History in places like Boothbay is what surrounds us with floor boards worn smooth by centuries of footsteps, by vistas filled with sailing ships brought down to see us, as we line the shore in wonder. By simple places made priceless by their familiarity. Proust’s madeleine turned into a lobster roll and the sound of a halyard loosened on a mast conjuring the dip of oars on another summer night. We say we hate history, that ‘brown furniture’ (aka antiques) is “not our style.” yet we crave authentic experiences with the yearning of a schoolchild let loose from the classroom.

The Windjammer fleet, the Boothbay waterfront, the cottages of Spruce Point Inn are all history lessons of the sort we most treasure, the ones we pay good money for, the ones worth getting to.  And why is that? Read more...