1. Lobster Buoy Campsites
City: South Thomaston, ME
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (207) 594-7456
Address: 280 Waterman Beach Rd.
Description: Forty sites are spread across a spectacular shorefront here, and the place is known for its quietude. Explore the beach, bask in views of offshore islands, or launch a kayak and go for a paddle—the options are all there. A small store sells basics and homemade donuts in the mornings, and there is a simple shower facility—bring your quarters.
2. Waterman’S Beach Lobster
City: South Thomaston, ME
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (207) 596-7819
Address: 343 Waterman’s Beach Rd.
Description: The actual eatery here might not be large, but its reputation certainly is. And the salty panorama is pretty huge, too. Waterman’s is in a section of South Thomaston that’s off the radar of your average tourist, not that travelers are exactly beating a path to South Thomaston anyway. But to get there you have to swing off the main thoroughfare in these parts, Route 73, onto Spruce Head Road, turn again onto Waterman Beach Road, and then make your way down a fire road. When you do, though, you find yourself staring out at island-dotted Mussel Ridge Channel and are happier for it. Then you get a taste of the lobster and understand what the fuss is about. It’s prepared a variety of ways—grilled, on a roll, in a pie—and they’re all worth the calories. Waterman’s won a James Beard Award, that culinary stamp of greatness, which is not granted to lobster shacks every day. Travel + Leisure called it one of the state’s “10 Best Lobster Shacks.”
3. Art Of The Sea
City: South Thomaston, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 594-9396
Address: Route 73
Description: Owner Joan Woodhull has joked that her museumlike gallery of nautical art makes up two-thirds of beautiful downtown South Thomaston, and she’s right. Also known as the Old Post Office Gallery, the shop is about the biggest thing going in this hamlet on the fantastically picturesque Weskeag River, encompassing 10 rooms on two huge floors of the building. Scores of paintings by some of the biggest names in the world of maritime art are on the walls—names like John Stobart, William Bishop, Michael Karas, and Marlene Evans—fetching thousands of dollars, and they’re complemented by photographs by Mainers like Peter Ralston and Benjamin Mendlowitz. Ship models, books, prints, lamps, scrimshaw, instruments, and various other nautical items fill cases and floor space. It’s a remarkable collection that would seem more appropriate in a resort community than in a small, salty hamlet. You don’t even have to have salt in your blood to appreciate it, and it’s a great excuse to see this neat Maine fishing village.