CAMDEN

44° 12.40’N 069° 03.40’W

4th ed. Cruising Guide page 212

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Charts: 13307, 13302, 13305

Chart Kit: 68A, 20, 20(A)

Penobscot Bay overview chart Camden Harbor chart WEB CAM

CAMDEN is one of the jewels of Penobscot Bay. This beautiful harbor is home to a large fleet of picturesque windjammers and cruising boats of every kind. Curtis Island, with its lighthouse, guards the entrance. The steeples of the small town are white against the hills. A stream cascades down into the head of the harbor. There are excellent marine facilities, good restaurants and stores, entertainment, mountains, and lakes.

All of these attractions have not escaped notice. The town was deluged during the 1992 filming of The Man Without a Face, starring Mel Gibson, and it is always busy during July and August. Still, Camden remains a pleasure for the cruising family.

The inner harbor is extremely well protected but also crowded. You are likely to end up on a mooring in the outer harbor. Exposure there is to the south and southeast, and some nights are rolly.

Shipbuilding was a major industry in Camden well before the Civil War. Holly M. Bean is the best known of the Camden builders. The Bean yard stood where Wayfarer Marine is today, and they built the world’s largest five-masted schooner and the first six-master in 1900.

Among Camden’s many noted citizens, Captain Hanson Crokett Gregory claims an unusual spot in history. In 1847, with a sudden stroke of genius, he poked a hole in his biscuit to place it over one of the spokes of his ship’s wheel while he navigated, thereby inventing the donut hole. Lest Captain Gregory’s contribution to the good of mankind slip into historical obscurity, proud citizens of Camden have recently revived a long-lost tradition of celebrating the Hole in the Donut Festival in June.

Approaches. Camden Harbor chart. Nestled at the base of the Camden Hills, Camden is easy to recognize from a distance. As you approach from south or east, a clear marker is The Graves, a jagged spine of rocks about a mile southeast of the entrance to Camden, marked by green gong “7” to the east and a flashing green light on the rocks themselves.

Two well-marked entrances lead into Camden Harbor—from the southeast and from the northeast—skirting either side of a group of ledges in the mouth. Most boats use the larger southeast entrance, though both are easy and well marked.

Coming from the south, pass The Graves to either side. You will see the small lighthouse (Oc G 4s 7M) on Curtis Island. The sea buoy is red bell “2,” (44° 12.01’N 069° 02.41’W) off Curtis, and from there it is a straight shot into the outer harbor. You can come quite close to the northeastern shore of Curtis. Do not use the unmarked entrance west of Curtis unless you carry shoal draft.

The entrance from the northeast is narrower, but well marked and perfectly safe. The sea buoy is red-and-white bell “CH” (44° 12.68’N 069° 02.27’W) to the northeast. Keep Northeast Point and its light to starboard and can “1” and the green daybeacon on Northeast Ledge to port. If it is blowing hard, be alert for strong puffs coming down off the mountains in the area north of Camden.

The geography of Camden harbor divides it into an inner and an outer harbor. Two hundred or more boats may be moored in the outer harbor. A marked channel leads through them to the inner harbor. Do not cut the corner at Eaton Point—rocks make out from the end of the seawall just before the turn into the inner harbor.

The inner harbor has channels running down both sides and a place to cross over at the head. On weekends, when many of the windjammers are in port, things get pretty tight.

Anchorages, Moorings. Most of the outer harbor is filled with moorings. Often the only place to anchor is near the entrance, north of can “7,” or in the outer part of Sherman Cove, and both locations are exposed to the east. Don’t anchor inside the moorings along Eaton Point, where it is shoal. Anchoring is not allowed in the inner harbor.

Most of the moorings for transients are managed by Wayfarer Marine and are located in the outer harbor. To request a mooring call Wayfarer on channel 71. During working hours its launch will come out to show you the way. The white mooring buoys for transients are marked with a Wayfarer burgee and the maximum length boat allowed. Willey Wharf also maintains a number of transient moorings.

Boats up to 42 feet may lie along the outer floats at the public landing with permission from the harbormaster (Ch. 09; 236-7969). His office is in the Chamber of Commerce building at the public landing, near the head of the inner harbor, and his launch, appropriately, is the Welcome.

Getting Ashore. Wayfarer’s mooring fees include showers, laundry facility and phone room usage. Launch service (Ch. 71) for mooring customers and non-customers alike is $1/run. Camden Yacht Club’s launch, hailed with three toots of the horn or on channel 68, offers the same service. On busy summer weekends you will need to be patient.

The yacht club has a dinghy float, but the public landing, near the head of the harbor on the left, is closer to town. If you can squeeze in, you will be right next to the Chamber of Commerce, pay phones, and the heart of Camden.

For the Boat. Camden Yacht Club (Ch. 68; 207-236-3014). The low red building of the Camden Yacht Club is at the left-hand entrance to the inner harbor. The club has no guest moorings, but they may steer you one that belongs to a member who is away. You can tie up at its floats for short periods in 7 to 9 feet at low. The inner harbor is extremely busy and crowded, and the easiest spot to fill your water tanks is at the yacht club floats. The steward of this friendly club will help you in any way he can. No fuel is available.

Wayfarer Marine (Ch. 09, 71; 207-236-4378). Wayfarer’s docks and floats line the east side of the inner harbor and have more than 12 feet of depth at low. In midseason boats from all over the world are rafted three or four deep in every available space.

All services are available. This is a major yard with a large staff of experienced craftsmen capable of repairs on wood, fiberglass, or metal hulls and on engines or electronics. On a site where ships have been built for a century or more, the yard has a 110-ton travelhoist, 80-ton and 35-ton hydraulic trailers a 35-ton rigging crane, and a beautiful yard tug, the Barbie D.. Wayfarer can also assist with Customs and Immigration for international arrivals wanting to use Camden as their landfall.OUGHT YOU THIS

The Wayfarer fuel dock is the first float on your right as you enter the inner harbor. They pump gas and diesel and have ice, water, electricity, and sewage pump-out. Showers and laundry facilities are ashore, and there is a good marine store, with charts.

Willey Wharf (207-236-3256). Just across the harbor from Wayfarer, Willey caters to very large power and sailboats. Reservations are often made far in advance, but anyone is welcome if there is space. Willey does not have the boatyard facilities of Wayfarer, but it has the advantage of being right in town. Gas or diesel in large quantities may be obtained at the floats, with 10 feet alongside at low. Willey can refill CNG and propane tanks, and provide water, electricity, ice, and showers.

Gambell & Hunter Sailmakers (207-236-3561). This traditional sailmaker and rigger is located on Limerock Street.

E.S. Bohndell & Co. (207-236-3549). In business for more than a century, sailmaker and rigger Bohndell is on Route 1 in adjacent Rockport.

For the Crew. Visiting yachtsmen are welcome to use the handsome old clubhouse of the Camden Yacht Club, which serves an excellent lunch.
Pay phones are located at the public landing and at the main intersection in town. The post office is a block away on Chestnut Street, and there are several banks. If the office can’t survive without you, you can fax or overnight-mail them instructions from the Kax Office Center above Maine Coast Photo on Elm Street: “Sorry. I can’t be reached—gone sailing. Press on regardless.”

The Bishops Store Laundromat (236-3339) at 96 Washington Street is open seven days a week. You can drop off laundry there and have it done by the pound. Alternatively there is Spotless Cleaners 236 2530 in the Camden Market Place who also offer a pressing service.

French and Brawn (236-3361) is Camden’s classic little grocery store, right at the apex of the downtown and jam-packed with goods. They custom cut meats and specialize in provisioning yachts. Worth a short taxi ride, perhaps, is the Grave’s Supermarket and agency liquor store, south on Route 1. A closer state liquor store is on Main Street in the Rite Aid Pharmacy. Don’t miss the Camden Deli (236-8343), on Main. They serve knock-out gourmet sandwiches along with beer and wine, and they sell cheese, deli meats, and other specialties.

In summertime, there is a wide choice of places to eat within a few minutes of the public landing, ranging from pizzas to nouvelle cuisine, delis, and takeouts. Overlooking the harbor is The Waterfront Restaurant, a popular spot with a sunny outdoor deck. Other favorites in town are Cappy’s and Peter Ott’s.

You can reach Don’s Taxi at 236-4762, or you can rent a car for local use at Smith’s Garage (236-2320) in Rockport.

One of the most unusual bookstores anywhere is the Owl and Turtle, on Bayview Street. Their nautical collection almost fills the entire downstairs.
Penobscot Bay Medical Center (207-596-8000), on Route 1 about 6 miles south of Camden, is a large, modern acute-care hospital with 24-hour emergency-room service and a helicopter pad.

Internet users can retrieve emails at the Camden Library and Wayfarer Marine has a laptop plug in area in their phone room for their customers.

.Things to Do. Walking the streets of Camden, window-shopping, and observing the activity in the busy harbor can easily fill your day. If you have a little extra time, however, there are many other interesting things to see and do. Start at the Chamber of Commerce, in the little house at the public landing, in the heart of town.

Check to see what plays or concerts are scheduled in the beautiful outdoor amphitheater at the head of the harbor. For movies, there is the old-fashioned Bay View Street Cinema.

The Camden YMCA (236-3375) on Chestnut Street will be moving to a new facility on Union Street just over the Camden-Rockport town line. It will have a swimming pool, squash and racquetball courts, exercise rooms, showers, and a gym. All are open to the public. It is about .1 mile from the interstection of Union and Limerock Street.

If you want to cruise Maine in traditional style, or if you just want to dream on a drizzly day, visit Cannell, Payne, and Page (236-2383), one of the best-known brokers of wooden boats in the country. But bring either your self-control or your checkbook—they broker some gorgeous boats or William Cannell can build one for you. Their offices are in the shingled American Boathouse at the head of the harbor.

Camden Hills State Park is a mile or so north of town on Route 1. The park covers some 8,000 acres which include Mount Megunticook and Mount Battie, hiking trails, modest climbs, and spectacular panoramic views. With the exception of Cadillac Mountain on Mount Desert Island, 1,385-foot Mount Megunticook is the highest point on the Atlantic seaboard. The road to the top of Mount Battie was originally built for cannon and later used by sightseerers. From the summit, the view is breathtaking, with the peaks of Mount Desert in the distance, Isle au Haut, Deer Isle, Blue Hill, and dozens of spruce and granite islands dotting the bay. There is a modest entrance fee.
You can easily climb Mount Battie on foot. Walk north up Main Street and turn left on Mountain Street (Route 52). Take the first right on Megunticook Street and follow it up to the beginning of the trail, perhaps 15 minutes from the center of town. It is about a 25-minute hike to the top, with onbly a few spots where you have to scramble.

Bikes can be rented at Brown Dog Bikes on Elm Street or at Maine Sport, on Route 1 in Rockport. Camden Hills State Park is one good destination, or go out Mountain Street (Route 52) to Lake Megunticook, where you can swim and picnic at Barrett Cove. To work up more of a sweat, you can hike the Maiden’s Cliff trail, which starts nearby and connects to the state park trail system.

The Camden-Rockport Historical Society has a pamphlet outlining a 2.5-mile tour on foot, and a more extensive bicycle or car tour. Get a copy at the Chamber of Commerce. Noteworthy on the tour is the Whitehall Inn, north of town on Route 1, where in 1912 Edna St. Vincent Millay, then a schoolgirl, first read her poem “Renascence,” beginning the literary career that won her a Pulitzer prize. Her statue looks out over the harbor.

Half a mile south of Camden on Route 1 is the Old Conway House (c. 1780), Blacksmith Shop, and Museum. At the end of Conway Road is Merryspring Nature Park, with 66 acres of fields and woods, an arboretum, and marked trails.

A lovely walk leads out Bay View or Chestnut Street through one of the town’s quieter residential districts and then past Aldermere Farm, home of the intriguing Belted Galloway cattle, owned and managed by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust. If you go beyond the farm, all the way to Rockport, it is about 3 miles each way.

En route take Calderwood Lane on the left and follow it for about half a mile to a right turn. A sign “Vesper Hill” on the far side of the turn marks the entrance to the beautiful open-air chapel and gardens of the Children’s Chapel.

With your own dinghy you can reach Camden’s waterside parks, including Curtis Island, a town park in the harbor entrance. Land at the end toward town. There is a grassy area for a picnic, plus a working lighthouse (link 1, link 2, link 3) and the whole little island to explore. In September of 1993 an extremely rare True’s beaked whale beached itself on the shores of Curtis. None of these whales has ever been sighted alive in the wild, and only sixteen have been observed in North America, and those only by similar misfortune. What brought this whale to its sad fate on Curtis remains a mystery.

Windjammers have operated out of Camden for more than half a century. Not only do they offer a wonderful experience for their guests, but their tall sails provide a glorious sight on the horizon. Some are a century old and converted from the coastal trade, some are brand new and built for the purpose.

On Monday mornings, you will see a procession of these magnificent vessels departing Camden Harbor, their decks colorful with passengers. Some proceed under their own power, but many are pushed by yawlboats until they reach open waters and can hoist sail. After leaving Camden, the schooners spread to all points of the compass to spend the week exploring the remote harbors, small villages, and deserted islands of Penobscot Bay and beyond.

Chamber of Commerce

The Wooden Boat Company, restorers and brokers of fine wooden boats.

Special thanks to Stan Pearson of Wayfarer Marine and Todd Anderson of French and Brawn for our latest updates. Last updated 1/2004.