NorthEast Coast Road Trip: Midcoast Maine

The Historic Route 1 is a major local road that parallels the Atlantic Ocean and runs through most of the historic towns of Maine.  From this road I can easily explore the towns and the islands along the coast.

Bath

We drove to Bath with every intention of exploring this small shipping town.  Back in its glory days Bath produced a quarter of America’s wooden ships.  Coming off the freeway I caught a glimpse of the busy Bath Iron Works.  Established in 1884, it is still one of the biggest-producing shipyards in the nation.  There was also the Maine Maritime Museum down the street.  But we were too tired for any more culture that day so instead of going inside the museum, we walked to the grassy lot beside it and just sat on the grass to rest.  We got up half an hour later when black ants started crawling over us.  Far off the museum grounds I caught a glimpse of a massive white framework of a ship not knowing until much later that it was the life-size sculpture of the Wyoming, the largest wooden sailing vessel ever built. So I will truthfully say that I did not visit Bath.

Rockland

I came here to see the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse from this post and the Wyeths in the Farnsworth Art Museum.  I love Andrew Wyeth’s paintings: simple lines and colors, very evocative themes of Maine and quotidian life in general.  The museum houses 2 galleries of his works, and across the street is the Wyeth Center dedicated to the works of all 3 Wyeth artists: Andrew, his father N.C. Wyeth, and his son James.

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Rockport is about a 10 min. drive from Rockland and I mainly went through this town to reach Camden.  But Rockport does have one star that shouldn’t be missed.  Remember the movie Andre about the seal?  That movie was based on a true story that happened in this city.  In Marine State Park, there is a small statue for Andre that I just had to go visit.  I had a tough time finding it due to many variables and I actually gave up and came back the next day to try again, and so when I finally found him, I was overly-joyed.

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Camden is home to the Camden Hills State Park and Mt. Battie.  As there was a storm coming in we decided to drive to the peak instead of hiking it.  Even on a cloudy day, the view on top was impressive with the Camden Harbor to my right and the Penebscot Bay to my left.

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