Kingfield, Maine

One of our favorite towns in Maine is Kingfield. It’s located about a half hour north of Farmington and well north of any accessible highway. It’s a wonderful little town that offers quite a bit in the way of beauty and activity. Just north of Kingfield is Carrabassett Valley and just north of that is Sugarloaf Mountain. Both of these areas are host to many outdoor activities and beautiful scenery. Every time Laura and I drive through the area or stop to do something fun, I tell her that I’d like to retire to the area. It’s got an energy about it.

I’ve written quite a bit about the Kingfield area and have taken far too many photos of the same. Through the years, I’ve scattered my posts throughout this blog. Recently, I decided to consolidate many of them into this one page. I feel it’ll be easier for readers to get a better picture of what’s going on in this part of the world if they can see things all at once. Enjoy.

Walking Tour Through Kingfield, Maine

Kingfield, Maine is, by far, my favorite town in Maine. I’m not sure why this is. Perhaps it’s the fact that Kingfield is just small enough to be hidden from the rest of the world, but just large enough to find on the map. Being this way, only a select few have decided to call the area home. And these select few are wildly interesting, to say the least.

Every once in a while, Laura and I like to jump in the car for a short road trip. If you’re a reader of this blog, you may have concluded that these trips usually occur around September and October. The air gets cool and the need for sweatshirts returns. All in all, autumn is the best time of year for antiquing, visiting restaurants and hotels and meeting new people. And just so you know, when you meet someone in a small Maine town, such as Kingfield, there’s a good chance that you’ll know them for the rest of your life. I’m not kidding about this. It’s just the way it is.

I had a few goals for today’s trip. First, I wanted to try out my new camera lens that I purchased for food photography a while back. It’s a Canon 50mm prime lens and today would be the first day I used it outside of the house. Second, I wanted to go out to lunch so Laura and I could talk about various ideas we have for the future. It’s good to enjoy a change in scenery to get the mind working in all its glory. Third, I was hoping to bump into some locals and business owners up in the area because it’s always fun to see who’s steering the economic ship and finally, I thought it would be nice to see what kind of events were planned for the next few months. I’ll talk about all these goals and their outcomes as I write the post below.

We parked in front of the Herbert Grand Hotel, which is really the centerpiece of Kingfield. We’ve seen this hotel as we traveled through the area in the past, but have yet to go inside. The reason I like to park in front of it is because it’s side-of-the-street parking and there’s a reduced chance of someone swinging their car door into mine. I’m not a fan of “snuggle” parking.

Kingfield has tons of flowers up and down the sidewalks. Combined, Laura and I probably took over 50 photos of them. The town does a fantastic job with the display.

You can find all different types of flowers in pots along the sidewalks and in planters on windowsills. Their existence is a benefit to visiting the area during this time of year.

After taking some photos of the flowers, we decided to check out the bridge in the center of town. The bridge spans the Carrabassett River, which is used for all different type of recreational activities. Kayaking, swimming, jumping from the bridge, a big pumpkin float that’s going to happen later on in October – you name it. It’s an awesome spectacle that runs from Sugarloaf Mountain all the way down to Anson where it joins the Kennebec River.

There’s a little bit of traffic that crosses the bridge, but that didn’t stop us from shooting away. I’m pretty sure we got some funny looks, but that’s fine. The world is meant to be photographed.

The first thing I noticed after I stepped foot on the bridge was a long line of American flags. I thought they would be wonderful to photograph, especially since the sun was shining on them and their colors so vivid.

Next, I looked upstream to see a beautiful mountain. I’d love to say this is Sugarloaf, but I have very little confidence that it is. I thought it was something from the Bigelow Preserve, but as I look at Google Earth, it appears that it’s probably something else. Perhaps Mount Abraham, Mount Redington or even Black Nubble. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s Mount Abraham.

Please correct me if I’m mistaken.

Since Laura and I were so close to the bridge (standing on it), we thought we should get some different shots from underneath. So, we walked right down into a nearby parking lot to do just that. Here is a side view of the bridge.

And here is the spillway that sits right past the bridge. I’m not sure why this is here, but there seems to be some semblance of and old mill on the shore. Pretty much every town in Maine has an old mill involved with its history.

On our initial trip into town, Laura and I passed a small gallery (Stadler Gallery) that caught my eye. It was situated in what looked like a large garage. It may be some type of a barn, but what it is doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that it’s huge when you get inside. Its construction is post and beam and the artist, who is a German woman named Ulrike Stadler, paints some rather remarkable pieces. From what I gathered after speaking with her for a bit, she cooks all of her paint herself. She told us that she makes everything from scratch and doesn’t purchase anything. I thought that was very interesting.

Here is a photo of the entrance to her gallery.

And here are two pieces hanging from the walls inside. Unfortunately, due to my new lens not having image stabilization and me using the wrong aperture setting for indoor photography, many of the photos I took indoors came out less than stellar. These two were okay though and should give you an indication of what’s going on.

It’s a really curious place and I’d like to go back again at a later date.

After leaving the gallery, we continued walking up the road. There’s a small sidewalk that kept us somewhat safe from the passing cars. At the end of the sidewalk was a really cool little store called Scent-Sations. It’s one of those places that sells all sorts of things from Crocs to candles to incense to cookbooks. It’s a tourist’s dream. The thing about this shop is that unlike other similar places I’ve visited is the prices are very good and the quality is high. Laura purchased some neat incense that smelled like spiced pumpkin, root beer and a few others that I forget. Overall, it was a fun visit. I even got to talk to the owner about the Berkshires and various hotels and mansions that I visited in a previous life. That was fun.

Here are a few photos of this store. The first one is obviously the front entrance.

If memory serves, I think this is a collection of different types of tea. I’m sure there are some other things included as well.

And finally, this is just a photo of one of the corners from the upstairs level that I found cozy. I’m always joking with Laura about how much I’d like a chair in a corner with a table next to it. On top of the table, I’d like a lamp and next to the chair, I’d like a small book shelf filled with my favorite cookbooks. I don’t ask for much.

By the time we finished up looking inside the gallery and shopping at the gift store, we were hungry. In reality, the real reason I asked Laura to accompany me to the area was to bring her to lunch. We’ve eaten at a great little restaurant called Longfellow’s in the past and have found that they have the best sweet potato fries and garlic hummus this side of the Carrabassett. We go there primarily for those two things. If we can get a few veggie burgers thrown in, that’s all the better. With that in mind, we started walking back to town.

On the way, I took a few photos. Nothing in particular – just some odds and ends. The two that were my favorite were signs. The first is the sign for the Western Maine Pharmacy. Check it out.

The second sign is one that I found on the wall at the back of Longfellow’s. You can see it from the parking lot where all the snowmobiles are parked in the winter months. It’s pretty cool.

After moseying around for a while, we made it to the front of the restaurant.

It really is an awesome restaurant. One of the things I had planned was to take some random shots of things inside. I know it’s weird, but I enjoy these odd types of photos, so I did what I had to do. I kept showing the waitress my creative work and she gave me the thumbs up.

I’ll spare you from having to look through all the photos, but I will post three of the better ones. I really like these. The first is a photo of some painted wrought iron that was situated near our table.

As you can see, the bar is behind the iron. Next is the old window that was next to where we were sitting. I took a photo a long time ago that reminded me of this shot. The previous one was from when we were visiting Putnam and the quiet corner of Connecticut. I love antique windows.

Finally, I managed to snap a few shots of some bumpy gourds as we were leaving after we ate. I don’t know – it’s just the way the sun was hitting them, I suppose. I don’t argue with these things.

As Laura and I were walking around town with our cameras in hand, a few folks made recommendations for where we should visit next. One recommendation was that we head towards the Wire Bridge in New Portland. Since we had already visited that area, I had to explain that we’ve been there and done that. It’s always hard to see the disappointment in people’s eyes after they get shot down in such a manner.

The second place that was recommended was the Grand Herbert Hotel. We were told that if we headed inside and asked for a tour, Dawn, the innkeeper, would be happy to show us anything we wanted to see. Since we’ve never been inside this hotel, I definitely wanted to see what it was all about.

The lobby is really big and actually quite stunning. I wasn’t expecting something so expansive. Since I had a 50mm lens on my camera, I wasn’t able to take many good indoor shots. I did, however, manage to take one of the staircase, which was a marvel in itself. Take a look.

After looking around for a bit, Laura and I introduced ourselves to Dawn and expressed to her how we were told about her talent at giving tours. I think she knew what we were talking about, so she invited us to follow her through the upper floors. She showed us three of the larger rooms that were recently remodeled and some of the interesting and unique antique furniture. I asked questions and she was very happy to answer all of them thoroughly. She’s a really nice person and both Laura and I sincerely appreciate the time she took out of her day to let us see behind the scenes. She even brought us out onto the upper balcony so we could take in the view of Kingfield from a different perspective.

On our way out, I asked if I could take a photo of the out-of-service switchboard that remained behind the front desk. “Of course you can.” she said. So I did.

What a great visit and what a great day. Everything turned out exactly how I had planned. We managed to do so much more than we normally do and that’s really only because we put the effort into it. Regarding the goals for our trip, we met them all.

Camera Lens: From now on, I’ll be leaving my Canon 50mm lens at home. It’s really no good as a walk around lens. This has to do with the fact that it’s permanently zoomed into 50mm, which is horrible for indoor photography. I’ll be reattaching my trusted Canon 18-135mm. That has yet to fail me.

Lunch: It was perfect. Laura and I discussed many a topic and came up with some great ideas for the future. Many of them have to do with photography, but some even pertain to this blog. All really good stuff.

Meeting Locals: This goal was met and exceeded my wildest dreams. I’ve been searching for a local attorney for a good long time and the few that I’ve called, I haven’t liked at all. I’m looking for some very casual work to be done, such as estate planning and things like that, so I’d like to talk to someone who is as casual as I am about it. Well, just as luck would have it, we met an attorney on the sidewalk as we were wandering through town. I mean, really. What are the chances?

Meeting the attorney, the innkeeper of the Grand Herbert and the owner/operators of many local shops was really fun and productive. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Events: Kingfield offers many events throughout the year. The one that’s closest and that interests the both of us the most is a Halloween Ghost Walk. Apparently, the town is hosting some sort of spooky walk for four hours on a Saturday in October, where the townsfolk will be led through various establishments and will listen to stories of the scary nature. The event is to celebrate Kingfield’s bicentennial.

I think I’ll end things here. We did a lot and I left many photos out. I’m sure you’re thankful for that. We’ll have to make another visit soon so I can continue writing, photographing and sharing some of the types of experiences that aren’t often shared. Thanks for reading!

Driving Through Kingfield, Maine

I have another video for you. And yes, I apologize for the dashboard again.

Today’s video was taken just moments after I took the video of Wire Bridge I posted yesterday. Laura and I were traveling north on Rt.27 which turns into Rt.16 in Kingfield, so pretty much everything I took has to do with those two roads.

Kingfield is a nice small town in, I guess what people call, the Carrabassett River area. Or the Carrabassett Valley area. It lies just south of Sugarloaf ski mountain and is considered the gateway to Sugarloaf. It’s an easy area to drive through and has some interesting stops. There’s a big hotel and a few coffee shops. It’s actually quite pleasant.

The video I took is only 3:53 long, so give it a once over. It starts about a minute or two before town and then after we drive through, the road opens up so you can see the river on the right and some beautiful pines after that. Tomorrow’s video will show you more north towards Sugarloaf. The pines, mountains and river up there are very, very nice.

Driving Through Kingfield, Maine

Coffee at Orange Cat Café in Kingfield, Maine

I’m telling you, there’s really nothing like waking up to a 38 degree (chilly) house with a full day of visiting and shopping in the Carrabassett Valley planned. We’ve been having so much fun this year. We’ve met so many people I just can’t stand it. It’s like every time we go out, we’re taking names and numbers. Perhaps we’ll have a party one day. Well, probably not but a party certainly would be a lot of fun.

We’ve been struck by the cold front that’s sweeping almost the entire USA. Really, I don’t mind. Before I got out of bed this morning, I pulled the blankets up so they covered half of my face. I knew I’d start shivering the moment I pulled them away, so I stayed there as long as I could. Laura was already up and getting ready, but I tried to stay hidden for as long as I could.

The reason it was so cold in the house is because we had to let the fire in the wood stove burn out overnight. If our plan is to leave for the day, I don’t like having the stove hot while we’re not here. That’s part of the compromise we have to deal with for paying so little for heat during the winter. It’s cheap, but it really dictates what we can do and where we can go. If we left for too long, I’m sure we’d return to frozen pipes and other problems. The place warms up awfully quickly once I get things lit up again though. As I sit here and write this post, my back is nice and toasty because the wood stove it rosy red. I wouldn’t give this up for the world.

Laura and I have been talking about this trip for a week. Our goal for Christmas this year is to buy each other a few small gifts that would fit into two stockings. I already bought two and currently have them hanging from the wall near the pellet stove. I wrote some of my ideas down for her stocking. They are chocolate, candy, coffee, tea, beer, candles, incense, wine, soap, a coloring book (she has her eye on one), food from Reny’s, books and figs. While I’ll probably only get her a few things, this is the pool I thought I could choose from.

The idea for today’s visit to Kingfield was to check out a few shops we haven’t gone into yet and to try to gather the beginnings of our presents. We’ve already admitted that they won’t be a surprise since we spend so much time together, so we’re doing the shopping out in the open. To me, that’s fine. She doesn’t seem to have an issue with that either.

We had to run over to Madison for something this morning, so we decided to take a different route up to Kingfield. We’ve never gone on this set of roads, so I was excited to see what they were like. From Madison, we’d pass through the towns of North Anson and North New Portland. Little did I know that there would be a mountain right in the middle of our route. It was awesome climbing it and seeing all the new snow on the backside of Sugarloaf. It was like we were driving through the hills of Vermont. Very cool.

That’s Kingfield right down in the valley. Incredibly cute little town.

Much of the time was taken traveling on Route 16 between North New Portland and Kingfield. I was fairly surprised to see how beautiful that leg of the trip was. It was full of all types of pine trees and was really quite nice. I think we’ve decided that this will be the new way to go. It’s only a few miles longer than the other way and we don’t have to deal with that bumpy dirt road that sits north of our town lake.

I tried to take a picture of the road I’m referring to. I think it came out okay.

It’s kind of tough to photograph while driving.

Our first goal was to stop by the Carrabassett Coffee Company to pick up a few pounds of coffee. My buddy Steve told me that this is a good place and I’ve been meaning to get there. Since coffee was on the list for Christmas, today was the day. The thing is, they closed at noon, so we had to get done what needed to get done in Madison and then quickly get up there. Luckily, we made it with plenty of time to spare.

They had a decent selection of unique flavors of coffee. We even made a few new friends while there. The fellow who was working the counter looked out the window and complimented us on our car. Then, he complimented us on a few other things, which I thought was nice. Since we were all buttered up, I promised him that we’d come back if we liked the coffee.

Ultimately, we decided on Rooster and Back Draft. I have no idea what these are like, but the fellow said they were dark. That’s good enough for me. Dark coffee and beer. That’s all I want.

Our next goal was to visit a small shop that sits just outside the village. It’s called Scentsations and it’s very interesting and full of nifty items. The last time we stopped by this store, we grabbed a few sticks of incense. They sell 10 sticks for only $2. I don’t know if that’s good or not, but I do know that Laura has fun picking them out.

Today, we bought some more incense. We also found a treasure trove of cookbooks in their upstairs section that were on sale for half price. After taking my sweet time browsing through each and every one, I decided upon a collection of magic called Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London’s Ottolenghi. The book’s cover price is $35, so we got it for $18.46. That includes the tax. I just took a look on Amazon to see what others think about it and to find out the price. I was pleasantly surprised. Apparently, it’s rated at 4.6 stars by 859 people and costs $21.49. This time, I won. I love winning.

This is Laura’s gift to me. Unfortunately, it’s not going to fit in my stocking, so we’re going to have to let it rest beside it.

I’m so excited. It’s got so many incredible looking recipes. I know I just told you about my collection of cookbooks yesterday, so I guess I’ll have to update that list for future posts.

By this point, I was getting revved up for our next stop. We’ve already been successful with the most important things on our list and I was ready for more. I knew that we had to go to the local Shurfine grocery store to get some eggs and other things, so I thought it was time to get that out of the way. Tranten’s it was.

Well wouldn’t you know it. Tranten’s sells wine and beer. Since beer is on my list, it didn’t take long to make it to their selection. Ultimately, we didn’t find much in the way of the dark beer we enjoy so much. There was a lot of ale, but not stout. They did, however, offer a very small selection of stout that was hiding near some other stuff, so I grabbed a few bottles of it.

The two types we got were Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout and Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout. I’ve tasted the oatmeal stout before and liked it, but I’ve never had the chocolate stout. I’m sure it’s good. Both of these bottles are going in the stockings. They should make for an entertaining Christmas morning in our PJs.

As I was taking pictures of the beer, my cat decided to jump on the counter to help. After seeing this, I just had to share his cute little face with you. Laura was waving a ball behind my head so he would look up. He’s not cross-eyed. He just looks it in this picture.

Only two more places to go. First, we’d stop by the Orange Cat Café for some coffee and breakfast and then the art gallery again. First, the café.

I’m so glad we did this. We’ve passed by this café a million times but never stopped. Now, since we introduced ourselves to everyone who works there and found them to be extremely friendly, we can visit for a coffee and breakfast whenever we’re in town.

It’s such a cool place. They’ve got an interesting dining room that is quite relaxed. There are couches and tables and streamers and all sorts of decorations.

Since I was just sitting there doing nothing after I finished the breakfast, I thought I’d take a few photos for you. Enjoy the tour.

This first picture is of the staircase. As I mentioned earlier, it’s decorated and it’s really neat.

This next photo is of the room right next to where I was sitting. There’s a big table, a couch and another small café type of table and chairs.

Check out the cat in this next picture. His name is Copper and I think he’s the inspiration for the cafe.

Here are some more tables and chairs.

This final shot is my attempt at being artistic. I just snapped one looking out the window.

These next two are Laura’s. She snuck her camera out as well. The first one is of some butterflies mounted on one of the walls and the next one is of some house plants on the table.

Moving on to our last stop, the art gallery. I know I already showed you what some of the inside of this place looks like in a previous post, but there’s more. I still needed to get Laura a gift and I knew the gallery had collectibles as well as artwork, so I thought it would be in my best interest to see if I could find something nice. We went in and looked around.

I first looked in the antiques room.

I found a nice picture of a lady, but I decided against it. Somehow, I didn’t think she’d like it.

I went out and into another room to check out some artwork.

Nothing struck me, so I turned around to take a closer look at some locally made dishware. These items were made with the Sugarloaf logo.

While it was very nice, I’d either have to purchase all of it or none of it. I didn’t have enough money in my wallet for all of it, so I moved onto some hats, pillows, towels and quilts.

They didn’t do it for me. It wasn’t until I heard, “Bob, I found it. I found what I like.” It was a Christmas tree ornament made by Susan P. Hudson of Beech Hill Farm. I agreed that it was beautiful and I bought it.

Laura likes it because she can hang it on the Christmas tree during that season and on the window for the rest of them. I’d say that’s a job well done and a very productive day.

Now, onto worrying about the impending snow storm. We’re supposed to get over a foot tonight and tomorrow morning.

Cutting a Christmas Tree at McClure’s Tree Nursery in Kingfield, Maine

I’d like to begin this post by telling you that it’s snowing outside right now. I’m starting to wonder about this coming season. Last year, we didn’t get all too much snow, but this year, we’ve gotten our fair share, considering it’s just the beginning of December. Looking out the window gives me hope for a snowy 2016/2017 winter.

We’re only supposed to get 1-3 inches, but that’s a good start.

Yesterday was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the temperature was around 32 degrees. Since we had such good weather, Laura suggested that we drive up to Kingfield to cut a Christmas tree. I agreed that since things were in our favor, we should jump at the chance. Variables can change quickly and I didn’t want to have things put off because of bad weather, the farm running out of trees or some other weird situation. So off we went.

A year or two ago, as we were driving around exploring, Laura and I passed by a really great looking Christmas tree farm. It’s called McClure’s and it’s situated in a beautiful valley about a mile west of the village of Kingfield. Since the farm wasn’t very far away from where we live and since it looked like there were many very full and healthy trees, I tucked the location away in the back of my mind until just a few days ago. Of course, we couldn’t visit last season because we found a Christmas tree in a parking lot for only $10. This year though, we thought it would be fun to visit a real place to cut our own tree. Luckily, we took some nice photos to give you an idea of what I’m talking about here. I’ll just run through the photos in this post.

Upon arriving, I asked Laura to snap a photo of me for posterity’s sake. Even though there isn’t a lot going on, it does give you an indication of how rugged I can look with a small saw in my hand. It also shows you how mean looking my truck really is.

After that, I asked for the camera back and I took a shot of some of the trees across the street from where we parked. Please excuse the phone wires. I dislike phone wires in pictures, but unfortunately they exist.

As I mentioned above, the farm has some really good looking trees. I snapped a few photos for you.

As we walked around a bit, we decided on a nice little Fraser Fir.

The tree was only about six and a half feet tall, but it was full and almost perfect for us. With that in mind, I began cutting.

After a minute or so, I was done.

When we were finished, I hauled the tree across the street, tossed it in the back of the truck and paid $26. The 6-foot trees cost $20 and the 7-foot ones cost $26. There are smaller and larger sized trees available, but these are the only two sizes I asked about.

It was a fairly quick visit. Since it was so quick, we walked around for a little while. I thought it would be a good idea to take a few more photos of some of the pre-cut trees. This farm offers three types; Balsam Fir, Fraser Fir and Blue Spruce. The firs are nice, but we avoid Blue Spruce. The needles are very sharp. We learned that lesson a long time ago.

Here are the other pictures of the pre-cut trees.

As we were leaving the area of the farm, we entered Kingfield. I suggested that we get some lunch at Longfellow’s, our favorite restaurant. We parked and hopped out of the truck.

I happened to snap this really cool photo of the front of the Herbert Grand Hotel.

And then one of some old doors that lead into part of the same hotel.

Then, I turned to the left and grabbed a picture of Longfellow’s itself. There were no cars in the way, so it was the perfect time to do this.

Kingfield always decorates very tastefully. Even the windows in front of the restaurant had decorations on them. It puts me in the Christmas spirit, and that’s tough to do, for I am a very grumpy person.

We went in the restaurant, had a nice lunch and left. After that, we decided to visit the High Peaks Artisan Guild that sits right next door. The last time we were up there, it was closed. Yesterday, it was open and ready for us.

Now, this is one cool gallery. It sells antiques, photography, sweaters made by a woman from town, furniture and many more things. It’s like a small adventure. In case you were wondering, I took a few photos of this too. I had my small spy camera on hand, so no one saw me. Not that they care, I’m sure.

This next photo is of a dental chest. It’s one of the most interesting pieces of furniture I’ve ever seen. Tons of small drawers and shelves. It’s in great shape too. It’s currently going for $3000.

I told you it was a nice place. We’re definitely going to go for another visit the next time we’re in town.

To wrap up this post, I’ll show you a few photos of our decorated Christmas tree. I stood it up and secured it and Laura decorated it. We have to make sure the decorations are far enough from the floor that the cats don’t get to them. Cats are very mischievous little creatures and get themselves into trouble when people aren’t looking.

Enjoy!