Rockland Travel Guide, Maine

Rockland is a nice harbor town with a lovely waterfront and an even lovelier commercial downtown.

During the past years a lot has been done to improve the town’s image and to make it popular among tourists as the main income generator, the fishing industry, was not at its peak any more; the importance of commercial fishing was in decline.

You can only appreciate what the locals managed to do in order to revitalize the town and make tourism one of the mainstays and Rockland suddenly became a showcase of modern tourism.

The waterfront is a bustling place with a small park and lots of boats offering tourists romantic and adventurous trips. They are the most appreciated among the attractions in town and their somewhat strange name of “windjammers” makes them even more interesting. The boats fill the waterfront giving it a beautiful appeal.

If you are thinking of spending more time on them, no problem everything is done to suit the tourist’s demands and necessities. Whether they fancy staying in a cabin on the water or seek accommodation on the boat, all they have to do is ask about the possibilities. There’s not much luxury there but it’s clean, intimate and romantic. You can choose the ship you want to board after you closely inspected the conditions offered. There are ships with smaller cabins or with larger ones and you can sign up in the ones you find suited for you.

The prices are acceptable so everyone can enjoy a romantic cruise. It is also a lovely way to explore the coast from the water, see all its beauty and you can choose the length of the cruise from 3 days to a whole week depending on the budget and time you want to spend on water.

Getting bored is far from being possible as the captains of the boats do everything to keep their crew entertained by taking you on one of the islands and offering a special crew atmosphere. You can even have a short swim in the ocean. Different boats offer different cruises so even if you have been to Rockland before and taken one cruise you can always come back and try a different one.

During summer cruises take you to the Penobscot Bay region while in winter you can go towards the Caribbean.

If you feel like staying in town the most attractive part is its commercial downtown. You can explore it on foot as it is of manageable size and while you stroll along its street (there is only one) you can admire the historic buildings with brick architecture and realize the town’s historic ties to the architecture and arts.

Museum buffs have a few museums to visit while they are in town. One of them is the Farnsworth Museum, one of the most appreciated art museums in New England founded by philanthropist Lucy Farnsworth. You can admire the works of several artists including: Nevelson, Rockwell Kent, Maurice Prendergast and Childe Hassam. In the other buildings of the museum that are also opened to the public, namely the Farnsworth Homestead and the famous home called Olson House, you can have an insight into the lives of prosperous people from the Victorian era.

Another museum, this time tracking the history of transportation is the Owls Head Transportation Museum hosted in a hangar like building featuring exhibits of old cars, motorcycles, bikes and planes. The museum is a gathering place for all those who love classic vehicles.

Rockland is a lovely town that combines history and romance, a quiet place offering entertainment both on land and on water and what’s more important is that it is accessible and you will never get bored of coming here.