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Southern Maine
After Kittery with its cheek-to-jowl shopping outlets come the Yorks,
the collective name for a handful of villages near or beside the sea.
Historic York Village, the oldest English settlement in Maine, straddles
the meandering York River. Scenic U.S. Route 1A heads east to York
Harbor, a shady enclave of waterfront homes and fashionable inns, where
river meets sea. Route 1A turns north toward the amusement areas of
crowded York Beach, whose vestiges of the past render it a cut above the
honky-tonk. Beyond are Nubble Light, one of America’s most
photographed lighthouses, and Cape Neddick Harbor, a quieter and
quainter fishing site. Sand gives way to rocks as Bald Head Cliff rises
to the forested Shore Road leading into Ogunquit. York Historic District,
207 York St., York Village. The history of the first chartered English city in
North America (a refuge for early Puritan settlers from Massachusetts)
is on display here. The Old York Historical Society in the historic
George Marshall Store at 140 Lindsay Road offers guided tours of its six
properties. Costumed guides begin tours in the 1750 Jefferd's Tavern,
a Colonial hostelry facing the Old Burying Yard and the village green in
the center of town. One of New England's best collections of regional
decorative arts is displayed in more than 30 period rooms and galleries
spanning the period from 1719 to 1954. The 1719 Old Gaol, once
the King's Prison, is the oldest surviving public building of the
British colonies in this country; on view are the dungeon, cells,
jailer's quarters and household effects. Also open are the Emerson-Wilcox
House (1742) and the enormous Elizabeth Perkins House (1730)
beside the river, the 1745 Old School House and the John
Hancock Warehouse & Wharf, with old tools and antique ship
models in a warehouse owned by a signer of the Declaration of
Independence. (207) 363-4974. www.oldyork.org. Open mid-June
through September, Tuesday-Saturday 10 to 5, Sunday 1 to 5. Adults, $2
each building. Combination ticket, adults $7, children $3. OgunquitThe Indians who were its first summer visitors called
this beach town Ogunquit, meaning “beautiful place by the sea.”
Today's summer visitor is apt to call it crowded. Thousands of tourists
pack its streets, motels and beaches, to the point that the Chamber of
Commerce became one of the first in the country to run a trolley service
to shuttle people back and forth. Ogunquit’s broad, white-sand beach – rated one of
the nation’s top ten – is three miles long and flanked by dunes, the
northernmost in New England. Picturesque Perkins Cove, studded
with fishing and pleasure boats, has inspired artists and intrigued
tourists for decades. A promontory with a footbridge across the cove on
one side and the open ocean on the other offers a number of shops, art
galleries and restaurants, plus boat trips. The best way to savor the majestic Ogunquit waterfront
is to walk the Marginal Way, a mile-long footpath along the rocky
cliffs beside the sea. From Perkins cove, it undulates up and down as it
climbs to a point, where it turns toward town and yields an eye-popping
view of Ogunquit Beach. Arches of trees frame views of the sea for
camera buffs, and benches provide resting spots along the way. The Ogunquit Playhouse, billed as America's
foremost summer theater, is based in a graceful white barn structure
with 700 seats on the southern edge of town. Ogunquit Museum of American Art,
183 Shore Road, Ogunquit. Off the beaten path in a meadow overlooking a rocky
cove and the Atlantic is this exceptional summer showplace for
contemporary American paintings and sculpture. Francis Henry Taylor, the
late director of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, called it
“the most beautiful small museum in the world.” Visitors approaching
the museum look directly through the main gallery to the ocean. Built in
1952 and enlarged in 1992 and 1996, the museum houses some of
America’s most important 20th-century works in five galleries. Thomas
Hart Benton, Charles Burchfield, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Rockwell
Kent and Walt Kuhn are among those represented in the permanent
collection. A reflecting pool on the grounds is a natural habitat for
blue herons and kingfishers. Large and small pieces of outdoor sculpture
enhance the spectacular seaside setting. (207) 646-4909. Open Monday-Saturday 10:30 to 5,
Sunday 2 to 5, July-September. Adults $4, students $3. The Kennebunks/Kennebunkport For sophisticates, the small coastal area known as the
Kennebunk Region has the most and best of everything in Maine: the best
beaches, the most inns, the best shops, the most eating places, the best
scenery, the most sightseeing, the best galleries, the most diverse
appeal. It also plays a starring role as the summer home of former
President George Bush, a visible figure around town. Actually, there are at least three Kennebunks. One is
the town of Kennebunk and its inland commercial center, historic
Kennebunk. The second is Kennebunkport, the coastal resort community
that was one of Maine’s earliest summer havens for the wealthy, and
adjacent Kennebunk Beach. A third represents Cape Arundel around the
Bush estate at Walker Point, the fishing hamlet of Cape Porpoise and
Goose Rocks Beach, whose rugged coastal aspects remain largely unchanged
by development in recent years. Explore a bit and you’ll see why watercolorist Edgar
Whitney proclaimed the Kennebunks “the best ten square miles of
painting areas in the nation.” From Dock Square, take Ocean Avenue
along the Kennebunk River out to Parson’s Way opposite the
landmark Colony Hotel, where you can relax on benches beside the ocean
or walk out to the serene little chapel of St. Ann’s Episcopal Church
by the sea. Continue along the ocean to Spouting Rock, where the
incoming tide creates a spurting fountain as waves crash between two
ragged cliffs, and Blowing Cave, another roaring phenomenon
within view of Walker Point and the eleven-acre George Bush summer
compound. Go on to Cape Porpoise, the closest thing to a fishing
village hereabouts, with a working lobster pier and a picturesque harbor
full of islands. The Art Guild of the Kennebunks numbers more
than 50 resident professionals as members and claims the Kennebunks hold
the largest collective community of fine art on the East Coast. Art and
galleries are everywhere, but most are concentrated around
Kennebunkport’s Dock Square and the wharves to the southeast. The Kennebunkport Historical Society runs the 1853
Greek Revival Nott House called White Columns and the 1899 Town
House School with exhibits of local and maritime heritage. But
inland Kennebunk is more obviously historic. Summer Street (Route 35)
running south of downtown toward Kennebunkport is considered one of the
architecturally outstanding residential streets in the nation. The 1803 Taylor-Barry
House is open for tours, and the aptly named
yellow-with-white-frosting Wedding Cake House (1826) is a sight to
behold (though not open to the public). The Brick Store Museum,
117 Main St., Kennebunk. There’s a treasure behind every door on the block at
this 1825 museum, which occupies four 19th-century commercial buildings
at the edge of downtown. It offers an excellent collection of decorative
and fine arts, Federal period furniture, artifacts and textiles. The
museum mounts a couple of major exhibits each year (photos of the great
fire of 1947 were on at one visit) and offers walking tours of
Kennebunk’s historic district. (207) 985-4802. www.brickstoremuseum.org. Open
Tuesday-Saturday 10 to 4:30. Adults $5, children $2. Cape Elizabeth, one of the Portland’s choicest
suburbs, occupies a picturesque promontory stretching into Casco Bay
south of the city. A favorite stop for sightseers is Fort Williams Park
and the Portland Head Light. Beachgoers head for Crescent Beach State
Park, Higgins Beach in Scarborough and Scarborough State Beach. The
Scarborough Marsh Nature Center has 3,000 acres of salt marsh rich in
plant and animal life – although naturalists lead tours, a favorite
pursuit is paddling a canoe through the marshes to see wildlife on your
own. Prouts Neck is an exclusive summer community, whose rugged cliffs
inspired artist Winslow Homer and where his studio is now a private
residence The Museum at Portland Head Light,
1000 Shore Road, Cape Elizabeth. The East’s oldest operating lighthouse, commissioned
in 1791 by George Washington, is said to be the Atlantic coast's most
photographed. Following $600,000 worth of renovations, the Town of Cape
Elizabeth operates the museum on the first floor of the lighthouse
keepers' quarters. Exhibits chronicle the history of Portland Head Light
and Fort Williams, a military outpost that developed for coastal defense
next to the lighthouse and now is an appealing town park with trails,
picnic tables and great views of the harbor. A small museum shop is
housed in an adjacent garage. (207) 799-2661. www.portlandheadlight.com. Open
daily 10-4, June-October; weekends, April-May and November-December.
Adults $2, children $1. Park, free. Portland Variously described as a big town or a small city,
Portland (population, 65,000) is the center of the largest urban complex
in the largest state in northern New England. Its manageable size
combined with a potent civic pride make it a shining example of urban
revival. The crowning achievement is the Old Port Exchange,
a restored edge-of-downtown historic district fashioned from a
once-decaying waterfront. Abandoned warehouses have been turned into
restaurants, stores and galleries that flourish side by side with
sailmakers and ship's chandlers. A number of outfits along the
Commercial Street waterfront offer sightseeing, nature, whale-watch and
sailing cruises. The biggest is Casco Bay Lines, which also operates
America’s oldest working ferry service. The ferries transport
residents, school children, mail and necessities along with visitors to
the most populated of the 365 Calendar Islands of Casco Bay. Indeed, it is the proximity and flavor of the sea that
distinguish Maine’s largest city from others in New England. In-town
Portland is virtually surrounded on all sides by water, be it the
Portland Harbor, the Fore River, the Back Cove or Casco Bay. Portland Museum of Art, 7 Congress Square,
Portland. This is widely considered northern New England's most
important art museum, although it has been upstaged lately by the
Farnsworth Museum and Wyeth Center in mid-coast Rockland. A local
philanthropist not only sparked the museum's expansion with his gift of
seventeen Winslow Homer paintings, but provided the funding for a
showcase addition. The magnificent I.M. Pei-designed Charles Shipman
Payson Building joins the original McLellan-Sweat House (1800) and L.D.M.
Sweat Memorial (1911) museum buildings and provides five times as much
space. The four-story structure with its enormous elevator, a staircase
that makes you feel as if you're floating upstairs and portholes through
which you look outside is intriguing. So are Payson's Homer collection,
the works of Andrew Wyeth and Rockwell Kent, the American Galleries, the
decorative arts galleries, the Pepperrell Silver Collection and changing
exhibitions. The Joan Whitney Payson Collection, a remarkable group of
Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works by Picasso, Monet, Degas,
Renoir, Van Gogh and others, was given to the museum in 1991. (207)
775-6148 or (800) 639-4067. www.portlandmuseum.org. Open daily 10 to 5,
Thursday-Friday to 9, Memorial Day to Columbus Day; closed Monday rest
of year. Adults $8, children $2. Wadsworth-Longfellow House, 489 Congress St.,
Portland. Built in 1785 by the maternal grandfather of poet
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who wrote much of his early poetry here. His
boyhood home was Portland's first brick building and is the oldest
remaining residence on the Portland peninsula. A beauty it is, with
original furnishings and possessions of the Wadsworth and Longfellow
families. The Maine Historical Society headquarters and library are
located behind the house and its lovely garden. (207) 879-0427. Open June-October, Tuesday-Sunday
10:30 to 4. Adults $5, children $2. Victoria Mansion, 109 Danforth St., Portland. This 1860 brownstone edifice, one of the nation's most
opulent Italian villas, has been described as "an encyclopedia of
mid-19th-century decoration, domestic life and determined
elegance." Built for hotel magnate Ruggles Morse, it retains most
of the original contents, including a remarkable stained-glass skylight
atop the three-story main hall. Notable are the richly carved woodwork,
colorful frescoes, trompe-l'oeil walls and ceilings, carved marble
fireplaces, French porcelains and etched glass. An important collection
of furniture by interior designer Gustave Herter is featured. (207) 772-4841. www.victoriamansion.org. Open
May-October, Tuesday-Saturday 10 to 4, Sunday 1 to 5. Adults $7.50,
children $3. Portland Public Market, Preble Street and
Cumberland Avenue, Portland. New England’s biggest farm market was built from
scratch at the edge of downtown in 1998 by Maine philanthropist
Elizabeth Noyce. A block long and half as wide, it’s an architectural
marvel of timbered beams, walls of windows and soaring ceilings. Inside,
more than two dozen selected Maine food growers and high-end vendors
purvey everything from elk to eels in a pristine contemporary setting.
Besides all the market stalls, there’s the Commissary restaurant, as
well as plenty of takeout opportunities and tables on the mezzanine upon
which to eat. (207) 228-2000. www.portlandmarket.com. Open
Monday-Saturday 9 to 7, Sunday 10 to 5. Material excerpted from New England's Best, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2002. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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