While I was walking across the parking lot to Crescent Beach on a very hot day, a woman greeted me and said, “I come in from Gray. This is the best beach in the state.”

Although I didn’t dispute that, I have encountered other wonderful beaches in this area, each giving me special times and memories.

When my family moved back to Maine from Delaware, Higgins was our first beach. My Hamann cousins would occasionally visit from Rumford, and we would bring inner tubes to float on. Oh, those big waves! We’d shriek when one washed over us. And the water was so cold I’d feel numb as I walked back to the sand.

As a teenager, I went to Higgins, too. It was a popular spot for both South Portland and Portland high school students. The football players had their own area of the beach staked out for throwing footballs – and maybe showing off.

My parents would also take us to Crescent Beach, often when summer visitors came. Crescent Beach had, and still has, lots of families, both tourists and locals. We would beg my parents to go to the Snack Shack after our afternoon, and sometimes they’d give in.

I especially remember one day there, when I was in my 20s, reading “The Maine Woods” for my summer Thoreau class. Not easy reading on a beach day!

And Old Orchard Beach. A few summers my Hamann cousins’ grandparents would rent a cottage there. What a beautiful beach! Recently I went back for nostalgia’s sake because a friend had moved to Old Orchard. It was nice, but way too packed for me.

Our neighbor, Mrs. Gilbert, used to take us, along with her family, to Willard. She would stay all day, but my mother, a redhead who burned, couldn’t. The view overlooking Casco Bay is breathtaking.

Maybe I did sit at Ferry Beach in Scarborough a couple of times, but what I remember it for is this: one evening a hopeful suitor showed up unexpectedly at our house and took me out for a spin in his new, dark green MG Midget convertible. As promising as that might sound, the romance didn’t last long. But the fun memory did.

I returned to Willard maybe 20 years ago. I used to go to Ship Cove at Fort Williams, but the little beach started getting too popular. But that little beach was special to me. I would ride my bicycle up there, and a male friend who worked for the city of Cape Elizabeth would join me on his breaks and after work, and we’d chat about his college life and my teaching experiences.

Years later, middle aged, we ran into each other while walking around Back Cove, and we both fondly reminisced about our days at the beach, so I realized they were special for both of us.

I don’t think there is a favorite or best beach for me. It’s wherever I am at the time.

Copy the Story Link

« Previous

The View From Here: Paul LePage’s alternative COVID facts

Next »

Our View: COVID-era improvements in school air quality will have long-term benefits