Voted the prettiest harbor in Maine in 2009, Camden's mix of working and pleasure craft includes a fleet of Windjammer schooners, which began operating tourist cruises in 1936. Two-hour daytrips and three- to five-day live-aboard cruises depart from the Public Landing. Camden and adjacent Rockport harbor moorings also welcome small and large private vessels, drawn by deep water, a well-stocked port, and several boatbuilders, marinas and storage and repair facilities.
For insight into this area's history, The Hawthorn offers guests the Historic Downtown Camden walking-tour map, which identifies buildings that began as boathouses, woolen mills, ship captains' homes, and the former theater where "Peyton Place", filmed here in 1956, had its world premiere. In July and August, the Camden-Rockport Historical Society opens its 18th-century Conway Homestead and Cramer Museum.
The village of Camden is a classic New England scene: Village green, church spire, post office, and charming buildings along the bustling Main Street. The Harbor Park and its Amphitheatre are a favoirte destination where one can sit on the seawall to watch the harbor traffic and the Megunticook River waterfall,. You might also explore the gardens and trails at 66-acre Merryspring Nature Center, or walk/drive/bike along Bay View Street and Beauchamp Point, where shore views peek in and out, passing rambling cottages built during the age of steamboat travel.
This scenic coastline nestles into the Camden Hills, among them Mount Battie, part of Camden Hills State Park. From its 790-foot summit, reached by 26 miles of hiking trails and an auto road, the panorama stretches from Rockland and its islands to the Blue Hill peninsula. Camden resident and Pulizer Prize-winner Edna St. Vincent Millay immortalized this vista in her 1912 poem "Renascence": "All I could see from where I stood was three long mountains and a wood. I turned and looked the other way and saw three islands in a bay." On the shore side of U.S. Route 1, the park contains hiking trails and picnic areas.
Facing inland, Mount Battie's stone tower offers dramatic views to Lake Megunticook--popular for summer boating, fishing, and swimming--and Ragged Mountain, site of the Camden Snow Bowl. This four-season recreation area offers tennis, mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, and February's annual national toboggan championships.
Shops in Camden's compact downtown offer clothing, jewelry, gifts, art supplies, toys, home furnishings, and more--all within walking distance of the harbor, dining, and lodging. Many authors, musicians, and artists call this area home. Camden boasts several bookstores and galleries as well as the HarborArts show in July and October. Throughout the year, the Victorian-era opera houses in Camden and Rockport schedule concerts, plays, and dance events. The Camden International Film Festival, PopTech! Conference and The Camden Conference make Camden a destination for intellectual stimulation and artistic espression.
Dining venues range from creative sandwich shops and dockside seafood spots to restaurants serving five-star international cuisine.
Camden is the place to stop for several days. You might never leave. You certainly will return.