Discovering Maine’s Hidden Gems

We just returned from an amazing family getaway with our kids. Today’s post is all about discovering Maine’s Hidden Gems.

Can you feel the warmth of the rising sun? Can you smell that tangy salt air wafting through the windows? What about that constant ebb and flow of the tide? Can you hear it!?! We packed up our car and took our boys for their first ever adventure in Maine. Growing up, I used to go to Southern Maine with my parents. We’d stay for a week in Kennebunkport; strolling the Marginal Way and devouring delicious meals at various restaurants. I also have great memories of York Beach with my best friend’s family – they had a condo up there. This was my first time heading further north in Maine. Won’t you join us in discovering Maine’s Hidden Treasures?

Discovering Maine’s Hidden Treasures

Our last family vacation was our California road trip, two years ago. Even though we love our home, we all NEEDED a change of scenery. We packed up our LL Bean duffle bags and headed to Vacationland. My friend, Andrea, booked a little cottage right on the beach back in April and it looked absolutely perfect. I asked her – Where are you staying??? And she sent me a link.

Driftwood Cottage

We stayed at this sweet little Driftwood Cottage on Popham Beach. It’s about a 3 1/2 hour drive from our home in Scituate, Massachusetts.

I took the above photo right when we arrived. The cottage is right on the beach. EVERY single room had views of the ocean. The front deck, with its views of the beach, was the perfect spot to sit and sip wine or coffee with a good book. The cottage sleeps 6. and is cozy. A little over 600 sq. ft.

Here’s a glimpse inside:

You can see more photos on the listing for the cottage here and the studio cottage next door is here. Conor really wanted to sleep in the sleeping loft, but it was a little too hot for that in August. The cottage had a fully equipped kitchen so we could make meals in and also go out. Another bonus was the large washer and dryer. Any mom knows how much laundry boys make! Ha! ha!

Here’s the view from our bedroom window:

The sweet little cottage was a perfect space to rest and relax. It’s everything we hoped it would be.

I know I alluded to this in my last post, click here if you missed it. Before this trip, I was feeling really, really burnt out. I knew I needed to rest and experience the ocean to feel creatively recharged. I knew we as a family needed to laugh and play and discover new places. THIS trip is exactly what we needed. One part that made it so special was the beach.

Popham Beach

Popham Beach in Phippsburg is probably one of the nicest beaches I’ve ever been to. I know we have many beautiful beaches in Scituate but this beach is gorgeous, long and sandy – no rocks and not much seaweed. It stretches 529 acres and is part of a state park. The cottages had private access to the beach.

I’m not sure if you can see it, but at low tide a sand bar forms and people can walk out to Fox Island. We enjoyed exploring the jagged rocks, wading in the shallow waters, and finding many sand dollars.

The beach was busy at the weekend but was really quiet during the week, which is the way we like it.

We loved waking up early and walking the beach. Walking the other way we found many structures made out of driftwood and shells.

Wood Island

This is Wood Island in the middle of the water. Can you imaging living in that home?

I couldn’t get enough of Maine’s jagged coastline and those beautiful pine trees.

Fort Popham

Further down Popham Beach is Fort Popham, a Civil War-era fortification. You can walk around the remains of the fort.

Fox Island

Down the other part of the beach, is Fox Island. At low tide you can walk across the sand bar to the island. We loved exploring the island on multiple occasions, including Conor’s birthday! He wanted to spend the whole day at the beach.

On the island are tide pools, rock outcrops, and it’s a great place to find sand dollars.

Antiquing in Maine

You guys all know how much I LOVE antiques and vintage finds. To me it’s more about the hunt, the searching, than bringing home tons of treasures. I found some really fun pieces up in Maine but was very limited in packing space so there’s lots more I wish I could have brought home. I wrote a whole separate post about our antique finds click here to read, but there were many places to stop – flea markets, multi-dealers centers, and sweet antique shops on the side of the road.

The City of Bath

Bath is the closest bigger city to Phippsburg and we spent some afternoons strolling the shops (there are many, including a fabulous kitchen shop), dining in the restaurants, and getting to know the boat building history of this famous port.

Kennebec Tavern

The views from the Kennebac tavern of the Kennebec River are glorious.

I wanted to go back here for another meal and to get a sweatshirt but we ran out of time. I absolutely love their logo!

I highly recommend the crab roll:

One cannot go to Maine and not eat blueberries. This pie was juicy and not too sweet. I’m not sure if you can tell form this picture but it had a cut out pine tree on the crust, just like the original Maine flag.

Maine Maritime Museum

Experience Maine’s seafaring history and learn more about the City of Ships in this 20 acre campus. We all enjoyed a few hours in this lovely museum. Favorite exhibits included: Into the Lighthouse (which gives the feeling of being on top of a lighthouse), touring a Victorian era home on the campus, seeing just how big the tall ships they built were, visiting the Percy & Small shipbuilder buildings, and seeing the remains of a shipwreck. The gift shop was lovely. The weather was unsettled the day we went so the boat tours were cancelled but we really wanted to do a boat cruise of lighthouses and the docks so we could see the ships Bath Iron Works are building.

Bruno’s Wood Fired Pizza

We LOVE pizza in our house. This sweet little restaurant, in the heart of Bath, had a lovely outdoor patio and fire. We celebrated Conor’s 12th birthday outside.

All the pizzas were delicious and we ordered a bunch so we could have leftover pizza the next night.

Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

We highly recommend this gorgeous garden in Boothbay. You all know how much we love flowers, but even if you don’t, its such a beautiful place to visit. I think we were there for four or five hours. There are so many lovely walking trails, many gardens, wooded trail walks, and a whole children’s garden.

I loved seeing the Dahlia Garden but LOVED it all.

It’s a wonderful place to be IN NATURE. I felt such peace walking around this beautiful place. So much care and attention has been placed into the realization of the gardens.

I wish I could recreate this little garden shed minus the gnomes which are inside (ha! Ha!)

Our boys enjoyed searching for the trolls – there are 5 hidden around the gardens.

If you go, definitely have lunch – the cafe is great and stop into the gift shop. They have lovely botanical inspired gifts!

The BEST Lemon Squares

For Conor’s birthday breakfast we went to Winnegance. An old general store turned into a restaurant and bakery. From the porch we watched the Lyndon B. Johnson make its way up the river back to Bath Iron Works.

It really was a lovely view and if you love Lemon Squares you NEED to get them here!

Five Islands

Five Islands is about a 45 minute drive from Phippsburg in Georgetown with the most gorgeous views, lovely food and farms, and an artist enclave.

Five Island Farm

Stop at this sweet farm on the way to Five Island Lobster! A charming artisan market with local cheeses, wine, craft beers, fresh oysters, pottery, paintings and more!

Five Island Lobster Co.

At the very end of the point is Five Island Lobster Co with it’s working harbor. I think it’s one of the prettiest harbors and such a gorgeous view to enjoy dinner.

Doesn’t it look like it’s out of a painting?

John and I walked down this pathway and at the end is a general store and a dock with live music.

We also visited an artist open studio over-looking the water. It was a magical evening.

Sunrises on Popham Beach

But I think one of my favorite parts of this trip were the early morning sunrises. We woke at 5:45am with the sun.

We got up early every morning and it felt like such a gift to witness the sun appearing again over such a beautiful place!

I hope you enjoyed discovering Maine’s Hidden Gems and hope this post was helpful if you’re planning your own trip up! Let me know in the comments if you have any questions!