Five enjoyable issues to do in Camden

To folks from all around the nation, Camden is one among Maine’s must-see vacationer cities. To Paul Doiron, it’s residence.

Doiron is a local Mainer and creator of the Mike Bowditch mystery novels, centered on a Maine sport warden. The seventeenth e-book within the sequence, “Storm Tide,” goes on sale June 30.

He’s additionally the previous editor of Down East journal, based mostly for years in close by Rockport. So his listing of favourite spots on the town contains locations the place locals go year-round, not essentially the journey information sights vacationers hunt down.

Where do you prefer to eat?

Chicken and waffles most likely isn’t the primary dish folks consider once they hear “Maine coast” (OK, it’s not even the fiftieth dish). But Buttermilk Kitchen at Marriner’s does wonderful Southern consolation meals — biscuits and gravy, fried inexperienced tomatoes. The house owners are from Atlanta, Georgia, proving that even small cities like Camden are benefiting from the inflow of recent Mainers. The location was once residence to a beloved breakfast joint. Buttermilk is rapidly turning into an establishment.

Where you prefer to get a drink?

I don’t drink, however my spouse enjoys the cocktails at 40 Paper, a bistro and bar positioned within the outdated Knox Mill on the outer fringe of downtown. Happy hour is a nightly factor there. They do a number of drink specials, however her go-to is the Old Port Fashioned, which provides tawny port and a contact of maple to the acquainted recipe. Grab a seat exterior on one of many few, valuable, balmy evenings of the yr. 

Where do you want to attach with nature?

Tucked behind Hannaford, of all locations, Merryspring Nature Center is an actual native treasure with nice strolling trails within the woods and fields, an arboretum, and gardens so fairly that many {couples} select to get married there. I prefer it for the birding — warblers descend on the apple bushes — and for shut appears to be like at usually reclusive Maine wildlife. If I wish to present a metropolis individual a porcupine or a barred owl, Merryspring is the place I take them.

Where do you want to buy regionally?

Camden doesn’t have huge field shops. What we have now is Maine’s favourite retail journey, Renys. The little retailers on Main Street are charming, don’t get me fallacious, but when I would like Muck boots, garden chairs, or clam juice for my signature fish chowder, that is the place I am going.

What’s a hidden gem in Camden?

Right subsequent to the Camden Public Library (itself a gem), on the head of the harbor, The Harbor Park and Amphitheatre are genuinely historic (they have been designed by the Olmsted Brothers) and at all times energetic. They supply musical and theatre performances, craft reveals, and windjammer watching all summer time. I am going there after I have to remind myself how fortunate I’m to dwell in probably the most photogenic cities in America.

Five Things is a characteristic through which locals give our readers recommendations for exploring the state of Maine, city by city. Have a metropolis or city you suppose we should always discover sooner or later? Tell News & Culture Editor Katherine Lee at [email protected].