Elks Magazine (national publication) November 2003
Back to Summer in the Belgrade Lakes Region of Maine
by Patricia Ann McNair
This article about the region featured interior photos of the Yeaton Farm Inn. It contains a beautiful description of the region and lifestyle which we so richly enjoy here.This is their complete copyrighted article.
Fresh baked breads and rustic hearths are just a couple of the special touches you'll enjoy at the Yeaton Farm Inn Bed & Breakfast in historic Belgrade.
This aerial shot of the Belgrade Lakes Region truly reveals the splendid isolation enjoyed by residents.
The ability to land on water is almost essential for pilots who want total access to the Belgrade Lakes Region.
Fishing enthusiasts have found that the region's water provide an abundance of excellent angling, especially when it come to brown trout.
Although one might not think of Belgrade Lakes as a top golf destination, the Belgrade Lakes Golf Club was recently voted by Golf Digest as on of America's top 100 public golf courses.
For young children, a summer on the lakes can provide a lifetime of wonderful memories.
Although the fall colors are often dazzling, for many, the turning of the leaves signals one unfortunate fact: the end of summer in Belgrade Lakes.
Perhaps the best of summer holidays are those spent near woods and water. Maine is one of those states that have plenty of both of these natural gifts. Known for its rocky coastline overlapped by the Atlantic Ocean, Maine offers more than just seaside vacations. In the heart of the state there's an area called the Belgrade Lakes Region, and this is where travelers can find an easy-paced, quiet existence. The Belgrades offer the visual charm of New England villages — white clapboard houses built in the 1800s, rustic antique stores, pristine whitewashed churches — and all the comforts that nature provides us.
The Belgrade Lakes area is made up of seven connected bodies of water: Messalonskee Lake, Salmon Lake, McGrath Pond, East Pond, North Pond, Long Pond, and Great Pond. One might think that those things named "lakes" would be the larger bodies, but the reality is that Salmon is one of the smaller bodies of water. Great Pond, at the center of things, is the most expansive of the lakes and ponds. It's surrounded by trees and camps (the name for summer homes, what some of us might call cottages or cabins) and, although Great Pond is open to fishing and other recreational activities, its peaceful atmosphere remains intact. Do you remember the movie On Golden Pond? This is the pond that inspired the story. Local legend has it that film writer Ernest Thompson, who used to summer here, mad the movie with the stipulation that it not be filmed on the actual Great Pond. He didn't want the area to be overrun with curious moviegoers, even though the secret is out now, Great Pond continues to be a quiet getaway, even at the height of the season. This is not to say that there aren't some weekend nights when a room or dinner reservation can only be had at a premium, but there aren't hundreds of place to stay and there's no theme park or casino, so the area will always offer a certain sort of restful solitude.
So what is there to do in a place like this? Well, if sitting quietly in an Adirondack chair on a grassy slope that leads down toward the water, watching the clouds make their puffy shapes, calling back to the trill of the handsome loon, sipping an iced tea, and waving to the incoming sailors of small boats isn't enough for you, there are other options.
Great Pond is home to one of the country's surviving mail boat routes. While most camps and houses have roads that lead to them nowadays, the mail boat still makes its way from lakeside mailbox to mailbox. The mail vehicle is a 24-foot pontoon boat, and the route takes about four hours. Guests are welcome on the excursion, but reservations are essential for July and August, high season, and you're a captive audience on the trip. There are no restrooms on board, and 24 feet can be a small space indeed if kids (or dads or moms) are in need of constant active entertainment. But for the easygoing and patient traveler, this cruise into the nooks and crannies of the pond is a good way to watch for waterfowl and other birds, and allows for some postcard-perfect nature photography. That and the postman's knowledge of the area makes this a unique way to take in all of Great Pond's delights.
Fishing is an art form on the Belgrade Lakes. Some 20 species of fish swim these waters, and summer months are prime catching time. Local publications tell the triumphant and true fish stories: a nine-pound brown trout caught here, a 15-pound pike there, a 23-pound picke over there. Fishers lure landlocked salmon, black bass, pickerel, white perch, brown and brook trout. Again, the word that comes to mind here is "quiet"; small vessls bob easily on the waters while young and old sit quietly and let their bait and line do most of the work.
Canoes and kayaks are available for rent on the lakes, and some of the housekeeping cottages have their own rental concessions. Castle Island Camps, located on Long Pond, is an especially scenic place to put in. For the canoeing enthusiast, you can float from Great Pond all the way to Messalonskee Lake. Okay, so you have to make a short portage across Route 27 to pass from Great Pond to Long Pond, but from there it's water all the way. If you want to be in a boat but not necessarily at the helm, make arrangements for a guide tour with Maine Wilderness Tours. These locals know the best fishing spots and photo opportunities.
For those with "land legs," a number of upward trails will lead you to some of the best vistas withoug wearing you out too much. Before you climb, you might want to get in your car and explore the little villages and towns that the surrounding roads pass through. This way you can get a sense of the area, find out where the hiking trails are, and see some wonderful antique public buildings, old homes, and newly built getaways. With the exception of Belgrade Lakes Village, the towns are not open for much business, but many are quaint and picturesque, and mark your passage from pond to pond, hike to hike.
Just north of Belgrade Lakes Village are three of the most impressive hikes. These uphill walks are located in Rome, although in an area this rural, it's hard to tell where one town ends and the next begins. The Mountain (it's name, not just its geographical description) is closest to Belgrade Lakes Village, and its trail is off Mountain Drive. Climb 663 feet and you'll have a fine view of Great Pond. Mount Philip, farther north from the Village, is a 775-foot climb to a Great Pond view. French's Mountain has a shorter hike than either of the other two to its top, but once there you'll find some smooth rocky surfaces to lounge on and take in the view of both Great Pond and Long Pond. And if you want some of the view without the climb, Blueberry Hill, northwest of Belgrade Lakes Village, has a scenic overlook toward Long Pond, Camden Hills in the distance, and on a clear day Great Pond.
In the car, you might feels as though you're going in circles sometimes. Don't worry, you very likely may be. Keep in mind that to most of us, trees look like other trees and sometimes lakes look like other lakes; what you'll want to remember is that Route 27 is the road to watch for. Ask for directions if need be, people are friendly and helpful here, or better yet, stop in Day's General Store in Belgrade Lakes Village (on Route 27) and pick up a map of the area. Day's Store is one of those rare places that really do have just about anything you need. It's a small grocery store for the locals (and summer people), as well as bait and tackle shop, a gift shop, a coffee shop, a candy counter, and a package store. Information is easily attainable at Day's; brochures for local attractions and accommodations line a shelf, realtor's post listings on an ouside wall, flyers are tacked up here and there. And the staff is local and helpful, so most questions can be answered at Day's.
A place like Belgrade Lakes Village handled in a different way would be jam packed with kitsch and cutesy tourist merchants. While clever souvenirs like suckers shaped as moose heads and loon-shaped trinkets can be found here (check out the Maine Made and More Shop), there are just a handful of shops lining the main road, and most of them also sell necessary items as well as toiletries, postcards, furniture, or serious arts and crafts.
The Belgrade Lakes House, a tastefully-appointed bed-and-breakfast of four guest rooms in a late 1800s house, has a solid old barn on its property that is open in the summer months for an artist and artisan co-op of sorts. The large wooden structure houses the work of locals; shelves and walls are filled with pottery and glasswork, textiles, prints and paintings, small handmade furniture pieces, cards, and jewelry. Down the road are a few shops and galleries selling antiques and more original art. The Belgrade Lakes Region isn't the place for a shopping and boutiquing vacation, but the few shops that sell here can provide a respite from all that nature.
A bit outside of the region on Route 41 in Mt. Vernon, you'll find the D. E. W. Animal Kingdom. The letters stand for domestic, exotic,and wild. this is a privately owned nonprofit zoo where a variety of animals are raised and rehabilitated. Part of the zoo's mission is to support and enhance species and breeds that are rare and endangered. There are lots of opportunities for hands-on activities, and visitors will come face-to-face with big animals like linons, tigers, and leopards, as well as llamas, pigs, and wallabies. The Kingdom's hours of operations change with the seasons, so call before you drop by.
The Belgrade Lakes Region is known for its natural beauty,but that doesn't mean that all it has to offer is rustic or primitive. The overall atmosphere is casual, but there are opportunities for elegance as well. The Belgrade Lakes House puts on no airs, but its formal communal parlor with its well-chosen antiques and accessories, a visitor can feel pampered and well-off. On a gentle rise amidst numerous shade trees, the Wings Hill Inn and Restaurant, also in Belgrade Lakes Village, looks like a fine New England country estate and offers meals of fine dining. There are not a lot of restaurants in the area, perhaps because so many of the cottages and inns have either dining rooms or private kitchen facilities, but one place folks come from far and wide to feast at is The Village Inn. As you might expect, there is a comprehensive list of fish dishes and meat entrees, but the Inn is particularly known for its roast wild duckling. (They swear that the ducks aren't related to those you can see from the window.) The dish, which takes two days of preparation, is complemented by your choice from a dozen different sauces.
Belgrade Lakes, like so much of the rest of our United States, goes white and frozen in these next months. Some of the full-time residents here swear that winter is the most beautiful season the region has to offer…. In the summer, though, hot doesn't feel quite so hot here, and the miles and miles of water and woods that are Maine's heartland make the dog days more than bearable, make them exquisitely comfortable and remarkably memorable. So when you bedroom windows are sealed tight and lined with frost, remember, or imagine, what it could be come summer: sun on a slant through the blinds making a warm patch on the painted floorboards, the smell of coffee from the kitchen downstairs or the campfire next door, the quiet call of the loon, and perhaps best of all, the sweet lap of — what a perfect name — Great Pond on the shore just beneath your wide-open window.
