Where in Maine?
By Photograph by Kevin Shields
Under the October sun, this stretch of shorefront looks like Anyplace, Maine. The rocks push out into water that might be salt, might be fresh, might be a river, might be a lake. The trees glow pleasantly against the blue, the air is clear, and the light is bright. This photo could have been taken anywhere. But these 500 acres are actually quite unique, making for a piece of rarefied real estate with so many fine features that not one, not two, but four different state and local agencies banded together in 1989 to preserve the spot for perpetuity. This is, in fact, a headland on one of the midcoast's more important (and multisyllabic) rivers, and it attracted the attention of preservationists for a number of reasons. There is more than 8,000 feet of river frontage here with pocket sand and pebble beaches, there are old growth trees along with several notable plant communities, there are Native American middens, and the remains of a brickyard that turned out building blocks in the late nineteenth century. These days the local economy runs on oyster farming, retirement communities, health care, and tourism. The Bureau of Parks and Lands manages this park for "hiking, clamming, worming, skiing, swimming, nature study, habitat management, and forestry demonstration." Which is a long-winded way of saying that people like to recreate here. This time of year it's foliage that provides the draw. Send us a note if you can identify this sunny preserve.
