Monday, September 4, 2017

NORWOOD COVE DAM - Southwest Harbor

THE NORWOOD COVE DAM

Nearly thirty years ago, while visiting friends in Southwest Harbor, one asked if we would like to take a little walk to a nearby dam.  It was a nice evening and so we took the walk as our friends told us how they would go to the damn with their parents when they were younger.   I'm thinking we are going to this dam and getting a good view of it from the banking somewhere along the water, as is the case with most dams.  But our friends assured us we were in for a treat.
I was a little surprised when our friends told us we had arrived atr the dam, because all I could see was a driveway and a house, with a couple young children outside playing.  I don't see a dam, I said, I do see a house.
True, and we are going to walk through this dooryard to that path by the tree's, one of our friends said.  So I followed our friends into the dooryard, thinking some one is going to call the police on us, again our friends assured us locals had been using the path at the far end of this dooryard for many long years. 

It turned out to be a very short path that led us to a set of steps leading up to the top of the dam.  Wow, I replied, are you certain we can go up here?
Locals have been coming here for many years, was the reply.  We walked across the entire top of the dam, it was a really memorable experience I will never forget.
There are no signs, but here is how we reached the dam that day. 
at Southwest Harbor, turn off main Street onto the Clark Point Road.  Follow this road to an intersection.  At the intersection turn  onto the High Road.  Follow this road until you come to the South Causeway Lane road on the left.  The road ends at a house with a driveway, near one corner of the driveway is a path to the dam.  If I recall right, our friends said you could also reach the dam on the other side of the water but I don't know the directions from that end.  Looking at a map, I see there is a road on the other side of the water named the North Causeway Lane Road, perhaps there is a path somewhere at the end of that road. 
North Causeway Lane is off of the Fernald Point Road.  The name of the dam is the Norwood Cove Dam.
Feature Name: Norwood Cove Dam
Category: Maine physical, cultural and historic features
Feature Type: Cultural
Class: Dam
County: Hancock County
Latitude: 44.28717
Longitude: -68.32087
GNIS ID: 1774593

SAINT MARY'S BY THE SEA

You don't have to attend a church service nor do you have to visit this tiny church on a Sunday, as it is open to the public throughout the summer months.  I located this small church one day after taking a wrong turn in Northeast Harbor, seeing it, and deciding to check it out.  Since that time I have tried to visit it one or two times each summer.  And usually we are the only one's in the building, surprising since visitors are allowed almost complete access to the different sections of the church.
Saint Mary's By The Sea, Northeast Harbor, Maine
Its many stained glass windows are amazing works of art that you will want to photograph.
Just an amazing little church in Northeast Harbor, Maine.  To locate this almost hidden gem, drive down Main Street.  Turn left onto Kimball Road.  Stait Mary's By the Sea is at the far end of Kimball Street.