Rainy Days in Maine

Rainy cold days like yesterday are not great for hiking, canoeing, or photography. Today stated out the same, but by mid-morning it had improved to fog with periodic mist, so we struck-out to explore a few small villages/town south of Greenville.

Dover-Foxcroft is the largest town in the area with 4,000 inhabitants. Originally two towns separated by the Piscataquis River, which provided hydro-power for manufacturing - saw, grist, woolen and slate finishing mills, tanneries,…. Today, the unified town is best known for the Maine Whoopie Pie Festival, a historic district of industrial buildings, and the American Pizzeria Appreciation Society naming Dover-Foxcroft "Pizza Town USA 2014” based on the per capita concentration of pizza restaurants. Who knew - no one we talked with.

So, we did not get to Dover-Foxcroft to sample the pizza. we searched for a new and highly recommended bakery in Abbot, which turned out to be closed on Tuesdays, Lake Hebron and a newly developing arts scene in Monson, and a section of the Appalachian Trail captured our interests and time.

The attached photos include: The Abbot Veterans Memorial (originally for Civil War Veterans) and the nearby historical museum (historical museums are commonly found in Maine, even in the smallest villages); From Monson: Lake Hebron, a picturesque lake-side church, the newly remodeled general store (AKA deli), an adjacent building being remodeled to hold two new art galleries (there are two established galleries in the village), the former elementary school, now an arts center (studios, workshops) and the public library); and the section of the Appalachian Trail that crosses Rt 6 & 15 and led to Goodell Falls (25’ tall). Further south the Appalachian Trail runs within a half-mile of Monson. Hikers are welcomed by the businesses and some towns people take hikers into their homes.