Saturday, 29 August 2015

NEW ENGLAND

Guess what this is, in the park right nest to our hotel?  This glass building is a coffee shop!  Lovely building, but awful coffee.



We drove along the coast through New Hampshire and Maine today.  First stop was Hampton Beach, where hundreds were enjoying the weather.  Summer houses here rent for around $US 4,000 per week.  In these seaside towns, the populations increase ten fold over summer.







 There are many sections in towns which are completely deserted in winter.  The summer homes have no heating and are boarded up for winter.

Where there is no sandy beach, people set up on the wide sea wall.  The walls are often curved to protect the houses built right close to the adjoining road.  In winter storms, the waves crash against the sea wall and instead of washing over the curve is designed to direct the water back, not over the sea wall.



The beaches ranged from broad stretches of white dry sand, to dark almost muddy sand through to narrow strips of pebbles, to large jagged rocks placed there to break up the stormy waves.  But people used everywhere to sun themselves. 


We saw some amazing houses and spectacular locations today.






In this caravan park there is a ten year wait for a spot.  Many leave their "RV" there all year, or opt to still pay the weekly fee of $US40 to secure their site for the next summer.



We were told this is one of the most photographed lighthouses in the country.

It certainly was picturesque.  When it was a manned, a basket hung from a cable stretched across to the mainland was how the family could travel back and forth, for school or shopping.  Be mighty scary in windy weather.





This couple were oblivious to the stream of tourists passing them in the car park to the lighthouse.  They were just laying back enjoying the sun.


This is a local institution.  During the Great Depression a man moved his family from New York where he had lost his job back to live with his inlays.  I think it is in York.  He opened a restaurant selling steamed hotdogs, fries and cold drinks.  Nothing else.  There are no tables inside.  It was named "Flo's" after his eldest daughter ... and she still runs it.  There were dozens of cars there!






Logging is big in this area and virtually all the houses were made of weatherboard and some in shingles.


Kennebunk and Kennebunkport are two different towns, separated only by a tidal river and a short bridge.  In Kennebunk, I had clam chowder and this clam basket for lunch.



The place is decorated in a sea faring way.  That is an outboard motor suspended over the bar.



This is the divider of the two towns.  We learned for a town to develop into a fishing community, it needs a salt water marsh, for the creatures to wash in for breeding purposes.  You could see the buoys floating above lobster pots not far from shore.  Each lobsterman has his own coloured buoys (pronounced boo-ease) assigned to him.








We crossed the bridge and wandered around Kennebunkport.  Lots of beautiful old homes, in a range of styles and colours.

I think a lot of the charm comes from the fact these buildings are mainly built from wood, not brick.  So then they can be painted, with contrasting trims and shutters, so they look wonderful.









Even this shop looked wonderful with the geraniums planted out the front.

We took this one on a bench seat on the bridge 


After, our bus drove to nearby Walker's Point, current home to George Snr. and Barbara Bush.  It has been in his mother's family for years and really sits on the end of the point of land.  The Secret Service guarding him there have a rocket launcher for airborne attacks and a machine gun for water invasions!  Plus an electric fence and a guard house.





Another lovely old home.

This was once home to the great uncle of George Bush.

And this was built, over twenty or more years, by a man who carved ornamentation for ships.  He was inspired by a Gothic cathedral he saw in Italy and hand carved all the parts if this, even the posts for the fence.  After all the simple, elegant houses we had seen, this looked so overdone!  But apparently it is known locally as The Wedding Cake House and is one of the most photographed houses in the area.



2 comments:

  1. Can remember visiting Kennebunkport - a really lovely place. Looks like you had a lovely day.

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  2. Jake's mum and stepdad live in New England. The buildings could be in Woodbury. The red one is the same colour as the Split Rail.
    I love sharing your holiday with you. Thanks for keeping us up to date.

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