Bob and I awoke bright and early on the morning of Saturday, July 14, 2012, in the cleverly christened Mic Mac Motel in York, Maine. We had just barely crossed the Maine border the evening before, but this would officially be my first venture into Maine, the northeasternmost state in the union. In order to get a jump on the day, we left before 7am on this day, heading northward, stopping for breakfast at the Egg-Ceptional Restaurant in Poland for some corn beef hash and a pair of double yolkers. Then we moved on to yet another city named after a country: Paris, Maine.
It may sound exotic, but it wasn’t really. But there was something interesting here: the Hannibal Hamlin Memorial Library. We arrived just before 10am and had to wait until it opened, curiously browsing the library’s lower floor – which had nothing to do with Hannibal Hamlin, the Vice-President who served under Abraham Lincoln from 1861-1865 during his first term. Obviously he missed becoming President by a hair, when Lincoln chose a different running mate for his second term. Had Lincoln been assassinated 40 day earlier, Hamlin would have assumed office.
Around 10am, the lady who ran the ‘second floor’ portion of the memorial library – which had served as the Oxford County Jail from 1822-1896 – and let us browse the exhibits. Naturally we wondered why this former jail had become the Hamlin library. It seems that Hamlin’s nephew Augustus Choate Hamlin acquired the jail in 1901 and converted it to a hall, which eventually became both a circulating library and a museum dedicated to his uncle. The exhibits weren’t massive, but they were fun to browse for about ten minutes.
Outside the former prison and the current Hamlin Memorial Library & Museum
Overview of the museum, with Bob and the curator lady
Cool piece of campaign memorabilia on display
The law library of Hannibal Hamlin and his son Charles, who was present at Ford’s Theatre during the assassination
The Hannibal Hamlin Library or bust!
Just down the road was the house in which Hamlin had been born. As Bob and I took photos in front of it, a gentleman approached us and claimed to be a relative of Hamlin’s: the great great grandson of Hamlin’s female second-cousin-once-removed, or something to that effect. This apparently wasn’t enough to get him ownership, nor entry, to the birth home.
Memorial rock placed near Hamlin’s birthsite
The Hannibal Hamlin birth home
Off the subject somewhat is Moxie, the beverage that had fascinated me for its product placement in early issues of MAD Magazine, and which I first tried at Calvin Coolidge’s estate in Plymouth, Vermont. It had been around since 1896, but hadn’t ever made it big nationally. I enjoyed it, and was curious to visit the Moxie Museum in Lisbon Falls, Maine – so we veered about 30 minutes out of the way to check it out.
What we didn’t know was that this particular weekend was actually the Moxie Festival that is held every summer in Lisbon. What this meant for us was that traffic backed up out of the city, and as I found out when Bob dropped me off, entry to the Moxie Museum (which appeared to really be more of a gift shop) had a line backed down the street. I had time to get a picture in front of it and buy a can of Moxie for a buck from a street vendor before Bob picked me back up, beverage in hand. It was just one of those cases of poor timing, much to Bob’s chagrin.
The ominous sign, a harbinger of our upcoming traffic woes
As close as I got to entering the Moxie Store
Line aplenty for the Moxie Store
If this guy’s got one thing, it’s Moxie
From Lisbon Falls, we got somewhat back on track toward heading to far end of the country, and made our stop for lunch around 12:30pm in Gardiner, at the A1 Diner. Naturally, this diner car that had been in place since 1946 had been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives – on the episode Local Legends. It was a worthy eatery indeed, and I quite enjoyed the Lamb and Goat Cheeseburger.
DD&D #42: A1 Diner in Gardiner, Maine
Enjoying my Moxie in the diner car, waiting for the big eats
Two buddies some swell diner food
Now back to Hannibal Hamlin. My quest to visit the graves of the Vice Presidents of the United States continued with a stop in Bangor, Maine, about 90 minutes northeast of Gardiner. Incidentally, as we moved in this direction, the temperature began to rapidly drop – which brought relief from the sweltering summer we were experiencing. Hamlin was buried in the Mount Hope Cemetery and this brought my total VP graves up to 28.
Hannibal Hamlin’s giant marker
Hamlin’s smaller marker marks his actual spot
There were a couple of other minor attractions to be seen in Bangor while we were there. The first was one of those oddball items found on the Roadside America website: the world’s largest statue of Paul Bunyan. Bangor, Maine is one of several cities to claim to be the ‘home’ of folklore character Paul Bunyan, so in this spirit, they erected this statue in 1959. The statue was ‘brought to life’ in the Stephen King novel It. But unfortunately, we had some bad timing again. The area where the statue stands was completely under construction with unsightly fencing surrounding it. Bob and I parked in the Hollywood Slots parking garage across the street and basically took our photos from there. It was a bummer.
Paul Bunyan and Brad the Blue-Shirted Tourist
But speaking of Stephen King again, it stands to reason that this iconic statue would factor into one of his novels, as King is from Bangor. In fact, his house is rather legendary and has been featured in many photographs – including the cover of The Stephen King Companion. I have long been fascinated by the somewhat evil-looking house, so I thought it was cool to stop by and get photos of it. It was clear that someone was home as the garage door and the front gate were both open. I had hoped he might venture out, but alas, we never saw him, despite sitting in front of the house for about ten minutes fiddling with the maps.
A house fit for a King
The gothic and somewhat spooky home of author Stephen King
The next two and a half hours were spent in the car as we worked our way to the easternmost town in the contiguous United States. It’s a small town called Lubec, and virtually every single thing in the town considers itself the ‘easternmost’… the easternmost campsite, the easternmost gas station, the easternmost motel, etc. Speaking of the ‘easternmost motel,’ we stayed in it: The Eastland Motel. When we arrived at around 6pm, there was some confusion on the number of beds in our room, so the 12-year old dude who was working there had to go check it out. It all turned out okay, especially since they had cookies in the lobby and a parade of raccoons crossing the street near the motel. I overlooked the loud jerkwads, the lack of carpet in the hallway (they were remodeling), and even the fact that it had dropped 23 degrees since we set out that day. That was actually kind of refreshing.
The boys take their travels to the end of America
Feeling Eastern
Bob and I headed out to check out the actual most eastern point in the U.S., and the marker that indicated it as such. It is located at West Quoddy Head, overlooking the Quoddy Narrows, a straight separating the U.S. and Canada. The lighthouse that sits on the location has been there since 1808, but naturally it and the visitor center were already closed.
West Quoddy Head
The Lighthouse on the Quoddy Narrows
Official sign indicating the Easternmost Point in the U.S.A.
As far east as I could get
We then ventured into town to choose amongst the few select restaurants in the area and opted for Frank’s Dockside Restaurant. Even though it was chilly, we ate outside, overlooking the water. We could easily see Canada and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge that connects the town to Campbello Island in New Brunswick, Canada. That’s where we would be heading the next day… and pretty much the main reason we were here.
The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Bridge. Over there, there be Canada.
For dinner I ordered a hot chocolate, the lobster stew (which cost 15 bucks!), and the shrimp and chicken marsala with mushrooms and sundried tomatoes. It was the capper on three great meals in Maine. We finished up dinner at little bit after 8pm and then hiked down to the water’s edge to get some nice pictures.
Enjoying a hot chocolate in typical fashion
Bob and his fishies
Enjoying a meal in America, keeping an eye on Canada
The foodstuff
Fabulous scenery down on the banks by the restaurant
We got back to the motel before 8:30 and it was nice to turn in early. We’d be venturing outside the United States first thing in the morning, effectively covering two countries in addition to our seven states for this mementous road trip.
Maine (and Canada) will continue in the next posting…
Kind of like in Key West where you have the “southern most” everything
Darlene
June 23rd, 2013