The Maine I Love: Polly Saltonstall

One of my favorite annual summer activities is sailing my knockabout Frolic from Camden across Penobscot Bay to North Haven. Out in the bay, as Frolic knifes through the waves, time stops, maybe even goes backwards. When I arrive in the Fox Islands Thorofare, I feel young again, ready for picnics on islands where we can see schooners coasting by, and family gatherings—like the ones my family has enjoyed there every summer since my grandfather was a boy arriving by steamboat. I love living in Maine. I love the way the fog intensifies colors; the way the ocean shifts in an instant from silver-tipped blue to scudding gray; the gurgle of water along a sailboat’s hull and the gentle rattle of sails. In the winter, I love the way the sunset turns the landscape gold. I love skating on frozen lakes, seeing the sky reflected in the hard ice. Most of all I love being a part of a community—innovators, traditionalists, builders, artists, and others who love this place just as much as I do.