Rockland Maine's Old Granite Inn

Rockland Maine's Old Granite Inngranite.
Read Jetsetters Magazine atJohn, the innkeeper, originally from California, greeted
To read this entire feature FREE with photos cut andme and showed me around the modest inn, and then
paste this link:took me to my room, an airy corner alcove on the
Every year in an Outside Magazine readers' poll,second floor (room #6) with windows all around for
Rockland, Maine ranks among the top 100 best smallgreat views of the bay.
towns to live in. This is the town where the thenJohn's wife, Regan is an educator from New York
controversial 1957 Lana Turner soap opera flick,City. John is a former engineer, so he keeps the inn in
Peyton Place, was filmed - back when the mosttiptop shape. There's a steam radiator for heat in the
dangerous thing in a small town was . . . gossip! Thewinter, but it is summer, and I didn't need the ceiling
producers wanted to give small, hometown America afans, so I popped open the large windows for fresh
risqué shock that today is a comical celluloidbreezes coming off the saltwater bay.
version of homespun Americana, a mild comparison toThe OGI has 11 standard rooms, nine with private
what is on the Internet today.baths, but try to get my room, #6, the best room, with
Maine joins only one other state in the lower 48, theprivate bath and a king comfy bed, period-piece
only state to do so. It is the only state with a singledresser drawers, and replicated gray-stripped Colonial
syllable. Life in Maine is a simple life, not manyFederalist wallpaper. The natural hardwoods
complexities. Rockland has not changed much sincethroughout the inn have been painstakeningly restored.
the '50s. I guess that is why the PP producers chose itOn the ground floor, the living room is stocked with
for their mighty cult genre.books about the area, with a fireplace in front of the
I was sitting in a local café one fine summer day,sofas to curl up in with one of those tomes. The dining
gazing upon the black and white photos on the wall ofarea is just off to the back, where Regan serves her
a bygone era of the historic Main Street. There usedfamous quiche in the morning. You can come cook for
to be an electric trolley line down the main drag, andme anytime, Regan. Breakfast is from 8-9 a.m., with
the gossip is they are bringing it back. I can see Peytoncoffee at 7 a.m.
Place in the frozen-in-time snapshots. Rockland is still aFrom 1906-1984 the Old Granite Inn served as an Elks
great place to live. Main Street is now on the NationalClub, but it was originally built in the 1700s as a family
Register of Historic Places, with most of the old brickhome. The gray terrazzo floors were added after a
buildings housing ice cream shops, bookstores,fire gutted the building in the 1940s.
cafés and bars, museums and art galleries.John and Regan Cary live in a more contemporary
Rockland is a wonderful place to visit in the summer -home attached to the OGI. Regan was working hard
just for all those farm fresh flavors of ice cream!in a computer cubby hole, designing a flyer for a
But beneath the surface, the community has a lotrummage sale that day, taking place in the basement. I
going for it. MBNA moved into town and is the mainchecked out the items for sale, and John was doing a
employer, the largest privately owned credit cardbrisk business for such an early morning start.
issuer is the U.S., with their corporate restored starkGet on their email newsletter at
white Greek Revivalist-style headquarters near theCheck out is at 11 a.m., but I was staying longer in town,
water, giving it a campus-like feel. It is fun to walkso with Regan's permission I left my bags and came
around Rockland, to view the old mansions andback later and left the key in the basket by the door.
buildings; duck into a canoe and dory building shop toThat gave me a warm, small town feeling, and I can
see dense, white Maine cedar turned into asee why Rockland is voted one of the best small
recreational work of art.towns to live in - because of people like John and
One place not to be missed is the Farnsworth ArtRegan.
Museum, rather museums. Farnsworth is a respectedSummer Fun In Maine
name in Rockland, and you will find a three-story artThe North Atlantic Blues Festival, winner of the Blues
gallery museum in the old bank building on Main Street,Foundations "Keeping the Blues Alive Award", runs in
and then a few blocks to the back is the magnificentJuly at Harbor Park, in Rockland. I noted that Shemekia
Pirate Museum (entrance $7).Copeland was one of the headliners at the 2003
The Pirate Museum is a vast collection of dramaticevent, whom I saw in Vegas, and she shouldn't be
seafaring oil paintings, mostly create by the notablemissed. Tickets are only $20 per day, $25 at the door,
Wyeths (The museum is known as the Wyethor better yet, $35 for a weekend pass. Call 207
Center.), a three generational collection of their593-1189 or call the Rockland Chamber of Commerce
canvases that portrays the days of yore and lore onat 800/562-2526.
the high seas. Rockland still maintains its links toPort cargo is up 43% over the prior year in the
windjammers and packet boats. Many summertimeRockland port, but the fishing haul is down at the
windjammers load up a cargo of tourists for cruisesPortland Fish Exchange, as was the number of cruise
through the Penobscot Bay islands. Later in the day Iships in the harbor. The cruise ships are all going over
watched ferry boats load trucks and cars for theto Bar Harbor, now, but you can still catch a family
largest island, Vinalhaven, where in the past much ofouting on a traditional coastal schooner through the
the famous Maine granite was quarried.Maine Windjammer Association Do not miss the Pirate
The regional airport is located just outside Rockland atMuseum at the Farrington/Wyeth Museum in Rockland.
the Knox County Airport; the terminal is a throw backFind out why pirates capture our imagination from
to simpler times. I think they still shoo cows off thethese imaginative portraits, murals, and seascapes. I
runway, but the security problems of the world haveguess there is a little of a pirate in all of us. Then you
hit home - four TSA agents checked my bags on thewill have some jargon to swap with the maties on
flight out - I was the only passenger on the plane, soyour summer windjammer cruise.
they had plenty of time to unzip everything. On myFor the best on Maine on TV check out "Bill Green's
flight to Maine I met returning residents bound for someMaine" on Channel WLEZ in Bangor, Maine, or WCSH
of the coastal islands. The main Maine airline into thein Portland, Maine, or visit
terminal is Colgan, a rubber-band express service ofThe Rockland Farmers' Market Association is an
USAir, with connecting flights primarily to Boston. Theorganization of independent local farmers, growers,
local bus terminal is located at the Ferry terminal, whichand producers who offer a wide variety of locally
is probably really the main hub of the town because aproduced farm fresh foods, plants, flowers and other
marina is located close by.products. Many of those products can be purchased in
The Rockland ferry terminal is across Main Streetthe stores on Main Street.
from the best place to stay in town - the historic OldAcadia National Park is close by, great for rock
Granite Inn, a Colonial Federalist architectural sculptureclimbing with Acadia Mountain Guides: or call 800
hewn from tons of St. George, Maine artisan-dressed232-9559.