DAY 78-82: SEPT 25-29 ~ MAINE
In 1820 Maine entered the Union as a free state as part of the Missouri Compromise. Augusta is named the state capital in 1827. Maine’s northeastern boundary with New Brunswick is finally settled in 1842. Maine is known as the “Lobster Capital of the World”. The first Lobster Fest was held in Rockland in 1947. Today it attracts more than 70,000 revelers to the city. In 1962, the main ground station for the nation’s first communications satellite is installed in Andover. Maine has a population of 1,274,923 and is 33,215 square miles.
Other facts for MAINE are: Nickname; “The Pine Tree State”, License plate; “Vacationland”, State Motto; “I Lead”, State Motto (funny); “We’re really cold, but we have cheap lobster”, State Flower; White pine cone and tassel (1895), State Bird; Chickadee (1927), State Animal; Moose (1979), State Tree; White Pine tree (1945), and State Gem; Tourmaline (1971).
We will be spending five days visiting Maine exploring Acadia National Park and the fishing village of Boothbay. This will be our first visit to this state with our trailer; three down, eight to go.
CLIFTON
First stop was Clifton. This is just an overnight stop. A “pull over for the night because it is too long of a drive to our next destination and we need to rest”. Our next destination is Acadia National Park and we could have made it all the way in one day. But we took the break and just relaxed, read, played with our laptops and got caught up on stuff.
After 4 hours and 236 miles we arrived at Parks Pond Campground in Clifton, Maine.
PARKS POND CAMPGROUND*
This is a trailer park, not a campground. But instead of mobile homes it is permanent trailers or seasonal trailers. There are no defined sites, just unlevel bare spots with hookups and a picnic table in the grass and dirt. The trailers are all at odd angles, however way you can fit your trailer in. It is a woodsy area with some junk lying around. Right now there are lots of trees turning color so it does look somewhat attractive. But it is not a comfortable place to stay.
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK
Acadia National Park is on an island and occupies more than 54 square miles of Mount Desert Island, the largest rock-based island on the Atlantic coast. Samuel de Champlain sighted Mount Desert Island in 1604 and named it “L’Isle des Mont Deserts”, which means island of bare mountains. Originally created as Lafayette National Park in 1919, it was renamed Acadia in 1929. It is the first National Park east of the Mississippi. From 1915 to 1933, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. financed, designed and directed the construction of a network of carriage trails throughout the park. He designed 50 miles of gravel carriage trails, 17 granite bridges, and two gate lodges, almost all of which are still used today.
We will be spending two nights, one day exploring this National Park. After 2 hours and 51 miles we arrived at Smugglers Den Campground in Southwest Harbor, on the southwest side of Acadia National Park.
SMUGGLERS DEN CAMPGROUND*
This is a nice place. There are spacious sites out in the open for big rigs. They are all pull-thru, long and spacious. The smaller sites are under the trees and give you a real camping feel. These are odd sizes, unlevel, but spacious and comfortable. There are woods surrounding the park and what looks like a hiking trail leading into them. There are permanent trailers on the grounds, but none look trashy.
BAR HARBOR
BAR HARBOR
Bar Harbor lies at the entrance to Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island. In the early 1900’s Bar Harbor was a summer playground for the wealthy. By the 1930’s, WWI and the Great Depression caused the wealthy to abandon the town. In 1947 a fire swept through the town destroying 237 homes, including most of the estates (that were never rebuilt) and destroying more than 17,000 acres. Today the town is alive again and a resort area with fancy hotels and many bed and breakfast inns.
The downtown area over looks the harbor and had many restaurants and charming shops with a lot of local crafts. When we visited the town, there were two cruise ships in the harbor and the town was crowded with tourists.
We had a relaxing lunch on the patio at Bar Harbor Inn. This location was once an oasis of culture for the likes of Vanderbilts, Pulitzers, and Morgans. The first social club on the island, Oasis Club, was organized in 1874 and was built at this location. Over the next 25 years it had several owners and tenants. During WWII the US Navy leased the building and used it as an observation headquarters. In 1947 there was a terrible fire that raged through Bar Harbor and destroyed several buildings. The Red Cross used the building to give assistance to many who were burned out. After the fire Bar Harbor was left without a single hotel to attract visitors back to the area. The building was redeveloped and added onto and in 1950 Bar Harbor Inn was the first hotel to be opened after that fateful fire. By 1998, redevelopment of this inn was completed.
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK
The 27 mile Park Loop Road connects Bar Harbor with Acadia National Park. After having lunch at a place overlooking the bay at Bar Harbor, we left town on the Park Loop Road and explored the sights along this road. The southern part of the loop road hugs the shore line and you get great views of the surf and rocks. We stopped at several ocean view points; Schooner Head, Thunder Hole, and Otter Point. There are no beaches in this area, just granite cliffs and the surfs breaking on the granite boulders. We took lots of pictures.
View from Cadillac Mountain
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View of Bar Harbor from Cadillac Mountain. That rock pile in the front of the picture is called a CAIRN. It’s a stone marker to mark the trail. These Cairns are in several places along this rocky mound to show you the best way to walk it. |
Scooner Head
Otter Point
BOOTHBAY/BOOTHBAY HARBOR
A picturesque seaport, Boothbay Harbor retains the atmosphere of an old New England village of unique shops and seafood restaurants. However, most of the shops sell the same stuff. There are some nice jewelry and clothing shops. But you mostly see souvenir crap..I mean crafts.
We will be spending two nights and one day in this area. After 3.5 hours and 124 miles we arrived at Shore Hills Campground in Boothbay
SHORE HILLS CAMPGROUND*
This is a very nice campground. It has a comfortable atmosphere. At this time it was not crowded or noisy. We had a pleasant stay here. The park had around 150 sites. All have free WiFi, some have cable TV. The pull-thru are out in the open and are very spacious and long. Perfect for big rigs. All the others are back-ins and some are also out in the open, others are in under the trees. These sites can be unlevel and primitive. But if you like that isolated, woodsy feeling when camping, these are perfect. All have water and electric, some also have sewer.
EDGECOMB POTTERS
Just down the road from Shore Hills Campground is Edgecomb Potters. This is a gallery and studio and they sell beautiful pottery that is displayed outside on the patio. In 1976 Richard and Chris Hilton started their dream of making pottery in a one-room schoolhouse on the road to Boothbay Harbor. Today it has been named one of America’s “Best of the Road” award winners and written up as a “must-see” attraction in the Rand McNally Road Atlas. We found the place by accident and it was a treat to visit it.
COASTAL MAINE BOTANTICAL GARDENS
The Garden opened in June 2007. It is 248 acres with 3,600 feet of tidal shore frontage. It is the largest botanical garden in New England. The gardens are beautiful with several theme gardens: Garden of Five Senses, Rose Garden, Hillside Garden, Kitchen Garden, Meditation Garden, and Rhododendron Garden. The Children’s Garden is magical with a ‘rock shaped like a whale’ fountain that spouts water, mini farm with pond, bear in the woods, etc. There is a lot of granite and iron sculptures through out the gardens. There is a delicious café that serves organic meals and a nice gift shop.
Next stop is the state of New Hampshire. We will be spending two nights (and one day) visiting NEW HAMPSHIRE. That’s all we have time for. We will see what we can in the Concord area. This will be our first visit to this state with our trailer; four down, seven to go.
DAY 83-84: SEPT 30-OCT 1 ~ NEW HAMPSHIRE
In 1776, New Hampshire is the first colony to adopt a provisional constitution and government, declaring independence from England. NH was the ninth and deciding state to ratify the US Constitution in 1788. In 1842, a border dispute is settled between New Hampshire and Quebec. In 1963 the state adopts the first legal lottery in the 20th century United States. In 1986 Christa McAuliffe, a Concord social studies teacher chosen to be the first civilian in space, is killed with six others when the space shuttle Challenger explodes just after lift off. In 1999 New Hampshire becomes the first state to have a female governor, Senate president and House speaker all at the same time. New Hampshire has a population of 1,235,786 and is 9,024 square miles.
There are a lot of permanent residents and a lot of seasonal trailers. Most of the permanent trailers are mobile homes. These sites are paved and landscaped. The section for overnighters is a bit primitive. But they are less crowded and very comfortable. Out site was near the woods and shady (although it rained the two nights we were here. All sites have full hookups with free WiFi and cable TV.
Weare is at one point of a triangle area. Concord and Manchester are at the other two points. So we are staying in a convenient location. The same distance to both places.
CONCORD
CONCORD is the capital of New Hampshire and has a population of around 42,600. Concord was also the home of Christa McAuliffe. We spent some time in the historical section of Concord and had a nice lunch and checked out some shops. I found a bead store! We also visited the McAuliffee-Shepard Discovery Center.
MCAULIFFE-SHEPARD DISCOVERY CENTER
This is a space and air museum that is dedicated to the above teacher Christa McAuliffe and astronaut Alan Shepard. Both were from New Hampshire. The Center is located at the New Hampshire Technical Institute (engineering collage). This Center has some interesting artifacts, such as a space toilet, and that jet pack that the astronauts wear to jet themselves through space, space shuttle ejection seat and others. I read that this place is New England’s largest air and space museum. I didn’t see that. It was a small place. We got through it in less than an hour. There is also a planetarium, but we did not have time to see that.
MANCHESTER
MANCHESTER is the largest city in New Hampshire with a population of around 109,500. It is the 10th largest city in New England. We spent a short time in this city to see the Currier Museum of Art. We visited this place in the afternoon of the day we visited Concord.
THE CURRIER MUSEUM OF ART
This is a very nice gallery with two floors to explore. There was a very nice display of glass paperweights; some from the 1800’s. There was quite a collection of European and American paintings, sculpture and decorative arts from the 13th century to the present. More than 11,000 objects are displayed. This is a nice place to visit.
Sleeping Cat – Bronze cast 1941
Our next stop is New York. We have explored this state before. We will be stopping here to visit my good friend, Dorothy in the Albany area. She will be our travel guide for the next three days.
* Please see our RV PARK REVIEW BLOG to see a review and more pictures of the RV parks, RV resorts and campgrounds that we have stayed at during this trip.
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