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Belfast, Maine, A Town to Make You Fall in Love With America All Over AgainBy Marian Betancourt
Belfast is part of Waldo County in mid-coast Maine. It is north of Portland and Camden, and south of Bangor and Bar Harbor. With its neighboring town Searsport, this is the heart of Waldo County, a great place to visit and stay for awhile. Some tourist attractions, such as museums and historic sites, are open only from spring to fall, but this is a year round town, known as the biggest little city in Maine.
Belfast was settled by Scots Irish pioneers in 1773. John Mitchell of Londonderry, New Hampshire gathered 35 friends to travel north into the wilderness. When they saw the land around the harbor, they decided it was a good place to settle. To name this hospitable looking place, they flipped a coin. Mitchell wanted to name it after Londonderry, but he lost. The winner was Jim Miller, recently of Ireland and he wanted to name it for his hometown. Belfast still draws the Irish. The Shamrock, Thistle and Rose on Main Street carries distinctive gifts from the old country and is operated by Sharon Walsh and Joanne McNally (www.shamrockthistlerose.com), whose ancestors came from Limerick, Mayo, Cork, and Sligo. The area reminded both women of Ireland. There’s no shortage of artists in Belfast, and in the Parent Gallery on Main Street, a father and daughter share their creative talent. (www.nealparent.com) Neal Parent is a noted photographer whose work celebrates the water and the boats that make their living on the water. His daughter, Joanne Parent, inherited her father’s love of environment. Her pastel landscape and still life drawings are simple, direct, and elegant. The Clown, a charming shop on Main Street, celebrates the good life offering for sale European antiques, fine art, and some very good wine. It is one of three locations in Maine. www.the-clown.com
Give yourself a couple of hours to enjoy the collections of the Penobscot Maritime Museum in Searsport, which are housed in a group of sea captain homes now listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings. (www.penobscotmaritimemuseum.org) The museum was founded by families of the old Searsport sea captains to save their disappearing heritage. The exhibits focus on 19th century industries around Penobscot Bay and illustrate life on the great square rigged ships. Known for its 19th century maritime art, the museum has one of the largest collections of Thomas and James Buttersworth paintings in the nation, as well as a rich collection of objects ship captains brought home from ports all over the world. There is a large museum shop, picnic grounds and nearby antique stores. The museum is open Memorial Day through the end of October.
There’s no Ritz Carlton in this town, but the Bed and Breakfasts will make you feel quite comfortable. The Alden House is an elegant Greek revival home built in 1840 with high ceilings, and a white picket fence around its spacious corner lot. (www.thealdenhouse.com) Hiram Orlando Alden, a lawyer, newspaper editor, and prominent business man in Belfast in the 1800s, was instrumental in building telegraph lines in Maine and other states. Now owned and operated by Deborah and Ted Hensley, the house has elegant bedrooms, as well as inviting rooms on the first floor where you can enjoy the fireplace, play the piano, have tea and homemade cookies in the afternoon, and sit and work a jigsaw puzzle if you like. The Mad Captain’s House was originally owned by Captain Edwin Horace Herriman who in 1876 took the helm of the Hazeltine, the largest ship ever built in Belfast but it was soon wrecked off Cape Horn. The captain’s wife and son were with him, and although they survived, the captain apparently went mad as a result and ended up in a mental hospital. Nevertheless, his former home is sunny and elegant.
Dining out is no problem in Belfast and the rest of Waldo
County with many types of restaurants offering good food and wine. You can get
lobsters everywhere in Maine, of course, but at 215 Main Street (Route 1) in
Searsport there is a fabled lobster shack called Anglers, dubbed Maine’s
Should you want to do more than look at Penobscot Bay, you can get on the water in kayaks, sailboats, and a lobster boat. The historic friendship sloop, Amity, built in 1901, is operated by Stephen O’Connell and sails late May to October from the public dock. (www.friendshipsloopamity.com.)
While you enjoy strolling around the Belfast waterfront at the end of the day, stop in at Scoops on Main Street for an ice cream cone to remember and to see the face drawings on the walls. Or, enjoy a cognac on the deck of the Three Tides (www.3tides.com) and watch the evening settle in on the bay as you breathe in the salt sea air. For information visit
www.waldocountymaine.com Except for Alden House, the Colonial Theatre, and the sailboat, all photos by Cheryl Pierce. Sailboat photo by the author. |
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Belfast, Maine is the kind of small town that makes you
fall in love with America all over again. Main Street meanders down a hill to a
beautiful harbor in Penobscot Bay. Surrounding tree-lined streets hold
beautifully maintained historic frame houses and gardens that give the town a
picture book feel. The streets are angled so that there’s a view of the water
from nearly every part of town, thanks to the foresight of the town founders.
Printed maps for a self-guided walking tour called “The Museum in the Streets”
are available free at various locations in town.
Shops and restaurants offer the traditional, the useful,
and the chic, creating simultaneously, a feeling of down home and hip. An Art
Deco movie house with a large elephant (named Hawthorne) on top features first
run movies as well as foreign and independent films. There are art galleries,
book stores and a world-class library. The cooperative supermarket has a superb
wine list and organic veggies. An environmentally friendly store carries
products made with recycled goods and there are places to sip a cup of coffee or
tea and to catch up on news with your neighbors. Morning joggers greet you as
they pass by.
Mainely Pottery on Route 1 between Belfast and Searsport is
open from May until December to sell pottery by Maine artists. (
Penobscot Books on Fine Arts is a low, sprawling white
clapboard building on Maine Street (Route 1) in Searsport. (
So why is there an elephant on top of the movie house? The
elephant had originally been lodged on Perry’s Nut House, an internationally
known Belfast roadside attraction on Route 1. When that was sold, the much loved
elephants were saved by the Colonial Theater. (
There are many more delightful B & Bs in Waldo County and
most are open year round. (
Family
Seafood Restaurant. Buddy Hall and his children and even some toddling
grandchildren get into the spirit of the place. For a special guest (or anyone
who asks), Hall, a lanky man with a droll sense of humor, will give you a “show
and tell” with a couple of pet lobsters. He’ll explain how to tell the
difference in sex and how to make them sit up and look you in the eye. All of
the seafood in this busy friendly place is delicious and the fried clams are out
of this world.
Captain Melissa Terry, a fifth generation descendent of a
whaling captain owns and operates the Good Return, which carries 47 passengers
for lobstering cruises. (