Rockport, The Samoset Resort and Marine Park
(Written pre-COVID in 2016 and looking forward to this freedom again soon!)
There’s something deliciously luxurious about “getting away” up the coast in the doldrums of late winter. When we do so, we find winter isn’t dark or dreary or depressing at all.
We find beauty in Maine during all seasons if we just get out into it and explore.
After an early morning workout in a well-appointed gym at The Samoset Resort, we enjoyed veggie-stuffed omelets and fresh fruit overlooking green grass in February, a royal blue cloudless sky, and a calm Penobscot Bay. We lingered over our breakfast, not wanting any part of this weekend to pass too quickly.
Another cup of coffee? Yes, please.
Full and satisfied, we hopped into the car and explored all roads leading away from Route 1 on the ocean side, through Rockport and into the heart of Camden. We didn’t know until afterward, that one of our 2-mile drives was deemed “the prettiest walk in the world” by Yankee Magazine.
It began by taking Pascal Avenue off Route 1, a few miles beyond the entrance to The Samoset. This curving, old road is lined with historic homes – Victorians, Cape Cods, Federal styles. It winds along the ocean to our right and brings us to Rockport Marine Park. The cove of the park, with working lobster boats, is quintessential Maine so you’ll want to have your camera ready.
A sign explains the history of Rockport Marine Park. Trains transported lime here. Three giant, decaying stone kilns still exist and the picture shows the trains would pull above and drop their lime down into the kilns to produce limestone. It was a prosperous enterprise in the 1800’s that we had known nothing about.
After our scenic drive overlooking the harbor and gorgeous homes, upon our return to the resort, we zipped our parkas higher under our chins and walked the golf cart paths of The Samoset, not something we can do in summer when golf season is in full swing. It’s one of my husband’s favorite courses but I had never been able to see the back-nine.
We took photo after photo.
Wind picked up and tingled our icy cheeks. We pulled wool hats further down over our ears. With the tide out, we were able to climb down the rocks from the course onto sand and more rocks at the water’s edge. We peeked in the windows of the Flume Cottage – a bucket list wish for Frank, so wanting to stay there one day. Frank is eager to hear the sound of the waves when he sleeps; he says it’s the most relaxing sound to him. So this little cottage, perched literally right atop the bay, is a dream for him.
After a bowl of rustic Italian zuppa and homemade meatballs, I read Maine magazine in front of the fire, no one sitting nearby in the wood-beamed lobby except me.
Then brewed an in-room cup of coffee and snuck away to one of the many sitting areas with such comfortable, bright orange wing chairs, overlooking the breakwater. I sipped an afternoon cup of coffee feeling like a Queen-for-the-day.
The quiet, the calm, the beauty of Maine and Penobscot Bay are unrivaled. Being there causes all the stress of our working lives in the city to simply dissipate.
$99 winter nights at The Samoset Resort for Maine residents is such a wonderful gift. Sometimes, we don’t want to make the effort of planning time away, sometimes we feel we shouldn’t spend the money.
But what we find, every single time we go away, is that it was SO worth it. We relax, dream, laugh, recharge. Everything in our lives is just better when we return.
What that well-spent money buys, particularly as a pick-me-up in late winter, is….priceless.