Extended Family Trip to Pemaquid, Maine

Pemaquid is a sleepy town along the coast of Maine an hour and twenty minutes north of Portland and two and half hours south of Acadia. We spent a week there at an Airbnb with extended family.

The Airbnb was located within walking distance of Pemaquid Beach Park and the little beach on Fish Point Road. We spent most of our time between these two beaches depending on when it was high/low tide. Pemaquid Beach Park was wide and sandy and included services like bathrooms, snacks, ice cream, and faucets for rinsing off the sand. There was a daily fee for people 5 and older.

The little beach on Fish Point Road has essentially no sand at high tide. The water came up right to a line of rocks up by the road, but at low tide the beach was mostly sandy extending out a long way into the harbor. This beach was a great spot for finding rocks and seashells and looking for little crabs in the sand.

We all went out one evening to go fishing off the dock by The Contented Sole restaurant. Apparently about twenty years ago my husband's family caught dozens of fish here. While we didn’t catch anything this time, it was really fun for the boys to get the chance to go fishing. They were thrilled when they caught and reeled in some seaweed.

For the most part we ate at the house, cooking large family meals and eating at picnic tables in the backyard. However, we did go out to eat a few times. We enjoyed live music at Shaw’s Fish and Lobster Wharf on a Tuesday. The seafood was great and the atmosphere seemed to epitomize what it’s like to be in Maine. It is on the water on what is apparently a working fishing harbor. We ate out on the deck near lobster crates stacked five high.

We also went into Damariscotta one day and checked out Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shop which also has a café. Afterwards, we ate lunch outside at the Lobster Haul. One afternoon after the younger kids had naps we ate ice cream at Harbor Ice Cream.

My favorite part of the area, however, was walking around the streets near Fish Point Road and taking in the sunsets. The air at night is cool, sweatshirt weather, and the sunsets were always beautiful.