Rockland Maine’s Old Granite Inn

Written by Kriss Hammond


Rockland Maine’s Old Granite Inn

Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com

To read this entire feature FREE with photos cut and paste this link: www.jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/globe02/usa02/maine/rockland/rockland.html

Every year in an Outside Magazine readers' poll, Rockland, Maine ranks amongrepparttar top 100 best small towns to live in. This isrepparttar 138415 town whererepparttar 138416 then controversial 1957 Lana Turner soap opera flick, Peyton Place, was filmed — back whenrepparttar 138417 most dangerous thing in a small town was . . . gossip! The producers wanted to give small, hometown America a risqué shock that today is a comical celluloid version of homespun Americana, a mild comparison to what is onrepparttar 138418 Internet today.

Maine joins only one other state inrepparttar 138419 lower 48,repparttar 138420 only state to do so. It isrepparttar 138421 only state with a single syllable. Life in Maine is a simple life, not many complexities. Rockland has not changed much sincerepparttar 138422 '50s. I guess that is whyrepparttar 138423 PP producers chose it for their mighty cult genre.

I was sitting in a local café one fine summer day, gazing uponrepparttar 138424 black and white photos onrepparttar 138425 wall of a bygone era ofrepparttar 138426 historic Main Street. There used to be an electric trolley line downrepparttar 138427 main drag, andrepparttar 138428 gossip is they are bringing it back. I can see Peyton Place inrepparttar 138429 frozen-in-time snapshots. Rockland is still a great place to live. Main Street is now onrepparttar 138430 National Register of Historic Places, with most ofrepparttar 138431 old brick buildings housing ice cream shops, bookstores, cafés and bars, museums and art galleries. Rockland is a wonderful place to visit inrepparttar 138432 summer — just for all those farm fresh flavors of ice cream!

But beneathrepparttar 138433 surface,repparttar 138434 community has a lot going for it. MBNA moved into town and isrepparttar 138435 main employer,repparttar 138436 largest privately owned credit card issuer isrepparttar 138437 U.S., with their corporate restored stark white Greek Revivalist-style headquarters nearrepparttar 138438 water, giving it a campus-like feel. It is fun to walk around Rockland, to viewrepparttar 138439 old mansions and buildings; duck into a canoe and dory building shop to see dense, white Maine cedar turned into a recreational work of art.

One place not to be missed isrepparttar 138440 Farnsworth Art Museum, rather museums. Farnsworth is a respected name in Rockland, and you will find a three-story art gallery museum inrepparttar 138441 old bank building on Main Street, and then a few blocks torepparttar 138442 back isrepparttar 138443 magnificent Pirate Museum (entrance $7).

The Pirate Museum is a vast collection of dramatic seafaring oil paintings, mostly create byrepparttar 138444 notable Wyeths (The museum is known asrepparttar 138445 Wyeth Center.), a three generational collection of their canvases that portraysrepparttar 138446 days of yore and lore onrepparttar 138447 high seas. Rockland still maintains its links to windjammers and packet boats. Many summertime windjammers load up a cargo of tourists for cruises throughrepparttar 138448 Penobscot Bay islands. Later inrepparttar 138449 day I watched ferry boats load trucks and cars forrepparttar 138450 largest island, Vinalhaven, where inrepparttar 138451 past much ofrepparttar 138452 famous Maine granite was quarried.

The regional airport is located just outside Rockland atrepparttar 138453 Knox County Airport;repparttar 138454 terminal is a throw back to simpler times. I think they still shoo cows offrepparttar 138455 runway, butrepparttar 138456 security problems ofrepparttar 138457 world have hit home — four TSA agents checked my bags onrepparttar 138458 flight out — I wasrepparttar 138459 only passenger onrepparttar 138460 plane, so they had plenty of time to unzip everything. On my flight to Maine I met returning residents bound for some ofrepparttar 138461 coastal islands. The main Maine airline intorepparttar 138462 terminal is Colgan, a rubber-band express service of USAir, with connecting flights primarily to Boston. The local bus terminal is located atrepparttar 138463 Ferry terminal, which is probably reallyrepparttar 138464 main hub ofrepparttar 138465 town because a marina is located close by.

The Rockland ferry terminal is across Main Street fromrepparttar 138466 best place to stay in town —repparttar 138467 historic Old Granite Inn, a Colonial Federalist architectural sculpture hewn from tons of St. George, Maine artisan-dressed granite.

John,repparttar 138468 innkeeper, originally from California, greeted me and showed me aroundrepparttar 138469 modest inn, and then took me to my room, an airy corner alcove onrepparttar 138470 second floor (room #6) with windows all around for great views ofrepparttar 138471 bay.

Vacation Destinations

Written by S. A. Baker


Many times, when we plan a vacation, we know where we want to go. But, perhaps you don’t have a specific place in mind and are looking for some vacation destinations to choose from. The first order of business is to decide your budget. Yes, you’ll have to number crunch and find out how much you want to spend. From there, finding vacation destinations is simple.

Perhaps you are looking for information on some ofrepparttar big name vacation destinations such as Disney World, Las Vegas, orrepparttar 138414 Bahamas? Finding information on these vacation destinations is simple as it is everywhere you look. Or, perhaps you want a specific kind of vacation like a tropical island, a beach, or a ski resort? There are exotic vacation destinations and family oriented vacation destinations. The sky isrepparttar 138415 limit.

To find information regarding different vacation destinations, it is no longer necessary to visitrepparttar 138416 travel agent or evenrepparttar 138417 library. There is a wealth of information right onrepparttar 138418 internet that you can get right from your home. It’s as simple as doing a web search for one ofrepparttar 138419 many vacation planning websites. One great example is www.e-travelpromos.com where you can find many choices in vacation destinations.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use