Things To Do in Camden

Camden Hills State Park

Admission ($6) to Camden Hills State Park includes the network of hiking trails, a campground with hookups, plus picnic tables and grills near the rocky shore.

The Camden Public Library

Mount Battie

The view from the top of Mount Battie inspired the words that launched Edna St. Vincent Millay’s career as a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. “All I could see from where I stood was three long mountains and a wood; I turned and looked the other way, and saw three islands in a bay.” Accessed by a 1.4-mile trail and road, there’s a stone World War I commemorative tower at the top and a hawk’s eye perspective of Camden and the islands of Penobscot Bay. Also visible is Camden Snow Bowl, the community-owned ski mountain that hosts the U.S. National Toboggan Championships every February.

Camden Harbor

Primo Restaurant

The two-time James Beard Award-winner Melissa Kelly launched the garden-and-greenhouse-to-table formula at Primo, in a charming Victorian in Rockland.

Nina June

Nīna June restaurant, in a brick and wood-accented venue at historic Union Hall, offers the latest expression of classic Italian-Mediterranean cuisine by the chef and cookbook author, Sara Jenkins. From New York City’s Porsena to her native Maine, she brings her vast knowledge of Italian cuisine to the local-and-fresh theme, evidenced here in, among other dishes, a chive chitarra pasta with Maine crab and lemon butter ($25).

18 Central Oyster Bar & Grill

After a night Nina June, finish up with a nightcap and native oysters at 18 Central Oyster Bar & Grill next door. Both restaurants have coveted outdoor seating and harbor views.

Maine Sport Outfitters

As an alternative to a schooner, the sea kayak provides affordable and intimate access to the water on one’s own schedule and muscle. Harbor tours with Maine Sport Outfitters depart from the Camden waterfront three times daily, for a two-hour paddle around Curtis Island and the coastline ($45).

Cellardoor Winery

A scenic byway that leads to a wine-tasting room in a 1790s timber frame barn? It’s not in Napa, but at Cellardoor Winery, where Bettina Doulton has created a bacchanalian playground for wine lovers and casual day-trippers alike at the 5.5-acre vineyard in Lincolnville, about six miles from Camden. The tasting room opens daily at 11 a.m. for samples of the four estate wines by the glass ($8) with cheese boards and complimentary winery tours. Events include pairing lunches on Sundays with local producers, and pop-up dinners with partnering chefs, food trucks and music.

Salt Water Farm

Annemarie Ahearn of Salt Water Farm has been championing local ingredients and traditional methods at her cooking school since she left New York City for Lincolnville in 2009. Her classes and workshops at the antique post-and-beam barn and stone patio on Penobscot Bay inspire hundreds of attendees to bring new perspectives to the home kitchen.

Seafolk Coffee

Behind a sign-less blue door, the freshly renovated space with a pine-tree slab counter and tall windows is a word-of-mouth favorite and cozy hangout above the harbor.

Farnsworth Art Museum

Starting in the 1950s, Alex Katz, Lois Dodd, Neil Welliver and their gang of avant-garde artist friends, notable for their return to realist nature and figure paintings against the tide of Abstract Expressionism, migrated from New York City to Lincolnville’s Slab City Road every summer to make art and relax en plein-air. The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland celebrates these artists this year with the Slab City Rendezvous exhibition and Maine in America award. Permanent collections include the curious assemblages of the sculptor Louise Nevelson, and a church in back houses the paintings of N.C., Andrew and Jamie Wyeth ($15 adult admission).

Center for Maine Contemporary Art

Designed by the architect Toshiko Mori, who summers on the nearby island of North Haven, the new Center for Maine Contemporary Art is worth a visit for the stunning glass and corrugated metal building alone. The art is pretty great, too.

Schooner Appledore II

Feel like an adventurer from the 19th century while enjoying state-of-the-art accommodations on a modern windjammer. With wide decks, you can stroll and take in the sights without needing to duck the rigging. At only 49 passengers, there is abundant seating on which to make yourself comfortable for your intimate sail.