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Once Upon a Time I visited New
Harbor, Maine 
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A view from Barbara's
porch in New Harbor, Maine. September, 2009 |
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Barbara Richardson at New Harbor Bay
In late-August/early-September, 2009, I
spent a week visiting Barbara
Richardson at her summer home overlooking the ocean in New Harbor,
Maine.
Located on Pemaquid Peninsula --
which Good Morning America calls the most spectacular area of Maine
-- New harbor is one of the last working harbors remaining along the
Atlantic mid-coast.
An interesting aside: Lookout
Hill in New Harbor is a "mountain summit in Lincoln County
in the state of Maine (ME). Lookout Hill climbs to 108 feet (32.92
meters) above sea level."
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Barbara's Cottage
This small, basic, two-bedroom cottage facing
the harbor is where Barbara spends her summers.
Barbara's family was from Maine, and she was
born and raised in New Harbor. But, like her siblings, she left Maine for
college and professional career. Before their deaths, her parents sold the
family home, so she now rents this cottage each summer.
According to a New
Harbor promo, "The harbor and surrounding area are steeped in the
rich history of fishing, lobstering and boat building. The peninsula is
mostly residential with large tracks of undeveloped land... Things here are
simple, peaceful, relaxed and move at a comfortable pace. This is what sets
New Harbor apart and attracts most of our visitors." |
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September, 2009 |
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September, 2009 |
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A Maine Lobster Dinner
During the week I was visiting Barbara, I had
lobster in one form or another every day. Interestingly, I never have lobster
at home.
This is a picture a lobster dinner we had on
Barbara's porch overlooking the harbor. We got the lobsters from a local
fisherman, who cooked them for us.
_________________
Maine imposes a maximum legal size of between
3 8/32” and 5” inches carapace-length so all our biggest breeders, which
may produce 100,000 eggs rather than the average 10,000 eggs, can stay in the
population and continue to add to the lobster stock yearly.
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Barbara
Barbara and I go back a very long ways to our
days together in the early 1980's at the National
Institute of Education.
Barbara went on to become a dean at West
Virginia Wesleyan College, and then professor at Western Michigan
University, from which she retired in 2006.
Barbara now divides her time between Naples,
FL, New Harbor, ME, and Ypsilanti, MI. At her Michigan home, she has three
Christmas trees, which she keeps up and decorated all year.
In various years, I have visited her in each of these.
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September, 2009 |
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September, 2009 |
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Elizabeth
This is at the Lobster Wharf, where we ate
lobsters! You can see lobster boats in the harbor.
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Monhegan
Island Overnight
Monhegan Island is 12 nautical
miles off the coast of Maine in the open ocean. It is an artist
colony, popular in the summer, and accessed by ferry. We stayed
at the Monhegan
Island Inn.
We had a beautiful evening the
first night we were there, took some walks, had a great lobster
dinner.
The next day, when we were
leaving, Hurricane Danny passed off the coast and set the ocean
churning. The winds roared, the waves crested at six to seven
feet, and the ferry tossed and turned...sea sickness for many. I
must say it was really a fun ride!
But Barbara and I were glad to
get back (and Brian was relieved to learn).
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Monhegan Island ferry boat
landing as we were getting ready to leave, September, 2009 |
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September, 2009 |
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Boothbay
Whale Watch
The next day, we took a whale viewing tour on
the Harbor Princess. It
was a lovely day, clear skies, warm temperatures, calm seas. We
started off with a tour of New Harbor and its various islands, homes,
wildlife and historic lighthouses. Then
we put out to sea to the whales feeding grounds, looking for Finbacks,
Humpbacks, Minkes, dolphins and porpoises, harbor seals, sharks, ocean
sunfish and a great variety of open ocean birds. We
saw lots of dolphins, but all the whales got scared away by Hurricane Danny.
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