A NatGeo photographer turned a highway journey on Maine’s Route 1 into a movie

Bob Krist honed his photographer’s eye over practically 40 years of globetrotting for National Geographic and different magazines.

So it didn’t take lengthy for him to appreciate, after shifting to Boothbay Harbor about 10 years in the past, that Maine’s Route 1 is lined with visually attention-grabbing and barely offbeat stuff. There’s a large rotating globe mannequin referred to as Eartha in Yarmouth, the world’s tallest public bridge observatory in Prospect and a blueberry-shaped constructing in Columbia Falls. And that’s barely the start.

Krist determined to drive all 526 miles of Route 1 from Kittery to Fort Kent, in spurts, and put collectively a movie referred to as “100 Years of Route One: A Centennial Road Trip.” It will debut on Maine Public tv stations Thursday at 9 p.m.

“I’ve always liked the funky authenticity of Maine and I started seeing all these kind of weird roadside attractions on Route 1,” mentioned Krist, 73.

The movie may even air Friday at 1 a.m., Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3:30 p.m. After these showings, it would stream on PBS Passport and at mainepublic.org. It’s being proven as a part of the Maine Public Film Series, that includes submitted documentary-style movies targeted on New England or Atlantic Canada.

Krist grew up in New Jersey and began coming to Maine some 40 years in the past to show photograph lessons at Maine Media in Rockport. He has taken images for a number of main magazines in his profession, together with National Geographic, National Geographic Traveler, Smithsonian and Islands. In pursuit of the proper photograph, he’s been stranded on a glacier in Iceland, chased by charging bulls in India and knighted with a cutlass throughout a ceremony in Trinidad and Tobago.

Krist’s movie is well timed due to the highway’s one centesimal anniversary. It was formally designated as Route 1 in 1926 as a part of the nation’s new numbered freeway system. The highway principally follows all the Maine coast from New Hampshire to Canada, then turns north and ends on the high of Aroostook County. Once early highways like Route 1 made it simple to drive alongside the coast to rural elements of Maine, roadside points of interest began popping up for the amusement and luxury of motorists, Krist mentioned. Many of the points of interest survive from the early days and lots of have been constructed since, with related intentions.

Krist noticed a colorfully dilapidated gasoline station in Waite, north of Calais, and an outdated barn in East Orland festooned with indicators for Coke, Lite Beer for Miller, Texaco and lots of corporations. He noticed a parade of American flags lining the freeway round Columbia Falls, and filmed L.L. Bean’s famed Bootmobile in Freeport. Krist additionally visited the Ogunquit Playhouse, in addition to many different locations alongside the highway.

He additionally filmed and interviewed folks alongside the best way, together with some who run varied points of interest and a few who possibly are the attraction. These included Autumn Mowery, the younger lady who took over and stored alive Ellsworth’s remaining candlepin bowling lanes and Smokey McKeen, an oyster farmer on the Damariscotta River.

He talked to Kevin McCartney, who runs the Maine Solar System Model, which spreads out for 100 miles or so from its heart on the University of Maine at Presque Isle. Pluto is in Houlton and Saturn is in Westfield, as an example.

“I found so many great people. The woman who runs the bowling alley had an amazing story,” mentioned Krist. “I didn’t want to find company spokespeople, I wanted people with an edge of authenticity.”

He additionally talked to blueberry growers on the Wild Blueberry Heritage Center in Columbia Falls, close to Machias, the place the primary constructing is a dome formed and painted like a blueberry. His movie captures the gorgeous panorama to be seen from the 420-foot-tall observatory on the Penobscot Narrows Bridge in Prospect, close to Bucksport. It’s taller than the Statue of Liberty and the tallest public bridge observatory on this planet, based on the Maine Department of Transportation.

At the Yarmouth workplaces of Garmin, which makes GPS-enabled know-how, Krist received a private tour of the workings of Eartha, the large rotating and revolving globe mannequin within the constructing’s atrium. The globe is greater than 41 toes in diameter, weighs 5,600 kilos and was constructed within the Nineteen Nineties, when Maine Atlas Gazetteer makers DeLorme have been within the constructing. It rotates, slowly, and individuals are invited in to look at it free of charge.

“The guy who took care of Eartha talked about how often the bolts had to be changed to keep it running,” mentioned Krist. “I had seen Eartha before but never with that level of specificity.”