The things we can find sitting on front lawns across Maine can be anything from interesting to puzzling, attractive and garbage. Near Kent’s Hill School, this rusty old tractor adorns the front lawn of some folks just east of the school.
I guess this is lawn art to some degree or other. I am reminded of a time when I was managing a motel in Bethel. We had guests who traveled all the way from California just to fish for native brook trout in Maine waters.
After spending a few days trying to follow my pencil scratchings inside an old copy of a Maine Atlas and Gazetteer, I talked with the mother of the foursome about their experiences. Aside from the usual stories and discussions about finding brooks, streams and ponds and the number and size of fish caught, I heard this comment, “Maine is a beautiful place and interesting…..like so many people who own junk yards!”
How does that saying go? “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Art is in the eye of the beholder and I guess referring to one man’s junk yard as art seems to have less a negative impact than just calling it junk.

Traveling east on Route 17 through somewhere around Fayette, you might just spot this “Swamp Thing” lurking in the swamp brush of a bog hole near the highway. I guess you could call this a form of lawn art.
I did notice that this “thing” has sunglasses. I sure hope it has on plenty of sunblock and layers of insect repellent.

This was a bonus attraction for me. I knew when I got back to Livermore Falls I wanted to get a picture of the town bandstand. What I didn’t know when I got there that it would be busy with a show.
A three piece band, about the age of “baby boomers” was performing tunes from the 50s, 60s and 70s. I tried to get a few pictures and hit the road before it got dark but my wife wanted to stay for awhile and listen to the band. I was convinced once I spotted the ice cream shop nearby.

To the untrained eye, this might appear to be an old abandoned and run down house trailer with what’s left of a dilapidated custom roof on top. It is not always you find one in this condition that’s unoccupied. I have seen some in worse shape still being lived in.
What caught my eye with this particular building was it appears to have been air lifted in and placed right where it sat.

An entire summer or longer could be spent traveling across Maine just getting pictures of barns – some standing, some not and others halfway between.
Sitting up on a hillside near Canton, Maine, this barn reeks of character.

Located on Route 140 near the Jay and Canton town lines sits this very typical Maine working farm.

In Canton Point, just off Route 140 heading toward Dixfield, you’ll come across this old memorial chapel. Many of these churches which at one point was a focal point of a community, now sit feeling a bit lonely but not completely abandoned.
Difficult to see in the photographs, the church is handsomely adorned with some beautiful stained glass windows. What makes it even harder to appreciate the stained glass is the plexi-glass covering them to protect from those who find a need to throw rocks through windows.

I stopped at a public boat access spot near Dixfield and was fortunate to find this couple returning from an outing of kayaking the waters of the Androscoggin River. I spotted a fish pole and my wife asked my if they were fishing, thinking it a bit odd that fishing and kayaking would go together. I explained to her that it was actually something that was growing in popularity of late.

In the town of Dixfield, Maine stands the statue of Bullrock. On the placard is the History of Bull rock:

Bullrock the Dixfield moose is named in memory of a moose of local legend. According to this legend, a wandering moose journeyed from the back side of Dixfield’s Sugarloaf Mountain. As he approached the rock formation now known as Bullrock, he became so entranced by the beauty of the valley below that he lost his footing and plunged over the edge.
Today, Bullrock’s spirit can be seen in the majesty of our forests and in the steadfastness of our people. He not only symbolizes Dixfield’s colorful past, but represents a strong and steady future for us all.

Make sure you check out Part I, Part II, Part IV, Part V, Part VI.

Tom Remington