By Adrienne Perron
From our June 2023 Island Issue
Get There
Catch the North Haven ferry from the Maine State Ferry Service terminal in Rockland, making the 70-minute crossing to the island three times a day (517 Main St., Rockland; 207-596-5400). Round-trip tickets cost $17.50. Bringing a car on the ferry costs $38.50 at the dock or $12 if reserved between a month and two hours before departure.
Explore
Bike or drive to sandy Narrow Place Beach (off Crabtree Point Rd.) to swim and drink in the views of Penobscot Bay and the distant Camden Hills to the west (it’s a great place for sunsets). In the afternoon, you might catch sailors testing their skills in dinghy races put on by North Haven Casino (a yacht club — nothing to do with gambling), with dozens of sails flecking the Fox Islands Thoroughfare a couple of days a week through July and August (42 Main St.; 207-867-4696). Drop by Waterman’s Community Center (12 Main St.; 207-867-2100) to grab a coffee or pastry from the café and check out the events schedule — the center’s 134-seat auditorium hosts theater, concerts, lectures, and more.
Eat & Drink
North Haven Brewing Co. opened in North Haven’s historic Calderwood Hall building in 2016, a floor below the Calderwood Hall restaurant (2 Iron Point Rd.; 207-867-4700). Built in 1908, the hall has, over the years, hosted community dances, movie screenings, plays, basketball games, a gift shop, an art gallery, and more. This year, the brewery owners are taking over the restaurant. They’ll continue serving pizza — try the Reuben pie, topped with sauerkraut and pastrami and, yep, mustard and Thousand Island — and they don’t want to change the restaurant’s old-time charm (the dining room’s wooden floor still has basketball-court markings from more than 60 years ago). At any given time, find at least four beers on tap that were brewed downstairs.
Lit up at Nebo Lodge (left). Photo by Douglas Merriam. Barn dinners at Turner Farm (right). Photo by Peter Frank Edwards
Stay
The nine rooms at Nebo Lodge (11 Mullins Ln.; 207-867-2007) all share a cheerful farmhouse décor, but each has its own perks — one has a private deck, another a gas fireplace, another a water view, etc. The inn’s restaurant is fine-dining fabulous, highlighting meats and produce from the island (it’s open to non-guests). Or camp with style at Turner Farm (73 Turner Farm Rd.; 207-867-4962), where a canvas wall tent with a queen-size bunk bed (and gear for outdoor cooking and lounging) looks out across the thoroughfare at neighboring Vinalhaven. The farm has a guest house too and hosts summer concerts and suppers in its gorgeous post-and-beam barn.
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