Working in downtown Camden is always a bit of a pain in the summer. I know many locals who simply avoid the entire area from June to September, leaving it for our summer visitors. I am fortunate that my harborside office has a dedicated parking spot, and my love of back roads allows me to find creative ways to get to it. I will always pick driving a little further over getting stuck in traffic. While I may live just up from the Beach, driving Route 1/Atlantic Highway into Camden is always a no go for half the year. 

This route is especially fraught in the summer of 2025. The Maine DOT has begun their long anticipated project to repair and refurbish the stretch that lies between Camden and Lincolnville. While few would argue that these repairs are not necessary, it is has an impact on our local businesses which rely on those summer visitors- summer visitors who are being diverted around Lincolnville Beach by those pocket computers we all possess.

This week I will spotlight a couple more places at the Beach that should be checked out.

Maine Coast Artisans

This cooperative smack in the middle of Lincolnville Beach’s row of shops is celebrating its 50th year in 2025. Featuring the handwork of 28 member-owners, five working consigners, and 40 consigners, Maine Coast Artisans is a repository of some of the finest art Maine has to offer.

When I stopped by the other day, I was met by Treasurer Sharon Boody-Dean, Secretary Deborah Ketter, and members Jessica Marshall and Linda Learnard, who gave me the ins and outs of this unique Lincolnville business.

The details of the shop’s history is somewhat lost to time, but we agreed that we don’t really remember a time when the business wasn’t in the old building, a place that was George Nichol's garage once upon a time. Apparently it was first formed in Camden in the 1970s, a place for local artists to team up in order to find a market for their craft.

Today in is a Title 13-b nonprofit corporation, owned and run by those 28 members. I can just imagine what the board meetings look like. Each member serves shifts in the shop, meaning you are generally guaranteed a new face each time you visit. And it is a place worthy of multiple visits, as you will always see something new.

You will find traditional oil paintings of our rocky coast, but also beautiful nature scenes painted on squares of locally sourced birch bark. Quilted collages made up of “penny wool”, traditionally the scraps left over from a well worn and patched article of clothing. Scarves and throws made of felted silk, locally harvested beeswax candles, goats milk soap crafted from someone’s backyard herd. Stained glass mosaics, cut paper lamp shades, and hooked rug pillows. Jewelry and ornaments of all kinds and materials, walking sticks and toys. All made in Maine, by Maine artists, hailing from all over the state.

You can pick up a small handmade souvenir to send to a friend from away, or invest in a one of a kind piece of art. During my visit, I spoke to a couple from Northern New Hampshire, who told me about a painting they had purchased a few years ago that they love- it happened that this was one of Sharon Boody-Dean’s birch bark creations.

If you are looking to shop local, you really can’t get more local than this little place. I cannot recommend a visit enough. They are open daily from 10-5 p.m. at 2518 Atlantic Highway, from May to November, and on weekends in December. When you stop by you are guaranteed to be meeting one of the artists. Support those who create.

The Spouter Inn

Some 25 years ago, Tracy Cini left a cooking class with a friend in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where she had grown up. Clearly inspired by something from the class, Tracy announced, “Someday I’m going to run a Bed and Breakfast on the coast of Maine.” Tracy had spent summers in Maine as a child, and like so many before her, it had left an impression.

The friend gave her a book- So You Want to be an Innkeeper. The book sat on the shelf as Tracy and her husband, Mark, perused careers, moved to North Carolina, and raised three boys. Then, in 2022, with the final boy launched, Tracy remembered that dream. It just so happened that the Spouter Inn, overlooking Lincolnville Beach, was on the market.

An 1832 colonial, building has long been prominent building in the history of Lincolnville Beach, owing, at least partially, to the ballroom that once took over much of the second floor, where all sorts of soirées once took place. It was opened as an inn and B&B by the Lippman family in 1986, who added the “carriage house” to the back, allowing for more guest rooms.

Today, the inn boasts eight rooms, all with private baths, and is open year round. Naturally, your stay includes a three course breakfast made by Tracy.

Tracy and Mark have adapted well to the business, dividing and conquering, according to the skill sets. They are gradually upgrading the rooms and grounds, and working with the eccentricities of a 200 year old home, which many of us natives can relate to, though at a much larger scale. As a fully family run operation, they have recruited their youngest son to clean and maintain the guest rooms.

As Tracy showed me around the inn, I was reminded of something that it is easy to forget for a lifelong Lincolnville resident, we live in an absolutely gorgeous part of the world. Having done a little bit of traveling recently, I sort of feel like my next “vacation” should take place right here, maybe book a room at the Spouter or any of the other fine Lincolnville lodgings. If we can shop local, we can vacation local.

Farewell to LCS

This week, our youngest child leaves Lincolnville Central School with a ceremony Wednesday evening. His classes at Camden Hills Regional have been picked out, and he will join his older siblings there in September. He and his classmates are ready, these young adolescents, many who spent the last nine years together. 

I remember my own little LCS class, who had our own ceremony in the far off year of 1989. How ready I was to move on to bigger things. But we had a bond, and as my former classmates and I hit 50, those bonds are still there.

The LCS class of 2025 just spent the last three days in Quebec City, and from the few words my boy shared, it was a roaring success. They may not yet realize this is one of the last times they will all be together. Thank you to LCS staff Ben Edes, Deanna McGregor, and Lindsay Spearing who organized the fundraising and chaperoned our 25 Lincolnville kids in their tour of the heart of French Canada. Thank you to the community that supported their fundraising efforts, and helped us parents raise these amazing young people.

I’m not crying, you’re crying.

The tourists are here, and Midcoast Maine is at its prime. Welcome to summer. Here at Sleepy Hollow, the garden is starting to produce, and Ma will give tours of her flowers and vegetable beds to anyone who shows a passing interest. 

Feel the sun, the breeze, the black flies on your skin. Don’t forget your sunscreen and tick repellent. Patronize local businesses, look out for your neighbors, be kind and good.

Reach out to me at ceobrien246@gmail.com.

Municipal Calendar

Monday, June 9

Select Board, 5 p.m. Town Office

Recreation Commission, 6 p.m. Town Office

Tuesday, June 10

Library open 3-6 p.m. 208 Main Street

AA Meeting 12:15 p.m., Community Building, 18 Searsmont Road

Town Meeting- Elections and Referendum Voting, 8 a.m.-8 p.m., LCS Gym

Wednesday, June 11

Library Open, 2-5 p.m., 208 Main Street

Planning Board, 6 p.m. Town Office

Bayshore Baptist Church, Wednesday Night Bible Study, 6 p.m.

Thursday, June 12

Conservation Commission, 4 p.m. Town Office

Town Meeting, 6 p.m. LCS, Walsh Common

Friday, June 13

AA Meeting 12:15 p.m., Community Building, 18 Searsmont Road

Library open 9-12, 208 Main Street

Saturday, June 14

Library open 9-12, 208 Main Street

Sunday, June 15

United Christian Church, 9:30 a.m. Worship and Children’s Church, 18 Searsmont Road

Bayshore Baptist Church, 10 a.m. Sunday School for All Ages, 10:40 a.m. Coffee and Baked Goods, 11:00 a.m. worship, 2648 Atlantic Highway