Category: Maine Lakes

The Desoto Car With Maine Plates Sank To The Bottom Of East Grand Lake
Desoto car goes through thin ice, not designed for driving around on top or the bottom of a Maine lake.

The brand new car parked, still in drive, at the bottom of East Grand Lake near Greenland Cove was a Desoto. The Desoto brand car manufactured by Chrysler from 1928 to 1961. Until that was all she wrote.

Ralph Black Drove A New Shiny Desoto Firedome, Always Kept Showroom Polished.

I remember seeing a few Desoto flavor cars in my hometown of Houlton Maine.

I think Mel Jackins had one, I know he drove a bird’s egg blue colored 1954 Buick with the distinctive side bullet hole trim markings on each side. It was winter stored for years in my Maine family homestead farm barn.

One Desoto spied at a lawn job I inherited from one of my brothers.

Ralph Black the sole driver of his red and white color scheme Desoto. He drove a beige rear engine Chevy Monza Corvair after that, then a same shade 1966 Pontiac Tempest with a six cylinder, vinyl floor and no frills. Ideal clone for a GTO but needing that 389 power plant up front and a four speed transmission installed. But talk about maintenance on his cars, anything he owned. Second to no one else in that department.

His wife Marjorie never got her driver’s license and walked everywhere in my small town to get where she wanted if Ralph was at work.

Ralph a book keeper, a bean counter for Almon H Fogg company, a local hardware, sporting goods store. “Marj” worked at Cary Library. The pair blessed in many ways but not in the children department. No kids, no storks flying over with blue or pink blanket bundles to drop off by parachute. The Maine home with green asbestos siding on a knoll they had built slowly with the Fogg’s employee discount for materials. Kept to perfection.

I was taught the right way, only way to mow the lawn and trim the grass using an Excello turquoise color reel self propelled mower at Ralph and Marjorie’s intown Houlton Maine home.

And a yellow silent push one for under trees and bushes that was sharpened yearly. You can not neck rein and swing the reel type lawn mowers around like you can the rotary ones. No scalping though and it’s why golf courses use gangs of reel mowers to clip the grass blades just so around the greens and fairways.

The 1954 Car, A Buick With The Portholes, Painted The Same Robin’s Egg Blue & Snow White.

Each week, it was up to me to peddle my banana bike into 5 Franklin Avenue from a couple miles out in the county to the green one owner ranch home.

To mow religiously without missing a beat. And if rain was happening the day planned for lawn care, I had to mentally reschedule without prodding from my parents, the Blacks, anyone else. $5 dollar bill awaits and an ice cold can of White Rock nlack cherry or Canada Dry Tahitian Treat, or Fresca that just hit the market. The latter removed from the shelves when problems with laboratory rats hit the news headlines.

Ralph kept the Desoto spotless, showroom quality long after it rolled off the car lot’s showroom floor.

He was a World War 1 survivor wearing pieces of shrapnel for life in his back. With a hint of respiratory distress, a little cough and a hitch in his breathing. Like I noticed I do on visits to Colorado where one son lives in Leadville and the snow is high, the air is thin.

Ralph’s breathing irregularity not because of high elevations like in the Rockies.

Caused instead from mustard gas exposure in the battle trenches in France fighting for the King and Queen. Ralph and Marjorie were Canadian citizens hailing from Woodstock New Brunswick like many who are blood related on both sides of the boundary line in a Maine border town. They both studied to become US citizens and made Houlton Maine in Aroostook County their new home.

Ralph liked dulse, salted dried seaweed. Marge had a sweet tooth and the candy dish on the top of the living room built in bookcase was rounded over with pink peppermints “from over home”

Easier To Access Ice Traps Using Snow Sleds These Days.

from the Farmer’s Store eh?

But back to the blog post headline about the Desoto in the dark depths of East Grand Lake.

The automobile bought and registered to Bernard Esteys. Taken for a spin with Bernie, the single driver and two couples out for a winter drive. And only showing a few odometer miles since recently leaving the Allied Motors’s North Street sales lot. The model year for the Esteys’s Desoto was 1959. Only two more production years for Desoto before shutting down the line.

This Maine lake outing was the very first weekend the rolling iron was on the road.

Local mechanic at Allied Sales on North Street, Gene Ross shared he just serviced the Desoto for the new owner “Bernie” Esteys. Wearing a ten day plate, that Desoto car went through the thin ice. Ended up resting in a permanent watery grave at the bottom of East Grand Lake.

The Houlton Pioneer Times almost needed to place an ad for a new newspaper editor. It all depended on the outcome of the East Grand Lake event. Whether the guy behind the wheel of the Desoto made it out alive or not. The headline could have been “Desoto Car Goes Through Thin Ice, Newspaper Editor Loses Life On East Grand Lake.”

Local attorney Forest Barnes told me at a Rotary meeting this week that his parents were in that Desoto.

So were George and Jean Roach. When the front end of the Desoto went through the ice of Greenland Point at East Grand Lake. Driving on the ice is not uncommon and it’s one way to get to your ice fishing shack on a Maine lake. Or to visit someone that drags one on and off the ice to fish. Many folks fire up the wood stove to heat their lake camps during ice fishing season. No Tik Tok to entertain you on a home device so let’s tool around Norway Point, see what’s shakin’ on East Grand Lake.

Forest said his Dad always told him if you have two inches of frozen lake ice, it would hold up a team of woods or farm work horses.

Ones used to harvest the ice back too when refrigerators were top loaded with a big hand sawn cooling square. Delivered with tongs by the Ice Man. (Not the one in Top Gun.) Using trucks not F-14 Tomcats for the mission to keep the ice box cold.

The Desoto hung up on ice, nose down, providing just enough time to not have to swim up and out.

About 120+ Feet Of Water Off Greenland Point On East Grand Lake, Danforth Maine Where The Brand New Desoto Sank To The Bottom.

The mother crawled, got out the back window. Before the Desoto took the plunge downward. Dad develop frost bite that nipped his ears and ends of his fingers.

All five counting their blessings on their walk to a cabin. To warm up and shake off the shock of how grave a situation the Desoto car going through thin ice could have been.

Forest’s Dad would suffer from that Desoto ride years, decades later. The Maine lake ride in the back of the car with new car smell left it’s mark.

Any time he was outside in winter without a hat or gloves there was flashback ice hot sensations.

Frostbite is the ice hot gift that tingles the extremities for life. Never lets you forget.

Before our new LED digital real estate sign, changing the sign letters by hand stung the ends of my fingers.

Bundle up for safety sake boys and girls. Stay off the thin ice and know where the springs are, the open water areas.

Not so easy to detect when you leave the groomed trail and when it’s night time.

Forest Barnes added to the story this week at our local Rotary meeting. He graduated from Colby College and in 1959 was stationed in Antigua.

He received mail from his Aunt Margaret that stated “isn’t it awful what happened to your mother”. And that’s all. Leaving him worried sick because Forest was out of the loop. Hadn’t read the headline, scanned the story that local newspaper editor Bernie penned himself.

The Desoto was a lower cost brand of Chrysler, produced initially to compete with Pontiac, Hudson, Willys, Studebaker .

The 1942 Desoto had distinctive front lights hidden behind the doors that matched the paint color. The Desoto on the bottom of East Grand Lake never was recovered. The plumber named Johnson who used VW pickup trucks to install and mend pipes got the salvage rights for $500.

The Houlton plumber had divers try to locate the car and they did find and then mysterious lost the Desoto with low mileage. Johnson rounded up several 55 gallon plastic drums that would be strapped to the car, filled with air and hopefully float the Desoto car to the surface.

Over 120 feet of water makes the chore of getting it back to dry shore land a little too tricky a maneuver. Gene Ross who flew over the salvage site and saw all the lake surface boats while piloting a Cessna 172. He said he saw the red car clearly but after circling around, it was gone. Could not locate again or get a visual.

I know of a pick up that went through the ice on Drews Lake that was recovered a few years back though.

Doug McNutt or Danny Emerson, not sure but think it was Frogman Doug.

Ice Shacks In Maine! Be Careful Of Thin Ice, Open Water, Pressure Ridges. Less Dangerous When The Ice Shack Is Closer To Shore And The Water’s Not So Deep.

Who dressed up in the diving neoprene suit and mask. Strapped on air tanks to help the recovery efforts. Filling a brand new 275 gallon fuel oil tank with water and dragging it out by boat over the pickup’s location. Then lowering the water logged tank to the pickup bed.

Next wrapping it round and round with canvass tow straps and chains. More than bungie cords involved until everything secure.

Finally filling the big tank with air from a compressor tank run by a generator to remove the water.

To cause the lift needed to float the pick up back end and begin the drag by power boat back to shore. The front wheels were turned so the towing had more resistance and required more boat engine throttle action. The frog man could not turn the front wheels and the keys still locked in the rusting ignition from the hurried exit.

Where you gotta go and swim up to the bright light. To hopefully locate the same hole caused when the vehicle went through the thin ice and sunk quickly to the Maine lake bottom.

No one hurt like the Desoto car going through the ice and sinking many years earlier on 16,000 + acre East Grand Lake.

East Grand Lake is the state’s 8th largest water body. Has over 73 miles of fishable shoreline for close to shore casting off the end of your wharf or dock. If you don’t use a boat to head to your favorite fishing hole in this International lake to wet your baited line. Locals know the black open ice areas of lakes to avoid if they like to ice fish. Pressure ridges where the ice expands and contracts areas are no secret to the natives. Stay on the trails if snow sledding, cross country skiing or ice fishing Maine lakes is sound advice.

Ice shacks have to be removed from Maine lakes by a certain date. Here’s what the legislative fine print says for that end of winter move it or lose it maneuver.

Thin Ice, Not Able to Support Much If Any Weight.

Ice Fishing Shack: A person who owns any shack or temporary structure used for ice fishing:
- Must remove the shack or structure (1) In any area of the State in which there is a closed ice fishing season, by ice out or 3 days after the close of the ice fishing season, whichever is earlier; and (2) In any area of the State in which there is no close of the ice fishing season, by ice out or March 31st, whichever is earlier. (Title 12, §12661).
- Shall identify on the outside of the shack or structure in 2-inch letters, the owner’s name and address when the shack or structure is on the ice of any inland wa-ters (Title 12, §12661).
- A person may not leave a structure on another person’s land without permission of the landowner (Title 17, §2263-A). A landowner may immediately remove or destroy a structure left on their property and may recover the costs associated with doing so (Title 12, §12661).
Ice fishing, not a fast paced outdoor winter sport in Maine.

But drilling, tending, watching the five holes bored by hand or pulling the cord on a Jiffy ice auger. Waiting for the baited orange flag lines to trip and signal “you got fish”. Maybe. Or a strike from a fish who got away with the lure.

The ice shacks often in a group of winter shanties. Like lake gypsies setting up camp when the carnival or circus comes to town. Ice fishing is just one of the many things you do while “upta camp in Maine“.

There are ice fishing derbies all winter long for prizes and bragging rights.

With a smiling newspaper and social media mug shot photo holding the landed big fish from the deep pulled up through the 5 inch hole.

Who landed the biggest salmon, bass, togue, trout, perch, pickerel or whatever kind of fish populate the Maine lake you angle is tradition.

Access by cars with plowed roadways across the sheet of ice, using snowmobiles too.

Some ice shacks are just out front of the main camp.

Or as long as you can monitor the holes, the game warden will let you monitor them from the camp picture window with binoculars. Along with someone in the fishing party giving an even closer inspection to please fish and game officials. You have to tend your ice fishing traps.

One last note, the story of the Desoto that went down off Greenland Point on East Grand Lake.

The insurance company paid up, someone bid on the salvage rights and got them for $500. But Forest said that party never exercised it’s right to hoist away and pull up the crusty prize that’s home to fish listening to the AM radio. Now there’s a story to share upta camp in Maine while playing cribbage or poker.

The Getaway, Woods Cabin In Maine. Warm, Friendly, Snug!

What’s that… something I heard trying to make out the whispering and hush hush in the audience?

Something about just hooking a chain on the Desoto’s heavy duty steel bumper or heavy iron frame? Just twitch it out like a load of tree logs using a skidder. Just winching it in? Whoa. Rocks. Big rocks, lots of them. Some you can, many you can not see but will know when you fetch up on one that snaps your recovery cable.

Remember the one road before you get to Greenland Cove boat launch to the left is named “Boulder Road” for a reason.

If you were able to reel in the Desoto dragging it along the lake bottom, you would have a lot of missing body parts, many scrapes and dents. Defeats the purpose.

Sometimes the ending of the story is not so happy.

Like the time two couples were on the same East Grand Lake one evening and broke through the ice, all four perishing. I heard about this tragedy from the town manager of Monticello at the time. Richard Ross told me he was six years at the time. His grandparents took him in and raised him up with another plate set at the long meal time table.

Visiting ice shacks on a Maine lake, driving around the iced over body of water in winter.

Be careful. Thanks for reading the tale about the Desoto car that disappeared through thin ice, but no one was hurt badly up at East Grand Lake.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA
January 27, 2022
Rocks Popping Up On A Maine Lake Due To Low Water Levels.

Maine lakes have more rocks, due to low water levels and no rain for too long a stretch of dry, hot summer weather.

Rocks Exposed On Maine Lakes Due To Low Water Levels.

Farmers are concerned, harvest has started and the yield is smaller sized crops. The Maine rivers on a starvation of water diet along with COVID19 social distancing rules have not helped raft guides either. It’s like someone turned off the spigot and gravel river beds and scratched bedrock are exposed around the corners of Maine. It makes you wonder how the fish travel up or down streams when the liquid highway is dry as a bone. They must lace up sneakers for the hike or die stranded in increasingly shrinking water pools.

On a Maine lake where I live, more bird perches rise up as water levels drop.

The Same Rock Reef Last Winter On A Maine Lake. This Fall Water Levels Are Low. More Rocks Showing This Year Than The Last One On Lakes In Maine.

Rock reefs with new stones where you never saw them due to Maine lake low water levels. That’s Maine today! Like bones poking out of a lake thirsty for water. Low water translates to more seating options for the otters, the water foul the result and more obvious boat hazards.

You would not think of white sea gulls flapping their wings to get up to Northern Maine either.

But they are. In the early morning as the sun rises and steam from the lake water being warmer than the air temperatures of late September you hear them. Crying, communicating like they are bickering or complaining to anyone who will listen. Not as pretty a song as the haunting ones sung on the open water in the evenings by Maine lake loons.

Seagulls in Maine. You expect them at the day at the Maine beach with the kids looking for a quick snatch.

Panhandling the sun worshipers and like beach bums. But seagulls in Northern Maine and many hours away from the craggy rock bound coast of Vacationland. Maybe it’s the french fries from the local McDonalds that draws them in. They sit in a line on a rock reef that acts as a breakwater off the little and big lake. Drews Lake, where I spend the majority of the year these days up in Maine.

Lots of other folks have the same notion due to COVID19 and especially if they can get long and strong Internet broadband connections for working remotely online in Maine.

When the fish are jumping, the seagulls hop to it and soar up, then dive down to steal the fish dinner away from other birds. Wildlife are a big part of the entertainment on a Maine lake viewed from shore or out in a boat. Around the 4th of July, more fireworks happen too when summer days turn into night. The echo of thundering booms and bright lights of all kinds exploding in the Maine lake reflection makes you reflect on another year in Maine that pass too quickly. (more…)

September 23, 2020
Ice Out On A Maine Lake

Ice out on a Maine lake is a slow process.

The thick sheet covering the many lakes in Maine measures many inches deep. So thick it allows the weight of vehicles to drive on it. Creates the ice fishing, pond hockey skating, cross country skiing and snow shoeing outdoor fun opportunity. Plus winter ice on a Maine lake means snowmobile trails appear and disappear. All at the whim of Mother Nature and Jack Frost working as a team for winter exercise and recreational pastimes.

Peaceful, Quiet, Solitude On A Maine Lake. As Winter Ends, Spring Arrives During Ice Out!

Ice out on a Maine lake.

Before the back drop changes, lots goes on behind the scenes. Winter tourism in Maine depends on snow and ice spinning the color wheel. For the transformation of Vacationland to winter white that means green for the small local community business economy. The fish and game people even track ice out on Maine lakes and keep records from past years of when the last shard is gone. And spring boating fishing fun can again happen.

Ice out boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen.

No more Jiffy ice auger needed to can open the frozen Maine lake. Riddling it with the holes for drop of the fishing line to flirt with bait and lures. With lots of patience and many rounds pegging for points on the cribbage board. To hopefully catch lake trout, land lock salmon, whatever fish species you love most for catch and release fun. Or to he keepers to clean and cook at home after you pack it up and trudge off the floating sheet of ice outdoor platform. The fish dinner served up hot, seasoned and tasty slid out of the hot frying pan to hop up and out leap on to a waiting raised plate.

River Outlet To Maine Lake. During Ice Out Melting From Maine Lakes, Those Rivers Swell From All The Ice Out Run Off.

The ice over and out of a Maine lake is a tug of war.

Going from open to frozen then thaw until the real deal happens. The ice out is a matter of local tradition and is it when the main lake body is open or eighty percent clear? Is ice out when there is none in just your cove tunnel vision? Is ice out an anxious proclamation whether it is or not because winter hung around too long? (more…)

May 1, 2020
Winter In Maine, Living On A Lake, Watching The Approach

Winter in Maine, living on a lake as a new season ushers in slowly.

It’s a chance to reflect in front of a crackling wood stove fire. To sample good locally sourced food that is farm to table. Prepared with no one watching the clock. Slow cooked, easy does it wins out every time over fast food created and consumed but not savored.

Here Comes The Ice. First Thin Skim And Then Thick Enough To Drive A Car To The Ice Shack.

Maine winter is a myth to those who have not gone through a few.

It is not hibernation. Like the other three seasons, outdoors is where we seek to be. Dressed appropriately and always left in awe of her splendor.

Winter is a peaceful time and everything Vacationland is re-known for transforms with the dusting of white snow flakes.

Powder, ice glazed, whipped crystals and flakes. The swirls of snow naturally sculptured by time and Jack Frost himself. It gives Maine a whole new presentation when the temperatures are played with outside our homes. Fewer colors but more shades of them is what the frost and winter snow do the look of things.

Winter offers more than downhill and cross country skiing adventures too. Is not just opening up a Maine lake five times each drilling session. Can opening down through the many inches with a Jiffy ice auger to angle for fish. The transformation when the temperatures drop and any moisture from the clouds turns from rain to sleet or snow. It is a slow methodical process watching the approach of a Maine winter. Saying goodbye to the season of fall.

Winter expertly reworks the Maine landscape.

Spiked Ice For The Rock’s Hairdo. Styled By Waves, Cold Temperatures.

The fall leaves that did not quite get raked, mulched, bagged or burned. They don’t matter once snowfall occurs. Next spring you can deal with leaves from the hardwoods around your property that shed like dandruff.

A sudden winter storm can catch a fall tree unaware. The memo of the change from fall to winter is often missed. The buttoning up a Maine home tradition picks up the pace much quicker when temperatures go lower.

Sparkles twinkle from the ice crystals on the snowscape. The mosaic patterns of what covers mud puddles like brittle thin stained glass. That a young child struggles with the temptation to attack with the heel of their snow boots. Snow boots crunching as you take in the winter wonderland around you.

Looking around in the day, up at night sky and blown away living on a Maine lake.

White, Blue, Green… Not So Much Harvest Gold. Snow And Ice Change All That.

The brilliant stars on a field of black velvet are so many in number. No light pollution, no sky scrapers or obstructions to smother the night sky enjoyment experience.

You might spy a lone blinking red airplane navigation light far far away. Just one now and then passes over head for activity. Relax, you are in Maine remember? Less people, no traffic, little crime and more wildlife.

As a Maine lake see saws in a tug of war from open water to iced over and thickening.

Back to open water. The cycle starts and stops. It is like an orchestra tuning up for what is ahead when everyone settles down to read the sheet music together. It gives a native time to prepare mentally for the change of seasons.

Not Quiet Ready To Ice Skate. Animals Better Stay Off The Thin Ice Too!

You need lower temperatures to make Maine all it can be. To allow pond hockey games, ice hut shanties for fishing to be placed over the deepest fish filled lake regions. If you have ever lost a loved one.

You may know the experience of witnessing the ebb and flow of life before they go for good. You see the aging process speed up. Transforming whoever you are never ever quite prepared to lose in the hospital bed.

On a Maine lake, the ducks, loons, sea gulls and otters paddle around continuing their daily routine.

But they know from the increasing chill of the water they ply that a Maine winter is approaching. Slowly but with determination and the letting go of fall is the same regret each season in Maine presents. The older you get, the faster the Maine seasons change. You hang onto and cherish each of them.

I watched ducks and loons catch small fry this past weekend on a Northern Maine lake.

The Fake Owl Takes The Winter Off From Scaring Away Canadian Geese.

But it was catch and release. As soon as the fish dinner was in their beaks, a seagull in the background suddenly took over. Bullying them to fork it over. Witnessed this over and over which makes you feel sorry for the ducks and loons who have families to feed too.

Maine weather is never boring or predictable. True Mainers are prepared and the road highway crews are veterans at using the wing plows to keep the pavement clear, salted, sanded.

Life goes on but with a marshmallow coating. With promise of Christmas traditions and New Year’s resolutions to celebrate another completed twelve month calendar cycle.

There are segments of Maine’s population where winter is their busiest time.

Those making snow and shaping it for a down hill recreation ski area. That push and place snow from the the drive, highways, parking lots and walkways to better locations out of the way. Groomers of snow sled and cross country ski trails help the local economy. Working late into the night to have the smooth trails set up and ready for vacationers. Those putting on studded snow tires and installing or repairing the plows to clear driveways and highways.

Ice arenas and kids of all ages on skates lace up the hockey or figure skates.

New options are what a Maine winter presents us. Hard to ski or snow sled or slide down hills on the

Playful And In And Out Of The Cold Lake Water. Otters, Other Winter Wildlife Entertain!

toboggan or flying carpet sled without snow. A sheet of ice makes ice skating and hockey possible inside

or out during winter. New sticky snow is best to form ammunition for backyard battles. To make forts and dig snow tunnels. To roll something small that becomes the parts of the snow people wearing a stick arms, a bright colored scarf and carrots, rocks for face parts.

The folks who service the oil furnaces, the plumbers who repair frozen pipes when a place runs out of fuel or the heating system simply dies. Winter causes activity in different sectors that you don’t see in the other three seasons. It is also a chance to ease back and slow down for the folks right out straight those times of the year when it is not winter.

Have you ever been out in a Maine snow storm?

Ice Cold On The Rear End. Birds On A Lake Fish And Compete For Food.

Where there is a deafening sound of a million flakes accumulating from above? The hush and rush gets the volume knob twisted. Being out in the weather no matter what time of year increases your awareness and is humbling, spiritual.

You quickly realize time on Earth is short. That we are all specks and a small part of the blue and green globe that rotates under our feet. Take nothing for granted and strive to improve to make a difference helping others.

The snowstorm on a lake and the mist when the air is colder than the water temperature makes the Maine lake in winter disappear for a bit.

Maine winter living, living on a lake, adding the clothing layers. Pulling your gloves and hat hand knit by your grandmother off the expanded stretched out clothes rack. Strategically parked next to the wood heater. Walking slowly as you leave the house steps assuming ice is under that new fallen snow blanket. The fresh Maine air becomes crisper, cleaner, sharper.

The Winter White Transforms A Maine Lake.

The lake, rivers, ponds and stream water surfaces transform. Becoming a polished solid thickening sheet with any wave action gagged and hidden completely under a lid. When you own waterfront property on a Maine lake you see it all happening right out front on the big flat screen.

As the freeze slows down the pace of life in Maine.

It shortens the list of what needs to be done outside to clearing snow, scraping your iced windshield. Taxes your vehicle battery overworked with defrosters, heaters, the use of lights to cut through the earlier longer darkness. Winter forces you to relax, to reflect, to feel freed up to create the space. To work on what is important or missing in your life routine that the tranquil Maine winter provides for best.

I love Maine winter living on a lake.

There are those who do not and options to bug out and snow bird to take a break. Digging out your skis, snow shoes, ice skates and snow sled gets you ready for a Maine winter. Having the windshield ice scraper and snow broom to clear your vehicle from what fell overnight helps tame months at the end and beginning of a new year.

Smile Seagulls, Loons, Duck. Hold Still… (Click). Got It.

Night fall comes quicker that just makes the cobalt blue sunny days we do have more precious. Basketball and hockey season happens in winter. So do snowy trips to Baxter State Park for winter camping and hiking.

The time at a Maine lake is sacred when folks are gone. Where you and the wildlife and the few locals remaining around the waterfront have it all to yourself. Less distractions with more moments of peace and quiet.

If you only come to Maine during the summer months, you are missing so much of the what goes on in the Pine Tree state.

The changing weather makes every experience radically different. Same Maine surroundings but a whole new take away caused because someone played with the temperature settings.

Whether you are exploring the Great North woods, parked in a quaint sea coast harbor town venue or sporting camp setting, take take away is the exact same. Maine people are friendlier, the majority spaced out, living in rural small town and village settings. Feel the home town connection and down to Earth ease you connect. Less people, more wildlife, Maine is pure and natural.

Spend more than a weekend to witness what you are missing on the Maine lake in winter.

On say a Maine lake where loons and ducks are robbed by a lazy seagull. Giving up their fresh small fry

Winter Still Popular Place For Seagulls To Hang Out on A Maine Lake.

catch of fish to the larger feisty coastal white bird repeatedly as you watch the injustice from shore. Another lake property owner on the South Shore tried rescuing a loon frozen in ice that a bald eagle had selected for a lunch option. You realize the food chain, the survival of the fittest.

The Maine photos magneted to your refrigerator you collected back in spring, summer, fall. Those full color reminders of a more recent trek to Maine on vacation. Add to those same settings but in winter for a new snow twist. Don’t forget to bring your camera.

In winter in Maine, living on a lake, it is you, just you.

Nothing is shared, diminished or delayed with the chatter of Maine tourists. No traffic, no spin, keep your wallet in your pocket or purse. Take your time, stay as long as you want to fill to the brim, cup runneth over. Until you get inside and out what you need gleaned from a Maine winter living on a lake setting.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com | MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

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November 19, 2019
Wilderness In Maine, Welcome To The Allagash Waterway.

Maine is pretty sparsely populated.

You and I have not debate nor need to split hairs on that statement. But within the stretches of remote wilderness, some areas stand out more than others. Usually waterways were the first prerequisite of any early settlement in Maine or anywhere. If there had not been the Allagash River, probably the plantation with the same name may not have gotten off the ground. Or earned a dot on the Maine Vacationland map.

Allagash ME, Vacationland’s Largest Township Land Mass. Almost 3 Acres Of The 42 Is A Famous Stretch Of Water.

Allagash, the community itself is a collection of Scotch-Irish DNA.

Located at the end of Route 161 and the French Acadian Saint John River Valley, this corner of Maine has a pretty unique history. The Saint John River is what brought settlers to the Allagash’s wild timberland regions up here in the upper regions of the Crown of Maine. The population of Allagash Maine is 220 souls.

But the land mass that is dubbed Allagash is 42 square miles.

Whoa. Way way larger than the 6 by 6 miles that the bulk of Northern Maine townships that show up as on the systematic square rows of township this, range that tout for their size. Allagash Maine is the largest land mass of any town in Maine. (Almost 3 square miles of Allagash is water.) Famous water called the Allagash Wilderness Waterway that is over 92 miles long and comprised of lakes, ponds, rivers and streams in the North Maine Woods. Canoeing, fishing, hunting, camping in the Allagash River Wilderness Waterway is on the bucket list of anyone with affection for the state of Maine. Images, pictures of Allagash Maine.

First organized in 1885, the town of Allagash was not incorporated until 1966.

Take Your Time! Welcome.. We Really Mean It In Maine. Come On Up… Way Way Up And See It All.

Slim fast is happening. Sadly the town has about fifty percent of the population now that it did in the 1970’s. The Allagash Maine large land mass is T16 R10, T16 R11, T17 R10 and T17 R11. More on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway and a detailed map to show the regions: that explains the size of canoes and kayaks, other regulations of this protected natural resource to abide by when you are paddling down this wilderness liquid highway.

Henry David Thoreau visited the Allagash waterway in 1857 with the help of a pair of Penobscot native American guides. The most publicized section of the Allagash wilderness waterway is Chase Rapids located just downstream from Churchill Dam which is classified a class II rapid. Don’t expect wall to wall cell phone coverage and plan that it will be spotty.

Make sure to pack a first aid kit on your up to 92 mile trip. And as you plan your Maine vacation adventure on the river, be sure to build in extra days for a buffer. To absorb unexpected weather that may keep you off the water.

Guide services for hunting, fishing and the river adventure are the mainstays for the micro local economy in Allagash.

The town office has a lot of uses to be the most efficient and because there are not any other options to house them. Route 161 literally makes this the end of the line in Maine. There is a Maine beer named Allagash too. They employ around 130 workers and are growing like a lot of Maine based breweries. They are filling bottles with a variety of secret brew recipes in the Portland area, not in Aroostook County. Yet. (Smile).

The Allagash Wilderness Waterway is one of the premiere canoe trips in the Eastern United States.

There is no argument fro anyone on that statement. Watch, listen to some Allagash River videos. Get in touch with nature. Be outdoors in Maine and not limited to the space that four walls provides for a prison. Paddle a pristine series of interesting water components that you may or may not have been aware of up until now. You will not be bored; there is variety and something new every trip down the waterway because the season may be different, the weather not the exact same or the wildlife you see will vary. You are not the same either as you plan, paddle, reflect and connect with unspoiled nature.

Often the images of large Lombard steam log hauler timber locomotives are what many recall as the huge idle dinosaurs left still standing out in your journey down the connection of waterways. A rusting reminder of the not silent buzz of lumbering activity that the Allagash area of Maine was back in the days of large cross saws two man metal saws. Long before chains saws motor driven saws were reached for to use before hollering “Timberrrrrr”.

Between 1900 and 1917, 83 of the steam powered locomotives were welded and brazed and bolted together in a Waterville Maine plant. Sadly, only 3 of these iron horses designed only for logging not passengers or assorted freight are still alive and running today. Watch number 74 of the Lombards hauling logs and in action. As it does what it was made to do years ago in the woods when it jumped the iron rails to hit the twitch trails plying the vast timber tracts in Maine.

Forget the paddles and life jackets and black fly repellent? No sweat. Put on your mittens or gloves, slide on a full coverage helmet and gas up. Hang on. Take the groomed trail trip by snowmobile. Two impressive train locomotives still rest off the shores of Eagle Lake in Piscataquis County in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

Your journey by canoe, kayak or maybe snow sled, hiking and hoofing it will be memorable. But be prepared to assure you have a safe and enjoyable trip to the Allagash.

The Little Black River joins the St John in Allagash. The St John is the dividing line between Canada and Maine for most of the crown called Vacationland. Waterfalls, a series of lakes, places where at certain times of the year portaging around what’s up around the next corner could be prudent.

The smallness of the Allagash community like most low number towns and plantation settlements brings those that do live there closer. When a birth or death happens it is a big deal. There is hope or a deep loss and both are felt by the locals in different but powerful ways. Small towns or villages or settlements are pockets of intimacy and creative industry. Glowing brightly when the circle of life calling the small Maine community home is small, tight and depend on each other. Is that the take away where you live now? “Maine, the way life should be “is more than a catchy state motto. Come see for yourself and sample some pure Maine.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

March 10, 2019
Maine Is Outdoor Fresh Air, Wide Open Space.

Sometimes you have it made but can lose track of just the why part when you live in Maine.

It is easy to take for granted what we have so much of when it is not this way many other places on Earth. What makes you tick and whatever you need is found in the nature of Maine. Places in the outdoor spaces. Maine is unspoiled, under populated and 100 percent fresh and natural. We go into nature in Maine for outdoor recreation, to preserve traditions, for food and wood to burn, for answers. For beauty not found many places just too over developed.

Everything Changes In A Blink Of The Eye. Like The Seasons. Small Maine Towns Pull Together To Get Through The Good, Sad Times. Life Happens Outdoors In The Fresh Air To Clear Your Head, Calm Your Heart.

Nature is pleased with simplicity. And nature is no dummy. Isaac Newton

Nature is cheaper than therapy. Unknown

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. Lao Tzu

Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The mountains are calling and I must go. And into the forest I go to lose my mind and find my soul. John Muir

I love places that make you realize how tiny you and your problems are. Unknown

Go where you feel most alive. Unknown

But ask some Mainers about bragging up what we have to offer and they can clam up.

Where’s My Mom? Baby Loon Wonders To Himself.

Thinking because there is not one giant tourist attraction like the place where the two mice wearing the white gloves and all their friends hang out, then somehow we are lacking. Living in Maine is plenty exciting but not in a man made way.

The best parts of Maine are the people, the experiences, the fresh air and clean water settings. Maybe the not realizing how lucky we are with all this outdoors is because a teacher or parent taught the child that there is nothing here that they felt is important. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Gratitude is riches, criticism is poverty.

When you walk outside during a winter starry night you get zapped with a sense of peace and space. The World does stop spinning and your focus improves. The trillions of stars overhead force you to realize how lucky you are, how not to take yourself too personally.
Kayaking a Maine lake or stream does the same unplug and recharge inside blow you away sensation.

Have you ever looked out with a thousand yard stare after a climb to the top of Mt Katahdin or standing on a pair of boards on a mountain top in Maine? Sea kayaking paddling out to an off shore lighthouse or reaching down to sample fresh blueberries along a craggy trail?

Come And Get It. Fish For Free Are Fresh In A Maine Lake. Adult Loons Are Excellent Anglers To Feed Their Young!

You suddenly realize this is where you find all you need, everything that is important in life to you and your family.

You and I, wildlife need wide open space.

Not a few acres set aside for millions of people like a Central Park. Not in a roomy museum hideaway in a city setting. To get the long lasting feeling of peace in nature, you need to be deep into what Maine does so well. And one week’s vacation is not a high enough RX dosage for what ails you. Or to stay centered and balanced. At peace and contented even keeled.

But being parked away from the hustle bustle can make someone who lives in Maine feel they could be missing something pretty exciting in the bright lights, big city. So take a trip, sample the city treasures and then retreat back to Maine.

Fish For Young Lake Loon. Mom Knows How To Angle For Them Best. Until Junior Learns The Ropes For Catching His Fish Dinner!

For many that trek “uptah camp in Maine” is the safety net, how they keep going and stay sane. Jammed in a space like a submarine for too long in a city setting can drive a person crazy. And easily slip into the notion that this condition is the norm for everyone in the land.

In Maine you have sixteen counties and most of them are split into three, four or more regions.

No two areas are quite the same carbon copy and every small Maine community, the handful of cities too are unique.

It’s a new year and what are your plans that involve a Maine backdrop setting for you ahead? Maine, commune with nature, go deep in

Heading North, Hitting The ITS Trails In Maine.

the woods, take in the waterfront options and enjoy our farm to table home grown experience as often as you can. Adopt your own small Maine town for reasons only you can explain and keep returning to these venues to stay current, to feel healthy and worthwhile. It is all about quality of life. I think the secret is being outdoors in Maine. Any chance you can slip outside back to nature in Maine.

Here to offer my two cents living in Maine full time.

To provide insider local tips to make your trip to Maine experience more memorable. Ask any local and feel the friendly suggestions flowing your way on the lay of the land in Maine. Maybe you have forgotten since you were a kid how much fun getting outdoors to play really is. Come visit the areas carved out of the woods by lumberjacks, by farmers creating agricultural homesteads, by rock bound coastal fishermen. Sample a local brew, some of the local cuisine and listen to the music, hear about the small Maine town history.

Snow Is Not An Evil Four Letter Word. Not In Maine.

By hooking on the fresh Maine air oxygen mask.

We’ll fix that amnesia problem of what a kid knows how to do and that adults can forget being way way too serious when life loses its fun and games approach. Don’t let the imagination go stale or completely dark from lack of use.

Like a horse stuck inside for the winter and not turned out. Slow down on the rich clover and fresh grass. Easy does it as you turn on the natural gas. No hurry. Breathe long and deep with a long hit of Maine fresh air.

Take your time, you’re not on the clock and there is no test afterwards. No two exact same methods to get that peaceful easy feeling in Maine’s outdoors no matter what one of the four seasons the calendar displays.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com | MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

January 6, 2019