Jun 28 2007
Visit Peaks Island
One of the places we found on our apartment hunt was a house on Peaks Island, about three miles out into Casco Bay. We realized early on that it was unlikely that an island accessible only via ferry would be a good year-round residence, but we decided to take a look at the island anyway. I’m glad we did. Peaks Island is a wonderful little community. The house was nice though not particularly practical for a whole year, but the island is great. We’re already trying to figure out a way to rent a place out there next summer.
We ran into a would-be landlord (the owner of the best apartment we saw last time up on Memorial Day) on the ferry, so he gave us the low-down on the restaurants on the island. There are only three, so it didn’t take very long. We selected the restaurant at the Inn on Peaks Island. I had the lobster and She selected the pork chops. The food was quite good, but the highlight was the beer from Shipyard Brewery, which was simply wonderful. I had the cask-conditioned Old Thumper and it was possibly one of the top two or three beers I’ve ever had. She generally doesn’t like some of the more flavorful beers, but thought this one was great. I will definitely look for this one again, and plan on visiting the brewery once we move up next month. I wonder if it’ll be as good from a bottle.
The rest of the island was mostly summer cottages as far as I could tell. There were a whole bunch of golf carts on the island, as it’s quite expensive to take your car on the ferry. There are a handful of store and an art gallery. There’s an American Legion post, a firehouse/police station/library, and a one room school house. We saw three churches, though there might be more. Two Maine regiments, the 5th and the 8th, are also out there, and the Civil War seems to be a popular topic. According to the 2000 Census, just under 900 people call Peaks their home year-round. About six times that many are there in the summer. If the idea of a quiet little island with friendly neighbors, a few good places to eat, and some great views of the Bay sounds attractive to you, check out Peaks Island. I know we’ll be back there again.