Where In Maine?

Where In Maine?
Photographed by Mark Fleming.

Can you name this camp and the lake it’s on?

Considered the country’s oldest private fishing camp, this manicured property sits in the heart of Maine’s fly-rod country, at a point where two major rivers meet to feed an expansive lake. Nearby landmarks include Indian Rock, a barren point overlooking the camp, and a 1916 nondenominational log church made of felled spruce, found in the village up the road. These days, the surrounding network of waterways is popular with paddlers, but the New York stockbroker and his friends who founded the camp in the latter half of the 19th century were lured primarily by the abundance of enormous brook trout. Feeding on a local population of smaller bluebacks, the brookies could weigh in at as much as 8 pounds. (The camp and eponymous village take their name from the Abenaki word for “place of trout.”) But after the introduction of non-native salmon, the bluebacks disappeared, and the brook trout stopped growing to such incredible size. Today, they still pack the waters and continue to entice anglers, but they don’t grow much past 2 or 3 pounds.

❯❯ If you can name this camp and the lake it’s on, write us at P.O. Box 679, Camden, ME 04843 (with “Where in Maine” on the envelope); send an email to [email protected]; or post a comment below. We’ll feature our favorite letter in an upcoming issue — and send the winner a Down East wall calendar.