April 21st - Kennebunkport, Maine

As we are staying two nights here in Kennebunkport we didn't need to have an early start. Bob was keen to see the Kennebunkport Tramway Museum. Unfortunately, the museum is closed until the beginning of May, but luckily a very friendly volunteer at the museum offered to show us some of the trams that were not in locked sheds.There were many different trams on display, including this one that I did not manage to find any information about..

There was also a 1924 tram that was a gift from the Mayor of Blackpool to the museum.

We left Bob and Thelma at the museum as we were keen to explore the coast as well as seeing the lighthouses that Maine is famous for. We drove a few miles north to Prout's Neck a promontory that has beautiful homes built all along its shores. From there we drove a few miles to the entrance to Portland Harbour and looked at the longest operational lighthouse in the US, the Portland Head.

It was built in 1791 on the authorisation of George Washington. An interesting museum told the history of the lighthouse and of the many wrecks that have fallen foul of the Maine weather and the treacherous coastline.

We then drove into Portland to visit the Portland Art Museum that is home to many paintings by American artists. We were particularly keen to see the museum's collection of Winslow Homer paintings. Homer spent much of his life in Maine and we learnt that he had a studio on Prout's Neck. The Dulwich Picture Gallery recently had an exhibition of his work so it was fascinating to come to the state where he worked and to actually see the place that was the inspiration for many of his paintings.

We spent the next couple of hours exploring the coast south of Portland and walked down to the beach at a place called Old Orchard.

Scattered on the sand were thousands of clams that had been washed up in the recent terrible storms that have hit Maine.

When we were in Chicago we saw news reports from this area that showed houses being washed into the sea. All along the coast we saw signs of the very high tides that accompanied the storms as well as the damage done to roads and houses.

The final part of the tour took us through Kennebunk, the town just inland from Kennebunkport. As we drove out of the town we went through an area of very large colonial style houses.


Another great day as we near the end of our trip.