TRAVELOG: BLUE HILL PENINSULA |
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| Let Captain D help you discover Downeast Maine, Acadia National Park The main ways of getting onto the Blue Hill Peninsula are Rtes 175 and 15 from Orland, Rte 176, and Rte 172 from Ellsworth. Rte 175 will take you along Blue Hill Bay to the Castine Peninsula. Rte 15 leads to North Penobscot and to Blue Hill. Forget about fast food or all-night gas stations down here -- neither exists. There are public restrooms in the Blue Hill municipal building TAKE ROUTE 172 (the Surry Road) to go from Ellsworth to Blue Hill. Youll pass the Black House, Four Seasons Small Engine Repair, Mitchs Antiques, Common Market Antiques and Books, The Jordan Natural Christmas Tree Farm, Sweet Pea Garden & Greenhouses, S. Baker Interior Designs, Institute for Humane Education, the Surry Inn, a U.S. Post Office, the Blue Moon Images Gallery, Surry Gardens, Advanced Diagnosis, Borealis Press, Sweet Pea Gardens, the Bay Market, the Village Boutique, the turnoff to Rte 176 and Cross Road Kiln Pottery and the Surry Machine Shop, the Morgan Bay Zendo, Surry Music Therapy Center, East Blue Hill Village, Blue Hill Marine Service, the Fine Art Photography Gallery, and, back on the road to Blue Hill, WESMAC, Surry Kennels, Classic Cars, and Surry Small Engine Service. ![]() Sheila S. Baker of S BAKER INTERIOR DESIGNS is an expert at manipulating elements of interior space to create balanced, harmonious, stylish designs that are conducive to comfortable living. Alan Wittenberg (M.A., Certified Music Therapist, American Music Therapy Association) in in charge of the SURRY MUSIC THERAPY CENTER on Cross Road in Surry. Individuals with physical, emotional, and cognitive difficulties find that music therapy opens new channels of communication and contact, bringing joy, beauty, and serenity to many individuals.Continuing on Rte 172, you'll come to the village of Surry, home of the Surry Opera Company, famous for its cultural exchanges with the former Soviet Union. Entering Blue Hill, you'll pass Dejoy, Steve's Computer Repair, Michael Hewes & Company, Blue Hill Accounting, the Blue Hill Fairgrounds, Down to Earth Pottery, a shop selling perennials, The Little Shop, Yanni's, Simplicity, the Blue Hill Yarn Shop, Peddler's Wagon Greenhouses, and Rackliffe Pottery. Across from the fairgrounds is a right turn that takes you to a trail leading up Blue Hill. The mile-long hike to the bald, craggy summit (topped with an unmanned fire tower) takes about 45 minutes. Linday Lyons says The Little Shop is a shop with big ideas. Michael Hewes & Company is a full-service building contractor specializing in complex residential projects and historic restorations. A road to the right goes to Penobscot Solar. A road to the left goes to Helen Rundell's fine art. ![]() At the BLUE HILL YARN SHOP, Edna Grindle specializes in high-quality wool yarn and natural blends including alpaca, all at prices a bit lower than those found elsewhere. She also offers customers free instruction. Open year round, Edna generally is available 10 to 4 on weekdays and 10 to 2 on Saturdays, although "when any of my grandchildren have a game, I leave." ![]() At RACKLIFFE POTTERY, you're welcome to watch the potters at work. They make a wide variety of lovely and functional objects from native clay. Their lead-free glazes, fired to 2,124 degrees, make possible pottery that is durable, oven-proof, and dishwasher safe. Call 207-374-2297. Look for Downeast Meets West, Turtle Mountain Mystic Art, Bagaduce Music Lending Library, Blue Hill Food Co-op, Blue Hill Tea & Tobacco, McVay's Exxon, Handworks Gallery, North Country Textiles, Jud Hartmann Gallery, Fairwinds Florist, Blue Moose Restaurant, and Saltmeadow Properties, and Sara Sara's. The Bagaduce Music Lending Library houses an extraordinary collection of over half-a-million music-related items. Open 10-5 Tues., Wed., and Fri. and by appointment. Call 374-5454. You can get fresh produce at bargain prices even if you aren't a member of the Blue Hill Food Co-op. Check it out. You're sure to find something you like. It's on the right as you're entering downtown Blue Hill. At Blue Hill Tea & Tobacco, you can check out Blue Hill pipes, a unique line of pipes made especially for co-owner David Witter. Also on hand are many premium cigars and more than 400 varieties of wine, some of which are readily affordable. Gas up at McVay's Exxon. The good guys there also can tell you why you're not banging on quite all the cylinders. At Handworks Gallery, there is a good collection of fine contemporary crafts by Maine artists. Just down the street, North Country Textiles offers low prices on discontinued items. Jud Hartmann is engaged in depicting in bronze the woodland Indian tribes of the Northeast. His work, shown at the Jud Hartmann Gallery & Sculpture Studio on Main St., is primitive and powerful, evoking primal emotional responses in many people. Exhibited also are paintings by several strikingly original artists. Say it with flowers at Fairwinds Florist Main Street Blue Hill. An excellent place to shop for beautiful and fragrant things for you. your home, camp, or motor home. Youll also find a large selection of fine chocolates, well worth stopping in for on their own. Fine Dining at a Fair Price is what you get at Blue Moose Restaurant on Main Street in Blue Hill. They offer two size entrees one is big and other one is bigger. Priced accordingly the food is excellent . I always order the smaller portion since I am not a big eater and have always come away quite satisfied. In this world of overpriced everything its real nice to have a place that not only serves the finest food using locally and often organically grown produce, but a place one can afford to take the family out to eat at. Stop by and enjoy a very memorable culinary experience. It's pretty hard to drive around the Blue Hill Peninsula without wanting to own a piece of it. Well, Jim and Bonnie Paulas at Saltmeadow Properties can help you out with that. They're hometown professionals who know the area intimately and take pride in matching buyers and sellers. Call them at 374-5010. Sara Billings owner of Sara Saras on Main street in Blue Hill offers a unique colorful and well stocked selection of womens clothing for all occasions. Guys also.This is a real nice place to shop for that gift you been meaning to gsive your sweetie. 207-374-2227 Just beyond Sara Sara's, on the Parker Point Road, you'll fine Liros and Leighton galleries and Vicki Mitchell's Watsu & WaterDance Therapy. Back on Main Street, look for North Light Books and the Blue Hill Hearth Bakery and Pizzeria. The neighborhood book store is alive and well in Blue Hill. North Light Books is as good as they come. Especially appealing is the extensive childrens section. The Blue Hill Hearth Bakery and Pizzeria, formerly Pain De Famille Bakery, has moved in with North Light Books on Main Street,Blue Hill. Cathy is back and baking up a storm. A Mini Borders of sorts,customers can read a great book while they enjoy some of Cathys excellent sandwiches , wraps and soup. Great sweet treats abound several selections of coffee and there will be Gourmet Pizza served every day. Delivery within 5 miles will also be available. Other Main Street shops include the Fish Net Restaurant, Beachcomber Bills Jewelry, the Meadows, the Blue Hill Wine Shop, the Judd Hartman n Gallery, Compass Point Real Estate, the Table Restaurant, , New Cargoes,the Weekly Packet.ROUTE 15 from Blue Hill to Orland goes by Blue Hill Books, Coastal Carpentry, another carpentry, Blue Hill Farm Country Inn, Pines, Blue Hill Country Garden, Ken Rose Farm B&B, Babson & Co., Horsepower Farm, belted guernsey cattle, the Balsum Cove Campground, G.M. Allen and Sons, Inc, and its big power-producing windmill and Blueberry Patch Shop, coming out on Route One at a Big Apple Food Store. North of Blue Hill village, you'll find Ken-Rose Farm, circa. 1850. More than a charming bed and breakfast, it also is an old-fashioned, small, one-family working farm. Here you'll find milking cows, pigs, ducks and lots of friendly cats and dogs. It's a wonderfully comfortable home with a wood stove in the kitchen to make cold days cozy. Guests enjoy a full breakfast with homemade breads, muffins and butter. Call Kendall or Flossie Howard at 207/374-2468, or write to them P.O. Box 1035, Blue Hill, ME 04614. ROUTE 177 out of Blue Hill takes you by the Captain Merrill Inn and Restaurant, the Merrill and Hinckley General Store, and Rowantrees Pottery before hooking up with Route 15. Corey Paradise of Paradise Tattoo at 49 Main Street Suite # 3 (around the Corner on Water Street) in Blue Hill has a knack for creating the best looking tattoos in the area. Corey offers original award winning designs or he can work from your own ideas and artwork to create just the effect desired. All in a professional environment using completely sterile, single use needles. Call 207-902-0263. Local folks as well as tourists consider the PANTRY RESTAURANT on Water Street to be a great place to get breakfast or lunch. One of the few breakfast places in the area. Debbie Dyer, the restaurants owner, has been serving folks for over two decades. In the photo, she is talking to some of her regulars, members of the Old Coots Club. Look for the Yellow Pantry Restaurant Awning. Call 207-374-2229.The Holt House on Water Street, administered by the local historical society, is a restored Federal house with period furnishings and exceptional stenciling. It is open 2 to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Friday during July and August. Admission is $1. In the 1960s, Jeff Kaley spent two years with the Peace Corps in Napal. He made some lifelong friendships in this neck of the world and returns here often. He got interested in products of the region and began buying what ultimately became stock for his shop, Asian World Imports. The result is one of Maines more interesting shops. Situated on Rte 15, a quarter mile from downtown Blue Hill, its the place to find clothing, jewelry, boxes, and accessories from Southeast Asia. Liros Gallery keeps a wide variety of material on hand, but specializes in Russian Icons. Blue Hill has a nice public park on the water. There is a public beach and good playground equipment. Fishing is popular off the town pier behind the fire house. Judith Leighton says she chooses art that celebrates life, so that people who visit her gallery wind up feeling good. Maine Times, noting that Leighton's art tends to be "colorful, fun, folkish, full of animals, flowers and pleasing forms," called her Parker Point Road gallery Maine's best. Each summer, Leighton schedules a series of month-long shows featuring six artists at a time. Her backyard is a garden of art punctuated with carved, cast, molded and welded sculpture. A left off of Main Street will put you on Water Street heading to the Holt House, Paradise Tattoo, William McHenry Architect, the Pantry Restaurant, Bella Colours, and Andean Downeast. Keep going and you'll get to The Little Shop, Birdwatcher's Store and Cafe, Emerson's Antiques, the Blue Hill Memorial Hospital and a public boat launch. Andean DownEast 27 Water Street is a great place to buy warm and soft Alpaca and Lama wool sweaters , jackets and hats. A great gift shop with some of the most attractive turquoise jewelry youll find DownEast. A nice art gallery of local artist offers unique paintings for sale in a bright side room. 207-374-2313 ![]() The BIRD WATCHER'S STORE AND CAFE, a business catering to bird enthusiasts and backyard nature watchers, offers quality supplies and gifts as well as information, discussions and factual seminars with professionals and fellow enthusiasts. It's also a Cafe providing sumptuous food, fresh ingredients, and daily specials. Proceed straight through downtown Blue Hill if youre heading to South Blue Hill or Brooklin. Youll pass the Arborvine Restaurant. Turn left when you reach the Tradewinds Marketplace. Nearby there is a pharmacy, a thrift store nearby, a gas station and small market . Watch for the Mainescape Garden Shop and a Shade Different. Mainescape is a relaxing sort of place with many nicely kept beds of carefully labeled perennials. If you like, you can walk down to the waterlily pond and sit a spell on the comfortable lawn chairs. The sales help is courteous and knowledgeable. Prices are reasonable. On your right will be the Barncastle Inn and Restaurant. Youll come to Rte 175, the road to South Blue Hill. Keeping on going South on 172, youll enter Sedgwick. Youll pass the road to Helen Rendell Fine Art. Youll go by Coastal Designs, Shades of Gray (fine art photography), Basil Bowden Carpentry, the road to American Native Indian stuff, by the Granite Shop, a sign shop. Barncastle is neither a barn nor a castle. Its name notwithstanding, this remarkable place is an inn and fine restaurant. Built in the 1880s, it was the first of Blue Hill's grand summer cottages. It's in the National Registrar of Historic Places. In Sedgwick, youll want to check out Coastal Designs. Here youll find jelly cabinets, breadboxes and clocks that double as pieces of art and much, much more. On hand also is a full range of songbird motif table and wall lamps. Route 172 ends, and a left turn leads to Brooklin. Watch for Benjamin River Marine, a building outfit, Everything Electrical, a boat lettering business, Eggemoggin Oceanfront Lodge, handmade papers, the Brooklin Inn, the Brooklin General Store, the Morning Moon Café, Web of the Quill, Handknit Originals, the Blossom Studio, Cenergy Massage Therapy, Maine Gem Jewelry, art and knives Gallery, Lee Clark Allen Gallery, past the road to the Lookout Inn, Creeping Thyme Gift Shop, back into Blue Hill by the Sleigh Bell Shop, Arbor Options tree service, and by the reversing falls. Mike and Cheryl Roy invite you to stop by their Brooklin General Store for all your supplies. You can get lunch and fuel as well as groceries, beer and wine at their full deli. Also in Brooklin, the Morning Moon Cafe provides homecooking and daily specials, all at competitive prices. In this quiet village, you'll find a library much loved by E.B. White, a canvas shop and the Wooden Boat School. The Lookout Inn in Brooklin has been owned and operated by the descendants of the Flye family for over a century. Today, it is a unique country inn and gourmet restaurant. On hand is a super selection of wines from around the world. This place is not inexpensive Route 175 north from Brooklin reaches Blue Hill Falls, a narrow passage with impressive tidal surges. This is a rare reversing falls, and it attracts adventurous whitewater canoeists and kayakers. In South Blue Hill, you can visit Haight Farm where hydroponically-grown produce is the order of the day. Call 374-2840.Keep going straight on 176 and 15 if you want to go to Brooksville, Sedgwick, Deer Isle/Stonington, Penobscot and Castine (for a more direct route to Castine take 177 to South Penobscot). On 176, you'll come to the Jonathan Fisher Memorial, a Federal house built in 1814 by Fisher, includes paintings, furniture and a collection of his unusual inventions. Renaissance man Fisher, a Blue Hill resident, was a scholar, minister, artist, and inventor. Tours are conducted between 2 and 5 p.m. July 1 to mid-Sept. Further on, check out Marlintinis Grill for good food and good drink in a cozy, colorful Caribbean atmosphere, Watch for Mark Bell Pottery and, beyond that, Quilted Artistry. At roads end, Rte 15 goes left to Deer Isle and Rte 176 goes right to Penobscot and Castine. Take the right and you'll go by by antiques and handmade furniture. If you take the left towards Deer Isle, you'll go by Auto Body (antique auto restoration), Country View Drive-In, the Junction of Rte 175 (which goes to the Oakland House, Island Soap Gifts, Old Cove Antiques, and, on Rte 15, the Gallery on Caterpillar Hill, a spectacular scenic view, and Pine Ridge (mini-golf and driving range). Crossing in to Sargentville, look for the Eggemoggin Country Store, boat storage, a Mexican restaurant. At road's end, Rte 175 goes left, Rte 15 goes right. A left will take you by the Eggemoggin Textile Studio. Turn right and lLook for Summerbeam, Eggemoggin Custom Carpentry and Sailing Lessons. Taking the right, An impressive suspension bridge leads onto Deer Isle. The EGGEMOGGIN COUNTRY STORE serves as the center of community life hereabouts. On hand are pretty much all of life's necessitiesfresh produce, meat, and other staples; a wonderful little bakery; the latest videos, fuel, magazines and newspapers, and 24 and more varieties of soft serve ice cream. Here also is an Agency Liquor Store. You can buy gifts, and drop off dry cleaning, and recycle cans and bottles. A large bulletin board will keep you up to speed regarding community happenings.A left at Gray's Corner Will point you toward the Brooksvilles (North Brooksville , West Brooksville, South Brooksville and just plain Brooksville) , This is the way to Cape Rosier and the Holbrook Sanctuary. In Brooksville, you'll find the Sow's Ear Winery on Route 176 right by the Herrick Road. Here, you're invited to sample the cider and fruit wines. The dry, English-style cider is made from the juice of organically grown, unsprayed apples. It is allowed to ferment naturally in oak barrels, a process that sometimes takes two years to complete. Fruit wines are made from summer rhubarb and choke cherries. Wines here are coarsely filtered, allowing continued development in the bottle and the creation of sediment as a result of ageing. Gail Disney creates rag rugs in her weaving studio here. Bucks Harbor Market in South Brooksville is a real old-fashioned general store where you'll find plenty of supplies as well as icredible baked goods, including fresh-baked focasia bread often times still warm from the oven. The Landing Restaurant at Bucks Harbor provides free overnight guest moorings. During the summer, people here monitor channel 16 for reservations. Cape Rosier is a sparsely-populated peninsula devoted largely to Holbrook Island Sanctuary, a 1,345-acre state wildlife preserve with hiking trails, and picnic areas. The 115-acre island is accessible by private boat. Helen and Scott Nearings' homestead has been turned into a farm education center. Eliot Coleman, who has developed innovative cold-season growing methods, has his garden here. Eggemoggin Store on route 15 in Sedgwick gets its name from the famed Eggemoggin Reach which separates the Blue Hill Peninsula from Little Deer Isle, Deer Isle and Stonington. It is a full-service grocery store and just about everything else store with gasoline and diesel fuels. Keep going, and you'll pass thru Brooklin and eventually reach Naskeag Point where a sandy beach, nearly hidden by spruces, affords a nice view of Brooklin's small but active yachting harbor. The property in Sargentville on which the Oakland House sits has been in Jim Littlefield's family since the 1700s. Today, visitors are urged to choose from among a wide variety of accommodations, including 15 cottages of various design. Rates vary; some are eminently affordable. Also on the property is Shore Oaks, a palatial bed and breakfast. There are trails to hike and a private beach on three-mile-long, freshwater Lake Winnewaug. Call (207) 359-8521. The Oakland House is the only Downeast resort featured in "The Best Bargain Family Vacations in the U.S.A." From Sargentville, you can turn left on Rte 175 and head towards Sedgwick and Brooklin. A right turn will put you on Rte 15, which leads to Deer Isle. Back on Rte 176 in Penobscot, you'll see the Northern Bay Market. Whether you prefer lobster, crabs, or clams, you'll find them fresh here, and at the best prices around. You can get freshbaked bread and pastries here as well. Toss in some cold beer and soda, and you have everything you need for that picnic. Look for BLOSSOM FARM on the Back Ridge Road. Here Dave and Theresa Weigel and a big, black German Shepard named Mojo enjoy the spectacular views while drinking Go-Chi, a delicious-tasting health tonic that made David feel so good he up and rode his bicycle to Maine from Orlando, Florida. The antique Blossom Barn is known for the poem painted by an itinerant poet in the 1970s. To learn more about Go-Chi and to help support restoration of Dave's farm (and, by extension, the planet) visit www.berrybest2u.com.
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