Natural and man-made wonders make Rockland popular with visitors.  You will find dozens of picturesque islands, celebrated lighthouses and charming harbors. Add to this its many historic inns, boutiques, shops, galleries and fine restaurants.

Major industries that established Rockport as a commercial center included shipbuilding, lime processing, granite quarrying and fishing and lobstering. It is also a service center city with an emphasis on tourism and the arts.

One of the area’s most respected art centers is the Farnsworth Art Museum located downtown.  The museum features an extensive collection of American art and three generations of paintings of the Wyeth family – Andrew, N.C. and Jamie.

An engineering marvel that protects Rockland Harbor and helped secure its fishing industry is the 4,300-foot granite breakwater that extends into Penobscot Bay. It provides you with a great place to fish and watch working and pleasure sea crafts.

The Maine Lighthouse Museum has the largest collection of lighthouse lenses and a remarkable collection of lighthouse artifacts and Coast Guard memorabilia.

Each year in early August Rockland hosts a five-day mammoth lobster festival where people enjoy 25,000 pounds of lobsters in a wonderful party atmosphere.  Among the festival highlights are a parade, entertainment by world-class performers and the arrival of “King Neptune” who crowns his Maine Sea Goddess.

For boating enthusiasts and lovers of majestic views on the water come take part in Schooner Days in early July.  Throughout the summer you can take windjammer and boating cruises to view neighboring islands and go deep sea fishing or whale watching.

A must on anyone’s list is the Owls Head Transportation Museum. The museum is a short ride to the south and houses both aircraft and ground vehicles.

Nearby Thomaston, with its handsome downtown section, was once best know as the site of the state prison. Torn down in 2002, its well-known prison shop, where inmates sold items they created, continues as a fixture on Main Street.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 5:37 pm and is filed under Midcoast, Rockland. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.