That is a line from Rachel Field, an author who fell in love with Sutton Island, in the Cranberry Islands of Downeast Maine. She didn’t grow up there, but her heart found its home there.
I feel that way about Deer Isle. I discovered it as a little boy, when my parents decided that their usual summer getaways (Cape Cod, etc) were getting just a little too crowded. Well there were no crowds this far up. We stayed that first summer at a gorgeous place called the Eggemoggin Inn. That was it. They booked different rental places for a couple of weeks at a time each summer, until they finally decided to buy. They bought some land on the water and built a house and retired to it. Mom and Dad lived year round in Stonington, Maine for about 14 years until Dad ‘s Alzheimer’s suggested the need for more health care and we moved them off the island. It was one of the saddest days of my life and I will never forget driving him out.
Stonington is a little fishing village.
Lobstermen live here. In the summer it attracts artists and some tourists, but this is not like southern maine. We don’t have beaches and tourist attractions. It is classic ‘real Maine’ with a rocky coast, an archipelago of over 70 islands and some of the most beautiful scenery you will ever see. The people are warm and straight forward. We will always be from ‘away’ and we know that, but it’s still a place where we feel we have roots.
My kids are now 3rd generation with ‘roots’ in Stonington and Deer Isle. We have since built our own house, on a wonderful cove on the ocean, and my kids love to visit which pleases me to no end. My youngest even started a kayaking business here.
Rachel was right – you don’t have to have been born in a place to feel like you have roots. This is where I feel good about life.
mikesteinharter.com 