Moosehead Lake, Maine

The largest lake in Maine, second largest in New England.  Doesn't its shape resemble the head of a moose with antlers?

Greenville where we stayed is at the southern end of the lake. The days we were there the 47th Annual International Seaplane Fly-in was just beginning.  Seaplanes were landing all the time.

One of the highlights of our trip to Maine was a three hour cruise on the Katahdin to just north of Sugar Island.

Here's the Katahdin in the sun before it was time to board.

This is actually the Katahdin II.  The first one was smaller and all wood built in 1896.  In 1913 she caught fire and burned to water's edge. No one was harmed. The Katahdin II was built in 1914 with a steel hull.  Originally a steam boat she's now diesel powered.

Steam boats on Moosehead Lake were a common sight for many years when wealthy families fled cities. for the healthy environment of Maine.  Once the vacationers arrived by train, the boats were transportation to hotels that lined the lake.  

Once on board at 12:15 pm it started to pour.  Here's a view of the Moosehead Marine Museum that sponsors the cruises from on board.

The weather slowly cleared as we headed north. There was a very friendly staff, a lunch counter to order lunch, and a narration on the outbound portion giving us history and geography explanations.

A seaplane landed next to us.

We couldn't see Mount Katahdin because of the low cloud cover.

A four hour cruise (not scheduled for the day we were there) would have taken us to Mount Kineo, seen in the distance below.  It's on a peninsula that juts into the lake.  It's known for its deposits of rhyolite (flint) and was visited for thousands of years by Native Americans needing the flint to make arrowheads, spearheads and tomahawks.

There was a small hotel (tavern)  built here in 1844.  As happened to many hotels it burned but was replaced by a bigger hotel.  This one also burned but was replaced  by another which was described as the largest, most luxurious inland hotel in the country with 500 rooms, a staff of 430, golf course, farm, orchestra, baseball team, and guides for hunting and fishing excursions.  This hotel after many different owners closed in 1969.

Time to return to the dock after a cold but relaxing cruise on Moosehead Lake.

 Postscript: In answer to Tom's question - we saw no moose the whole trip to Maine.  Lots of beware of moose or moose crossing signs though.  Lots of skid marks on the road where others had to brake for moose.  We were told that those were a good sign that moose had been there.