Visiting and Back Roads

We don’t visit like we used to. Gone are the days when we’d all load into the family car on a Sunday afternoon and go visiting. These days, gas is too expensive. Working mothers need that time to catch up on housework, do laundry. Then of course there are the TV and Sunday afternoon football and baseball games. Therefore, a Sunday drive to visit family has to have a special occasion attached to it.

When we were kids, my father would take us on what he called “Mystery Rides.” We’d pile into whatever old car we had access to at the time and just go “riding.” He claimed not to know where he was going, but inevitably he’d drive up into someone’s driveway and the joke was on us. The people we visited always enjoyed our visits. We’d sit outside under a tree or something; maybe have something to drink; and just gab. Well, my father would gab at least. I mostly listened. He had the gift of gab; told great jokes; and was always welcome wherever he went.

I have no doubt that my father ran around on these same roads in a horse and buggy when he was a youngster; or courted the local ladies in an old Model T on occasion.

Those early “rides” with my father gave me a great appreciation of the “back roads” of Maine. The trips we took usually started on Route 1, but always ended up on some back road off that main thoroughfare.

There is not a back road in Maine that isn’t a pretty ride. You can’t go very far without going by some beautiful view of a body of water whether it is a pond, a lake, a river, or our wonderful ocean.

Let me be a tour guide here and give you a picture of some of my favorite back roads.

                The “Keag” South Thomaston, Maine.

         Painting by Deborah Winship, of Rockland.

Rt. 73 from Rockland to Spruce Head. Of course our family had cottages there and Aunt Virginia still does. It’s one of the prettiest rides you’ll find as it winds in and out of beautiful ocean views. When you make the turn down in South Thomaston at the Keag River, the rapids rush up to great you with a gurgling hello. The best lobster roll in the world can be found at the Keag Store. There are spots down by the Spruce Head bridge where you can stop and sit up on the rocks and look out over the ocean. A great picnic spot and folks have fun fishing off that bridge. 

Rt. 17 up around Mirror Lake, Rockville and on up through Union and up towards Augusta. We often took that route to see my grandmother up in Rockville. If you get a chance to go inside that old church, do. They used to have a special service on Mother’s Day.

Rt.1 to Rt. 15 to Orrington, Maine. A great country ride. My Aunt Alice Gray lived here on her family farm. We had a bunch of cousins there and we always liked to visit Aunt Alice and enjoy her hot yeast rolls fresh out of the oven. Usually she’d have homemade preserves to put on them too. If she didn’t have any made, she’d soon whip some up for you.

Rt. 32 to Bremen. If you take a sharp left at Kaler’s Corner over in Waldoboro, just before Moody’s, the road will take you to Bremen. Another beautiful country ride. Uncle Carl and Aunt Freda and my cousins Diane and Mary Sue lived here on their farm. When we had a Model T with a rumble seat in it, my brothers would have to hunker down in back while my mother held me in her lap, as a baby, up front. It was a cold ride for them in the winter.

If you continue on Rt. 32 you’ll run into Round Pond where they have the best ice cream in the world. Continuing again, you’ll eventually end up at Pemaquid Point, where you’ll find the true “rockbound” coast of Maine. It’s one of my very favorite places.

Another route I’ve rediscovered in the past two summers is Rt. 131, down towards Tenants Harbor and Port Clyde. I find it’s now a busy little place in the summer, with some neat shops and quaint places to grab a bite to eat. I spent a wonderful afternoon with some old friends down that way. When my father and I both had mopeds, we once drove them down there from Spruce Head; had lunch at that general store; and drove back. I still have the pictures of us on our mopeds that day.

Rt. 183 off Rt. 1 in Ellsworth goes by Tunk Lake, one of the most beautiful and serene lakes I ever saw. I had to go by there many times when I went to school downeast. My best friend’s father, Harvey Small, used to go there for the fishing.

Damariscotta Village, if you don’t use the Rt. 1 bypass, is another delightful place to visit. I have rediscovered its charm also. It has a great New England atmosphere with great shops and places to eat next to the water. I recommend a visit there highly.

While we’re at it, Wiscasset, why do you fear a bypass through your bottleneck route in the summer? Damariscotta has done well, why can’t you? If not, you could discourage many folks from coming up on Rt. 1 in Maine to visit us. There has to be a solution. Dust off your Yankee ingenuity and find it.

So I’m finished being a tour guide. Maybe I should find a publication to send this information to. Hmmm.

The next time you’re home, explore a back road you’ve never been on.  Better yet, show our out-of-state visitors some of your own favorite “back roads.”

Thanks for listening.