how to live, travel and explore the world from your van

Hallowell, Coopers Mills & Wiscasset Maine

Some tourist website informed us that Hallowell has the biggest collection of antique shops in the entire state. So we head that way. We discover this is no longer true. Nearly all of them are out of business now. Why? Because massive storms flooded the waterfront buildings. The subsequent rebuild to state and city code cost so much that the landlords had to raise the rents. The higher rents made it impossible to make money in this market, so few ever reopened.

picture of marquee at convenience store in coopers mills maine

Above: Worn out from shopping, we grab foot long bacon, lettuce and tomato subs on fresh soft white bread and some locally made skunk cheese. At four fifty the sandwich is a bargain. Since this little food market is only one minute down the road we end up buying the first big twelve incher before shopping and buy a second one after shopping.

picture of hallowell antique mall near augusta maine

Above: Wendy runs Hallowell Antique Mall, a two building multiple dealer antique store. It is the last standing antique store in Hallowell, Maine as of 2014. She is helpful and informative and sells us two antique pewter mugs and an old pair of binoculars for three dollars plus tax. What a great value! Shopping like this is fun.

picture of elmers barn in coopers mills maine

Above: We head to Elmer’s Barn and Antique Mall in Coopers Mills. They showcase a humongous collection of at least thirty thousand items. More than thirty different dealers house wares in this mammoth four-story farmhouse turned antique shop.

We make it to Winters Gone Farm in Wiscasset. Judi Taylor, one of the owners, shows us around, and introduces us to her baby goats and a hairy dog. She details breeding, sheering, processing, sewing, and making clothes from baby Alpaca fur, or fiber as it is more commonly known. She escorts us through her clothing store, art galleries, toyshop, wood shop, and gardens.

picture of main street in wiscasset maine

Above: Picture of Main Street in Wiscasset. Art galleries and lobster rolls are the highlights here.

picture of sheepscot river in wiscasset maine

Above: Picture taken during sunset in Wiscasset along the Sheepscot River. Finally we crawl into downtown Wiscasset, park on the wharf and eat ice cream. Lear’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream is open about half the year and the house made custom flavors are fun and delicious.

Lobster meat and vanilla, blueberry on blueberry, and caramel apple are very popular.

Above: We spend the night waterfront here in the marina. Notice another Vanabode traveler has joined us using a more conventional less stealthy rig. Below: The next morning we wake up to this.

This is part of an 18 week, 7,532 mile, Vanabode road trip detailed in the book from Amazon
titled Big City Wild Country East Coast Road Trip on $20 a Day for just $2.99
See East Coast Road Trip for more pictures, itinerary, maps and trip overview.

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