Down East help/suggestions

[T_R_Oglodyte]

I've got one-day conference in Boston the first Tuesday in June. I've never spent any time in New England outside of a couple trips to Boston and Martha's Vineyard, so I'm thinking of flying into Logan on Saturday, and then spending Sunday and Monday heading up the coast in Maine.

Since I've never been in that area, and know very little about it except for some basic geography, so I'm interested in ideas and suggestions that would match well with such an abbreviated itinerary. Interesting locales or towns, points of interest, etc.

 

[heathpack]

We used to live in Portland, ME. It’s a great small city with an interesting downtown area called Old Port. You could get there from Logan in about 3 hours. Casco Bay is a great nautical town and you could probably do a sail trip out of Portland, if you want to get out on the water. You can also go visit the Cape Elizabeth lighthouse, eat lobster, etc.

Otherwise, you could head up to Freeport and check out LL Bean, if you wanted to walk in the woods, Wolf Neck State Park has some gorgeous trails in deep pine forest and along iconic rocky beach.

The next major tourist stop north is Boothbay Harbor. Water based tours abound (its worth taking a lobster fishing tour if they’re still offered) but the town was extremely touristy with tacky T shirt and fudge shops when we lived in Maine 15 or so years ago. Beautiful landscape but the town isn’t hugely appealing.

Rockport and Camden are pretty nice but really too far for the time you have.

Personally I like the dramatic rocky shoreline part of Maine rather than the sandy beach part of Maine. Sandy beaches are south of Portland, the rocky stuff starts in Portland.

My vote: Drive up to Portland Sun, check out the Old Port or lighthouse or both, then take a sunset sail and have a nice dinner or a lobster gorge. Then Mon, have a nice breakfast or pick up some provisions and head up the coast an hour to Wolfs Neck, take a hike through the woods and have a little picnic down on the rocky shore. From there, check out the huge LL Bean store in Freeport or drive up to Boothbay for the afternoon. Then shoot back to Boston Mon evening.

 

[heathpack]

OMG I can’t believe I forgot. You could also visit the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath. It’s excellent.

 

[WinniWoman]

There is also the possibility of on the way of your drive either up or down is Portsmouth, NH and Strawberry Bank. You can even take a boat trip out to the Isles of Shoals.

 

[Jimster]

I don’t understand why you call it “down” east. Is there an “up” east?

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Down East generally refers to the Atlantic Coast roughly between Boston and the Maritime Provinces. Sometimes it is used more specifically to refer to Coastal Maine.

Initially I thought the Maine coast was called Down East because, as compared to the interior of Maine, the coast is down and to the east. But that doesn't explain it's use to refer to the larger area. Later I learned that the phrase has a nautical origin. In that area the prevailing winds are from the west and southwest. So when sailing out of Boston or Portsmouth that stretch of coast is downwind and to the east.

******

I remember an episode of the TV show "Murder, She Wrote" (which was set in upstate Maine) in which a key clue in solving the murder came when Jessica Fletcher (a mystery writer who put her skills to use solving local murders) asked a a handyman who was working on her house if he was a "Down Easter". He replied, "No Ma'am. I'm from right here in Maine. Bar Harbor born and raised." Jessica then knew that the man wasn't who he claimed to be.

 

[MULTIZ321]

Down East generally refers to the Atlantic Coast roughly between Boston and the Maritime Provinces. Sometimes it is used more specifically to refer to Coastal Maine.

Initially I thought the Maine coast was called Down East because, as compared to the interior of Maine, the coast is down and to the east. But that doesn't explain it's use to refer to the larger area. Later I learned that the phrase has a nautical origin. In that area the prevailing winds are from the west and southwest. So when sailing out of Boston or Portsmouth that stretch of coast is downwind and to the east.

******

I remember an episode of the TV show "Murder, She Wrote" (which was set in upstate Maine) in which a key clue in solving the murder came when Jessica Fletcher (a mystery writer who put her skills to use solving local murders) asked a a handyman who was working on her house if he was a "Down Easter". He replied, "No Ma'am. I'm from right here in Maine. Bar Harbor born and raised." Jessica then knew that the man wasn't who he claimed to be.

I love what I learn on Tug. Such a wide-ranging knowledge base.
Thanks Steve for the update on the meanings of the term "Down East"


Best Regards

Richard

 

[theo]

I don’t understand why you call it “down” east. Is there an “up” east?

Native Mainers (maybe a bit provincially) regard "downeast" Maine as the coast beyond Rockland, maybe even at or beyond Bucksport or Castine on the far (i.e., NE) side of Penobscot Bay, depending on who you ask. Yessa.

The Maine coast veers continually eastward as you proceed north, covering more than 3.5 degrees of W to E longitude from the southernmost part of the state to the Canada border. Now there's a useless little bit of trivia for you.

T R Oglodyte is correct; "downeast" largely derives from "downwind" to the prevailing SW winds in the age of sail.
Mainers of today tend to regard the "downeast" part of the state as beginning somewhere past Rockland.

Maine was actually part of Massachusetts until 1820, when it became its' own state.
MA folks still swarm to ME in droves like mosquitoes, but they're not getting Maine back --- and they do leave eventually.

 

[theo]

I've got one-day conference in Boston the first Tuesday in June. I've never spent any time in New England outside of a couple trips to Boston and Martha's Vineyard, so I'm thinking of flying into Logan on Saturday, and then spending Sunday and Monday heading up the coast in Maine.

Since I've never been in that area, and know very little about it except for some basic geography, so I'm interested in ideas and suggestions that would match well with such an abbreviated itinerary. Interesting locales or towns, points of interest, etc.

Some thoughts follow, keeping your time constraints clearly in mind. I wouldn't recommend spending time in weekend traffic anywhere on U.S. Route 1 except where necessary or interesting (largely, IMnsHO, only once past Brunswick).

I-95 north, get off the highway at York (exit 7? not certain). The Route 1A "loop" is a short but pretty drive; stop and see Nubble Light (Cape Neddick). Pick up US 1 again at the 1A / 1 merge at Cape Neddick and continue NE to Ogunquit via Route 1. Stop in Ogunquit, where there is a shorefront paved walking path called The Marginal Way. One mile long, runs along and above the rocky shoreline; worthwhile. Lunch in Ogunquit, walk the broad beach there for a bit if so inclined. Leaving Ogunquit I would take Route 1 north only as far as Wells; use 9/109 west to get back on I-95 and proceed to Portland via I-95 to your presumably pre-arranged lodging. That pretty much eats up your Sunday right there.

Portland has changed a lot in recent years. It has become very much "gentrified". Locals / natives displaced "outward" by wildly escalated property and housing costs in Portland often (and not in jest, I assure you) now call it "Portlyn", a sarcastic hybridization of Portland / Brooklyn (...you get the picture from whence a great many of the newcomers originate).

There is a harbor tour in Portland that's interesting, providing some narration of history and future waterfront plans, seeing a fair amount of the area from the water (weather permitting, of course). That would consume much less time than a sail. Fwiw, I grew up on the water but still enjoyed that harbor tour. I frankly don't find much in Portland to be of any particular interest to me, although "upscale shopping opportunities" certainly now abound. There are numerous decent restaurants in Portland. Or, after your overnight in Portlyn, you could check out, then drive to Freeport (LL Bean), Brunswick (Bowdoin College) or Bath (Maritime Musuem). The Botanical Gardens at Boothbay are also beautiful. I wouldn't range further afield than that, since you will presumably need to travel back to Boston on Monday. You'd obviously have to pick and choose among the assorted time consuming ME itinerary options. So many choices and places, so little time.

Just some random (alleged) thoughts and ideas; hope some of it helps.