Down East

Sarah atop Cadillac Mountain with the city of Bar Harbor and the Porcupine Islands in the background.

We spent a day looking at the outside of the Newport (R.I.) mansions as we traveled north to Maine. We saw the homes of the fabulously wealthy families of the past who summered here such as the Vanderbilts. We also saw the mansions of those who are merely rich. As my leg was giving me trouble from an injury I got shortly before we left, we didn't take any of the mansion tours. As we didn't want trouble with the police, we didn't go into any of the other homes either.

We did go to see the Touro Synagogue which is the oldest existing synagogue in the U.S. The first, in NYC, was destroyed during the Revolutionary War. Other than its antiquity, this synagogue is famous for its letter from newly elected president George Washington which contains the phrase describing the fledgling United States of America “...which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance....”

We couldn't see the outside of the building because it was shrouded in plastic for renovations. We signed up for the weekly 'hard hat' tour of the inside, but the contractor didn't show up. We got a talk and our money back.

Sarah has been doing the driving (my leg, remember). She has been doing a generally good job, but on the country roads in Maine she won't pass slower cars. I've been trying to get her to understand that it's okay to pass on these roads: That's why they make air bags.

We toured Bar Harbor, Maine for several days. While here we visited Acadia National Park which makes up a large part of Mount Desert Island. The granite summit of Cadillac Mountain rises to just over 1,500 feet which makes it the highest point on the eastern seaboard.

It is claimed here that the first rays of the rising sun in the U.S. first touch the summit of Cadillac Mountain because it is the highest point on the east coast. Some Maine communities that are at lower elevation but further east dispute that claim. It has yet to be resolved.

In any case, the claim pertains to the contiguous states only as some of the Aleutian Islands, which are western Alaska, are on the western side of the International Date Line and are thus the easternmost part of the U.S. They get sunrise most a day ahead of Maine.

We drove the three mile road to the summit and wandered around getting good views of the national park, Bar Harbor, and the numerous small islands which dot the Atlantic off of coastal Maine.

I never owned a Chevrolet, so I never had the opportunity to drive my Chevy to the levee. I did have a GMC, which is identical to the Chevy except for the grille and name plate. I drove my GMC to the levee; maybe I get part credit. In Acadia, I drove my Cadillac up Cadillac Mountain, but, as far as I know, there is no song about that.

BTW: Cadillac Mountain is named for Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the person given the area by Louis XV. Cadillac, the person, went further west and founded the city of Detroit, Michigan.

While in Acadia N.P., we took tea at the Victorian 'Jordan Pond House' on the shore of, where else, Jordan Pond. The Jordan Pond House is world famous for their ice cream and pop-overs. As we've never heard of this place outside of this area, they must only be world famous on Mt. Desert Island.

I was not thrilled: The ice cream wasn't bad, but I've had better. As for the pop-overs, they consist of air surrounded by a thin layer of fried dough. When I first saw them, I thought that they were really large muffins and worth the money. Imagine my surprise when I picked one up. At least I save a lot of calories. The stuff was pricey and the wait was long. The last time we were here, I probably said, “Never again.” I said it again this year; I'll probably forget again.

In the park and in town are divisions of the Abbe Museum which has a collection of Indian artifacts from the area dating as far back as 13,000 years. The oldest item is a clovis spear point which was named for Clovis, New Mexico where the first of this kind of stone point was uncovered. The concept, it seems, spread far and wide. The clovis point is often given credit for the disappearance of large mammals in North America. It's sort of the AK-47 of the paleo-Indian.

While on MDI, we also visited the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory which does research into genetic diseases using cold water fish. There was a brief lecture and, for the kids, a touch tank. They had two bright blue lobsters in a tank. They are considered very rare. I had never seen one before, now I've seen two. You can't touch those.

To see the next portion of this trip, New Brunswick, click here.