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Cover photo by Adam Woodworth
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From the trail to the taproom to the tidal pool, from the lake to the lunch counter to the lobster shack, let our second (annual?) scavenger hunt be your guide to everything the Pine Tree State has to offer in the season when it shines brightest. This is your summer to discover something new. Happy hunting.
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Commune at Pulpit Rock
When the sea drains out of Robbinston’s Mill Cove at low tide, it exposes red sandstone cliffs, faces worn into undulating columns and deep passages. Follow the shoreline southeast and the cliffs get higher, the overhangs deeper; here and there are freestanding sea stacks, the most impressive of which is known as Pulpit Rock. The hike out should only be undertaken during an outgoing or low tide — check the charts; this is important — but the little-known landmark is worth the trip, rising 38 feet to a bouldery summit like a raised fist, crowned with straggly trees. Park in the Maine DOT pull-out at Mill Cove, where Rte. 1 meets Ridge Rd. Follow the short, steep path to the shore and walk southeast along the shoreline until you reach Pulpit Rock, about a mile. Stay in the intertidal zone and respect private property on the mainland.
► Selfie: There’s really no bad place to shoot this gravity-defying spire, so just get it in the frame.
Benjamin Williamson
37
Go Birdhouse-Watching in Moscow
We don’t know what first motivated someone to hang a birdhouse on this wood-plank retaining wall on Route 201 in Moscow, but whoever it was inspired dozens of copycats. Unsuspecting motorists spot a burst of color and whiz by, staring, delighted and/or perplexed. At last count, there were nearly 100 birdhouses, painted to look like churches, log cabins, boats, hot-air balloons, even a miniature White House. Many are signed, often with references to a fine vacation spent fishing and camping in the area. It’s as if the wall were a giant guestbook for the upper Kennebec River Valley. Rte. 201, about 8 miles north of downtown Bingham.
► Selfie: It’s dangerous to pull over and/or walk on the narrow, two-lane Route 201, so give the birdhouses your own drive-by stare, then snap your selfie in front of the Benedict Arnold interpretive placard at the Wyman Lake rest area, about 1½ miles north of the whimsical wall.
Ben Thomas
38
Experience Frye’s Leap
Inveterate New England beer drinkers know Frye’s Leap as a classic Maine India pale ale, introduced by Sebago Brewing Company back in 1998, when a great piney, hoppy IPA was still a rare find around here. Maine geography buffs know Frye’s Leap as a striking, 50-foot granite outcrop on Sebago Lake. Legend has it one Captain Joseph Frye leapt off the cliff to escape hostile pursuers during the French and Indian Wars. Both SBC’s flagship beer and its legendary namesake have withstood the test of time: the former’s celebrating 20 years; the latter has glacial striations going back, oh, about 30,000.
► Selfie: A shot on the water with Frye’s Leap cliff behind you. Put in a kayak, canoe, or SUP at the Frye Island Ferry terminal at the south end of Raymond Neck, then follow the shoreline just over a half-mile east. Rent a boat from Sebago Trails Paddling Co. in Raymond (207-894-4696). Powerboats and sailboats work too. Stay off the cliffs, as they’re super dangerous and private property. You’ll probably want a beer after, so swing by SBC’s nearby new brewery and tasting room (616 Main St., Gorham; 207-856-2537) or find a Frye’s Leap near you with SBC’s handy beer finder.
Courtesy Victoria Mansion
39
Get All 19th-Century Portland Opulent
Victoria Mansion is among the most impressive and finest preserved mid-19th-century houses in the country, thanks to its imposing brownstone tower, richly painted interiors, and thousands of objects — silk flowers to wine glasses — that belonged to its original owners. Conservators are currently restoring the reception area to its original brightness, the latest in a long line of preservation projects. Meanwhile, special events ensure that repeat visitors experience the mansion in new ways. Coming up: Fashion in the Victorian & Early Edwardian Age (May 1–31), an exhibit of women’s dress and accessories; an annual block-party (June 29) celebrating the release of a Victoria Mansion–inspired Allagash ale (made with wine grapes); and Opera at the Mansion (July 16), a Mozart-themed evening with Opera Maine singers performing in the stair hall. 109 Danforth St., Portland. 207-772-4841.
► Selfie: Stand anywhere out front and get a shot alongside this National Historic Landmark’s grand windows, doors, or Ionic columns.
Benjamin Williamson
40
Rock Out Outside Millinocket
On the road to Baxter State Park from Millinocket, you almost always have a great view of Katahdin, but maybe the loveliest vantage point is from next to the Pockwockamus Rock, otherwise known as the “Keep Maine Beautiful” rock. Tired of finding graffiti and trash at the site, campers in the Maine Youth Conservation Corps set out to paint the giant rock, about a mile east of Baxter’s south entrance, in 1979. Decades later, their scheme seems to have worked, and the rock remains an attraction in its own right, with visitors regularly stopping to pose alongside it. It’s needed a little freshening up over the years, and volunteers have stepped up to care for it, including celebrated Maine artists Abbott and Nancy Meader, who tended to the mural for more than two decades. It looks as spiffy as the day it was painted.
► Selfie: Pull over, gape at Katahdin, stand by the rock, snap the pic. And keep Maine beautiful.
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