Exploring Prouts Neck in Scarborough, Maine
More than just the former home of American landscape painter Winslow Homer, Prouts Neck in Scarborough, Maine, is the quintessential coastal peninsula.
By Annie Graves|Aug 29 2022|
Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine
Photo Credit : Katherine KeenanFifteen minutes south of busy Portland, on Prouts Neck, in Scarborough, Maine, you can literally step into Winslow Homer’s landscapes, many nearby the famous painter’s studio, which you can tour through the Portland Museum of Art.
Photo Credit : Annie Graves
Or you can just relax and let the rugged scenery wash over you like a breaking wave.
Photo Credit : Annie Graves
Either way, you’ll get a stiff dose of sea air and inspirational vistas.
Photo Credit : Annie Graves
Winslow, famed for his tempestuous seascapes, moved to Prouts Neck in 1884, where the Homer family had begun spending time as early as 1875, eventually building a house there.
Photo Credit : Annie Graves
Although Winslow and his father had a difficult relationship, the artist situated his studio right next door to the family home, converting the carriage house for his own use. Separate but together. Certainly, his stormy paintings speak volumes of emotion.
Photo Credit : Annie Graves
“I prefer every time a picture composed and painted outdoors. The thinking is done without your knowing,” Winslow wrote the year he moved to Prouts Neck permanently.
Photo Credit : Annie Graves
To reinforce that elemental connection, he further declared: “The sun will not rise, or set, without my notice, and thanks.”
Photo Credit : Annie Graves
Photo Credit : Annie Graves
Fast forward to 2016. Where better to set forth exploring Prouts Neck than from the prow of the 1878 Black Point Inn, in Scarborough.
Photo Credit : Annie Graves
“Prow” translating to that elegant, rounded porch overlooking a blindingly white row of Adirondack chairs on the lawn below, all oriented toward the expansive waters of Saco Bay, like needles to a compass point.
Photo Credit : Annie Graves
The stately wood-shingled summer hotel has warm wood inside, brilliant sun outside, plus an outdoor eating terrace, and really good food.
Photo Credit : Annie Graves
Photo Credit : Annie Graves
All this, and just around the corner from Winslow’s place.
After 20 years of living in NYC, the artist hired John Calvin Stevens to adapt the family’s carriage house into a 1,500-square-foot studio, where he lived until his death in 1910. The setting is stunning. From the second story, you can look out over the sea. And the path leading along the rocky coast gives you a taste of what Winslow saw and fell in love with.
Photo Credit : Annie Graves
Skittish water. Tossing boats. Rocky coastlines. Bursts of flowers. The rustle of tumbling rocks. Light that shifts like a shuddering sail.
Photo Credit : Annie Graves
To tour Winslow’s studio, stop by the Portland Museum of Art, where you can also see the artist’s original paintings, or purchase your tickets online.
After, save time to explore the delicious expanse of Scarborough Beach.
Photo Credit : Annie Graves
Or dart over to Higgins Beach, also in Scarborough, for an elemental plunge in the Atlantic. Depending on the time of day or year, you’ll be sharing the silky sand with surfers, wind surfers, kids, and dogs, all relishing the ultimate antidote to stress.
Photo Credit : Annie Graves
Then wind your way back to the Black Point Inn and plunk down in your own Adirondack chair. The setting sun lays down a fiery path across the water. Time to soak up some Winslow Homer light.
Photo Credit : Annie Graves
Have you ever explored Prouts Neck?
This post was first published in 2016 and has been updated.
SEE MORE:
Things to Do in Scarborough, Maine | Coastal Weekend Getaways
10 Favorite Things to Do in Maine | A Yankee Bucket List
10 Prettiest Coastal Towns In Maine
lovely place….spent many days on scarborough beach too…unfortunately Higgins beach is a place where the residents think they can control the town highway as well as everything else….all coastline should be available to all…period.
this comment is in the same spirit as the comment above…years ago i saw homer’s studio shown as a little red square on a road map, and i drove there, only to discover that parking is banned on all of prout’s neck…if you want to see the studio, you have to park outside the town and walk in, and then only to see the studio from the outside…this serves to keep out riff-raff like me
We stayed at the Black Point Inn over Mother’s Day weekend. It was lovely and the staff was friendly and accommodating. The room was elegantly decorated and immaculately clean. The historic Inn is very well maintained in the beauty of the past. I felt the 140 year old Inn came to life with the charm of over a century ago. The view was spectacular and we were blessed with a gorgeous sunset. The Black Point Inn is truly a beautiful place to visit.
Yes, I have explored Prouts Neck!!!!!!!!! My great aunt Rose owned the Victorian Hotel Vespa at Old Orchard Beach, ME when I was a child, site of “obscene spoiling” by her and her brother Harry, “Grampy”. Grampy rented a cottage at the beach every summer while my Dad was young, also. Winter residence was Augusta, ME area. I loved visiting Grampy during the winter, also. He took me to Brownies Clam Shack on the Kennebec River for supper on Sundays (my Dads’ only day off from his store) for batter fried clams, that’s all they sold. They were so good I could eat a whole paper plate by myself as a young child. I think they charged 39 cents per plate!!!!!!!!!! I went to UNH, from which I graduated and had a car. I explored all of southern Maine frequently, which wasn’t far from UNH. I really enjoyed Rachel Carsons’ “domain” during the winter, also. I really loved Prouts Neck, also. It is just gorgeous. Winslow Homer worked for Harpers Weekly newspaper during the Civil War, as an illustrator. I have a real copy of that newspaper dated sometime in December 1863, with a drawing of Ft. Warren in Boston Harbor, which was a Civil War Prisoner of War Camp. Dr. Warren developed anesthesia, working at Massachusetts General Hospital around 1852, I think it was. He is buried in Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA, which is one of the first places my husband took me when I met him. Dr. Warren is buried near the tower, with a very large monument, which I believe states he developed anesthesia. Ft. Warren is famous for Civil War activity. There was a lady whose husband was a prisoner at Ft. Warren, who disguised herself as a man to gain access to that prison to be with her husband. When she was discovered, she was hung and wanted to be hung in womens’ clothing. There was a theater there, for the entertainment of the officers who were stationed there, which had black velvet curtains, so they used some of the black velvet curtain for her to wear at her execution. She is called “the lady in black”, and it is always windy there (my husband and I were there several times, including when we owned our own small boats) and it is said she can be heard screaming and her ghost haunts the entire island. A local man, Mr. Snow (I forget his first name) wrote a childrens’ story about the lady in black and went to local grammar schools reading his story to the children, including my husband, who grew up in Hull, MA.
Loved all the historical commentary.
Yes I have toured Prout’s Neck! From the early 1950’s to 1978, I spent every summer of my life there. From 1958 living in our family “cottage” ( a mere 16 rooms) a short (3minute) walk from The Studio, then the home of Winslow’s great-nephew the late “Chip” Willauer. Our house “western Cove” burned in 2003, was rebuilt by my brother, and then sold several years later. I now live on the West Coast in Victoria BC. A real pleasure to see your article and the memories it stirred, thanks.
Many years ago I worked at a small resort near the Inn. It was a beautiful spot, I was fortunate to work there for many summers while in High School and College. My final summer I was a waitress at the Inn.
I was born in 1928 in Riverside CA. My father worked as Estate Manager/chauffeur for Samuel Sewell of Bath, Maine ship builders. They had winter home in Redlands CA and summer home on Prouts Neck. Between 1932 and 1937 Dad took our family along for the summer. I had three sisters. One older, two younger. Two years we stayed at a delightful cottage on the estate. My Mom took us fishing in the tide pools on rocks above the cliffs. The last year we rented a house on the beach side two blocks from the beach. What a delightful summer! We played with Rockefeller children. One time we went to the Black Point Inn to play tennis. My first exposure to the game. My sisters and I have such fond memories of Prouts Neck visits. One of them visited from Seattle about 15 years ago and stayed
at the Inn. I’m 94 now and happy to have such memories.