A Visit to Frenchboro

Over the July 4th weekend my family and I took a trip to Long Island, Maine. On Long Island, Maine you will find Frenchboro, Maine.

We traveled to Bass Harbor to join some family that was staying there for a week and took a tour boat on an island tour. After the requisite Gilligan jokes about a three hour tour we left along with about 25 other folks joining our 14 person entourage.

The day was socked in with fog which while limiting visibility offered a touch of realism to the information being shared with us about the coastal fisheries and trades including of course lobstering.

We stopped and looked at Black Island and the seals and saw the still inhabited summer colony of Great Gott Island but then went to Frenchboro, our destination. Years ago I had read a book about Frenchboro and the Lunts and much of the information our tour guide gave us was somewhat familiar.

As we arrived we stopped at what must be the marina and its restaraunt where I had, of course, a lobster roll. It was packed, it was fresh and it was delicious. After dining we had an hour or so and took a walk around the island or at least Lunts Harbor which is the inhabited part.

Realizing I would pay dearly for the walking but doing it anyway we walked a bit around town, stopping at the Historical Society where I saw the book I had read years ago.

It was a lovely day and an enjoyable one and of course we all wondered if we would like to live on an island. The romantic answer is yes but the realistic answer is it takes a unique kind of person in todays world to do so.

On the way back the sun broke through and in less than a half hour I fried my neck and nose , the sun off the ocean is a powerful thing.

As I lay at home the next day unable to walk I resolved to again look at the book I was familiar with. Called Hauling by Hand by Dean Lunt it is a history of Long Island. It is not a novel, it is more a reference book. Parts of the book are pretty dry but there are sections that shine.

Lunt who grew up on the island is close enough to the material to be genuine in his desire to tell of the specialness of his upbringing. A chapter devoted to the diaries of his great great uncles and such tells the existence of day to day in the 1800's. A chapter called Island Voices lets us hear about some of the characters that Lunt knew and came in contact with that bring in an originality to the life experience.

I come from a large family. Most of my Aunts and Uncles are deceased. They too were characters all with different stories and tales they could share. I wish that I had got more of the stories they could have told.

For most of us that are 50 and over we could probably have written a book about our forebears and ancestors. Lunt has done so and at least for me much of what he talks about rings true.

An interesting book. Worth the read. Someday drive to Bass Harbor and take the tour as well.