Tidal Falls Preserve; Fresh Maine Air, Lobsters, and Free Concerts

A protected Maine environment for your enjoyment.

Conservation is a wonderful thing. It allows us to protect and enjoy the land we love. A perfect example of just how great it is can be witnessed at Tidal Falls Preserve in Hancock, thanks to a generous land grant from Land for Maine’s Future and the Frenchman Bay Conservancy, which, by the way, is celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year.

Picnic tables and grills provided.

The conservancy owns and protects the 4.2 acre Tidal Falls park offering public shore access—the only public shore access in Hancock—for hand carried watercraft, plus a very pleasant picnic area complete with tables, iron grills, and a pavilion. Tidal Falls also houses the Frenchman Bay Conservancy office on the second floor of its lobster pound, which operates a take-out in July and August to benefit the conservancy. 

Free Monday Evening Concerts at Tidal Falls

This beautiful preserve, and challenging reversing falls on the Taunton River it overlooks, boasts a colorful history, abundant wildlife, and even provides a spotlight for local culture by offering free concerts on Monday evenings from July 9 to August 20. Add a food cart serving lobster rolls and hot dogs to the festivities and it’s the ultimate example of Maine, the way life should be. The only draw back for some, such as my Border Collie, Blae, is dogs are not allowed on the grounds.

Getting there is easy, though off the beaten path for many who never realized its existence. From Ellsworth, travel north on US Route 1 through the village of Hancock, turn right onto Eastside Road, then turn left onto Tidal Falls Road. If you come to bridge, turn back. Directions from US Route 1 in Sullivan, heading south, take the first left after crossing the bridge into Hancock onto Eastside Road then another left onto Tidal Falls Road. You’re there!

If you’d like to support the Frenchman Bay Conservancy further, you can reserve your seat at a BYOB Lobster Dinner with all the fixings, July 21, 2012, 5:30-6:30 p.m., rain or shine. See link below.

Note:  Fido needs to make other plans.

More information can be found on these links:

Free Concerts at Tidal Falls Preserve

July 21st Lobster Dinner at Tidal Falls Preserve

Maine Department of Conservation

Sullivan/Sorrento Historical Society

Taunton River's history is as strong
as its currents and tides.

© Copyright 2012 Gail J. VanWart  All Rights Reserved

The Place of the Rocks

Penobscot means "the place of the white shining rocks".

I can't tell you how many times I have passed by this place in the course of a routine day. It's the "place of the white shining rocks" situated conveniently by the on and off ramps of  I-395 on South Main Street in Brewer, Maine. At first glance, it seems like there are simply three huge rocks strategically placed in a rest area. A second glance will bring the realization there’s artwork carved on the front of the tallest center rock. But, as with most things, you really do have to take a minute to stop in order to appreciate everything you will never see just driving by. 

A sign by the rocks, I had never read before, told me the story of why “the place of the rocks” exists. While discovering the artwork cleverly crafted on the other sides of the rocks not visible from the road, I also walked on bricks manufactured in Brewer a long time ago and artfully laid between the rocks in a pattern representing continuity. Since my husband’s grandfather, Bruce VanWart, had worked in a Brewer brickyard, I was touching a bit of family history at “the place of the rocks” as well. An old Bangor Daily News clipping (below) of an article by Lawrence Carroll Allin, published on October 21, 1987, tells the Brewer brick story extremely well. The reason we have the article today is because my mother-in-law spied Bruce VanWart in the1939 photo that accompanied it and she passed it on to my husband with an arrow pointing out his grandfather, a man he’d never met.

All in all, I decided this little rest area is a beautiful place on the Penobscot River bank to stop, whether you're traveling though the area or a local, like me, taking a moment to embrace the local scenery. I'm sure I'll stop here again to enjoy the tranquil beauty of the river and the pictorial story sculpted in the monumental Maine bluestone rocks of it's natural resources and haunting image of Penobscot Indian Princess Molly, all created by Carole Hanson and Andreas Von Huene to commemorate Brewer's Centennial in 1989.  

Beyond all else, it's simply a nice place to walk a dog and imagine what the river was like when the bricks, that lay there now, were made.

Nosing Around Maine  © Copyright 2012 Gail J. VanWart All Rights Reserved.