Revitalized Portland: A Picturesque Site to Sea

Ask yourself if a town deserves credit for rising from the ashes four times, shipping 20 million pounds of lobster yearly to a grateful world, and revitalizing its 17th-Century Old Port into a “working waterfront” rather than a glitzy theme park. The answer has to be “‘eyuh,” which is what Mainers say when they mean “yes.”

Portland, settled in 1632, was twice leveled by Indians, once by the British in 1775 and another time by the great fire of 1866. The last reconstruction was done in the latter era’s Victorian style, this time with brick.

Casco Bay, with its 222 “official” islands just off the coast, probably has more legends than lobster traps, having been home turf to Algonquin, Penobscot and Abenaki Indians, including Pocahontas before she took up with a settler and moved to Jamestown, Va.

Portlanders consider the islands of Casco Bay part of their town; they’ve been using them for clambakes, summer homes, fishing, boating and picnics for many years. Indeed, Cliff Island is nine miles out to sea, yet it’s within the city limits.

Capt. John Smith, a 17th-Century resident of Casco Bay, never really had his neck saved by Pocahontas, as some history books would have you believe. But he loved the limelight and never scotched the story.

Here to there: Fly Delta, USAir and Continental, all with changes.

How long/how much? Two days should be enough, with one devoted to cruising the islands of Casco Bay. Lodging costs are moderate, dining the same. It’s almost cheap for the freshest seafood in great quantities.

A few fast facts: The season begins in mid-June and ends the last week in October, which is the busiest month due to folks coming for the foliage. You’ll always need reservations for early October. Getting around is no problem, what with a little red trolley making the rounds of hotels, shopping districts and the waterfront for 50 cents a ride.

Getting settled in: The Inn at Park Spring (135 Spring St.; $75 to $85 bed and breakfast double, $15 less after October) is an ivy-covered 1835 town house just a few blocks from town center. Only seven rooms whose decor spans the 19th and 20th centuries, all done in the best of taste. Complimentary tea and brandy are served in a first-floor living room in the afternoon. Breakfast can be a communal affair in the kitchen, or you may take a tray back to your room.

The Portland Regency (20 Milk St.; $90-$135 double) began life as an armory in the town’s Old Port, a National Historic Landmark renovated into a masterpiece of a luxury hotel with four-posters in every room, desks and full-length mirrors, marvelous gray and peach decor. There’s a formal dining room and a pub-like establishment for quick meals and snacks, plus a fitness center.

Days Inn (1150 Brighton Ave.; $65 double) is about three miles outside town just off the Maine Turnpike. Spread out over five acres of green lawns, picnic and pool areas, the inn has large standard rooms with two double beds, TV, all the motel amenities.

Regional food and drink: Portland spends more on restaurant dining per capita (65,000 people) than any other U.S. city except San Francisco, which means a lot of customers for all that great seafood. It also claims to be the real center of lobster territory, usually eaten boiled and almost always with “steamers” (steamed clams). Fish chowder is also big around here. It’s made with haddock, potatoes, onions, milk and always basil.

Everyone hereabouts has a recipe for Indian pudding: cornmeal, milk, molasses, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, and the secret is to have it come out light. Baked beans with brown bread are a staple, homemade or straight from the B&M; cannery that wafts its tempting aromas over the town. Fresh regional berries are usually on the dessert menu. Blueberries have been in season recently, and Maine prides itself on its strawberries and apples.

Good dining: Lobster Shack (Two Lights Road, Cape Elizabeth) is a blue clapboard house right on the rocky coast that, since the 1920s, lets you eat your lobster “below the lighthouse and next to the foghorn.” You may also watch ships entering and leaving Portland Harbor or see lobstermen haul up their daily catch as you enjoy your chowder, lobster stew, clams, scallops, crab and lobster rolls, plus a variety of other seafood and burgers. Sit inside or at a picnic table outside (both rustic) and enjoy Maine’s finest in the best possible atmosphere. Owners Herb and Martha Porch are the friendliest of hosts.

The Seamen’s Club (1 Exchange St.) was built in 1866-67 just after the great fire, and was used as an out-of-port seamen’s club early in this century. It has two floors, the first with a bar and a few tables, the second a series of small rooms. Everyone in town thinks highly of the food there, particularly the specialties: clam and fish chowders, homemade breads and rolls, and baked Indian pudding that draws the loyal daily.

DiMillo’s (Long Wharf) is a ferryboat that saw service in Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New York and Virginia before ending up as a floating restaurant here that’s run by a large Italian family. With seating for 800, DiMillo’s seems more like the Queen Elizabeth 2 than an old ferry, and the lobster salad we had was worthy of any Cunard galley.

Going first-class: Inn by the Sea (Crescent Beach; $95-$200 for a one-bedroom suite, depending on the season) is a spectacular complex of New England shake buildings overlooking the Atlantic from the headlands of Cape Elizabeth, 15 minutes from town. The views are glorious: lobster boats in the little bay, manicured lawns with croquet court, lovely pink umbrellas around the pool. Each suite is handsomely decorated in flowered chintz and period furniture. The kitchens are fully equipped down to the brandy snifters.

The inn is rightfully proud of its arts collection, including an impressive array of hand-colored engravings of Maine coastal birds by Audubon. The dining room is no less impressive with its view of the ocean, sunny and bright in the morning, romantic by candlelight. The kitchen worked wonders with scallops ceviche, swordfish with plum sauce and braised duck with spiced cabbage and blueberries. All in all, the inn is a special place.

On your own: Portland Head Light is the town’s most famous landmark. Begun on orders from President George Washington, it’s the oldest lighthouse in continuous service in the nation, one that inspired Longfellow as he sat at its base writing poetry. Drive out to Ft. Williams Park to see it, or take a Casco Bay cruise around Cushing Island for a seaman’s view of the light.

Visit the Portland Museum of Art, where the new I. M. Pei-designed wing displays 17 paintings of Winslow Homer and some Andrew Wyeths. Another major landmark is Wadsworth-Longfellow House (1785), where the poet spent his youth.

One of the real joys of Portland is to just walk around the waterfront and Old Port area. It’s a working port, and although the shopping areas have been developed, you never get the awful feeling that it has or will become too gentrified.

For more information: Call the Greater Portland Visitors Bureau at (207) 772-4994, or write (142 Free St., Portland, Me. 04101) for brochures on the city’s sights, hotels, restaurants and bay cruises. Write New England USA (76 Summer St., Boston 02110) for a 48-page color magazine on all six New England states.