The color of Maine
Off Route 1, Blue Hills offers charm, history

By Tory Haiss, Globe Correspondent, 07/28/02

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CASTINE, Maine — Between Camden and Bar Harbor, the Blue Hill Peninsula has managed to deflect summer hordes of visitors away from its narrow roads and secluded views. Although it lies just off Route 1, it is relatively remote. The towns that circumnavigate dot the shoreline are small, and there are no New England village greens with bandstands under the austere gaze of white church steeples.

By early European settlers, The region was regarded as a wasteland by early European settlers. The glacial terrain features rounded hills and barren expanses bared to the underlying pink granite. The British Puritans were horrified by the Catholic tendencies of French traders and Jesuits who befriended the local Wabanaki tribes, and both nations claimed the same territory. Early settlers were rumored to be fugitives from the law and creditors, which made Maine the equivalent of Australia's Botany Bay.

Colonists established homes on the coast of Maine because it was accessible, navigating the Downeast coastline and major rivers. By the late 18th century, small communities were scattered from the Piscataqua to the St. Croix, and among them on the Blue Hill Peninsula was Castine, settled in 1604 and one of the oldest towns in the state. Situated prominently on the eastern shore of Penobscot Bay, Castine during the American Revolution was the scene in 1779 of a disastrous expedition that tarnished the reputation of Boston silversmith Paul Revere, who commanded the land artillery. Although the Americans outnumbered the British, who were prepared to surrender, the Americans never attacked. Instead, they burned much of their fleet their fleet of 17 ships and fled for home.

Visitors to Fort George and Fort Madison, both built in Castine during the American Revolution and the War of 1812, can walk in the footsteps of British soldiers and look over Cape Rosier and the islands of Penobscot Bay. In the mid-1800s, Maine's clipper ships and windjammers became famous for their cargoes of timber, potatoes, salt cod, and apples. Eclipsed in time by steamships, the windjammers first disappeared and then took these days take on passengers instead of cargo.

Maine's fleet of windjammers now joins private sloops and commercial boats out on the water.

Also Located in Castine is the Maine Maritime Academy, established in 1941 by an act of the state Legislature. The first class of 29 students stayed at a local inn and trained on a schooner out of Camden. By the end of World War II, MMA had graduated almost 400 men who served in the merchant marine US Merchant Marine in every maritime combat area. The 500-foot T.S. State of Maine (or (the T.S. stands for Training Ship) spends two months each spring sailing abroad with a crew of freshmen and juniors to Europe or South America.

From Castine on empty roads we turn east around the Bagaduce River. A hand-painted sign outside a house on Cape Rosier says in large green letters, "Lobsta." Donated to the state in 1971, the state-owned Holbrook Island Sanctuary consists of 1,200 acres.

Following a washboard road over which are that features what seem like hunting parties of dragonflies, we reach a half-dozen marked trails that explore a variety of ecosystems, from marshes and ponds to beaches and mud flats. Access is maintained during the winter for cross-country skiers. A short distance away are the reversing falls at Goose Pond. The beaches and points of Cape Rosier are named after early residents, Blake and Emerson, although I find myself thinking of British romantics and American transcendentalists.

Along Route 176 to the Singing Bridge, the suspension bridge over Eggemoggin Reach, we pass Bucks Harbor at low tide, draped in seaweed and stuffed with sailboats. Eggemoggin Reach itself is known among sailors as a tricky place. Commercial fishing is still the basis of the local economy on Little Deer Isle and Deer Isle, the second largest of Maine's coastal islands. The bridge to the mainland was built only in 1939. Although the summer resorts of Bar Harbor and Ogunquit are better known, Deer Island has been a quiet summer destination since the 1800s.

The Haystack Mountain School of Crafts is located on a southeast slope overlooking the ocean. Classes in areas such as woodworking, pottery, and textiles attract both amateur and professional artists from all over the country. Additional programs are designed for Mainers and other New England residents.

Route 15 passes through the town of Deer Isle, scattered with B & Bs, small restaurants, antique shops, and art galleries. In Stonington, a bronze statue and a museum are dedicated to the granite workers who manned the local industry at the turn of the century. Deer Isle granite was shipped to New York City for the Rockefeller Center, the New York County Courthouse, cq and the George Washington Bridge.

A 12-foot tide rises and ebbs in the harbor, edged with the stone ledges that made the town famous. A ferry leaves for Isle au Haut, and in the summer, Maine's windjammer fleet sails by Mark Island Light offshore. Established The lighthouse was established in 1857; in 1959, the keeper's quarters but not the tower burned. in 1959. Nearby is the Crockett Cove Woods Preserve, 100 acres of spruce and tamarack, golden in the fall; and the Nature Conservancy's Barred Island Reserve, connected by a sand bar at low tide to the mainland.

Back at the north end of Little Deer Isle, we drive out to the end of Eggemoggin Road for a closer look at the Pumpkin Island Light. Vegetable gardens are fenced to keep out deer, in against deer, and a red-shingled barn has faded to pink. Rose hips form on the rosa rugosas next to blueberry fields. In August A couple of dozen motor and sailboats rest at their moorings, bows all pointed into the sunset. The end of the road is an affluent enclave of summer cottages, most with extravagant wraparound porches and long docks that stretch into the cove.

Everywhere there are "Private road" and "no parking" signs, which we peacefully ignore.

Crossing again the Singing Bridge once more, we head east between Sargentville and Sedgewick.Sedgwick. There are half a half-dozen fine examples of connected architecture, century-old saltwater farmhouses with attached barns and views of Eggemoggin Reach. We circle through Brooklin, the home of the WoodenBoatcq School on Naskeag Point. and also the magazine of the same name. More than 60 students each summer travel to the campus to take classes in boatbuilding, restoration, and navigation; the popular courses are taught offsite as well from Florida to California.

At Blue Hill Falls, the tide is tumbling out of Salt Pond through a narrow channel, creating a 200-yard stretch of white water that attracts kayakers and canoeists. Granted in 1762 to veterans of the French and Indian Wars, Blue Hill was named after its many blueberry fields. On the southern slope of the mountain is Kneisel Hall, the site of a chamber music school and festival. Established in 1902, the campus now includes a concert hall, a chamber music center, and a recording studio. Summer concerts are held on Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons.

We park on the side of Mountain Road, where a marked trail climbs to the summit of Blue Hill. The lower end of the Osgood trail is lined with waist-high ferns and ancient white oaks. There are twisted apples apple trees and an enormous 100-year-old yellow birch. These yield to balsam fir as we start to climb.

After a mile of easy hiking, at the 935-foot summit we ascend the narrow stairs of a fire tower until we reach a trap door, which is padlocked. Penobscot Bay and the features of ponds and ridges spread out below us, and in the air are the ghosts of sailors and soldiers centuries old.

Tory Haiss is a freelance writer who lives in China, Maine.