8 Most Welcoming Towns In Maine's Countryside

Every August in Auburn, hot air balloons lift off over the Androscoggin while half the city watches from the riverbanks. That is how Maine's countryside does hospitality. Damariscotta floats giant carved pumpkins down its river each October while crowds cheer them on. Boothbay Harbor throws a festival for windjammers every June and has done it for over 60 years. In these eight towns the welcome is a public event with a date on the calendar.

Camden

Camden calls itself the "Jewel of the Maine Coast," one of the rare places in the state where the mountains meet the sea. The Penobscot people, who inhabited the region long before Europeans arrived, knew the area as "Megunticook," which loosely translates to "great swells of the sea."

A fire in 1892 destroyed most of downtown Camden, and the town rebuilt in brick and stone rather than wood. Those blocks still stand today, including the 1894 Camden Opera House, and the 1928 Camden Public Library sits nearby with grounds designed by the Olmsted Brothers. For outdoor lovers, Camden Snow Bowl is one of the few ski areas in America with ocean views from the slopes, and it hosts the U.S. National Toboggan Championships every February. Down at Camden Harbor in the heart of town, historic sailing ships offer trips across the bay throughout the summer.

Kennebunkport

Kennebunkport is the quintessential Maine summer getaway, a historic New England fishing town that gained national fame as the summer home of former President George H.W. Bush. Generations of local lobstermen still work around Cape Porpoise, a classic fishing village a few miles up the coast that gives the town its working Maine character.

Just outside town, the Seashore Trolley Museum is the oldest and largest electric railway museum in the world, with rides through the surrounding countryside on restored vintage streetcars. Goose Rocks Beach ranks among the best beaches in southern Maine, with long stretches of soft sand and calm water. Every December the town hosts Christmas Prelude, a two-week celebration often ranked among the best Christmas festivals in America. Carolers fill Dock Square, bakers face off in gingerbread competitions, and the town raises a Christmas tree built entirely of lobster traps.

Bethel

Bethel is a small mountain village in western Maine, close to the White Mountains near the New Hampshire border. It draws crowds in all four seasons, with skiers heading to Sunday River Resort in winter and hikers and paddlers taking to the Androscoggin River in summer. The Maine Mineral and Gem Museum is one of the most surprising attractions in rural Maine, housing one of the largest meteorite collections in the world, including rocks from Mars and the Moon.

Just outside town, the Sunday River Covered Bridge has stood since 1872. Locals call it the "Artist's Bridge" because painters and photographers have made it one of the most reproduced spots in Maine. The town's Main Street is lined with nineteenth-century buildings, and the Bethel Historical Society preserves two of the oldest homes in the area, with guided tours available throughout the year.

Auburn

Auburn spreads along the west bank of the Androscoggin River in southern Maine. Settlers arrived in 1786, and by the early twentieth century the city ranked among the biggest shoe manufacturing hubs in the country. That history is still visible in the brick downtown buildings and along the Auburn Riverwalk, a riverside path with signs telling the story of the city's industrial past.

Mount Apatite Park is one of the more unusual attractions in the state, a 325-acre park where visitors can hike the trails and search the old gem quarries for tourmaline, quartz, and apatite crystals. Every July 4th the city hosts its Liberty Festival, and each August the Great Falls Balloon Festival sends dozens of launches up over the river in one of the biggest summer gatherings in western Maine.

Boothbay Harbor

Boothbay Harbor is one of the most popular summer destinations on the Maine coast, a small fishing and shipbuilding town with a population of just over 2,000 that grows to many times that size in summer. The town is built around its harbor, and a 1,000-foot wooden footbridge connects the east and west sides of town over the water, making for a pleasant afternoon walk.

The Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is one of the finest attractions in the region, a 295-acre collection of gardens, trails, ponds, and sculptures that draws visitors from across New England. Boat tours leave the harbor daily for whale watching, puffin sightings, and visits to Burnt Island Lighthouse. Every June the town hosts its Windjammer Days Festival, a celebration of Maine's sailing heritage that has been running for over 60 years.

Damariscotta

Damariscotta packs good restaurants, independent bookshops, art galleries, and a working waterfront into a main street about three blocks long. It is known as the oyster capital of Maine, where the Damariscotta River estuary produces around 80% of all oysters harvested in the state. A great place to try them is Glidden Point Oyster Farms, about a ten-minute drive from downtown.

The Whaleback Shell Midden State Historic Site preserves a vast bank of oyster shells left by the Abenaki people over thousands of years, a window into Maine's pre-colonial history. Every October the town hosts its beloved Pumpkinfest, where giant carved pumpkins are floated down the river as boats, drawing crowds from across the state for one of the more unusual fall celebrations in New England.

Bar Harbor

Bar Harbor is the gateway to Acadia National Park, the only national park in New England, whose mountains and rocky coastline draw millions of visitors every year. The town sits on Mount Desert Island, Maine's largest island, and remains one of the most sought-after summer destinations on the coast.

Downtown Bar Harbor is lined with locally owned shops and restaurants, and it is home to the Abbe Museum, a Smithsonian-affiliated institution dedicated to the Wabanaki Nations who have called this land home for over 12,000 years. Boat tours leave the town pier daily for whale watching, seal sightings, and lobster hauls.

Rangeley

Rangeley sits deep in the western Maine mountains, about as far off the main routes as Maine towns get. Rangeley Lake is the centerpiece of everything here, with kayaking, canoeing, and fishing available throughout the warmer months, while Saddleback Mountain takes over in winter with skiing and snowshoeing.

The Outdoor Heritage Museum tells the story of the region going back some 13,000 years, with exhibits covering the Indigenous peoples who first settled the area as well as President Eisenhower's 1955 fishing trip. The drive into town along the Rangeley Lakes National Scenic Byway is an attraction in its own right, particularly during the fall.

Head To The Countryside For Warm Welcomes

Maine has been taking in summer company since the 1800s, when families from Boston and New York first made the trip north each year, and the habit of making room for visitors never left. It shows up differently in each corner of the state. On the coast it looks like a schooner captain waving passengers aboard in Camden or a footbridge stroll in Boothbay Harbor, while in the mountains it looks like a lift line at Sunday River or a guide pushing a canoe off a Rangeley dock.

What these eight towns share is a calendar built around gathering, and a habit of treating newcomers like regulars. In a state where New England reserve is supposed to run deep, the countryside keeps proving the stereotype wrong, one festival weekend at a time.