Set 3 Photographs of New England Lakes --- Moosehead Lake and Mount Kineo

Bob Jensen at Trinity University 

I love these "Impatiens for the Sun" that bloom all season

 

This is the third of my sets of photographs of New England lakes. Set 3 features Moosehead Lake in Maine. Wikipedia claims
Moosehead is "in the U.S. state of Maine and the largest mountain lake in the eastern United States." This is a little misleading without
defining "mountain lake." I would describe the enormous Lake Champlain as partly a mountain lake. And I would define Lake
Winnipesaukee as a mountain lake in terms of mountain views from most every part of the lake. But Moosehead Lake does have shoreline
around the mountain of flint called Mount Kineo.

When I was on the faculty at the University of Maine and living in Bangor our neighbors and closest
friends owned a vacation home on Mousehead Lake. Along most of Moosehead Lake you can only lease the
land from the large timber holdings of paper companies. Mainers call their vacation homes "camps" whether
they are shacks or beautiful big homes. The Bacons owned a large shoreline home with several bedrooms and a huge
front porch having a beautiful view of Mount Kineo across the lake.

John Bacon owned a big boat where I could go fishing with him and the other couples that usually
joined us for long summer weekends. This convinced me that there's not a single fish in Moosehead Lake. I usually opted
out and played bridge with the women on shore.


An Old Postcard Featuring Mount Kineo

 of

Another old postcard of the Mount Kineo Resort Hotel

Mount Kineo --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kineo

Mount Kineo, situated beside Moosehead Lake in Maine, is in the northern Maine forest, which stretches north to Canada. Kineo is a peninsula, comprising 1,150 acres (4.7 kmē), which extends from the easterly shore into the lake. Mt. Kineo, with 700-foot (210 m) cliffs rising straight up from the water, is a dramatic setting that has attracted visitors for centuries.

Native Americans once traveled great distances to Mt. Kineo to acquire its rhyolite rock. The mountain is a peculiar geological formation of flint known as siliceous slate, or hornstone. It is the country's largest known mass of this rock, once used by Indians to craft arrowheads, hatchets, chisels, etc. Because Indian implements made from the stone have been found in all parts of New England and even further south, it is evident that various tribes visited Mt. Kineo for centuries to obtain this material.

In 1846, Henry David Thoreau visited the Moosehead Lake region, and the mountain's geological formation, Indian relics and traditions deeply interested him. The first Mt. Kineo House was built on the shores of Moosehead Lake in 1848, but burned in 1868. Rebuilt in 1870 and opened in 1871, the second Mt. Kineo House would burn in 1882. Designed by Arthur H. Vinal, the third Mt. Kineo House opened in 1884. Mt. Kineo Golf Course, built in the 1880s, is believed to be the second oldest in New England.

In 1911, the Maine Central Railroad purchased the resort and engaged the Hiram Ricker Hotel Company to operate it. Then the largest inland waterfront hotel in America, it had accommodations for over 500 guests. But in 1933, the railroad eliminated its Kineo branch, and in 1938 sold the hotel. It burned during demolition and today the old employee house still stands next to hole # 9 of the golf course.

 

When she graduated from the University of Texas, daughter Lisl's first full-time job was
teaching biology in the very small high school in Greenville, Maine on the south shore of Moosehead Lake.
It was a cold and lonely during the winter in Greenville, Maine.

Lisl later became a biology teacher in the Hamden Academy near Bangor.
She went to graduate school at the University of Maine and later married her microbiology professor.
Her son will graduate from high school in 2015 about the same time his sister becomes a PhD in pharmacy.

Greenville, Maine --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenville,_Maine

Greenville is a town in Piscataquis County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,646 at the 2010 census. The town is centered around the lower end of Moosehead Lake, the largest body of fresh water in the state. Greenville is the historic gateway to the north country and a center for outdoor recreation in the area. Greenville High School, with 89 students, was ranked as the third best high school in Maine and one of the top 1,000 in the US in 2010.

 



 

 

Moose are very common throughout Maine.
This is a so-so moose head

This is an ugly moose head

This is Moosehead Lake

 

Moosehead Lake --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moosehead_Lake

Moosehead Lake is the largest lake in the U.S. state of Maine and the largest mountain lake in the eastern United States. Situated in the Longfellow Mountains in the Maine Highlands Region, the lake is the source of the Kennebec River. Towns that border the lake include Greenville to the south and Rockwood to the northwest. There are over 80 islands in the lake, the largest being Sugar Island. The area has been the focal point of a controversy surrounding planned large scale commercial development, and the environmental practices of the developer.

History

Mount Kineo, with 700-foot (200 m) cliffs rising straight up from Moosehead Lake, has attracted visitors for centuries, from early American Indians (Red Paint People), to later tribes seeking its flint called hornstone, Penobscots and Norridgewocks, the Abenaki bands who battled here with their enemy the Mohawks, to 19th-century "rusticators" traveling by railroad and steamboat and today's hotel guests. Various species dwell among its cliffs and talus slopes, including peregrine falcons and rare plants. The region has a large moose population; moose outnumber people 3:1.[3] However, the name of the region derives from the remarkable similarity between maps of the lake and an antlered moose.

The Moosehead region includes the headwaters of the Kennebec, the West Branch of the Penobscot, the Piscataquis, the Pleasant, and the St. John rivers. Henry David Thoreau and other 19th-century visitors remarked on the beauty of the area.

Geography Shoreline in 1912

Set at an elevation of 1,023 feet (312 m), Moosehead Lake is approx. 40 by 10 miles (64 by 16 km), with an area of 120 mileē (311 kmē), and over 400 miles (640 km) of shoreline. Its major inlet is the Moose River, which, east of Jackman, flows through Long Pond to Brassua Lake. To the east of Moosehead Lake, the Roach River is its second largest tributary. Flowing out of Moosehead Lake to the southwest are its east and west outlets — the Kennebec River.

The Moosehead Lake Region encompasses 4,400 square miles (11,000 kmē) of West Central Maine, and includes 127 townships in addition to Moosehead Lake. The region is drained by 330 miles (530 km) of main stem rivers, into which flow 3,850 miles (6,200 km) of smaller tributaries. During the last glacial era, more than 1,200 natural lakes and ponds were carved into its landscape, varying in size from one acre (4,000 mē) ponds to Moosehead, at 74,890 acres (303 kmē) one of the largest natural freshwater lakes in the United States. The total area of all standing surface waters in the region is more than 238,000 acres (963 kmē) — 24% of the total area of lakes and ponds in Maine.

\Development plans

Seattle-based Plum Creek Real Estate Investment Corporation, the largest private United States landowner, submitted a development proposal for the Moosehead region in April, 2005. The 570-page proposal was the largest development ever proposed for the State of Maine. This development was to bring residents, money, and tourists to Maine. The initial version of the scheme called for 975 house lots, 2 resorts, a golf course, a marina, 3 RV parks, and more than 100 rental cabins. The plan was accepted by the Maine Land Use Regulatory Committee, despite public opposition.[4] Adding to the controversy, the developer has been fined for illegally clear-cutting sections of forest.

Continued in article

 

Katadin Cruises on Moosehead Lake ---
http://www.katahdincruises.com/

There's a lot of snow mobiling on Moosehead Lake, but
it can be dangerous due to currents that sometimes make ice thin
even when most of the lake's ice is very thick

 

Meanwhile back to summertime at our cottage in Sugar Hill,
the Lilies are now in full bloom

The peonies are done for the season

Erika's roses come and go all season long and often bloom into October

The wild roses bloom almost a month, but now they look more like cherries than roses
Earlier blooms on the the wild roses with the mountains to our east

Later seed pods are on the wild roses with our mountains to the east

 

Nature has its seasons up here in the White Mountains
The perennials are like flashes in the pan that go to seed
The days are already growing shorter
But my New Guenea impatiens annuals bloom the day I plant them in early June
to when the first hard freeze hits in late October

I love these "Impatiens for the Sun" that bloom all season

 

 

Bob Jensen's Photographs of Lake Winnipesaukee --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/Lakes/Set01/LakesSet01.htm

Bob Jensen's Photographs of Lake Champlain --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/Lakes/Set02/LakesSet02.htm

Bob Jensen's Photographs of Maine --- www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/States/Maine/Set01/Maine01.htm

Bob Jensen's Photographs of Vermont --- www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/States/Vermont/Set01/Vermont01.htm

Lakes in New Hampshire --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakes_in_New_Hampshire

Oceans in My Life (Including My Navy Days)
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Ocean/Set01/OceanSet01.htm

More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and Stories
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm

 

On May 14, 2006 I retired from Trinity University after a long and wonderful career as an accounting professor in four universities. I was generously granted "Emeritus" status by the Trustees of Trinity University. My wife and I now live in a cottage in the White Mountains of New Hampshire ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm

Bob Jensen's Blogs --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/JensenBlogs.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New Bookmarks --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Tidbits --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud Updates --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Bob Jensen's past presentations and lectures --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/resume.htm#Presentations   

Our address is 190 Sunset Hill Road, Sugar Hill, New Hampshire
Our cottage was known as the Brayton Cottage in the early 1900s
Sunset Hill is a ridge overlooking with New Hampshire's White Mountains to the East
and Vermont's Green Mountains to the West

 

 

Bob Jensen's Threads --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm

Bob Jensen's Home Page --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/