunting Shoe” through the mail. Ninety of the first 100 pairs were sent back when the stitching gave way. True to his promise of guaranteed satisfaction, Leon Leonwood Bean promptly refunded the money and improved the boot. LLBean’s world famous mail-order catalog company was born.
Every Saturday night LLBeans has a concert on their commons area and people were allowed to put their
lawn chairs out during the day to save their places. For Labor day there was an extra show with “A Sleep at the Wheel” from Texas performing.
In 2006 Adella Johnson found the remains of two Bull Moose on her property in New Sweden, ME. They had died after their antlers had become locked in battle during the previous fall’s rut. She donated the antlers to the Maine Dept of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to be used for educational purposes. The Dept contacted LLBean with the idea of partnering to bring these moose back to life by recreating their battle and sharing with the public. The antlers have never ever been separated since they first became locked in the fall of 2005. They are now in the window
for all to see.
We went through two of the LLBean stores and didn’t find a thing we couldn’t live without. We browsed a few other stores and decided they were way overpriced. The holiday weekend made the stores crowded so we headed back to the trailer and fixed supper for Jack & Renee as they were working all day.
Sunday, September 6, Last night’s low was a brisk 40 degrees. The high today was in the upper sixties. With light winds and clear skies, the weather is wonderful—perfect! We went back to church and was it a good feeling. We attended the
Tuddle Rd UMC in Cumberland, ME. They were so friendly and kind and the sermon was on Responding to the World and caring for others. It was also nice to have communion. We miss our own church family and this church adopted us immediately.
After church we drove into South Portland. At the Collie’s recommendation we visited the Governor's Restaurant & Bakery for their
crème puffs and 
éclairs. When we opened the door we were met with their pie selection and were amazed 
at this lemon meringue pie. We divided each four ways after dinner and it was more than enough. The pictures don’t show how huge they were. It was a very good recommendation!
Another stop brought us to the Delorme Map Store and Eartha, the Delorme globe which is the world’s largest rotating and revolving globe. It is also the largest printed image of the Earth ever created. Eartha has a circumference of nearly 130 feet and a diameter of over 41 feet. The Earth’s revolution is mimicked as Eartha’s cantilever arm circles it base and it rotates on its axis at 23.5 degrees, just as the earth does.
At night it is lighted for all to see.
Let’s talk about Maine’s coast we've covered so far, from the far north to the Freeport area. It’s a distance of about 200 miles. The rock (mostly granite) formations start far inland and don’t stop at the water. They continue far into the Atlantic. There are no coastal plains and very few sloping sandy beaches. Land doesn’t stop at waters edge. Hundreds of islands dot the coast. This entire stretch is characterized by a seemingly endless wave of peninsulas paired with bays. Some are as long as 40 miles. The land is covered with some conifers and more hardwoods. Every few miles there is a small picturesque fishing village.
The rolling terrain is phenomenally beautiful. With the pending fall colors against the background of the blue ocean, this area will spectacular in a few weeks.
Some of the trees are already showing their colors. We are told the unhealthy trees turn early. We expect better than normal colors this fall because the summer was so wet. We can hardly wait.
We love to hear if you have been to any of these spots or wish to see. For comments on our rambling contact us at:
Olivia@bobheck.com or Fred Harrington@yahoo.com
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