Prout's Neck Cliff Walk & Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse

Our family enjoyed a wonderful vacation last week in Maine and Massachusetts. We flew into Boston's Logan airport Friday night and then spent four days in Portland followed by five days in Boston. We centered our family vacation this year around the northeast so that we could visit my parents, who are spending the summer working at Wassamki Springs Campground, located just outside of Portland. By mid-afternoon on Saturday we had arrived in Portland after driving up from Boston.

After touring my parents' campground and visiting with them for while we headed out to dinner at The Clambake, a seafood restaurant located south of Portland in a suburb called Scarborough. 

The drive out to Scarborough was beautiful, where the land was covered by marshy grasses and forests of pine trees. 

We seated ourselves out on the back deck so that we could 1) enjoy the pretty marshland view, and 2) so that the kids could have fun with the lovely seagulls (sarcasm implied). There were dozens of aggressive seagulls lining the concrete just outside the back door of the restaurant, and I was shocked when patrons of the restaurant exited the back door to willingly feed the seagulls. Growing up in Florida I am used to the signs at beaches that state "Please do not feed the seagulls" because people in the south don't want to encourage the crazy pests from routinely bothering humans for scraps. I guess those rules don't apply in Maine, as the people there got a big kick out of feeding the birds. And the seagulls understood the game clearly. As soon as a person even approached the patio door from inside the restaurant the birds flocked en masse to the concrete outside the door, waiting for the offerings to be brought outside.

Amelia and John quickly caught onto the seagull feeding plan, and begged to go outside over and over after we had finished our meal to feed them one last scrap of bread or french fry. 

Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day, so we met mom and dad at Ferry Beach Park near Prout's Neck, Maine, which is located on a peninsula that jets out into the Atlantic south of Portland. Our intent was to find the Prout's Neck cliff walk, a walking path that traverses the outside southern edge of the peninsula. Prout's Neck is famous for having been the location where Winslow Homer painted many of his famous ocean paintings. (Side note: Admittedly I didn't know anything about (or have an interest in) Mr. Homer's artwork, but rather I discovered the Prout's Neck walk when researching beautiful outdoor walks in southern Maine before we left for the trip).

Ferry Beach Park was located about a mile from the cliff walk trail, so we had time to enjoy a walk on the beach before reaching our main destination. Amelia and John had fun running up and down the beach, scaring more seagulls and collecting seashells. We also enjoyed finding scraps of crab legs and other parts, likely left behind by birds that had taken what they wanted for feeding. 

This is the beach view on the other side of the peninsula at the start of the cliff walk, which appeared to be a secluded, private beach for the home owners of the massive beachfront estates that lined the water on this edge of the coast.

Once we reached the cliff walk we realized how apt the name "cliff" is for the area. We climbed down over large rocks that stretched yards into the sea to witness some amazing ocean views.

Amelia and John loved walking along the rocks, racing to see who could find the right path of level-enough rocks to take them out to the farthest edges. While they are decently well-traveled kids, Amelia and John had never experienced rocky beaches like this before. They thought they were a lot of fun!

Water obstacles were present between some of the rocks, likely from rain though they also could have been due to sea splash from waves crashing during high tide.

After scrambling back up the rocks, we completed the walking path around the peninsula, enjoying gorgeous water views along the way. At some points the sky looked foggy out towards the Atlantic, and at other times the view was clear and sunny.

I'll take this as a summer home. Yes, please!

After spending such a beautiful morning exploring Prout's Neck, we headed back to Portland to visit Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse. The lighthouse is located in Casco Bay at the entrance to Portland's harbor and dates back to 1897. The lighthouse was constructed to assist ships that were having trouble navigating the bay waters. I had read that this is one of the only lighthouses in Maine that you can actually tour form the inside, which I thought the kids would enjoy.

To access the lighthouse visitors have to traverse the large boulders that make up the walkway. Though the rocks were mostly flat on top there were large gaps between the rocks and parts that were uneven, so you really had to be careful figuring out which rock to jump to next to make the trip as simple as possible. Once again, the kids loved this. In the photo above you can see Fort Gorges to the left of the lighthouse, which sits in Casco Bay. Fort Gorges was built in the mid-1800s and was used to store submarines during World War II.

Volunteers staffed the rooms inside the lighthouse and provided talks about its history and what life would have been like for the men on duty in the lighthouse. One interesting fact was that the rocky walkway out to Spring Point Ledge didn't exist for dozens of years after the lighthouse was built. Instead the lighthouse keepers had to row themselves and their supplies out to the lighthouse, and then hoist everything up to the outer ledges of the lighthouse. Though the photos are depicting calm conditions above, I can image that this task would have been very difficult during a storm or during the cold winter months.

We climbed ladders and stairwells around the lighthouse to reach the top, where we enjoyed beautiful harbor views.

 John enjoyed ringing the bell.

This photo shows how long the rocky walkway is from the lighthouse back to the mainland. You can also see how high the top of the lighthouse was from the base (this photo was taken from the flag shown two photos above). 

Finally, a view of Casco Bay looking over towards Portland's downtown area. 

Everything we did and saw on Sunday was very "Maine" in sprit, from the rocky cliff walk, to seeing New England style beachfront homes, to findings pieces of crab on the beach, then walking through a lighthouse, and seeing dozens of boats anchored in Casco Bay. Amelia and John had a great time and it was a wonderful way to spend time with my parents. Day one of our New England trip was fantastic!