A Norman Rockwell summer place
My family and I have many memories of a week spent in a waterfront rental on Rangeley Lake: wild raspberries, orange sunsets, morning mists, children splashing for hours in crystalline waters, fresh-caught salmon grilled with lemon and butter, and canoeing in a warm summer rain.
But as newcomers to Rangeley, there are many memories we don't have: singing with friends around campfires, family talent shows, sandlot baseball, potluck dinners, and bean-hole beans (sort of a woodland version of a clambake). For generations of New Englanders who have been coming here for years, such memories are woven into the fabric of their family life.
"My grandfather, my father, and my uncle first came to this place to go fishing in 1936," said the Rev. Ted F. Tumicki, 37, a pastor from Norwich, Conn. "When they came back from that first trip they brought the rest of the family up that same year. I've been going there since I was born."
Local real estate agents say that families like the Tumickis make up about 70 percent of their business: repeat customers who stay in the same rental year after year. Vacation communities elsewhere work hard to earn that kind of loyalty. In Rangeley, it seems to come naturally.
The Rangeley Lakes Region, as it is called, sits in a remote section of Maine's western flank. It encompasses roughly 100 square miles of wilderness that extends well beyond the body of water for which the area is named.
A Chamber of Commerce website says there are 111 lakes and ponds here. The best known of the lakes, Saddleback, Rangeley, and Mooselookmeguntic, known locally as "Mooselick," are trout and salmon fishing havens whose fame began with an 1877 Harper's magazine article extolling the eight-pound brook trout.
The Appalachian Trail passes right over Saddleback Mountain and the area is dominated by small streams and big woods that swallow all signs of civilization five min utes from the road. It's an outdoor lover's paradise.
Downtown Rangeley is the closest thing to a town center in a 25-mile radius. It is an endearing one-eighth of a mile of old and new that can be covered in a half-day. There's a single-screen movie theater and a one-room ice cream stand. Restaurants are in short supply and the area's only supermarket is almost brand new.
Shopping is largely limited to Alpine Shop Rangeley, which sells moose- and loon-emblazoned clothing among many other things. Thirty minutes there and you're ready for the hamburgers that top a family fare menu at Parkside & Main Restaurant, one of the busier eateries in town. There's a boat ramp, bait shop, bagel store, and a circa-1900 hardware store that helped build the many cottages that dot the seemingly endless shoreline.
That's more than enough for the Del Vecchios of Salem, who have been renting a cottage at Saddleback Lake for 13 years.
"It's not some hip and happening place; it's kind of the opposite," said Debra Del Vecchio, a lawyer. "It's not like a resort town. We play a lot of Scrabble and do a lot of reading and let the kids do all the running around."
What's the attraction? Besides the surroundings it's families like the Del Vecchios, said William Abrams of New York.
Thirteen years ago the two families were among four that started renting at a circa-1900 collection of cottages known as Saddleback Lodge. That number has grown to 10 families who all vacation the same two weeks in August and have gotten to know each other pretty well over the years.
They have relay races, baseball and soccer games, even their own Saddleback triathlon. These folks say they come for the fellowship as much as for the fun.
"We all wander around in and out of each other's houses, no invitations necessary," said Abrams, a charity administrator. "It is truly like a summer camp just for these 10 families. It's a great place, and the fact that we found so many like-minded people here made it perfect for us."
Connie Russell of Russell's Lakeside Rentals says families having fun together is what forged the loyalty to the area in the early 1900s. Her great-great-grandfather John "Bumper" Russell played a big part when he started Russell's Motor Camp.
Back then the best way to get to Rangeley was by train, Connie Russell said. The largest two-foot-gauge rail system in the country served the area and families would come up for the summer.
They played badminton and horseshoes by day and sang campfire songs and roasted marshmallows at night. Everyone ate and played board games in the community lodge, while the cottages were just for sleeping.
"We loved it growing up," Russell said. "Those people that came each year became our friends for the summer. We looked forward to seeing each other every summer."
The lodge at the motor camp is gone and the cottages have been sold to individual owners. But fishing is still a huge draw, and leaf peeping, hunting, snowmobiling, and cross-country and downhill skiing have helped make Rangeley a year-round destination. Accordingly, there has been something of a real estate boom in the area.
Rangeley Lake Resort, a new collection of 39 faux log cabin time-shares, has an adjoining lodge with saunas and swimming pool. Along some lakeshores, growing numbers of cottages are being torn down and new homes being built on their footprint.
The recent development has somewhat tarnished the sense of family community that brought so many to Rangeley for so long, Tumicki and Russell said. But the added business has helped many year-round residents better survive the winters.
The lakeside cottages are starting to command Down East rental rates. Our waterfront rental, with four bedrooms, two full baths, washing machine, cable TV, and a large kitchen at the end of an isolated dirt road was $3,000 for a week in late August. One- and two-bedroom cottages are closer to $1,000 a week, but demand for the bigger units is increasing, according to Beth Eastlack of Morton & Furbish Real Estate.
"Some people are still coming to the camps like Saddleback; after all, the main draw of Rangeley is still the area," she said. "But if we have a nice new home next to the camps, people now are going to take the nice place. They want the washing machine, the DVD player, and the satellite TV."
We were planning to return this year until we found out the house was no longer being rented. Since it may be too late to look for a comparable place, we're mulling other options, but we know we'll miss Rangeley Lakes. Maybe next year. Until then, we have our memories.
Tim Wacker can be reached at tiwack@comcast.net.
