OUR
COMMENTS - NOVEMBER, 1999
Driving To The Mountain
I 've been doing a lot of driving to the mountain recently. The trips have become more frequent as our cottage construction reached the point where I could begin doing some finish work. Luckily, it is not a long journey, crossing but one Maine county between our home in Falmouth and the mountain in Shelburne, and I still enjoy the drive each time.
Though the drive is only 72 miles one way, it is a journey of many transitions. Geographically, it entails a transition from the near Maine coast to the Western Lakes Region of Maine, continuing through the Oxford Hills and Western Mountains, and ending at the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The large open water of Lake Sebago is encountered shortly after leaving our home in Falmouth. The next transition is to a landscape of smaller great ponds and old stone walls along the roadside. On clear days you can sometimes view the far off summit of Mount Washington while still in the Lakes Region. Then, though you continue to drive by numerous great ponds, you soon become aware that the landscape has begun to be dominated by the ever larger hills of Oxford County. Those hills are soon replaced by Maine's low western mountains, which are then dwarfed by the rugged Mahoosuc Mountains Range, which in turn are finally eclipsed by the imposing White Mountains.
On
another level, the journey reflects a gradual transition from a bustling
city and busy people to a bucolic rural setting with a much more relaxed
pace of life. The first part of the drive passes through the town of
Windham, whose strip center along US 302 has been used as a model by every
small Maine town to demonstrate what their town might look like with unfettered
commercial development. After leaving bustling Windham, the route is
dominated by Sebago Lake and the many tourist attractions attendant to the
summer resort lake life. In the off season the flavor is much more relaxed
and the drive more pleasant, though commercial enterprises still dominate
the landscape. Just before the little lakeside village of Naples, you
leave most of the commercial world behind as you turn north on Route 35.
That two lane state highway is dominated by simple cottages and homes
along Long Lake, and by the fire-lane roads that lead to the shoreside cottages
hidden behind the thick forest encircling the lake. Century old stone walls
and farmsteads line the road as it passes along the east side of the lake.
It is along this portion of the route where open fields on the left
often provide the preview of Mount Washington at a great distance to the
northwest. At the end of Long Lake, the small village of Harrison is
tucked between the northern tip of that lake and tiny Crystal Lake.
Harrison is a popular spot for "summer people", having a few restaurants
and a general store, as well as a public launch facility and marina on Long
Lake. In summer the town has a bustling charm, while in late fall and winter
it is usually a sleepy village except on weekend nights.
Route 35 continues out of Harrison, following the Bear River and passing along the shoreline of Bear Pond. That mostly forested drive is marred only by the underway conversion of an expanse of forest along the riverbank into a dozen house-lots, each with a driveway onto Route 35. The first of several very old New England B&B inns, the Bear Mountain Inn, is seen just beyond Bear Pond. Another Maine great pond, Keoka Lake, follows just around the bend and the unique village of Waterford lies along its shores. That village is noted for its large white clapboard homes and is a National Historic Site. The village gives the appearance of being a movie set, it being such a perfect example of the small New England village. While the village is picture perfect, it seems unreal, as I have rarely seen any people populating it, even during the summer season. A left turn at the end of the village follows Route 35 northbound, past the picturesque Kedarburn Inn and a huge rambling New England farmhouse with original stone foundation and attached barns and houses typical of the "Big house, Little house, Back House, Barn" architecture of an earlier era.
Beyond Waterford, the scenery becomes even more rural. At the one stop village of North Waterford is Tut's General Store and Restaurant, which was featured in a "Yankee" magazine article in the monthly "House for Sale" section. You can get a Buffalo Burger at their lunch counter, raised on the bison ranch just up the road. Shortly past Tut's, Route 35 joins Route 5 northbound to Bethel, Maine. From that junction, the road is dominated by forest unbroken except for the infrequent sand and gravel pit and occasional homestead, until reaching Songo Pond on the edge of Bethel. Before reaching the pond, Route 35 splits to the east and continues directly into Bethel, an old Maine mountain resort town. Our drive continues to follow Route 5, which passes by the west side of Bethel and provides a glimpse at the back of the Bethel Inn & Country Club and the Gould Academy.
Once past Bethel, the Mahoosuc Mountain Range comes into full view at Route 5 's intersection with US Route 2. The drive continues westbound on US 2, along the south side of the Androscoggin River, with the Mahoosuc Mountains rising on the north side. The previous transition from bustling town to village, then to open forestland, begins to reverse along this part of the drive. More commercial enterprises are seen in the town of West Bethel, but the feeling is somehow different. This is the "North Country" and the big businesses are rude block and metal pole barn buildings where trees of the north country are turned into furniture stock, dowels, or chips. The tourist draw is not summer lakeside living, but the beauty and challenge of mountain vistas in summer, fall, and winter. Once through West Bethel however, the transition reverts back to the rural setting previously adapted to, as the drive passes through the near ghost town of Gilead and crosses the Wild River and into New Hampshire.
Shortly across the stateline, US Route 2 rounds a broad curve and appears to be headed straight at First Mountain. However, the next curve follows the bend of the river to the left and the road to Shelburne village is then on the right. The town hall and village church are the only non-residential buildings you'll see as you pass through the village and then cross the river and turn west onto scenic North Road. Thus ends the transition from bustling cityscape to a quiet, natural setting in the mountains.
I could also describe an emotional transition during the drive, or the weather transition which can be quite drastic, but believe that I might be overdoing the point. We have already had our first light snowfall at the mountain, on November 12, and will probably be writing about the coming winter on the mountain in our next "Comments" section.
Larry
Above Photo Montage: Mt. Washington View From Long Lake; Bear Pond; Village of Waterford; Kedarburn Inn; Songo Pond; US 2 and First Mountain (across left to right)
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