What do you think?
Rate this book
The Coast of Maine: An Informal History and Guide/Updated Edition
Book by Rich, Louise Dickinson, with photos by Samuel Chamberlain
- GenresHistoryNonfictionTravel
385 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
About the author
Louise Dickinson Rich
40 books50 followersWriter known for fiction and non-fiction works about New England, particularly Massachusetts and Maine. Mrs. Rich grew up in Bridgewater where her father was the editor of a weekly newspaper. She met Ralph Eugene Rich, a Chicago businessman, on a Maine canoe trip in 1933 and they married a year later. Mr. Rich died in 1944. Her best-known work was her first book, the autobiographical We Took to the Woods, (1942) set in the 1930s when she and husband Ralph, and her friend and hired help Gerrish, lived in a remote cabin near Lake Umbagog. It was described as "a witty account of a Thoreau-like existence in a wilderness home
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 26, 2014
The quirkiest and most charming history/guide to Maine that I have ever encountered! I adore my home, the whole of Maine, and I discovered so many bits of history and places that I haven't yet explored. The author has clarity, instinct and some fair amount of opinionated sass. Here's a quote (from section on Bath) to make you want to go out and find this book (somewhat challenging, I found my copy at Merrill's locals): "Nowadays the ships are usually christened with a bottle of champagne. In the early days it was rum, the common beverage on all social levels, distilled locally on Winnegance Creek. Rum continued to be customary until the dreary days of national prohibition, when the distraught builders had to look for a suitable substitute. They hit upon Poland Spring Water, as at least being of Maine origin. This strikes me as a sorry and emasculate travesty of a once robust and symbolic ceremony. Poland Spring Water indeed! Some day when I have nothing better to do, I'm going to check on the records of some of the ships launched under this feeble auspice. I'll bet none of them ever amounted to much." I wonder if she ever did pursue this idea...Anyway, if you love Maine seek this one out!
September 19, 2017
What an interesting book! I wish I had read it before I made my first extended visit to Maine. Ms. Rich is a good writer -- very personable and yet very explanatory. She does a great job of explaining the Down East coast of Maine, no matter how the reader defines "down east." I learned so much about this very beautiful coast, both historical and modern (1950's era) times. This is a great read for anyone interested in the State of Maine.
April 17, 2020
I think that Maine is an incredible place but I found this book to be a bit of a disappointment because sometimes I just didn't share the author's point of view. She didn't like the Wedding Cake House in Kennebunk. I loved it. She doesn't like islands that you can reach by going over a bridge. I love Bailey Island. She just mentions the Sea and Shore Fisheries Aquarium. I loved it and I am willing to bet that most families would rather go there and skip one of the 50+ historic homes she more than mentions. She is not strictly opposed to naming names because she mentions Poland Spring water but she takes the reader on a tour of Freeport without mentioning L. L. Bean. The store opened in 1917 and it's been open 24 hours a day since 1951. Not mentioning it is like writing a tour guide for Arizona and not mentioning the Grand Canyon.
Quite a few pages at the beginning of the book are spent on very early Maine history. On page 37 she states that "... most of the Abenakis had become Christianized by the Catholic [Jesuit] missionaries, with a consequent modification of their savage impulses." I'm pretty sure that the Abenakis had the same impulses as anyone else whose land had been invaded but, according to Jérôme Lalemant, a Jesuit missionary himself, the Indians weren't the only ones whose impulses were modified. The missionaries learned Indian languages and accepted Indian ways to the point of conforming to them. He said that he "... adapted himself to their manner of living and, when necessary, been a Barbarian with them." Later (Page 66-7) she mentions white men buying and selling scalps.
A couple of times readers are left hanging. On page 245 A historic marker in Castine commemorates the Second Miracle of New France. The author says she never found out what event the marker refers to or where the first miracle occurred. On page 92 readers are told tha the largest monolith carved in modern times came from Vinalhaven and was transported by ship. To where? To build what?
Interesting story: page 52 The storming and capture of Louisbourg.
Interesting factoids: p. 183 Why ships were launched with Poland Spring water. page 205 That old 4-poster beds were put together and taken apart with a key. The key wasn't described so I don't know if it was what people mistakenly call a skeleton key or if it was a hex key (Allen wrench).
A story that might have been interesting if it were in another book and we were told the whole story of how it started and not just that it ended but why: Page 283 Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Development Project.
Quite a few pages at the beginning of the book are spent on very early Maine history. On page 37 she states that "... most of the Abenakis had become Christianized by the Catholic [Jesuit] missionaries, with a consequent modification of their savage impulses." I'm pretty sure that the Abenakis had the same impulses as anyone else whose land had been invaded but, according to Jérôme Lalemant, a Jesuit missionary himself, the Indians weren't the only ones whose impulses were modified. The missionaries learned Indian languages and accepted Indian ways to the point of conforming to them. He said that he "... adapted himself to their manner of living and, when necessary, been a Barbarian with them." Later (Page 66-7) she mentions white men buying and selling scalps.
A couple of times readers are left hanging. On page 245 A historic marker in Castine commemorates the Second Miracle of New France. The author says she never found out what event the marker refers to or where the first miracle occurred. On page 92 readers are told tha the largest monolith carved in modern times came from Vinalhaven and was transported by ship. To where? To build what?
Interesting story: page 52 The storming and capture of Louisbourg.
Interesting factoids: p. 183 Why ships were launched with Poland Spring water. page 205 That old 4-poster beds were put together and taken apart with a key. The key wasn't described so I don't know if it was what people mistakenly call a skeleton key or if it was a hex key (Allen wrench).
A story that might have been interesting if it were in another book and we were told the whole story of how it started and not just that it ended but why: Page 283 Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Development Project.
July 31, 2025
I really enjoyed this part-history part-travel guide. The first section, coastal Maine’s history, went into the perfect amount of detail: thorough but not enough to drag. The second part, a visit through coastal Maine’s different regions, was a lot of fun. It was nice to dip in and out of these towns and attractions, guided by an author with so much love for the land.
As you would expect from a 50-year-old book, the Things to See and Do section in the back is hit or miss. I tried to make use of it on my vacation, but found many places had closed since publication. Still, it was interesting to flip through as a time capsule.
Overall this book is a great way to get an idea of the area before your own trip, or just to do a little armchair traveling.
As you would expect from a 50-year-old book, the Things to See and Do section in the back is hit or miss. I tried to make use of it on my vacation, but found many places had closed since publication. Still, it was interesting to flip through as a time capsule.
Overall this book is a great way to get an idea of the area before your own trip, or just to do a little armchair traveling.
July 15, 2017
"About midway along [the bridge over the Piscataqua, from NH to ME] on one of the uprights is a plaque marking the state line, and I for one always begin to feel wonderful the minute I've passed that marker. The air starts smelling better, and the trees across the river on Maine soil look greener. When I come off the end of the bridge, I always think, 'There! Now at last I'm in Maine!' and everything is suddenly brighter."
June 28, 2020
Bought this book years ago -- probably in Maine -- and thought it was pretty much just a travel guide. But not so -- its full of interesting bits about the geography and history of the State of Maine. And maps of the coast. Interestingly, the author includes no bibliography or notes. One senses that she just went to all these places and learned about them from historical plaques, information booth leaflets and chatting with the locals! Nonetheless, its a charming book. Somewhat dated.
August 2, 2022
Enjoyed it very much. It's a very personal history. I liked her pithy asides and digressions into odd stories in the history of the coast.
It's now dated, but in a way that makes it more interesting as it's a view of the coastal towns as they used to be. I sort of wish they were still as she depicts them from the 50's.
It's now dated, but in a way that makes it more interesting as it's a view of the coastal towns as they used to be. I sort of wish they were still as she depicts them from the 50's.
February 8, 2019
Very enjoyable read of the history of the Maine coast along with her personal experience of the area.
November 11, 2013
Good-humored account of coastal Maine's history from 1956. The chapter on Mt. Desert Island is interesting in that it was written only a few years after the fire of '47. The author isn't much of a fan of anything south of Cape Elizabeth.
On Old Orchard Beach - "In order to get from Biddeford and Saco to Scarborough on the Nonesuch River, you pass behind Old Orchard Beach. If you take my advice you will stay in back of it and you will keep right on going. It's one of the longest beaches on the Atlantic coast, and the beach itself is really superb. Or it would be, if people had let it alone."
On a girl's bedroom in Victoria Mansion - "I can't quite imagine one of today's tennis-playing, shorts-wearing, rhythm-and-blues loving teenagers being at home in it."
On Machias - "For those who like their pleasures simple, who can easily entertain themselves, I don't know of any finer places to go."
On Old Orchard Beach - "In order to get from Biddeford and Saco to Scarborough on the Nonesuch River, you pass behind Old Orchard Beach. If you take my advice you will stay in back of it and you will keep right on going. It's one of the longest beaches on the Atlantic coast, and the beach itself is really superb. Or it would be, if people had let it alone."
On a girl's bedroom in Victoria Mansion - "I can't quite imagine one of today's tennis-playing, shorts-wearing, rhythm-and-blues loving teenagers being at home in it."
On Machias - "For those who like their pleasures simple, who can easily entertain themselves, I don't know of any finer places to go."
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews