Maine Driving Tour | Pemaquid Penninsula Loop

Lobster shacks and a lighthouse, craggy shores and a sand beach, boat-filled harbors and postcard villages: Looping the Pemaquid Peninsula, via Routes 130 and 32, reveals it all. Begin in Damariscotta, just off U.S. Route 1; after breakfast at Chrissy’s, browse the independent specialty and antiques shops and galleries lining Main Street, including the never-to-be-missed Reny’s Department Store. • Follow Route 130 South, perhaps poking into a few of the antiques shops en route. In New Harbor, follow signs to a left turn onto Snowball Hill Road and Colonial Pemaquid State Historic Site. Begin at the visitors’ center; then mosey through the archaeological digs, cemetery, 18th-century Fort House, and reconstructed 1692 Fort William Henry. Ready for a midmorning snack? The nearby Cupboard Café is renowned for its sticky buns and other homemade treats. Consider taking your treats across to Pemaquid Beach Park, a lovely tree-lined sand crescent. • Return to Route 130 and head farther south all the way to Pemaquid Point to find Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, commissioned in 1827 and featured on the original Maine state quarter, punctuates the peninsula’s tip. The lighthouse, the museum in the adjacent keeper’s house, and an art gallery are all part of a town-owned park. • Return to New Harbor and look for Route 32 on your right. Head north to Round Pond and have lunch at one of two lobster pounds or the Anchor Inn Restaurant, all overlooking the pretty harbor. Finish up with an ice cream from the Granite Hall Store. • Continue north on Route 32 about 3 miles and look for Biscay Road on your left, which offers a scenic return route to U.S. 1 and Damariscotta.   (Distance: 25 miles)