Lupine along the East Machias, seen from the Downeast Sunrise Trail, which will be the centerpiece of this month’s Machias ATV Jamboree, set for Friday and Saturday, June 23-24. Photo by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Thinking Way Downeast from Way Down South

A Postcard from New Hampshire

Today I write to you from Interstate 93, as my family and I zigzag our way back to Maine after a week spent in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. The trip was bittersweet, as we enjoyed time in a lake house, time with family, and time working on our late father’s house, which my family has called home since 1976, and which someone has called home since 1790. 

Like so many historic properties, our beloved Eagle’s Nest has seen better days. But it looks much better today than it did seven days ago, and that’s something.

I do wish we were already home, though, because we are missing some fun Way Downeast. Like, today’s Friends of Porter Memorial Library plant, craft, and book sale, and tonight’s Machias appearance of The Filthy Casuals at The Anchor, formerly the Thirsty Moose. It’s been a few years since we’ve had live indoor music in Machias. Now we’ll have The Anchor, as well as the Bad Little Falls Summer Concert Series, which will kick off July 6 — more details to follow.

For the past week New Hampshire and Maine have soldiered under mostly cloudy skies, and those skies should clear spectacularly tomorrow, Sunday, June 11, when West Branch Farms plans to host its Farm Fun Day. The flyer says Rain or Shine, but the forecast looks like 100% shine, with a rare June forecast of 73 degrees and full sun.

Before we left Washington County last week, I took the photo of blooming lupine from the Downeast Sunrise Trail in East Machias, where my kids and I enjoyed test-driving a Honda and Argo ATV now available to rent from Crows Nest Shops in Machias. That makes two local businesses (including Downeast Adventures) renting out ATVs, the result of local recognition that the trail is one of Machias’s signature assets, as town manager Bill Kitchen likes to say. 

I learned a lot on that test drive, including that there is a very specific route ATVs must follow around Machias. When we parked, I found a few texts from our friendly neighborhood game warden, Joe McBrine, who wasn’t delighted to hear (from six callers) that I missed most of the ATV route signs he spent his afternoon hanging. Learn from my example, kids, and don’t drive an ATV all the way down Main Street. 

More capable ATV drivers and their rides will be showcased in the Machias ATV Jamboree, set to kick off with music and games on the evening of Friday, June 23, and go all day long on Saturday, June 24. The good news is you don’t need an ATV to enjoy the event. There will be vendors, food trucks, live music, plus a walking and riding scavenger hunt for those of us who 

This year the hub of activity will be the Downeast Coastal Conservancy’s Middle River Park, which sits high above the Middle River behind Station 1898 in Machias. 

This photo was taken several years ago in Bar Harbor, when the Revolutionary War Reeneactors of Downeast Maine filmed the Battle of the Margaretta aboard two schooners. This year, they’ll skirmish again at next weekend’s Margaretta Days Festival & Craft Fair in Machias. Photo by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

But before you mark your calendar for the jamboree, make sure you’re schedule is cleared to attend the Margaretta Days Festival & Craft Fair. Right now the forecast calls for some showers but if the past 11 years are any indication, and I choose to believe they are, the weather will be summery, and the vibe will be Americana. We never miss it.

If you, too, are a fan of Washington County history, let me know if you can identify where these beautiful 19th-century Italian marble tiles make their home. I’ll share the answer in next week’s postcard.

Every gardener has their preferences but in my opinion, the past week’s grey skies and drizzly weather spell good things for my young garden, flower pots, and window boxes, which I planted just hours before we left last week. If you haven’t started your garden yet, you’re not even close to late, as you’ll hear on Friday’s episode of Maine Calling.

In this photo you see our dear border collie, Dot, sensing something afoot before our departure last week, and not letting me out of her sight, even as I planted the window boxes. We’re all looking forward to seeing her again soon.

Just about 200 miles to go.