Everett Potter's Travel Report

The Schooner Mary Day sailing along the Maine coast. Photo by Fred LeBlanc

Interview by Everett Potter

It’s a scene that evokes a 19th century painting: a tall masted ship is sailing past fir-covered islands off the rocky Maine coastline. The only sounds are of the wind filling the canvas sails, the creaking of the ship’s timbers, and the squawk of gulls darting overhead. Hour after hour, day after day, punctuated with hearty meals, colorful fishing ports, and some good conversation.

This is the essence of a sailing trip on Maine’s picturesque Penobscot Bay on a windjammer. These venerable ships depart from Rockland, Rockport or Camden, and sail Downeast in the direction of  Mount Desert Island. Since these are wind-driven vessels, there’s no specific schedule and a wishful. Tides and wind dictate your day.

I sailed on the largest ship in the Maine Windjammer Association fleet, Victory Chimes, more than a decade ago, and loved it. So I thought it was high time for an update with Captain Barry King of the Schooner Mary Day, a 90 foot vessel that sails from Camden.

Crew at work. Photo by Sean Holman.

EP: Let’s start at the beginning: what is a “windjammer” and how did they become so closely associated with the Maine coast?
BK: The term “windjammer” was originally a derogatory term used by sailors in steamships when they referred to those sailing vessels that, instead of sailing straight up wind, had to tack back and forth sailing as close to the wind as possible to go places. Due to its lack of access by other means during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, commercial sailing vessels were still in existence along the Maine coast. The first windjammer cruises were offered aboard some of these schooners whose captains were happy to have a new “cargo.” Nowadays the term windjammer refers to any of the traditional sailing vessels offering over night sailing cruises along the Maine coast.

EP: Historically, when did Maine windjammers begin offering passage to paying customers?
BK: Windjammer cruises in Maine began in 1936. A gentleman by the name of Frank Swift saw a potential market for folks from urban and suburban areas enjoying time aboard a traditional Maine coast schooner. Given the popularity of these cruises it seems like he was right.

Hauling aboard the Lewis R. French. Photo by Bridget Besaw Gorman.

EP: Tell us about your ship, the Schooner Mary Day. Is it a vintage working ship or a later version of a windjammer?
BK: Mary Day was the first commercial sailing vessel purpose-built for windjammer cruises. She was built at the Harvey Gamage Shipyard in South Bristol from an original design by Capt Havilah Hawkins who had formerly owned and operated the schooners Stephen Taber and Alice Wentworth. She was the first schooner ever launched just to be a windjammer. As a commercial sailing vessel she was designed for a different purpose than any of the other vessels at the time but she was none the less a commercial sailing, the first schooner launched along the coast of Maine since 1938. Capt Hawkins design reflected the best examples of his experiences aboard older schooners and added his own well-founded ideas about how to make a schooner more comfortable and easier to maintain. In essence she is a coasting schooner like all the rest, just launched a little later with a new cargo in mind. 51 years later I think he got a lot of things just right.

EP: What are the classic reasons that a tourist would enjoy a trip on a Maine windjammer?
BK: Have you ever met someone who didn’t really like to relax and couldn’t enjoy spending a few days poking around the coast of Maine? Windjammer cruises take folks away from the daily cares ashore. No cell phones, no computers, no radios or television telling us what the latest crisis in the news might be. Who doesn’t need a chance to leave “it” all behind? There are some folks who don’t want to let go and that is fine. There are some folks who get seasick looking at a picture of a boat so this type of vacation experience isn’t for everyone. But I can promise this. If anyone wants a chance to relax deeply, to see a still wild part of the coast, to enjoy the thrill of 100 tons of boat being propelled by nothing more than the wind, doesn’t need constant hustle and bustle and can enjoy the company of others,well then this might just to do all of that and more. I have yet to meet the person who doesn’t get just a tinge of excitement when they get a chance to take the wheel or see a seal pup and its mother lying in the sun on an exposed ledge or see porpoise or bald eagle or the granite shores of an unspoiled spruce covered island.

Time ashore. Photo by Fred LeBlanc.

EP: What are the ports of call you might visit?
BK: We have no itinerary. It is that simple. No schedule, no place to be. I like to think that we get guests off the beaten path. You can’t imagine that we could hide a big schooner like Mary Day but Maine is so full of islands and remote little coves it really isn’t that hard. Ports of call? Name any big town along the Maine coast and we don’t go there. A secluded beach, a small island community with a one room school house, a remote part of Acadia National Park that can only be accessed by boat, a small village where lobster boats far out number yachts. That doesn’t give you the names of any specific towns I know but then again most people wouldn’t have a clue where the fishing village of East Brookshaven on Little Long Island in Seal Bay is.

EP: You belong to the Maine Windjammer Association – do you meet up with other windjammers in the course of one of your voyages?
BK: Yes we do! The Maine Windjammer Association is a group of 10 owner/operators working cooperatively to insure the quality of the windjammer experience. The Association host several events during the season when the fleet has a chance to meet up for a “gam”, have a fun day racing around the bay or have a shoreside shindig with music and dancing. As the last and largest working fleet of traditional sailing vessels we can’t help but see and admire the other boats.

Downeast cruising on the Stephen Taber.

EP: How about families –is this a trip that families might enjoy?
BK: Families are more than welcome aboard the schooners. We have hosted family reunions, weddings and small families that just want a chance to spend some quality time together without having to worry about who is doing the cooking or the cleaning. Some of the schooners have a suggested age limit and some specialize in families with younger children.

EP: As a passenger, can I participate in the work life of the ship, helping to hoist sails, say?

BK: You bet! That is what we do best. These windjammers are a fabulous place to learn about sailing, traditional rigging, knots and navigation. Aboard Mary Day we actually offer sail training cruises for school groups and for adults looking for an exciting active experiential vacation that doesn’t require great physical conditioning or special equipment. We also offer a host of other cruises with themes that include folk music, natural history, lighthouses and this year, a beer tasting cruise that features craft beers from Maine.

Galley on the Schooner Timberwind.

EP: Tell us a bit about the food and your chef.

BK: Hearty New England fare, that is what we offer. Breakfasts such as blueberry pancakes with Maine maple syrup, scrambled eggs from our own chickens, and sausage made by a local farmer who lives just down the road from us. Fresh fruit and plenty of hot coffee and tea along with homemade cranberry scones. Lunches are usually hearty soups with fresh garden salads with home made dressings along with fresh bread and something just a little sweet like almond chocolate chip cookies. Dinner entrees include fresh fish with lemon and capers, baked boneless chicken breasts with an orange marmalade glaze, or a southern pulled pork made from Boston butt — again from our neighbor farmer down the road — slow-cooked in the wood cookstove. Every cruise includes an all-you-can-eat lobster dinner. Fresh pies from local fruits in season, a wicked moist chocolate cake with mocha frosting or a strawberry shortcake with light homemade biscuits, hand whipped cream and organic strawberries. Should I mention hand cranked home made ice cream?

Lantern at sunset. Courtesy Maine Windjammer Association.

EP: How about the cost – these are pretty reasonable trips, aren’t they?

BK: Trips cost on average $175 per person, per day, depending on the length of the cruise and the time of season desired. I have had more than a few folks tell us we don’t charge enough. We keep our rates as low as possible and the great thing, unlike other cruise experiences, there are no surcharges or shore visit fees or chances that the engine (in our case the wind) will break down. Our trips are an all-inclusive get-away package that gets you out of your car and answers the question “What are we going to do today?” during your Maine vacation. Compared to shopping, gas, meals, entertainment and room fees for staying at one of the local B&B’s, we are a bargain. I think just knowing that you are doing something extraordinary, seeing the Maine coast from a whole new perspective instead of searching for a parking space from your car is worth the price of admission. The Maine windjammer sailing experience is something you just can’t find anywhere else in the world.

For more information, visit the Maine Windjammer Association

Portland Head Light

Known for their weekend and weeklong bike trips throughout Maine, Summer Feet Cycling is now offering a half-day bike tour that will visit five lighthouses in the Portland region. Running daily from Memorial Day to October 31st, the 5-hour jaunt will start on a bike path alongside Willard Beach to Bug Light, which marks the entrance to the Portland Breakwater. From here, you’ll cycle on to Spring Point Lighthouse, the Portland Harbor Museum, and Fort Preble, a 19th century stone fort, before ending at the iconic Portland Head Light. Built in 1791 and sitting on a bluff perched out to sea, this exquisite white edifice has been painted by the likes of Edward Hopper. You’ll dine on lobster rolls, peering at the large oil tankers that make their way in and out of Portland Harbor. Lobster, salty air, biking. Sounds like a winner.

  Steve Jermanok As a columnist for National Geographic Adventure, adventure travel expert at Budget Travel, and regular contributor on outdoor recreation for Outside, Men’s Journal, Health, and Sierra, Steve Jermanok has written more than 1,000 articles on the outdoors.He’s also authored or co-authored 11 books, including Outside Magazine’s Adventure Guide to New England and Men’s Journal’s The Great Life. His latest book is Go Now! Put Your Life on Pause and See the World. He’s currently an adventure travel expert at Away.com and blogs daily at  Active Travels.

Migis Lodge, Maine. Photo by Evan McGlinn

Interview by Everett Potter

Evan McGlinn is  a photojournalist for The New York Times and The Boston Globe as well as a contributing editor for American Express’ Departures magazine. I met him standing at  a bar — well, we are journalists — at the famed Yellowstone Club in Montana nearly a decade ago. It didn’t take long to discover that we shared a similar sardonic take on the world. That was a good thing, given that the Yellowstone Club — a member’s-only ski club for billionaires and mere multi millionaires that has run into countless financial troubles — was one of the most exuberant examples of trophy egos that I’ve ever seen anywhere. A special sense of humor was as essential as the capacity to drink fine wines and enjoy miles of perfectly groomed  corduroy skiing with those who had drunk the Kool Aid.

Evan McGlinn, founder of Tripmagnifica

McGlinn has traveled the globe for more than 25-years, from the Atlantic salmon rivers of Russia’s Kola peninsula to New Zealand’s South Island to the Relais and Chateaux castles of Europe. Simply put, he covers the world of high-end travel. He recently started Tripmagnifica.com, which is a one-of-a-kind photography service for busy clients who travel on high-end vacations and adventures anywhere in the world. He takes all the photos on a trip — so you don’t have to — and makes bespoke photography albums that will preserve your memories for generations to come. I recently had a chance to ask him about it.

Migis Lodge, Maine. Photo by Evan McGlinn

Everett Potter: How did you come up with the idea for Tripmagnifica?

Migis Lodge, Maine

Bingo. Photo by Evan McGlinn

Tripmagnifica – Your Personal Trip Photographer from Evan McGlinn on Vimeo.

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Inn by the Sea, Cape Elizabeth, Maine

What’s the Deal:  Inn by the Sea, on the coast of Maine in Cape Elizabeth, is offering a Seascapes package in conjunction with the opening of the Winslow Homer Studio. The Inn is just 15 minutes by car from the studio and about the same distance to the downtown hipster haven of Portland.

What are the Details:  The Seascapes package includes

* Two nights in a single bedroom garden suite, spa suite, beach suite or traditional guest room accommodation
* Gourmet breakfast for two each morning
* 2 signature rum cocktails
* 2 tickets to “Weatherbeaten: Winslow Homer and Maine” exhibit at the Portland Museum of art with exhibit catalogue

What’s the Cost: Doubles from $462.19 per night.

Fine Print:  Tickets can be purchased from the Portland Museum of Art for a tour of the Winslow Homer Studio for an additional $55 per person (not included in package).

Booking: Visit Inn by the Sea for details.

Winslow Homer’s Studio, Prouts Neck, Maine. Photo by Gayle Potter.

By Everett Potter

A couple of weeks ago, on a day when the sky over the Gulf of Maine was a cloudless, Bahamian blue, I literally walked into the seascape of a Winslow Homer painting. Never mind that Homer rarely painted these flawless weather conditions – storm-lashed rocks and turbulent seas were his signatures. But I was fortunate to be there on a bluebird day and to be getting a peek at the American painter’s studio. This solid 19th century wooden building, renovated for Homer by legendary Maine architect John Calvin Stevens, overlooks the sea in the wealthy hamlet of Prouts Neck, Maine. On September 25, it opens to the public for guided tours.

The Fog Warning, 1887. Winslow Homer. The Berger Collection.

Homer’s studio has been painstakingly and sensitively restored by Mills Whitaker Architects. If you go, you’ll not only see where the painter worked and lived but the seascape that inspired such works as The Lifeline and The Fog Warning. Both of these works can be seen at the Portland Museum of Art’s new exhibition to commemorate the opening of the studio, Weatherbeaten: Winslow Homer and Maine.

The studio, a lyrical two story clapboard affair, has a prominent balcony, or piazza, as Homer called it in the parlance of the day. That gives it a nautical feel, and Homer’s brother Charles said that Homer nearly wore through the floorboards as he watched the Atlantic Ocean in its infinite moods.

It was Charles who built a nearby seaside home that he called The Ark, hoping to bring the entire Homer clan to Prout’s Neck. In 1883 Winslow Homer, by that time a successful 47 year old artist, decided to leave Manhattan and make Prouts Neck his home. His brother offered to build a studio for him, but the artist coveted The Ark’s carriage house. He also coveted his privacy, and had the building moved down the road, enlisting John Calvin Stevens, one of the prominent Shingle Style architects, to transform it.

Winslow Homer’s bath with a view. Photo by Gayle Potter.

Homer lived and painted here from 1883 until his death in 1910. In 2006, the Portland Museum of Art bought the house when Homer’s great-grand-nephew Charles Homer Willauer decided to sell it.

The renovation of the studio, which cost $2.8 million, required the removal of three bedrooms and a kitchen that had been added after Homer’s time, effectively bringing the studio back to about 1890. The structure was stabilized, and the original colors of dark green with red trim were redone.

Studio window. Photo by Gayle Potter.

The rooms have been left quite spare, with just a handful of artifacts that mark the artist’s presence. A window in the ground floor studio is like a camera lens, framing the view, and providing the same ratio as the painting Weatherbeaten.

From the piazza or the lawn, you’re looking south towards Stratton Island and Bluff Island. A distant lighthouse on Wood Island off Biddeford is visible. On the day we visited, the audio level of the Maine surf was subdued and hypnotic — now you hear it, now you don’t. It is the dramatic Maine coast of your dreams, and could easily move you to take up a brush, or at the very least raise your Smartphone and take a few photographs.

Winslow Homer with “The Gulf Stream” in his studio at Prout’s Neck, Maine, circa 1900. Unknown Artist. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, Gift of the Homer Family

“Homer liked to perpetuate the myth of the hermit artist,” explained Kristen Levesque, a museum spokesperson, “But in fact, he wore Brooks Brothers suits and had food shipped to him from Boston. He was actually more of a country gentleman. Every day, he would hoist a flag on the balcony and lunch would be delivered to him from the nearby Checkley Hotel.”

In the tradition of such 19th century gentlemen, Homer was also a hunter and fisherman, activities that appear in some of his best paintings. Maine was his home, but he traveled and painted in Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Adirondacks and Quebec, and on the studio walls are crudely mounted Atlantic salmon that he presumably caught, his fishing rod and net, and an eel spear. If you’re sharp eyed, you can find “Winslow” etched in tiny letters in the library alcove.

“Snakes Snakes Mice,” painted by Winslow Homer to scare off busybodies. Photo ©trentbellphotography

Still, he did not wish to be disturbed by rusticators, as vacationers to Maine were known a century ago. Over the fireplace in his studio is a crude sign he painted and left outside, a sign that announces “Snakes Snakes Mice” to frighten away anyone who thought to snoop.

Homer’s Maine coastline. Photo by Gayle Potter.

Leaving the studio, we took a walk along the cliff walk, where the same rocks that Homer painted over a century ago remain, including Cannon Rock, looking much as they did in his time. The surf crashed, cormorants dived for fish, and legions of butterflies worked the wildflowers that grew between the rocks. It felt like we were inhabiting a Homer painting.

Making our way back on a path through beach roses, my daughter cried out “Daddy, a snake!”

Sure enough, a little Garter snake was slithering into the hedge roots.

“Snakes Snakes Mice” indeed.

Homer hadn’t been bluffing. More than a century after his death, the life force of this extraordinary painter — not to mention his seascapes and snakes — still seems  very much alive.

IF YOU GO:

Winslow Homer Studio.  Because of the studio’s location, in a gated residential neighborhood, visitor numbers are quite restricted. The Portland Museum of Art has limited visitors to just 30 a day, six days a week. September 25 to December 2, 2012; April 2 to June 14, 2013; Tuesdays through Sundays. Tickets are $55, $30 for members. Reservations and information: (207) 775-6148.

Weatherbeaten, 1894. Winslow Homer. Portland Museum of Art, Maine. Bequest of Charles Shipman Payson.

To coincide with the reopening of the studio, the Portland Museum of Art has put together an exhibition called Weatherbeaten: “Winslow Homer and Maine. These paintings haven’t been seen together in Maine for generations.  September 22 to December 30, 2012. Museum admission is $12. Portland Museum of Art

STAY

Inn by the Sea, a few miles north on the coast in Cape Elizabeth, is offering a Seascapes package in conjunction with the opening of the Winslow Homer Studio. It includes

* Two nights in a single bedroom garden suite, spa suite, beach suite or traditional guest room accommodation
* Gourmet breakfast for two each morning
* 2 signature rum cocktails
* 2 tickets to “Weatherbeaten: Winslow Homer and Maine” exhibit at the Portland Museum of art with exhibit catalogue

Doubles from $462.19 per night.

Tickets can be purchased from the Portland Museum of Art for a tour of the Winslow Homer Studio for an additional $55 per person (not included in package)

Visit Inn by the Sea for details.

  Everett Potter is Editor-in-Chief of Everett Potter’s Travel Report.

Mount Katahdin, Baxter State Park, Maine.

Mount Katahdin, at Baxter State Park in Maine, is a fitting end to the Appalachian Trail in the north. Reaching the mass of rock atop the 5,267 foot summit is a challenge to the most experienced climber, even the AT thru-hiker who spent the last six months racking up more than 2,100 miles. Yet, it’s somewhat of a disappointment that the AT ascends Katahdin from the Hunt Trail, the easiest (if there’s such a thing) and least spectacular path to the peak. For an unparalleled mountainous ascent in the northeast, you should opt for the Knife Edge. Like the name implies, this three to foot wide granite sidewalk sharply drops off more than 1,500 feet on either side.

Rangeley Lakes, Maine.

By Everett Potter

When I was a kid, my grandparents and their next door neighbors, the Newells, would head north to the Rangeley Lakes region of Maine every September. Into the Oldsmobile would go the cooler, the fishing vests, and my grandfather’s bamboo fly rods. For the next two weeks, the men would fly fish Rangeley Lake, as well as the Kennebago and Rangeley Rivers, for the legendary wild brook trout and feisty landlocked salmon that inhabited these storied waters. What my grandmother and her friend Vida did I can’t remember. But in photographs from those trips, everyone is wearing standard issue 1950’s khakis, smiling, and standing with the stringerfulls of fish they had caught.

These photos – and the magical tales my grandparents would tell when they returned, their deep Northwoods tans a hallmark of healthy outdoors living — are part of family lore. So when my old pal Frank and I decided to take a long overdue fishing trip this summer, we pointed the car in the direction of Rangeley Lakes.

Located in northwestern Maine, the Rangeley region consists of six major lakes and literally hundreds of smaller lakes and ponds, as well as rivers and streams. Mountains and woodlands stretching into Canada surround this water. In the 1860’s, tales of enormous brook trout caught up here reached well-heeled sports in New York, and Rangeley was shortly transformed from a rural farming community to a resort destination for sportsmen. Sporting camps and large wooden resort hotels were built to accommodate the fishermen and their families who came by train from the big eastern cities, for a stay measured in months. There were characters like Fly Rod Crosby, a woman who was a master guide but actively promoted the area’s fishing and hunting in those big cities. She was followed a few decades later by Carrie Stevens, a milliner who summered at Upper Dam. Stevens designed and tied shockingly beautiful streamer flies, the best known of which is the Gray Ghost.

The view from Height of Land.

There are two ways to appreciate the beauty of the region. You either arrive by seaplane or get there as we did, by car, going north along Route 17 from Rumford to a pull off called Height of Land. Whatever this moniker lacks in poetry it makes up for in directness and sheer majesty. This is the promised land of the Northwoods, a vast interconnected network of lakes – sheets of it – and mountains stretching into Canada. These are storied waters such as Upper Richardson and Mooselookmeguntic, the latter our destination. For my money, it may be the most dramatic view anywhere in New England.

Cabin with a view at Bald Mountain Camps. Photo by Everett Potter.

We checked into to one of the last remaining sporting camps in the Rangeley region, Bald Mountain Camps Resort, which stretches along the shores of Mooselookmeguntic Lake.  Meeting us was Stephen Philbrick, a solidly built bear of a man with a big smile and a direct way of talking.

“How’s the fishing?“ I asked.

“Oh, they’ll be jumping in the boat,” he replied, as any true Mainer would.

Philbrick’s grandparents bought the camps in 1940, and he grew up there, taking the reins from them in 1978. There are 14 cabins, rustic but impeccably kept, recently renovated and winterized for snowmobiling. Each cabin offers a private porch with rocking chairs, a fireplace or wood stove, private bath, spacious living room, individual bedrooms, and daily housekeeping. The furnishings are rustic indeed, with old dressers and vintage beds.

Gravel paths lead to the lakefront, where clumps of white birches thrive and enormous log floats serve as swimming platforms and docks. The waves of deep blue Mooselookmeguntic mean business, and often crash over the edge of the gently rocking docks, having likely been blown by winds from Canada. Look south and 80 miles away is the distinctive mass of Mt Washington, the highest mountain in the northeast. On a clear day, they say, you can see a plume of smoke from the cog railway that snakes its way up that peak. The lake is ringed by pines, with a fraction of the private homes that surround other lakes in the state. I spend my summers on a lake in Southern Maine, less than 100 miles south, but up here, I felt like I had entered another time and place.

Frank, a veteran of many such trips in our youth, flailing the waters of the Upper Humber in Newfoundland, Maine’s Moosehead Lake and Vermont’s Lake Willoughby, had his usual ragtag assortment of vintage roods, reels and much-used flies with him. Like the gear head I’ve morphed into, I had a quiver of LL Bean fly rods, shiny reels, and a dozen fly boxes. In truth, we were perfectly matched for the expedition. At the end of the day, it’s what’s on the other end of the fly that counts. In order to ensure that we had some success, we stocked up on variations on the legendary Rangeley streamers such as Gray Ghost and a fly called Sneeka at the excellent River’s Edge Sports Shop in Oquossoc.

Trolling on Mooselookmeguntic. Photo by Everett Potter.

The deep blue waters of the lake stretch for 26 square miles, with the volcano-like shape of West Kennbago Mountain rising at the northern end. We took out one of their 14 foot Lund boats – broad beamed and built for large swells. We trolled the waters using lead line, hooking small brookies, gorgeous fish upon whose dynamic shape and fighting ability the reputation of the Maine woods rests.

At day’s end, we returned to camp. The lakefront centerpiece of Bald Mountain is a wooden lodge, also recently redone, where a spacious white tablecloth dining room overlooks the lake. Festooned with wildcats, moose heads, great horned owls, fisher cats and salmon, it’s a taxidermist’s homage to the great traditions of the deep woods around Rangeley. In the rafters is suspended a vintage wood-ribbed canoe. The small living room has both a player piano and a flat screen TV (the only one at the resort) and a welcoming bar serves up draft versions of such Maine brews as Allagash White and Sebago Saddleback.

A seat with a sunset view outside the lodge at Bald Mountain.

After a drink overlooking the lake on one of the Adirondack rockers, we adjourned to dinner. The food is hearty and nicely prepared — my favorite entrée was a pork tenderloin — by Meg Godaire, who’s been cooking at the camps for 18 years. Bald Mountain Camps is one of the rarities in the north woods, a resort that still offers American plan dining to its guests. At the end of a long day outdoors, it’s all you can do to stroll to dinner.

The next day, we took to the Rangeley and Kennagbo Rivers, waters restricted to fly fishing. Here we walked into dense woods with thick moss covering the rocks underfoot, wading after the bookies and getting mostly chubs for our trouble. It was still fun, but the fact is, July is not ideal for angling. There’s some sort of aphorism about the warmest weather and the lousiest fishing. Still, these are American trophy rivers, even though the fish we were catching were not trophies. The waters were still grand. But while the lake and nearby rivers beckoned us, fly rods in hand, Philbrick estimates that no more than 10 percent of his guests come exclusively to fish anymore.

Legendary fly tier Carrie Stevens.

“Those that do come are avid and voracious fishermen,” he adds. “But the world is changing and we’ve had to adjust our approach to the future.”

To keep four and five generations of Bald Mountain guests (from 29 states and four countries) happy and coming back, Philbrick puts more focus of the resort’s other activities, such as canoeing, sailing, kayaking, boating and water-skiing. There’s a clay tennis court, with hiking and mountain biking trails are literally out the back door. A sandy beach is ideal swimming for those with small children.

“And you can always sit, look out at the lake, and read a book,” Philbrick says, an activity many people seemed content to do. The average stay is now more like four or five days, and those who stay two or three weeks “are few and far between.”

As we got ready to leave, the number of brookies each of us had caught was muddied by fishermen’s memories and perhaps a tad too much Malbec at dinner the night before. In the end, we declared it a draw.

Looking across from Bald Mountain, Philbrick told us that the thickly wooded far shore of Mooselookmeguntic is protected forever, put in a land trust years ago by some forward thinking owners.

“What you see now when you look out across the lake is what you’re grandkids will see in 100 years time,” Philbrick says.

Indeed, this is the wilder, primeval side of Maine. Times have changed but don’t lament the lack of fishermen. Just enjoy the loons, the tranquility and the incredible beauty of the Rangeley Lakes Region.

IF YOU GO

Bald Mountain Camps Resort, Oquossoc, Maine  207-864-3671.  Lodging and all meals starts at $155 per person, per day.

The town Rangeley still feels like a charming little town, on the edge of Rangeley Lake. A sprinkling of restaurants, an ice cream stand (Pine Tree Frosty overlooking Haley Pond) , and an independent bookshop, Book, Lines and Thinkers, are highlights. Float planes sit ready for adventure and on the ride into town, the imposing bulk of Saddleback, with its network of ski trails, looms over the area. The Rangeley Region Sport Shop is a good source for locally hand-tied flies.

Orgonon

A few miles outside of town is Orgonon, the former home of Wilhelm Reich, a student of Sigmund Freud and a pioneering psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and scientist. Now it’s something of a museum of curiosities about Reich, a highly controversial figure whose theories and experiments concerning human orgasms led to his eventual imprisonment during the McCarthy era.

A Gray Ghost tied by Carrie Stevens.

In the hamlet of Oquossoc is the Rangeley Outdoor Sporting Heritage Museum,  a world class regional museum that’s barely two years old. Inside is an actual 1890’s sporting camp, photos, flies, rods, and an authentic Rangeley Guide boat, all of it artfully arranged and nicely displayed. The gift shop has the usual assortment of books and cards but also fly tying equipment and vintage flies tied by the legendary Carrie Stevens, ideal for those with an extra $400 to $600 to spend. Each, it should be added.

 Visit the Rangeley Lakes Region.

Waterfront at Migis Lodge on Sebago Lake, Maine. Photo by John Grossmann.

By John Grossmann

Except for about a half hour hiking some of the trails, and a blissful hour on a massage table, and, oh yes, a post-swim stint in a wood-fired sauna, I never lost sight of Sebago Lake during a recent two-day getaway to Migis Lodge. So it is for most guests at this venerable New England summer resort, which opened in 1916 as a fishing lodge called National Camps with 11 cabins named for states.  New owners renamed it Migis (My’ gus) in 1924, borrowing the Abenaki Indian word for “the place to steal away to rest.” It is precisely that.  And considering that many of Maine’s lakes might justifiably be called Remote or Faraway, it’s definitely a plus that Sebago is less than an hour’s drive west of Portland.

Cottage at Migis Lodge

Reading on the porch of our one bedroom cottage, the clear waters of the state’s second largest lake lapped the shore only 30 yards away.  Many of the weekend meals, including a traditional lobster cookout, were eaten en plein aire at water’s edge at picnic tables on a pretty point shaded by towering white pines. My wife and I kayaked.  Took a cruise on the inn’s restored 1936 Chris Craft, the Tykona, Sebago’s mail boat in a former life.   And I relaxed near the lodge in an Adirondack chair, repeatedly lowering my magazine to gaze between the column-like trunks of the pines to a quintessential New England tableau:  blue waters, green islands in the foreground, and mountains in the distance—here, the foothills of  New Hampshire’s White Mountains. Sebago soothed me.

In summer, Migis Lodge fills with families, many of which have been coming for generations.  Ownership of the 125-acre resort is also deeply rooted and unmistakably hands-on.   The jovial chap with the St. Nick beard dishing out steamed lobsters and come dessert strawberry shortcake at Saturday night’s cookout turns out to be Tim Porta, whose parents bought the place in 1968.  Porta and his wife have been in charge for 34 summers, nowadays with the help of their son Jed.  “There used to be 17 inns on the lake. We’re the last full service inn,” Porta says, after setting aside his serving spoon and joining some of his guests at a picnic table.

Much at Migis remains little changed over the years.  Sport coats (though no longer ties) are still required for men at dinner in the dining hall.  Guests sit at the same table for each meal, with coveted spots by the windows typically reserved for families with the most tenure.  The inn, like very few resorts in the land, still operates on the full American Plan.  Cabin boys dutifully replenish cottage ice buckets. The array of bottles for the evening cocktail hour looks right out of Mad Men.  Televisions didn’t make it into the rooms until 1985.  Today, the updated, stylishly rustic rooms have flat screens, which a few tradition-minded regulars request be removed before their arrival.  Migis now boasts an open-air fitness room.  And a Wi-Fi umbrella keeps those-who-must connected to the outside world.

Boats and canoes are waiting.

But with all meals included, three lakeside clay tennis courts, a flotilla of canoes, kayaks, rowboats, motorboats and a water-ski boat, even standup paddleboards waiting on the shore, the workaday world soon recedes.  Golfers do need to head offsite a few miles, but the typical Migis guest never retrieves his or her car, except, possibly, for a rainy day pilgrimage to nearby L.L. Bean.  “When they arrive,” says Porta, “they throw their car keys on the dresser and never leave.”

First timers are often a meal or two into their stay before they’re scratching their head. Where did I…?  Did I get…? The resort’s 35 cottages and six rooms at the lodge lock only from the inside.  Migis has no room keys. Cottage entrances are generally left open to their screen door, as homes in small towns. Idyllic? Wild blueberries can be plucked from bushes alongside some of the walking paths.  Wednesday’s mid-day meal is served on a nearby island.  The Tykona ferries most guests, but some chose to work up an appetite by paddling to lunch.  Or swimming the mile to the island—a family tradition within a tradition for a few regularly returning clans.

Sauna at Migis. Photo by John Grossmann.

After Labor Day, Migis becomes more of a couple’s retreat and a wedding venue.  But in summer, it caters especially to families, many of which reserve the same week every year—and have longstanding friendships with other families that do likewise.  Julie Hall, who is 78, recalls staying here with her parents and her father’s parents, who first came to Migis Lodge in 1924.  And now she comes—always the last week in June—with her children and their children.  That makes five generations carrying on their own Migis-inspired traditions, like wrestling on the dock and the de rigueur pre-breakfast swim.  “On my mother’s 90^th birthday, we had a birthday party for her at Migis,” says Hall.  “She needed help, but she was determined to go for an early morning dip.

“What do I like most? Lots of things,” she says, pausing.  “Matter of fact, I asked one of my grandchildren that, and he started naming things till he finally said, ‘Oh, it’s just everything.’ I think we all love the fact you park your cars on the outskirts and you don’t have any automobile traffic the whole time you’re there.  I love that it is so beautiful and peaceful and there are so many trees.  And it’s wonderful to be spoiled.  There’s nothing to do except relax and have a good time.  And the people are absolutely wonderful.

“This was the first year we were there without my husband, who died last September. The first time Tim saw me—it was at the outdoor lunchtime–he came right around and gave me a great big hug and told me how sorry he was.  I don’t even know how he knew.  I got a really nice note from Tim and his wife Joan and they made a contribution in my husband’s memory to a nearby camp for kids who are struggling with cancer.”

Migis Lodge.

At the end of each stay, settling her bill, Hall always writes a second check—a deposit to reserve next year’s stay in the same cottages—Whippoorwill and Beach—the family’s lodging for last 13 years.  That way, when her children or grandchildren ask, “What about next year?” she can say they’re already booked.

It’s not often that a wall hanging actually helps you put your finger on the spirit of a place, but a framed poster from The Maine Lakes Conservancy Institute in the bathroom of our cottage effectively did just that, implying that a Sebago Lake stay at Migis, with its 3,500 feet of shoreline, offers more than a getaway. Beneath an evocative photo appeared the words of someone who spent quite a bit of time around inland bodies of water inNew England. “A lake is the landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature,” wrote Henry David Thoreau.  “It is earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.”

Migis Lodge, PO Box 40, South Casco, Maine 04077
(207) 655-4524

John Grossmann has written about food and travel for Gourmet, Cigar Aficionado, Saveur, and SKY. He was a finalist in the food journalist category of the 2010 Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards. He is the co-author, with acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton, of the book One Square Inch of Silence, (Free Press).