Maine’s Belgrade Lakes: the real On Golden Pond

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Belgrade Lakes
Some of the cabins at Castle Island Camps on Long Pond, in Belgrade Lakes, Maine, are built right over the water. ©Hilary Nangle

Long before the movie, Maine’s Belgrade Lakes were drawing fishermen, summer rusticators, writers, and even beauty queens. On Golden Pond, that dreamy sunset-of-life film starring Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, and Jane Fonda, may have been filmed in New Hampshire, but playwright Ernest Thompson took his inspiration from Great Pond, the largest of Maine’s Belgrade Lakes. (Note: Updated Aug. 3, 2019)

“[The mailboat was] one of the few inland mailboats left in the country,” says Esther Perne, owner and editor of Summertime in the Belgrades, a biweekly summer newspaper. Her family roots here date from 1908.

“People still come here for the fishing. They know they can give their children and grandchildren an On Golden Pond experience.” —Esther Perne

“Historically, what put Belgrade Lakes on the map was the fishing. Fishermen can’t keep their mouths shut, and they started talking,” Perne says. They began arriving at the turn of the last century to cast their lines for large- and small-mouth bass, northern pike, salmon, brown trout, brook trout, and other species. They returned with their city friends, some built summer cottages, others stayed at sporting camps.

“People still come here for the fishing,” Perne says. “They know they can give their children and grandchildren an On Golden Pond experience.”

Once more to the lake…

Belgrade Lakes fishing
Fishermen have been coming to Maine’s Belgrade Lakes Region for more than 100 years, and Castle Island Camps has been welcoming them since 1929. ©Tom Nangle

The mailboat and the endless stream of anglers capture the timeless allure of this region, a timelessness bred from familiarity. Beginning in 1904, writer E. B. White spent many an August of his youth here. When he returned with his own son many years later, he wrote of “there having been no passage of time, only the illusion of it as in a dropped curtain” in his 1941 essay “Once More to the Lake.”

White mused: “It seemed to me, as I kept remembering all this, that those times and those summers had been infinitely precious and worth saving. There had been jollity and peace and goodness. … The only thing that was wrong now, really, was the sound of the place, an unfamiliar nervous sound of the outboard motors.”

Time warp

Sunbeam roller rink Belgrade Lakes
Walls of windows open up to make the Sunbeam Roller Rink, in Smithfield, seem as if one’s almost roller-skating outdoors. ©Tom Nangle

The Belgrade Lakes, Perne says, “is a bit of a time warp; there’s still enough of the old that remains. People from away come and think it’s heaven.” Kids play with abandon, hopping in boats with no preconceived destination, no agenda but the pureness of play, no oversight other than the community of neighbors and families whose grandparents grew up together and parents played together.

There are no supermarkets, box stores, or fast food chains. In these parts, general stores sell everything from hardware to trinkets, fresh meat to hot pizza. People leave their cars open and running when they dash in to pick up a few necessities.

One of my favorite throwbacks is the Sunbeam Roller Rink, a lakeside treasure in nearby Smithfield.

“The area is remote, but not removed,” Perne says, but change, although subtle, is coming. “Augusta is galloping up the road,” she cautions, pointing to the creep of progress northward.

Sum-sum-summertime

Boatin in the Belgrade Lakes
Boats for every taste are available at Castle Island Camps, or bring your own and launch it the nearby public landing. ©Tom Nangle .

The sounds of summer drown out the hoof beats of development at Castle Island Camps, one of four traditional, American Plan sporting camps woven into the time warp that is the Belgrade Lakes.

White stayed at Bear Spring Camps, but I’ve checked into the past at Castle Island, a blip on the causeway bisecting Long Pond. The camps, opened in 1929, after owner Leighten Castle trumped his formidable neighbor, cosmetics maven Elizabeth Arden. Their David-versus-Goliath lawsuit over property ownership pitted the Belgrade native and fishing guide against Arden and her Maine Chance, a farm-to-table spa-like experience patronized by wealthy and famous women.

If the water were deeper, you could practically dive out the windows or off the porch from this cabin at Castle Island Camps into the waters of Long Pond. Hilary Nangle photo.Fourth-generation owners John and Rhonda Rice now operate the camps, which comprise a main lodge, where all meals are served, and guest cabins fronting on—or in some cases actually built over—the lake, and a recreation hall.  It’s not only fishing that attracts families to sporting camps these days, John says.

Those seeking the ease of not having to prepare meals or desiring their children to discover life beyond social media, smart phones, and video games also fill the dozen simple one- and two-bedroom cabins. There is Wi-fi, but no TV on the premises. The recreation hall features Ping Pong, pool, board and table games, but no one comes to Castle Island or the Belgrade Lakes to play indoors.

Meandering the byways

Vienna Maine sign
Just in case you’re confused about directions, Vienna wants to make sure you know you’re in Maine. ©Hilary Nangle

While I could ease the day away by simply gazing down Long Pond, attempting to hook a mega trout, paddling along the shoreline’s nooks and crannies, or motoring a boat up to Day’s Store for an ice cream cone, I’ve come here to noodle the rural byways around the lakes and foothills, to explore the shops, galleries, and farm stands splashed amidst the children’s camps and summer cottages, and to hike the trails etched into the hills.

Tours of the D.E.W. Animal Kingdom, in the Belgrade Lakes area of Maine, provide an upclose view of exotic animals. Hilary Nangle photo.I came expecting deer and perhaps moose, but I find lions and tigers and bears, as well as hyenas, monkeys, zebras, and other exotic-for-Maine animals at DEW Haven (the D. E. W. stands for domestic, exotic, wild), a non-profit zoo and rescue in Mount Vernon. Julie and Bob Minor raise and rehabilitate exotic and animals and educate visitors about them on guided tours.

It's an easy hike to the summit ledges of French Mountain for panoramic views of the Belgrade Lakes. Tom Nangle photo.From protecting wildlife, I segue to protected wildlands with a hike up French Mountain, off the Watson Pond Road, a byway connecting Castle Island Road with Route 27, in Rome. This property is protected by the 7 Lakes Alliance, which aims to conserve areas that provide high value habitat and protect water quality and also to expand recreational activities that promote healthy living.

It’s a relatively easy jaunt to the summit ledges on the roughly 1-mile loop trail. The rewards far outweigh the effort, with views taking in Whittier Pond, Long Pond, Great Pond, Mt. Phillip and The Mountain.

Lakeside sonata

Fishing boat
Fishing is what first drew visitors to Maine’s Belgrade Lakes region, and they still come today, along with families who cherish the easy summer ways. T©om Nangle

When I return to the camps, a guest is checking in. “Where’s the moose?” he asks. “I’ve been coming here for 30 years, and there’s always a moose.”

Rhonda replies that the moose is out for a bit of taxidermy assessment, as he was looking a little worse for wear. She fills me in on the back story: Over those 30 years, it hasn’t been the same moose. One was stolen during the winter (ponder that for a minute). Another, placed in a restaurant for safekeeping during the off season, burned with the restaurant. Rhonda is hoping the curse has been removed with the moose.

After dinner, settle in to watch the sunset over Maine’s Belgrade Lakes. ©Hilary Nangle

I retreat to my cabin, exhausted from my day’s explorations and well satiated from filet mignon paired with potatoes and corn and chased by a brownie sundae. Out my window, a brilliant rose-colored sunset surrenders to the smoky hues of dusk as the joyful noise of day cedes to the silent symphony of nightfall. Water sings a lullaby and one loon, then another, add their choral voices to the song. I drift off dreaming about chasing fireflies, laughing and playing unencumbered by responsibility or worry, listening only for a bell to call me home.

If you go

Besides Castle Island Camps, other traditional American Plan, Maine sporting camps in the Belgrade Lakes Region include Alden Camps on East Pond, Bear Spring Camps on Great Pond,and Whisperwood Lodge on Salmon Lake. The per-person rate at each includes lodging as well as three hearty, homestyle meals daily; box lunches are usually available for those who don’t want to return for lunch. Use of canoes and kayaks is often included for guests. Rental motorboats are available as are fishing guides for additional fees. Service fees/gratuities and taxes are not included.

Autumn color
Maine’s Belgrade Lakes are alive with families during the summer months. Autumn is the secret season. ©hilary Nangle

 

 

4 COMMENTS

  1. We plan to visit the Great Pond area in June 2014. This is our On-Golden- Pond-tour of Maine and New Hampshire. Any information on the Maine site would be appreciated. We will be flying into Manchester NH and visting the Maine coast to Bar Harbor and then to the Great Pond area and then into NH before returning to Manchester. We are from Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh.

  2. Hi Don,
    Sorry I missed this comment. What would you like to know about the Belgrade Lakes area and Great Pond? You might find some answers on the site for the free, local newspaper: http://www.sumbelnews.com/
    You can use the envelope link to email me directly.

    Best,

    H.

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