‘All I could see from where I stood was three mountains and a wood; I turned and looked the other way, and saw three islands in a bay’ Edna St Vincent Millay…
“Top 17 reasons why we love living in Camden!” From Annette and Terry Hazzard of Blue Harbor House Inn:
#1 Quintessential Maine harbor town – No 3 of downeast Mag 2017 Maine’s prettiest harbors
#2 Lovely downtown – small local businesses, no big box stores here. No 7 of ‘New England today’ prettiest coastal towns in Maine
#3 Camden Hills State Park-an abundance of great hiking trails- Mount Battie/ Maidens Cliff etc
#4 four seasons hiking, skiing, kayaking, biking, ice fishing
#5 Camden snow bowl- skiing( undergoing $8 million redevelopment.)
#6 Camden Hills regional high school voted no5 in Best public high school in Maine 2017
#7 The best Thai restaurant in Maine!(and possibly anywhere!)
#8 An abundance of award winning restaurants including – 2017 two 2017 James Beard nominees Brian Hill Francine Bistro/ Ravin Nakjaroen, Long Grain Camden
#9 walk to everything.
#10 local wineries on our doorstep – Cellardoor, etc
#11 We can’t forget the abundance of lighthouses. # 12 Lake megunticook- swimming/ kayaking in summer/ ice fishing and snowmobiling in winter. National toboggan championships at snow bowl.
#13 Year round community. Local farms- farmers market / local farms surrounding Camden. See beautiful belted Galloway cows(from Scotland!) at Aldermere farm just a mile or so away.
#14 Walk your dog at beautiful Beauchamp Point, Rockport, or if you are like Terry, pop in for a quick scuba dive.
#15 Unspoiled rugged natural beauty (just about everywhere)
#16 We can’t finish up without mentioning Camden’s no 1 (in our opinion!) pub – the Drouthy Bear- Scottish pub with THE best fish and chips! They also have haggis, but I believe that is not their best seller!
#17 Year round tourist destination / one of the top reasons we chose Camden – windjammer festival/ toboggan championships/ winterfest week/ Camden conference/ POP Tech/ Christmas by the sea/ Camden film festival
Coming ‘from away’, actually very far away from Edinburgh, Scotland, it was a joy (and a big surprise) to walk downtown on our first day in Camden, and have each person we passed nod, and say ‘good morning’. Coming from a big city where you hardly new your neighbors this was just amazing! We wondered if we would have difficulty fitting in, but after our neighbors and other Innkeepers came to welcome us with pot plants, food, and kind words we felt at home straight away. The people of Maine are real, down to earth, salt of the earth neighbors and friends. We wanted to move to a top tourist destination, and to be near the ocean. We wanted an area with a great local school for our young daughter who was just starting kindergarten. We wanted a simpler, more natural way of life, and a safe place to bring up kids. We wanted to be able to walk to the farmers market and buy local grown food, and to support our local farmers. We wanted to be able to walk to the Harbor, and be within walking distance of local restaurants. We wanted a good location- being mid coast was the perfect location for our bed and breakfast. Location, location, location is what you are always told buying a business. Camden has it all, and more…..much more!
