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Ocean-side massages as waves lapped the shore, dinner featuring amazing food and a gorgeous sunset, an amenity-filled suite looking out over the bay – our weekend visit to Spruce Point Inn in Boothbay Harbor was one we will never forget.
A special Chef’s Table Dinner was our excuse to return to our favorite Bar Harbor Inn – the Bluenose – and the dinner at the Inn’s Looking Glass Restaurant was exceptional. But so is everything else at this resort with its stunning ocean views, gorgeous rooms, fabulous customer service and amenities, and one of the state’s top chefs, Arturo Montes.
Have you been to Damariscotta lately? If your answer is: well, I drove through it on my way to Boothbay Harbor – then you need to discover the brakes on your motor vehicle! Stopping in this small town is no longer an option. It’s a necessity!
Our 24-hour mini-vacation here featured a stay at the elegant Alewives and Ales Bed & Breakfast, lunch at the Damariscotta River Grill, dinner at King Eider’s Pub, a hike on conservation lands that border the river, and – of course – shopping at the original Reny’s. Damariscotta’s got it all!
Catherine Mettey has turned an old South Lubec farmhouse into a lovely cottage, available for rent throughout the spring, summer, and fall. With a great eye for design, she’s built in many amenities while keeping a lot of the old features of the house, including the kitchen sink and cupboards. The mixture of art and antiques makes for a delightful and cozy place to vacation and the ocean view is spectacular.
From the welcome bag stuffed full of Maine-made goodies, to the array of items from binoculars to rubber boats and rain jackets available to guests, Catherine goes far beyond what you’d expect from a cottage rental. This is a very special place.
The Inn on Peaks Island was the first place we visited enroute to the start of this travel column. We visited in November of 2010, taking a frigid Saturday morning walk around the island with temperatures in the 30s and winds gusting to 30 mph.
So you can imagine how much more fun it was to return on Memorial Day weekend this year - sunny with temps in the 80s! Actually, we loved Peaks in November and we really loved the island and inn on this trip.
Only a short 15-minute ferry ride from the Portland dock, the island offers a quiet, relaxing experience featuring wonderful accommodations, great food, stunning scenery, and friendly people.
We waited months for a vacancy at Rockland’s award-winning Berry Manor Inn. Many readers told us this was a great place, and now we agree!
Innkeepers Cheryl Michaelsen and Michael LaPosta, Jr. invite guests to “experience a return to graciousness and grandeur” in their historical Victorian built in 1898. They are not overstating the experience.
We stopped briefly at the Inn during Rockland’s Pies on Parade event in January and knew immediately that we wanted to return for a stay. Recognized by the state of Maine as an “Environmental Leader in Hospitality,” the owners’ commitment to the environment is exceeded only by their determination to pamper their guests. This is a very special place.
We’ve been “summering” at the East Wind Inn in Tenants Harbor for many years, spending a couple of days pretending to be wealthy summer visitors to Maine, luxuriating in the simple pleasures of the sea.
Innkeeper Tim Watts keeps it simple. He once told a Down East writer, “I want this to be as unlike a hotel or motel as it can be. There isn’t someone in your face all the time, turning down your sheets or following you around.”
He’s telling the truth. On our most recent visit last October, we didn’t even see Tim, although he was there!
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