Lubec, Maine

Campobello Island is “missing” one thing – a town. The two small villages, Welshpool and Wilsons Beach transmit a character of sleepy tranquility and if one reads visitor reviews on trip advisor or such site, some people complain about the “lack of services”. It is true that Campobello has no big hotels and fancy restaurants. The island is much more focused on relaxed country living, where the visitor can do long hikes along the beach and over quiet paths in the woods. But that doesn’t mean that we have no access to a more huzzle-buzzle-style of town living with a bigger choice of restaurants and more stores. The only thing we need to do is driving across the International bridge right into Lubec,ME. No, Lubec is not a big place either, but it is “a town”, with a Main Street where traffic evolves along the waterfront. As you already know I like to have a look into the past and here is what I found about Lubec: Located on a peninsula overlooking an excellent ice-free harbor, the town was first settled about 1775. Originally part of Eastport, it was set off and incorporated on June 21, 1811 and named for Lübeck, Germany. Following the War of 1812, Lubec was site of considerable smuggling trade in gypsum, although principal industries remained agriculture and fisheries. By 1859, there was a tannery, three gristmills and nine sawmills; by 1886, there were also two shipyards, three boatbuilders and three sailmakers. From 1897 to 1898, the town was the site of a swindle in the sale of stock in the Electrolytic Marine Salts Company, the brainchild of Reverend Prescott Jernegan and Charles Fisher of Martha's Vineyard. Jernegan claimed to have developed a method of using "accumulators" to get gold from sea water, and bought an old grist mill to turn it into a factory. The scheme attracted an abundance of investors, who were all too eager to funnel money into the company after being promised astronomical returns. In the summer of 1898, work was suspended without explanation at the factory. Jernegan and Smith vanished, and the fraud was gleefully exposed by newspapers across New England. Jacqueline and Robert Norton, two retirees from Lubec, were passengers on the ill-fated American Airlines Flight 11 which was crashed into the World Trade Center in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. It was allegedly Mr. and Mrs. Norton's first flight on a commercial aircraft. Robert Norton, 85, was the oldest person to die that day directly as a result of the attacks. We like Lubec as it is a typical small-town-USA kind of place. People are very friendly and happy about an increasing number of summer visitors, some of them showing a keen interest in buying an old house and restoring it to its old glory. As the town is mainly built over the top of a hill it has a few steep-grade streets leading up from the Water Street. The residential areas consist of fine wooden buildings, many of them white painted and with ornate decorations. If architecture means anything to you, you’d enjoy a walk in town. Front lawns are shaded by huge old trees and white picket fences are lined up along the old curbsides.   Thanks for coming along!