Many people don’t like to see the leaves start to turn here — it’s a very colorful sign that another boating season is coming to an end on this popular Cumberland County lake. The great basin’s summer camps are closed up, the historic music theater goes dormant, cottage owners head back to wherever home is, and boats get shrink-wrapped and sit in yards. Last year, things were more somber than normal in this community of 2,315; a terrible boat collision led to much debate about what constitutes appropriate recreation on this very busy, eleven-mile-long lake. It left a pall on the region almost as dark as the one that occupies it in The Mist, a 2007 movie based on a Stephen King novella, which is set here. (King’s not the only notable writer to be inspired by this elongated pond, either — E.B. White also had a home on its shore.) But on this sunny day, with the leaves just turning, it’s hard to imagine anything but a lovely afternoon at the lake. Send us a comment below, drop us a note at PO Box 679, Camden, ME 04843, or whip us an e-mail at editorial@downeast.com.

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