Planning a Trip

Getting There

By car, U.S. Route 1 passes directly through the center of Rockland. Concord Coach (tel. 800/639-3317; www.concordcoachlines.com) offers two to three daily buses from Portland and Boston.

Surprisingly, Rockland's tiny airport (Knox County Regional Airport, airport code RKD) is served by daily direct flights from Boston on U.S. Airways Express (tel. 800/428-4322; www.usairways.com). There's a local taxi on call, and a single rental-car kiosk at the terminal. The airport itself is actually in Owls Head, off Route 73.

From spring through fall (and again in Dec), the Maine Eastern Railroad (tel. 866/637-2457; www.maineeasternrailroad.com) runs excursion trains between Brunswick and Rockland. Round-trip fares in 2007 were $40 per adult, $35 for seniors, and $20 for children ages 5 to 15.

Visitor Information

The Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 508, Rockland, ME 04841 (tel. 800/562-2529 or 207/596-0376; www.therealmaine.com), staffs an information desk at Harbor Park. It's open daily Memorial Day to Labor Day 9am to 5pm, and on Monday to Friday the rest of the year.

Special Events

The Maine Lobster Festival (tel. 800/562-2529 or 207/596-0376) takes place at Harbor Park the first weekend in August (plus the preceding Thurs and Fri). Entertainers and vendors of all sorts of Maine products -- especially, of course, the famous Maine crustaceans -- fill the waterfront parking lot for thousands of festivalgoers who enjoy the pleasantly buttery atmosphere. The event includes the Maine Sea Goddess Coronation Pageant. Admission is $7 to $10 per day; food, of course, costs extra.