Planning your trip to Maine

1/10

The Marshall Point Lighthouse is located just five minutes from Port Clyde at the mouth of the St. George River. The lighthouse, which was built in 1858, is under the jurisdiction of the Coast Guard, and the first floor of the lighthouse keeper’s house is a museum. The lighthouse was one of the destinations that Tom Hank’s character ran to in the movie “Forrest Gump” (1994). On a summer afternoon, the Marshall Point is a perfect location to gaze out across the Atlantic, watch rain squalls drift across the water and mark the progress of a fishing boat as it heads home after a day at sea. (Thomas Curwen / Los Angeles Times)

2/10

Set on a small knoll, the Olson House in Cushing, Maine, was originally described by Betsy Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth’s wife, as “looming up like a weathered ship stranded on a hilltop.” Today it maintains a defiant stance. Three stories tall, its clapboard silver-gray and weathered, it exists outside of time. For almost 30 years - from 1939 to 1968 - Andrew Wyeth, who became good friends with its owners, Christina and her brother Alvaro Olson, made himself at home here, setting up a studio in an upstairs room. He later remarked, “I just couldn’t stay away from there. I did other pictures while I knew them, but I’d always seem to gravitate to the house. It was Maine.” (Thomas Curwen / Los Angeles Times)

3/10

In 1948, Andrew Wyeth was visiting the Olson farm in Cushing, Maine, when he gazed out the window of the farmhouse and saw Christina Olson dragging herself across the field toward the house. She suffered from muscular deterioration and couldn’t walk, and Wyeth was attracted to the image and began sketching it. “Christina’s World” was eventually purchased by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and became his most famous work. The Olson House is now a museum, administered by the Farnsworth Library and Art Museum in Rockland, Maine. Its interior spaces are sparse and bare, as evocative today as they were for Wyeth some 60 years ago. (Thomas Curwen / Los Angeles Times)

4/10

Andrew Wyeth’s tombstone (1917 - 2009) is difficult to miss. It is located in the Olson family plot a short distance from the house in a small grove of oaks that overlook the St. George River. (Thomas Curwen / Los Angeles Times)

5/10

Evocative of another era, a gaff-rigged sloop works its way on the starboard tack across Boothbay Harbor. The region is famous for its antique wooden-hulled boats, which are often out in number on summer weekends. Andrew Wyeth valued Maine for timelessness. Along the coast, past and present seem intertwined, and from the water, this impression is inescapable. (Thomas Curwen / Los Angeles Times)

6/10

Located at the north end of Boothbay Harbor, the Linekin Bay Resort was established in 1909. It has 35 cabins and five lodges, as well as two tennis courts, a fleet of sailboats and a saltwater pool and is a throwback to the era following the Civil War when Maine coast became a popular summer destination for vacationers who valued the picturesque and rustic setting. These “rusticators,” as they called themselves, transformed not only the region but also the identity and economy of the state. (Thomas Curwen / Los Angeles Times)

7/10

Lupines grow in a small meadow on Damariscove Island at the mouth of the Sheepscot River. Once a fishing settlement and a Coast Guard Station, the island is owned by the Boothbay Region Land Trust. Nature trails, cut through the shoulder-high brambles, wind from a small harbor on the south side of the island to the eastern granite ledges and a large fresh water pond to the north. The island is habitat for more than 150 bird species, including herring gull, blue heron, common eider and osprey. (Thomas Curwen / Los Angeles Times)

8/10

Shaded by tall oaks, Al Moses’ home on Southport Island was built in 1870 for his great-grandfather by the parish of the local Episcopal Church. Moses, who is 67 and lives here year-round, says that winters are hard, but he will never move. From his front porch, he can see Monhegan Island to the east and the lighthouse at southern point of Southport, a place known as the Cuckolds. Moses is the unofficial caretaker of the cottage that line Pig’s Cove on the island.

FOR THE RECORD:
Coastal Maine: An earlier version of this caption said Al Moses is 68. (Thomas Curwen / Los Angeles Times)

9/10

The cottages at Pig’s Cove on Southport Island were built just above the high-tide mark and look east to Squirrel Island. At dawn, sunlight reflects off the water, blending both sea and sky. The still tableau is broken only by a breeze and the wake of a distant lobster boat working from trap to trap. (Thomas Curwen / Los Angeles Times)

10/10

The Five Islands Lobster Co. on Georgetown Island serves seafood of all varieties -- lobsters, steamer clams, farm-raised mussels, scallops, haddock and clams -- mostly brought in off its dock. Among its specialties, though, are the Big Boys, lobsters weighing more than two pounds (and priced, on one June day, at $12.75 a pound), which are best enjoyed from a scattering of picnic tables overlooking the small harbor and the Sheepscot River. (Thomas Curwen / Los Angeles Times)

By Thomas Curwen

May 11, 2019 5:07 PM PT

THE BEST WAY TO THE MAINE COAST

From LAX, nonstop service to Boston is available on American, JetBlue, Virgin America and United; direct service (stop, no change of plane) is offered on Delta and Southwest; and connecting service (change of planes) is available on United, Southwest, AirTran, Delta, US Airways and American. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $378.

WHERE TO STAY

Most real estate firms offer vacation rentals. Prices for one- and two-bedroom cottages range from $650 to $1,800 for a week. Three-bedroom and larger range from $1,200 to $6,500. For info:

Pottle Realty Group; contact Traci Blackman, (207) 633-2222www.pottlerealtygroup.com or e-mail traci@pottlerealtygroup.com

Boothbay Region for Rent by Owner; https://www.brfrbo.com or e-mail brfrbo@brfrbo.com

Boothbay Region Rental Properties, (207) 633-5471, https://www.bbrentalprop.com.

Cottage Connection rents mostly in the mid-coast areas of Maine; contact Audrey Leeds Miller at (207) 633-6545, https://www.cottageconnection.com or e-mail rentme@cottageconnection.com.

On the Water in Maine rents homes from Portland to the Canadian border; contact Justin Ford at (207) 236-7710, https://www.onthewaterinmaine.com or e-mail justin@onthewaterinmaine.com.

WHERE TO EAT

Robinson’s Wharf, Route 27, Southport (across the swing bridge), (207) 633-3830. Southport Island’s best known restaurant, a short drive from Boothbay Harbor, with an excellent seafood market. Entrees $13.95 to $19 for a 1-1/4 pound lobster.

Five Islands Lobster Co., 1447 Five Islands Road, Georgetown; (207) 371-2990, https://www.fiveislandslobster.com. Overlooking the Sheepscot River on Georgetown Island, it is little more than a shack on a wharf, which is of course its charm. Entrees from $12.95; lobsters at $10 a pound.

The Osprey Restaurant, 340 Robinhood Road, Georgetown, (207) 371-2530. In the Robinhood Marine Center on Georgetown Island with views of the marina and serves decent margaritas. Entrees from $18 to a 1 1/4-pound lobster for $20.

Lobsterman’s Wharf, Route 96, East Boothbay, (207) 633-3443, https://www.lobstermanswharf.com. On the wharf of East Boothbay and has excellent fish ‘n’ chips. Entrees from $15.99 to $19.99 for a 11/4 –pound lobster.

Dip Net, on the dock at Port Clyde and is as good an excuse as any to explore the waterfront and nearby Marshall Lighthouse. Entrees $12 to $22.

Port Clyde Seafood Co., 20 Washington St., Camden; (207) 230-7195, https://www.portclydeseafoodco.com. Entrees $17 to $22. .

Cappy’s Chowder House (and Bakery), 1 Main St., Camden. (207) 236-2254, https://www.cappyschowder.com. Worth visiting if only for the blueberry pie. Entrees $10.99 to $19.99. A whole blueberry pie for $17.99

BOAT RENTALS

Charger Marine, 80 Commercial St., Boothbay Harbor; (207) 380-4556, https://www.chargersportfishing.com. Twelve- and 14-foot outboard skiffs available for $60 to $70 a day with a five-day minimum. Tours are also available.

BOAT TOURS

Mid-Maine Water Taxi., (207) 371-2288, home.myfairpoint.net/clemhand, runs out of Five Islands on Georgetown Island. Rates from $120 an hour to $420 for a half day.

River Run Tours, 28 Walnut Point, Woolwich; (207) 504-2628, https://www.riverruntours.com. Charges $30 a person an hour, can accommodate up to six passengers and offers tours of the local lighthouses, the shipyards in Bath and local rivers.

WYETH SIGHTS

Andrew Wyeth: Farnsworth Art Museum, 16 Museum St., Rockland; (207) 596-6457, https://www.farnsworthmuseum.org.

Olson House, 384 Hathorne Point Road, Cushing; (207) 354-0102

TO LEARN MORE

Boothbay Harbor Chamber of Commerce, (207) 633-2353, https://www.boothbayharbor.com.

Rockland and Camden Chamber of Commerce, (207) 236-4404 or (800) 223-5459, https://www.visitcamden.com.