I moved away from Massachusetts as a young
child and returned for a long visit at the age of 19. Here in New England as a
young adult, the Boston Bruins and fried clams had me at hello. I also fell in
love with a Boston boy, which I don’t entirely regret because he was the reason
I returned to live in Massachusetts a year later.
I quickly picked up New England slang and
colloquiums like “packy” and “wicked” and “the Gahden.” However, I never quite got the hang of “down
Purity” or “down Zayre’s”. It seemed a disgusting
grammatical habit of my group of Bostonian relatives and friends to leave out
the prepositions "to" or “at.” No one cared about my annoying complaints, though. Purity
Supreme and Zayre’s eventually disappeared as they were swallowed up by
competitors and the habit seemed to disappear with the 20th Century.
Interestingly, another similar New England
expression, “Downeast”, has a very valid explanation. According to Down East
Magazine, ships sailing to ports in Maine from Boston were actually traveling
downwind and to the east. (When they returned, they were sailing upwind to
Boston and sailors might still say “up to Boston”.)
Downeast, of course, technically refers to
those destinations such as Calais, Bar Harbor, and Blue Hill, which are all
very north of Portland. Today, however, Down East has been adopted by the
entire coast and eastern portion of the state of Maine.
I love Maine and have vacationed there for
over 40 years. We summer camped in the
tiny, inland town of Waterford (near the exotic towns of Paris, Sweden, Norway,
and Poland), and winter skied in resorts in Bethel and Stowe. While the entire
coastal region, from Freeport to Kittery has become a favorite year-round
destination, it’s the coastal city of Portland that’s won my heart over in the
past decade. Did you know that another great city, Portland, Oregon, is named
for Portland, Maine? One Francis W. Pettygrove bought half the town in Oregon
and named it after his hometown, Portland, Maine.
Maine’s largest city, Portland (with over 230
restaurants) is a delicious and delightful place to visit. Its cobblestoned
streets on the waterfront, with restaurants galore, has a nightlife unrivaled
in any season. Portland just might be
New England’s city-that-never-sleeps (although there’s hardly a comparison to
the Big Apple.)
My favorite restaurant in Portland is the
tiny, 32-seat Duckfat. There is lots of hype, but Duckfat is worth the
inevitable wait and the long line. Much of its menu, from the Belgian fries to
the Poutine with a sunny side egg, is made with delicious duck fat. Everything
is made in-house, and practically all of the ingredients are from local farms
and vendors. If you get to Duckfat before their 11:30 am opening, you will find
a spot to squeeze into or sit outside in good weather. They have a killer beer
list at their teeny bar, and their blueberry milkshake is to die for.
I have other haunts in Portland but driving
north to Freeport is another adventure.
My favorites include the Maine Beer Company (a yummy Pale Ale called A
Tiny Beautiful Something) and the Mother of Purl Yarn Shop just on the southern
outskirts.
A book written by bloggers Jillian and
Malcolm Bedell, Eating in Maine (2014) is written for those wanting recipes
from New England, for those looking for reviews of Maine’s best restaurants,
and also for those seeking a travel guide for foodies winding their way up and
down Maine’s roads. Their blog, (From Away dot com), lists their top places to
each pizza, breakfast sandwiches, and lobster rolls in Portland.
Another food lovers’ guide is Portland Food
by Kate McCarty (2014). Another food writer (she blogs on MaineEater dot com),
McCarty claims Portland as the culinary capital of Maine. With half a million people
living in this metro area, there are many of them to wine and dine using the
local bounty from fisheries and sustainable farming and agriculture.
So, there’s more to do in Portland and
Maine than eat, of course. There are breweries, distilleries and wineries
galore, many of them along the coast, but still others inland. There are also
many other adventures in 100 Things to Do in Portland Before You Die (2015).
Author Bob Witkowski started with over 265 things and whittled it down to 100. He claims the Holy Donut’s dark chocolate sea
salt dunker is authentically Maine. But there is more than donuts and lobster
rolls on this list. Celebrations and events are listed, as are wine bars and
concert venues.
If you want to get out of the city of Portland,
AMC’s Best Day Hikes along the Maine Coast was published just months ago in
April 2015. Carey Kish includes advice in the four-season guide and narrows it
down to “50 of the best trails from Maine beaches to Downeast.” Trail maps are
included and lots of details for safe hiking in the state where the Appalachian
Trail terminates at Mt. Katahdin.
Of course, if you’d rather travel in an
easy chair, you can choose to read the fully-annotated of Henry David Thoreau’s
The Maine Woods. It was edited by my
fellow librarian and friend, Jeffrey Cramer, director of the Thoreau Institute
Library in Lincoln, MA. “On the 3rd of
August 1846, I left Concord in Massachusetts for Bangor and the backwoods of
Maine,” wrote Thoreau. The wilderness of Maine enchanted Thoreau probably more
than the coastal towns of Downeast.
So, it’s agreed. Both the woods and the towns and cities of
Maine are treasures of New England.
