Rockland is a working harbor town on Penobscot Bay that has quietly become one of the more compelling stops on the Maine coast. It bills itself as the lobster capital of the world, and during the Maine Lobster Festival in late July and early August, the claim is hard to dispute — the harbor fills with windjammer schooners, the smell of steaming shellfish drifts down Main Street, and the whole town leans into it.
The Farnsworth Art Museum is the town's unexpected trump card: a serious collection focused on artists who painted New England, including three generations of the Wyeth family. Andrew Wyeth had deep roots in coastal Maine, and the museum holds some of his most important work. The attached Wyeth Center, in a converted church, is worth the extra time.
Walk out along the mile-long granite breakwater to the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse for one of the finest views on the Maine coast. The breakwater takes about 20 minutes each way and the walk itself is the attraction — the harbor on one side, open bay on the other. The Maine Lighthouse Museum downtown covers the state's extensive lighthouse history with a surprisingly large collection of original Fresnel lenses.
The Maine State Ferry connects Rockland to Vinalhaven and North Haven, two island communities worth a day trip. The town is also a natural base for Camden, a prettier but more tourist-polished harbor town a few miles up the coast.