A Maine Barn Tour

July 12, 2013

barn light After my visit to the Colby Art Museum earlier in the week, I deserted Michael for a few hours and hopped in the car with my fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Smith. It’s been years since I’ve seen her, but when she saw my post about barns in the midwest, Mrs. Smith offered to take me on a little Maine barn tour. I instantly took her up on it!

barn tour We headed east from China through a whole bunch of little tiny villages and towns, toward Belfast and the coast. Mrs. Smith has a camera she wanted to play with a little, and I was thrilled to be able to stop at every barn or cute house that caught my eye!

branch mills 2 Honestly, the trip was such a gift. I loved looking at the Maine landscape and peering into lawns, catching all the falling-down houses and rusting cars, or beautiful gardens and perfectly manicured homes.

branch mills

I loved taking a drive through my home state with the sole purpose of finding fun things to photograph. Like this “Real Maine Country Store”, which sadly probably hasn’t been open in at least ten years. But peering in the window revealed old dishes, a spinning wheel, and a stack of old gasoline cans.  maine general store My favorite stop was Liberty, Maine, where the ten houses and shops on the main street were packed with antiques and awesome old junk.

maple syrup Including some Maine maple syrup in an antiques shop.

mobil station liberty Liberty also has an ancient Mobil station that serves as an annex to the tool shop across the street.

mobile station gas Doesn’t that gas pump belong in a movie from the 50’s? It’s ancient and perfectly distressed!

I feel so grateful that writing here on From China Village has re-introduced me to so many people from real live China Village, and from my past. It has expanded my life in the most wonderful ways. Huge thanks so much to Mrs. Smith for taking me on an incredibly enjoyable photo tour. I’m hoping it will be come a new annual tradition!

4 Comments

  • Reply 31 Chapel Lane July 12, 2013 at 7:02 am

    Love this post! x

  • Reply moira July 13, 2013 at 2:18 pm

    this whole post is amazing! reminds me of that photographer (whose name i forget) who is famous for documenting old buildings in the south. It looks like you had quite the adventure! xx

  • Reply Sweet like Cinnamon July 28, 2013 at 2:21 pm

    This post reminds me so much of our honeymoon trip across Route 66 last year! Old barns, wrecks and quaint gas pumps! I’ve posted recently about it on my blog if you’d like to see a few of my photos 🙂 And welcome back to Dublin!

    • Reply emily July 30, 2013 at 2:55 pm

      What a great idea for a honeymoon! And loving your photos of it! Old barns are the best.

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