Outrunning the Storm

One of the carriage road gate houses.

We started the day with a bike ride. Bobby and I rented bikes (maybe we should buy some Dahons, after all!) and all three of us headed to the carriage roads. These 45 miles of rustic road were built between 1913 and 1940, financed largely by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. They were never intended for cars and are used by hikers, bikers and horsemen. There are 17 bridges along the roads, all built by hand. Over time (during construction of the roads), the stone cutters grew very skilled and Rockefeller often requested that they not cut the facing too well, lest the rustic look be lost!


Elise and I are under that bridge, if you can see us.

During the bike ride, we kept hearing a distant rumbling over the mountains. In time, it got louder and we realized it was thunder. We hastily finished the last mile and a half. Luckily, it was downhill and we escaped the rain. We returned the bikes and then headed over to Bass Harbor Light. It is an automated lighthouse and run by the Coast Guard. A Coast Guard family actually lives in the house attached to the lighthouse.



This is the lighthouse for me. It is right on the edge of a cliff and at the southernmost point on the island. I have always had a thing for lighthouses and today I discovered why. On August 7 (my birthday), 1789 the first Public Works Act and only the ninth law passed by the First Congress of the United States was the creation of the Lighthouse Establishment. It was meant to be, me and lighthouses. At lunch today, Bobby, Elise and I talked about what we would do if we lived there. Elise’s favorite thing to do would be to scramble on the rocks. Bobby would drink coffee in the lighthouse and I would spend hours watching the tide pools. It’s the perfect place for us. So now either Bobby or I have to join the Coast Guard, become a commander and somehow get assigned to Bass Harbor Light!

Toward the end of the day, we took a walk around our campground and discovered a cemetary on the grounds. One of the grave markers was for a Revolutionary War Veteran. I don’t know if you can read it, but it says, “In Memory of Jacob Lurvey who died Sept. 11, 1853, age 92. He was a soldier of the Revolution and was twice taken prisoner during that war.” Cool.