Summer Folk

One of the Eastern Steamship Company sister ships, Belfast or Camden, passes under the Waldo-Hancock Bridge on its Bangor to Boston route on the bridge’s opening day

In the 1940s, when this photo was most likely taken, summer visitors generally came to Buck’s Harbor on their sailboats.

Bayside in Northport was originally a Methodist summer camp, where thousands gathered for two weeks in late August and early September for preaching, edification, entertainments

Catalog Number LB2008.19.114943

Catalog Number LB2008.19.114942

Located on Route 1 on the north side of Searsport, the Tourists Inn and Cabins was among several cabin colonies in the area that offered a lodging alternative

A listing in Duncan Hines’ Lodging for a Night, a popular guide for travelers published in 1938, was much sought after by the owners of tourist accommodations.

Maine vacationers have always liked to send postcards of lobster traps, lobster boats, and lobsters. This one must have received lots of attention in the 1920s.

The lighthouse and sandy beaches at Owls Head have attracted summer visitors for generations. At Crescent Beach, a summer colony began to take root in 1895

Penobscot Park, opposite Sears Island, was quite an attraction in the early 1900s. A persuasive advertisement in the Republican-Journal in July 1910 read:

Christian camp meetings had a huge following from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. Some were small and transient, while others, like Bayside in Northport

A lobster dinner is a much-anticipated part of the Maine experience for vacationers. When touring by automobile became popular, small roadside eateries lured travelers with lobster holding tanks

Behind these boys is Ryder’s Hotel, a popular lodging in the early days of tourism on Islesboro. In the building on the right, Benjamin Ryder opened the island’s first boardinghouse

Bayside Lodge, the large hotel in the photo, and Baycrest Lodge next door were located on the Castine side of Cape Rosier. They and the smaller Falls View House down the road welcomed guests

The only bridge to Deer Isle was opened in 1939. Until then a ferry service, begun in 1792 by Nathaniel Scott and operated by his descendants for 150 years, transported people and goods.

Vacationers began coming to Camden in the 1880s, lured by the grand old sea captains’ homes, pretty harbor, island views, and the Camden Hills.