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Downeast
> Bar Harbor
> Blue Hill
> Castine
> Deer Isle
> Eggemoggin Reach
> Southwest Harbor
> Mt. Desert Island

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> Boothbay Harbor
> Freeport
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Down East, Downeast, Down east or DownEast
The place is really north

> Bar Harbor
> Mount Desert Island
> Blue Hill
> Castine
> Deer Isle
> Eggemoggin Reach
> Southwest Harbor

Downeast Maine is the northern-most stretch of the state's coastline, and abuts Canada's province of New Brunswick. The dividing line between downeast and the mid-coast is the city of Belfast and the Penobscot River. The term "down east" is confusing because the coast of Maine runs as much east-west as it does north-south.

Down East magazine the term we coined by ship captain sailing merchant ships in the area. "When ships sailed from Boston to ports in Maine (which are to the east of Boston), the wind was at their backs, so they were sailing downwind, hence the term 'Down East.' When they returned to Boston they were sailing upwind; thus, many Mainers still speak of going 'up to Boston,' despite the fact that the city lies approximately 50 miles to the south of Maine’s southern border.

Bar Harbor

What is there to say about Bar Harbor. It is the cliche poster boy of Maine, and it is very crowded during tourist season. If your short on shittery, you can make up the shortfall in Bar Harbor; they have t-shirts, too.

Mount Desert Island area

Southwest Harbor located on the only natural fjord--Somes Sound--on the east coast of the United States, and is a very busy seasonal community although it does support a year-round population.

The community's location on Mount Desert Island, near Cadillac Mountain and Bar Harbor, assures a constant stream of people and activities from May to October. Spring begins in May, Summer in July, Fall in September and Winder in November or December. As with most other communities along Maine's coast, the conclusion and resumption of tourist activities tends to compress with each year.

While the summer season seems to be starting earlier, the end of summer is melding into the leaf season, which is blending into the Christmas shopping period. Thus the few down months are only January to April. And with increased attention being accorded winter sports, even those months can become relatively busy.

Stonington is where cowboys drive wake-kicking lobster boats and spend their days rounding up spiny crustaceans.

This is a fishing village that grew out of the demise of the quarrying business. Unlike some other villages whose mainstay is fishing and has been for decades, Stonington personae is a bit more rough and tumble. Characteristically, a skull and crossbones flew over a float in the harbor for years.

In recent years, however, the fishing industry is being replaced by tourism as a primary source of income. Nonetheless, a lobster wrangling individualism is abundantly evident and adds a unique character to the community at the end of Deer Isle.

Blue Hill

Blue Hill’s founding and economic evolution is similar to many other communities in Down East and Mid-Coast Maine. Rising out of the forests as a ship-building community supporting marine trade and harvesting, its evolution followed the quarrying route and finally developed a tourism-based service industry.

Founded in 1762 as New Andover by settlers from Andover, Massachusetts, the village later was renamed New Port. Finally in 1789, today’s name was bestowed on the settlement.

As with many other coastal Maine communities, shipbuilding quickly became a staple industry. Small shallow draft schooners called pinkies hauled lumber and ship timbers as well as farm and marine commodities to other coastal communities. Larger ships capable of handling heavy seas sailed to Portland and Boston, where some also engaged in rum and sugar transport with Cuba

Blue Hill’s maritime-based economy declined in the mid-1800 due, at last to some extent, to the advent of steam power. That economic vacuum was filled by copper mining and granite quarrying.

While the viability of mining vacillated up and down three times between the late 1800s and the mid-20th century, it never becomes a sustaining influence. Granite quarrying, however, rose in economic prominence here as elsewhere in the state, and significant American architectural structure utilized local rock including the Brooklyn Bridge, Pittsburgh Post Office, and New York Stock Exchange. Then in the early- to mid-20th Century, Blue Hill’s stone-based economy declined concurrent with the advent of steel, concrete and cement as prominent construction materials.

As product-based commerce fluctuated, local residents struggled grudgingly welcomed the first seeds of today’s tourism industry. Their first summer people arrived from inland Maine. Locals called them rusticators, the same name given to New Yorkers and Bostonians who were trekking to locations elsewhere in Maine as well as New Hampshire.

Today, the Blue Hill Chamber of Commerce admits that initially “there was little affection” between the summer people and the rusticators, but eventually the economic value of summer people began to out-weight their intrusiveness.

Over time, the rusticator movement grew. Finally and largely parallel with the advent leisure time among the middle classes, disposable dollars, improved highways and increased urbanization in the 1960s, picturesque communities throughout the country saw the prospect of a new economic era. Blue Hill was no exception.

As it moves into the 21st Century, Blue Hill boasts a number of arts, craft and cultural offerings. While it has increased its year-round population, the community still is pretty well shuttered during the off season. Increasingly, however, it rises springs to life for leaf peepers around Columbus Day and prior to Christmas.

And in the spring, shop keepers say that each year the season opens just a little bit earlier, no longer confined to the traditional Memorial Day inauguration. All of this spells increased economic opportunity for the community and more variety for visitors.

Castine

Castine's legacy is one of repeated European conquests during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Today, it is an out-of-the-way destination that is often missed by the tourism-type tourist, but cherished by the thoughtful traveler more interested in peaceful substance.

The most bustling aspect of Castine is the Maine Maritime Academy, and that bustles only on weekend nights during the school year. This, however, is not an end-of-the road to be dismissed. Perhaps more so than many, or any, of the communities that call themselves soooo Maine, Castine peacefully achieves that plateau. Like a great opera voice, Castine arrives at its level of excellence by alighting on noteworthiness, not grasping for it.

The quiet harbor is unlike many on the Penobscot Bay in that it features a number of brick structures, unusual along the immediate waterfront in many of Maine's port communities. That is not to say that brick doesn't stand elsewhere, it does, but just is less obvious along the port margins.

A central aspect of the community the Maine Maritime Academy, which dock's State of Maine [left] in the center of town.

Deer Isle

Deer Isle is picture-book Maine! While Chambers of Commerce tend to get carried away with their own boosterism, not so with the Deer Isle group. This C of C's claim that "Deer Isle is Downeast Maine at its best" is on target. So much so, that your MaineObserver resists sharing this little treasure with you.

To reach this truly charming island, take Maine Route 15 south from Blue Hill to Sedgewick and over a high and narrow suspension bridge spanning Eggemoggin Reach, a commanding passage from Penobscot Bay. You arrive on Little Deer Isle [where the Chamber of Commerce has an information building] and after crossing a causeway you will be on Deer Isle itself.

Continuing south on Route 15, halfway down the island, is the small village of Deer Isle. Continuing further south on Route 15, you'll reach Stonington at the southern end of the island.

While Stonington is the more commercial village, the entire area has managed to retain the civility one usually associates with the "natural" Maine. Local promotional material is on the mark:

"Deer Isle is…a cluster of quiet communities where fishing is the mainstay of the economy. The spruce-crowned pink granite ledges, quiet woods and open fields, vistas of islands and sparkling water lure visitors from nearby and far away."

This is a stunning location with tons of relaxation appeal that make the area a photographer's or naturalist's dream. The beauty of the location has been well captured by three area photographers---Darwin Davidson, Terrell Lester and J. Fred Well---whose artistic works collectively serve as centerpieces on the community's Web pages. If you visit www.DeerIsleMaine.com, you'll see for yourself and be packing within minutes

Eggemoggin Reach

Eggemoggin Reach separates Deer Isle from the mainland's Blue Hill Peninsula, connected by a high, narrow suspension bridge. Eggemoggin Reach Regatta, August; Wooden Boat School; Brooklin; Sedgewick

Stonington is where cowboys drive wake-kicking lobster boats and spend their days rounding up spiny crustaceans. This is a fishing village that grew out of the demise of the quarrying business. Unlike some other villages whose mainstay is fishing and has been for decades, Stonington personae is a bit more rough and tumble. Characteristically, a skull and crossbones flew over a float in the harbor for years.

In recent years, however, the fishing industry is being replaced by tourism as a primary source of income. Nonetheless, a lobster wrangling individualism is abundantly evident and adds a unique character to the community at the end of Deer Isle.

Southwest Harbor

Southwest Harbor located on the only natural fjord--Some's Sound--on the east coast of the United States, and is a very busy seasonal community although it does support a year-round population.

The community's location on Mount Desert Island, near Cadillac Mountain and Bar Harbor, assures a constant stream of people and activities from May to October. Spring begins in May, Summer in July, Fall in September and Winder in November or December. As with most other communities along Maine's coast, the conclusion and resumption of tourist activities tends to compress with each year.

While the summer season seems to be starting earlier, the end of summer is melding into the leaf season, which is blending into the Christmas shopping period. Thus the few down months are only January to April. And with increased attention being accorded winter sports, even those months can become relatively busy.