Where in Maine?
This wintry island is famed for its summer people. Do you recognize it?
Ah, the holidays on Long Island. That's the former name of this lengthy isle in the middle of the state's coast, and it couldn't be any more apt -- the skinny island splits one of Maine's largest bays in half, stretching for ten miles. The ferry taking islanders three miles across the water to the mainland looks cold at this time of year, even under the sunniest of skies. The village not far from this landing has been home to an exclusive summer colony since it was "discovered" by Jeffrey Brackett, a trend-setting Bostonian in 1889. He was followed by the likes of J.P. Morgan and some of the biggest names in American industry. In more recent years Hollywood has found it. You don't have to be one of the Hardy Boys to figure out what Cheers the rich and famous about the place: She's So Lovely. The year-round residents (who number 600, according to the most recent census) tend to leave the celebrities alone and go about their business building boats, working carpentry, or commuting to jobs on the mainland, boarding the ferry in the shadow of this square brick tower. The lighthouse was ordered built by President Franklin Pierce in 1851, and it was redone under command of Ulysses S. Grant in 1874, which was about the time the largest shipping fleet in the bay was working out of the island's harbors. At the lightkeeper's house is a small museum where you can learn about this sort of thing -- in the summertime, of course. For now you'll just have to content yourself with the views. Send us a note if you can identify this long isle.
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