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!
I’ve been to Maine a few times but have never visited these places. Time to plan a trip!
Yes, you MUST go back! We had such a wonderful trip.
You visited many of our favorite Maine destinations on this trip. So peaceful and restorative. Makes me want to plan another trip right now!
It really was peaceful and restorative. We want to go back!
Thank you for taking us along on your wonderful trip. Just beautiful!,
I’m so glad you enjoyed seeing our trip. It was nice to getaway.
I’ve been to Maine many times, but never to these wonderful spots. What a totally magical vacation. Thanks for taking the time to share with us.
Judy
It really was magical and such a pleasure to share. The gardens, the beach, all so wonderful!
It looks like you guys had a great time! The last time I visited Maine was many years ago when our family and friends went white water rafting on the Kennebec. I may just have to go back! A visit to Five Island Farm may be in order! Sounds like my kinda place!
We really did! Oh, wow! That must have been amazing to white water raft on the Kennebec. Was it scary? You would LOVE Fie Island Farm and the views from Five Island Lobster Co. xx
It was fun! But I was in my 20’s…I’d probably be scared to death now! Lol! The following year, we all went up again and rafted the Penobscot. One of my friends did get thrown from the raft in front of uson that trip! Luckilly, the rafting company staff knew exactly what to do and we had a happy ending! Made for good conversation around the campfire that night! 🙂
Hi Danielle,
Oh!!!! Those flowers!!!! God doesn’t disappoint in the details. The sea, the foods, the smell of the salt air and that little red barn antiques…all right up my alley. A really refreshing trip I can tell. Maybe someday I will get out there!!!
Welcome back.
So true. We spent 4 or 5 hours walking the gardens and we could have spent the whole day there. EVERYTHING was so beautiful! You would have loved ALL the antique shops we went in. It was so much fun just to look.You would absolutely love Maine. I just know you would!
It has been many years since I visited Maine. SO fun to see it again through your eyes. Laura
It was wonderful. I much needed vacation filled with inspiration, rest, and beauty!
We travel to Maine every year. It never disappoints!!! The Botanical Garden is a favorite!
So glad you made the trip!
Lucky you to go to Maine every year! That must be so lovely. The Botanical Gardens are gorgeous. We loved them.
I pinned this! What a lovely compilation of some beautiful places in Maine. We’ve been to Maine a couple of times (once coming from the South, another time from Canada and down). There wasn’t enough time to find the hidden gems, let alone those cool trolls! Thanks for sharing, Danielle.
Aw, thank you, Rita! I’m so glad you enjoyed this post. I’d only ever been to southern Maine and I really didn’t realize just how HUGE Maine is. We definitely want to go back again and see more!
Many years ago we stayed at Popham Beach. Loved it! We had a little cabin on a small lake or pond but across the road was a campground that we were allowed to go through for beach access. I love this little place you stayed it. I would love to go back.
Debra, you should go back! It’s magical!
I should and I researched and learned where you stayed used to be the campground that I mentioned that gave us the beach access lol.
When I read your comment I thought it might be. It’s such a sweet little spot and we loved the cottage we stayed in.
Being a girl of the Southeast, I typically venture to the beaches here in NC or SC, but this post has me seriously wanting to visit Maine. So! Gorgeous!
We’ve never been to the beaches in NC or SC and would love to go. Let me know if you have any recommendations down there. I think you’d love Maine!
I wanted to get up to the Botanical Gardens all summer!! It’s definitely on the top of my to-do list next year!!
You have to go next year. It really was so beautiful!
Beautiful!
It was a lovely trip and I’m so glad I can share it with you guys!