Copyright © 1998 Peter O'Shea
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Every so often the different corners of one's life come together in a completely unforeseen way, giving added meaning to the word "serendipitous". Perhaps the car repairman will discover that the object jamming the transmission lever was your missing CD-ROM containing stolen military secrets, allowing you to return the data, save civilization as we know it, and stop bumming a ride to work every day. Or you will discover that the secondhand jack plane you bought for working on your house is the just right for making a replacement leg for your kid's Buzz Lightyear.

Or, perhaps, you will go on vacation and find completely by accident that your rented house is part of a small enclave of well-preserved Victorian seaside cottages. Your desire for quiet relaxation in a tranquil setting will intersect with your interest in nineteenth-century architecture. Such a thing happened to us when we drove into Bayside, Maine for a one-week vacation.

We had no idea about the village we would be staying in - it was the recommendation from a friend of a friend. We only knew that our rented house had three bedrooms and was located on the shore of Maine's Penobscot Bay. When we first drove off the highway, down some local roads, and into Bayside, we were surprised. We saw house after house with Mid- to Late-Victorian architectural styles - Gothic, Italianate, Queen Anne. Most were small and obviously built for summer occupation. There were so many of them, all apparently from about a thirty-year time period, close together and in good condition, that I began to wonder if they were real or a recreation. Had Disney invaded the Maine coast?

No, Bayside is real. It started as a summer religious retreat for a group of Methodists in 1849*. Each year for a week, Methodists from the Penobscot Bay area gathered in Bayside (originally known as Northport Campground), lived in tents and conducted religious meetings.

As time went on, the summer gatherings became longer. People started to build more permanent housing, first in the form of large structures housing many families in a cooperative arrangement. Then, small building lots were sold and individual cottages began to be built. When the first hotel was built in 1875 the area started to grow in importance as a summer resort. More hotels followed, steamer ships visited, and Bayside became a popular summer destination.

Today the large hotels are gone, as are the crowds that gathered during the heyday of the resort era. Now Bayside is a quiet community of about three hundred cottages, most built between 1870 and 1900. About one-third of them have been winterized, and are occupied year-round. The other two-thirds are occupied during the season (July Fourth through Labor Day), or are rented out for some portion of the summer.

The cottage we rented was, atypically for the area, somewhat nondescript in style, but large. It was definitely not winterized - there were no interior wall surfaces at all. The framing and the exterior sheathing were all that stood between us and the nighttime mid-June chilly Maine air. Fortunately, there were space heaters; we also made use of the fireplace. The open walls also made it easy to inspect the wiring, a mixture of knob and tube and Romex.

Probably the most charming feature of the cottage was its floors, which are more accurately termed "slopes". It was fun going up and down them, finding handholds while turning corners, and sliding down them in socks. It gave me a new appreciation for the levelness of our own floors at home.

The porch of our cottage was about twenty feet from the water at high tide. It proved to be a completely relaxing place to lounge about and listen to the sounds of the water. There is no more perfect place to watch the sun set than on a porch such as that one, sitting in a comfortable chair with your legs propped up on the railing.

Bayside offers both everything you could ask for, and nothing at all. There are small parks throughout the community, and a large one in the center, with playground equipment. The large park overlooks the wharf and the boat moorings. You can boat, swim, fish - or do nothing at all. I spent the most time throwing acorns into the water with my three-year-old son and exploring the shoreline.

After a week, I found I didn't want to leave. The historical booklet on Bayside likens it to Brigadoon, the mythical Scottish Highlands town magically locked in a previous time. I found the analogy fitting. Bayside is a bit like a slice of the nineteenth century life, but with electricity, plumbing, and casual clothes.

*Source: Bayside, Maine: Where Past Is Present, Kenneth R. Kahn, 1996

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