Rockport, Maine City Guide

For over 20 years, Pamela Lanier's Rockport, Maine Travel Guide has been your connection to Rockport's tourism community with invaluable details on local attractions, restaurants, shopping, museums, history, outdoor recreation and more.

Attractions

Rockport is a picturesque coastal village with all the Maine charm it can possibly hold. Established on a hill overlooking the Rockport Harbor it has magnificent views of the sea and sailing vessels for which it is known. Andre the Seal has been its harbor mascot for many years, and now after Andre’s passing, there is a great sculpture set up near the marina and harbor master’s station. Andre has been a well-loved children’s story and movies. Also on the harbor are the many old restored kilns that were used years ago for processing the limestone that was trained from the mainland and then put on ships that took it to many other ports all over the world. Limestone was highly explosive under certain conditions, and some ships did not make it to next port.

Lime production was once a major industry and in 1817 three hundred casks of lime where shipped to Washington for use in building the Capitol, recently damaged by the British in the War of 1812.

Rockport is a town in Knox County, originally a part of Camden until those two split on February 25, 1891 and the name Rockport was adopted. Later that same year, and again in 1893, it annexed land from Camden.

Since 1889, the Samoset Hotel, then resort, has been a prime coastal resort location, renowned for spectacular and expansive views of Penobscot Bay, distant islands and the Camden Hills rising to the east. It adjoins Rockland Harbor and its breakwater.
The Simonton Corner Quarry is an eleven acre abandoned, water filled, limestone quarry with dangerous cliffs managed by The Nature Conservancy as a nature preserve.

Rockport is often bypassed by most traveling up the Maine coast because it is on Route 1A which swings away from the famous Route 1. Rockport is a beautiful seaport town that should not be missed.

Want things to do in Rockport? Get outdoors and join the fun! Play golf where the challenge of the fairways is equaled only by the beauty of the setting. Bring your bike - or rent one when you get here - and set off on a leisurely tour down tree-shaded country lanes past lakes and ocean lookouts to lupine fields. Enjoy a sunny day in the country with a friendly horse, or stop by a meadow where striped cows graze. And, if the call of the sea proves too difficult to ignore, then rent a kayak or join a tour and head out into Penobscot Bay!

Swim in warm lake waters or the brisk Atlantic. Cast a lure for mackerel or stripers. Slip a paddle into the water and canoe down a quiet river or kayak across the bay to an island campsite. Celebrate wind, water, and wind-powered ships at our annual Windjammer Weekend over Labor Day.

Stroll flower-bordered garden paths, hike to a mountaintop for a spectacular panorama of sea and islands, or test your technical climbing skills on rugged stone cliffs.

In the center of Rockport Village, The Center for Maine Contemporary Art mounts stunning showings of paintings and other work by today's established and emerging artists who live or create their art in Maine. There is also a fine gallery shop here.

At The Farnsworth Art Museum and Wyeth Center in nearby Rockland, impressive works by American masters are highlighted by a collection of paintings by three generations of the Wyeth family as well as pieces by other outstanding Maine artists.

One of the oldest homesteads in the region, the Conway House offers a look back to the time of the first white settlements. The house is built in the typical style of this early period of Maine's history--- a rural construction style known as "Cape Cod." The inside of the house is a fascinating study in the technologies and building techniques of the 18th century. On the grounds are a Blacksmith Shop, a barn filled with farm implements and tools, the Maple Sugar House and the Cramer Museum and Gift Shop that features ship models, early glass work, period costumes, paintings, guns, sabers, records and documents. The Conway House is listed on the "Maine State Register of Historic Sites" and the "National Register of Historic Places."

Take a tour of Maine's largest cow's milk cheese facility and taste a wonderful array of specialty cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses. All of the cheeses are made using only Maine mile and are free of any additives.

Take time out to visit the Avena Institute and Herb Garden, a beautiful and abundant medicinal herb and meditation garden that features stone benches, wandering paths, arbors, and bridges. A variety of programs are offered in the educational center including organic gardening, meditation, holistic health, and homeopathy.

In winter, go cross-country skiing by the water's edge or along groomed woodland trails, or go downhill skiing in neighboring Camden. For a special thrill, try ice-boating on a frozen lake, or climb onto a toboggan and speed down the 400-foot-long chute.
Whatever the season - whatever is pleasing - you'll find plenty to renew your spirits and quicken your heart.

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