Windswept On The Cape

There are so many places on the Maine coast where one can get lost in absolute solitude. There are so many inlets and coves, beaches and harbors, where the crush of the real world simply does not exist. Cape Rosier is one of these places! Jutting out into eastern Penobscot Bay, this stunning peninsula looks west out to Islesboro, and the Camden Hills, then wraps around to the east to join South Brooksville and Bucks Harbor. There is a splendid sense of isolation felt on Cape Rosier that you just don't find in many places anymore. The roads are dirt, the houses are wooden, and the surrounding woods are thick with towering pine trees and swaying sea grass. The Holbrook Island Sanctuary, a gorgeous piece of land generously donated to the state by a local resident, occupies the northern tip of the Cape. The Sanctuary features wetlands, grasslands, and winding wooded trails. Many of these trails lead to rocky and secluded beaches, where one can lay back on a warm rock and watch the October sun filter through the pines and shimmer off Penobscot Bay. This is a special place indeed. It is a place that has not been touched by the trappings of the modern world. How we need these places so! They allow one to breathe in the fresh air of the natural world and appreciate what nature can offer the soul. Through the Sanctuary runs a dirt road that leads to Cape Rosier road, which winds and dips past beautiful coves and beaches. On this road I passed Jill Hoy, a well known painter who summers in Deer Isle. She stood, perched on the edge of a hill, paintbrush in hand, contemplating her canvass and the Camden Hills in the distance. Beside Hoy lay a black lab, stretched out, snoozing in the late afternoon sun. An old Volvo station wagon sat tucked away behind a large bush. A cool October breeze whistled throughout the landscape, as I introduced myself and complimented her work. I then took on down the road, leaving Hoy to continue her pursuit of happiness, while I resumed my pursuit, somewhere Downeast on the coast of Maine.