Road Trip, Day 4 (Part I): Monhegan Island & Port Clyde, Maine
DAY FOUR (Part I): AT A GLANCE
Starting point: Monhegan Island, Maine
Ending point: Port Clyde, Maine
Starting mileage: 188,570
Ending mileage: 188, 571 (to Marshall Point Lighthouse)
*Note: This post is a two-parter; the first takes us from Monhegan Island and back to the mainland, at Port Clyde, Maine. The second takes us from Port Clyde to Bar Harbor, Maine.
Our day began with breakfast at the Island Inn on Monhegan Island, a delicious assortment of eggs, mini blueberry French toasts (amazing), mini herbed biscuits (again, amazing), bacon, and fruit. After breakfast, we were off to the dock for the 9 a.m. ferry. When we arrived at the dock at 8:15 and we could just begin to make out the mailboat approaching in the foggy distance.
Soon, the morning ritual of unloading and loading the mailboat unfolded at the dock. Pickup trucks lined up to meet the crane that would lift goods from the mailboat into truck beds—huge load of firewood, kegs for the brewery, packages and supplies, even the siding for a small shed. Then, along with passengers’ luggage, trash, recycling, and various bins were loaded for carriage back to shore.
We boarded the boat, welcomed and reminded by the crew member that we were “headed back to reality,” and by 9:40 a.m., we were pulling away from Monhegan. This time, however, we sat below in the covered area of the boat, along with half a dozen other passengers, most of whom napped away the hour-long ride. Our passage this time was smooth, and I made it just fine, without any issues (this time, though, I made sure to take the regular (not the natural!) Dramamine an hour before).
I missed Monhegan the minute we left and vowed to return. It’s one of those places that sticks with you, and I wondered about the logistics of living on an island 12 miles off the coast. I wondered how appliances got over there, how folks brought their trucks (the island is car-free, with the exception of the pickup trucks owned by locals), what the island was like in winter, what it must be like to grow up there, and so many more questions and curiosities. Maybe future visits will answer those; maybe they’ll just spark more. Either way, we’ll be back...and next time, it will be for longer than just one day.
After picking up the van from the Monhegan Boat Line parking lot, we drove just a few minutes down the road to visit Marshall Point Lighthouse and its museum, located in the keeper’s house. Fun fact: Marshall Point is the lighthouse featured in the 1994 film Forrest Gump during Forrest’s run across America (the lighthouse is featured at the 1:36 point).
The lighthouse is a beauty and so very worth the stop. The bridge, the fog, the light itself—incredible.
The gentleman working in the museum was a great source of local information and lore and greeted folks with a wide smile and a “Where you from?” We were the first New Hampshire visitors that day and joined by others from New Jersey and France. To each of us, he passed out Werther’s Originals hard candies, something he said he started doing “in the age of Trump.” He said the gesture (apolitical as he prefaces each offering with “I don’t care who you voted for”) never fails to bring a smile to visitors’ faces.
Small gestures that bridge and connect people, regardless of their differences. Ah, Maine. Maybe it’s true what the state’s welcome sign says; Maine really is the way life should be.
And with that, we’re off for the next leg of our journey—destination: Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.