Crystal Clear Waters on Pristine Sabbathday Lake in New Gloucester, Maine
February 28th, 2010 categories: Sebago Lakes Region
Enjoying the float at Outlet Beach on Sabbathday Lake in New Gloucester, Maine
Maine, The Way Life Should Be, can be found along the shores of Sabbathday Lake in New Gloucester. Situated 30 miles from Portland, along Route 26, Sabbathday Lake is spring-fed and its crystal clear water is considered to be of above average quality.
The Sabbathday Lake Association is an active group. Established in 1975, the association’s mission is to protect the water quality and natural ecosystem of Sabbathday Lake and its watershed.
Boaters and anglers will be pleased to spend time on Sabbathday Lake. It’s a perfect setting for canoes, kayaks, paddle boats and motorboats. And fishermen will feel the tug of brown and brook trout plus largemouth bass on their lines. According to Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, “Although some natural reproduction of trout occurs in the tributaries, stocking is necessary to provide a good fishery.” They last stocked Sabbathday Lake in October 2009.
You’ll find a public boat launch (fee charged) at Outlet Beach, a.k.a. Barefoot Beach, 106 Outlet Road in New Gloucester. Launch your boat, but also make time to enjoy the beach. Since the 1920s families have appreciated this shallow, sandy beach, which offers many amenities including boat rentals and is owned by the United Society of Shakers. Why is it called Outlet Beach? Go there and you’ll soon discover that the bridge to the beach crosses over the exact spot where the Royal River begins its 30-mile meandering journey to the Atlantic Ocean.
Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village is a 19th religious community and the only remaining active Shaker Village in the world. During the summer season, 6 of the 18 buildings at Shaker Village are open to the public and guided tours are available. A visit will allow you to appreciate the Shaker ideals of self-sufficiency and simplicity.
A nature walk at Shaker Village follows old logging roads and trails along the eastern edge of the vast property. It leads through fields and woods to Loon’s Point on Sabbathday Lake and Aurelia’s Cascade, named for Shaker teacher, Aurelia Gay Mace(1835-1910), who took her students to the waterfall for some of their lessons. From Loon’s Point you can enjoy a panoramic view of almost the entire lake.
Today a Maine Preservation Easement exists on the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village. Nearly 1,500 acres of mixed forestland and several hundred acres of farmland, orchards, wetlands, recreational lands and the last undeveloped shoreline of Sabbathday Lake are protected by the easement. In the years of preparing for this, Brother Arnold Hadd, a Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village community member was quoted in the Royal River Conservation Trust newsletter (spring 2006) as stating, “Stewardship is a primary concern for the Shakers: be it our faith or our land . . . we will be able to retain the land entrusted to us by our founders over two hundred years ago, maintaining our farm and forestland as we give our hands to work and our hearts to God.”
Just up the road from Sabbathday Lake is the Poland Spring Inn, which gained fame in the 1800s when a man was miraculously cured by its waters. Water from the spring continues to be bottled and shipped throughout the country today.
So . . . if you see beautiful sunsets, feel warm summer breezes and desire great fishing in your future, consider owning your own lakefront property on pristine Sabbathday Lake.
You might also be interested in reading this news article from our archives: Shaker Village Gets National Trust Award.
Tom - MrLakefront
