guide to Maine The Esquire
The once under-explored > New England state is now a haven for hip urbanites and outdoor adventurers.
Veteran locals will happily tell you about Maine’s days as a place with a rough-and-ready reputation, with Portland’s Old Port waterfront somewhere you ventured only if you were a fisherman or in search of an alcohol-fuelled fight. Potentially both. A transformation over the past few years has seen it voted one of America’s states “getting it right”, reinventing itself via lively creative and foodie scenes, while maintaining its old-fashioned character. With its indented coastline and glacier-carved, forested interior, the northeastern-most state has incorporated its natural assets into an enviable menu of activities to replenish the soul.
Holidayers love it in the summer, and in the winter, too. Its coast, camps and outdoor activities (fly-casting classes; “bike and brew” cycle rides) mean you’ll bump into people from all over the US, often on their way to eat, with buzzing Portland now offering more restaurants per capita than any other US city after San Francisco. With the salty odour of the morning catch hanging in the air, watch fishermen at work while enjoying a Dirty Dirty Martini and a satisfying Brown Butter Lobster Roll at Eventide Oyster Co ( eventideoysterco.com).
Maine is so relaxed that “The Pine Tree State” can feel more like Canada, with which it shares a border. Its stunning 3,500-mile seaboard stretches from New Brunswick to the Pisccataqua River on its border with New Hampshire. A patchwork of coves, peninsulas, beaches and over
3,000 islands, it is best explored via US Route 1. Lighthouse fanatics (we know you’re out there) will find more than
50 to visit, with the Portland Head Light ( portlandheadlight. com) being the oldest, commissioned by George Washington in 1791.
The contemporary arts scene offers another reason to visit. Bomb Diggity Arts ( momentumme.com) and
The Art Department ( theartdepartment.me) support local artists by selling wares from prints to craft to clothing.
Visit Congress Street for the Maine College of Art ( meca. edu), student galleries and the Institute of Contemporary Art. The non-profit arts venue Space Gallery ( space538. org) shows visual arts, puts on gigs and runs a programme of film screenings.
“Gentrification” has become a dirty word but the once-industrial Bayside area is doing it right: turning a warehouse into a 20-lane bowling alley ( baysidebowl.com), and promoting food trucks, bike shops and coffee shops like Peaks Cafe and Arabica Coffee House ( arabicacoffee.me), which serves maple syrup lattes.
Portland, Maine’s most populous city, has been labelled “the new Portland”, comparing it to its much-bigger, painfully-hip West Coast namesake. A crucial difference with this Portland is its Victorian-era charm. Stay at the Regency Hotel & Spa ( theregency.com), in a red-brick armoury in the heart of the trendy Old Port shopping district, whose rooms are traditional dark wood and brocade, updated with flatscreen TVs. Or check into the Harraseeket Inn ( harraseeketinn. com), a 20-minute drive from downtown Portland, with 93 elegant rooms, the best being The Thos Moser Suite, full of the Maine-designer’s handmade Shaker-influenced furniture.
Getting out of town is easy: an extensive network of lakes and streams includes the 740-mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail ( northernforestcanoetrail.org), which links Maine with the waterways of Québec, New Hampshire and New York. You can even take a moose safari by canoe. Young’s Guide Service ( youngsguideservice.com) offers four-hour morning or evening canoe trips (the best time to spot the huge herbivores) and guarantees that if you don’t, they’ll take you again for free.
Munjoy Hill is the place to try craft beer at the off-thebeaten-path Oxbow Blending & Bottling ( oxbowbeer.com), where you can sample authentic farmhouse ales with names like Infinite Darkness, Catalyst and Punch Brook. After that, take a wobble down the road to Maine Mead Works ( mainemeadworks.com), creators of HoneyMaker mead, and gin-maker Hardshore Distilling Company ( hardshoredistilling.com).