Curtis is a seven-acre refuge in the mouth of yacht-choked Camden Harbor. It is a perfect destination for a late summer picnic.

First, grab sandwiches and provisions at The Market Basket (223 Commercial St., Rockport, 207-236-4371, sandwiches under $10). If you don’t have a boat, rent one at Maine Sport Outfitters (115 Commercial St., Rockport, 207-236-7120, www.mainesport.com, sea kayaks $50 a day).

Start at Laite Memorial Beach Park on Bayview Street in Camden. From the gentle shore it is a short paddle through rockweeds and over the violet-colored mussel beds to the northwestern tip of the island.

Scramble up the rocks, through a thick hedge of bayberry and Japanese rose, and emerge on a mowed path of soft grass under mature oaks. The path leads to a lighthouse and caretaker’s cottage.

Originally called Negro Island, the rock was renamed in 1934 after Cyrus Curtis, a local philanthropist and publisher of magazines and newspapers including Ladies’ Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post.

The original lighthouse was completed in 1836. In those days, to make a signal, the light from eight oil amps was bounced against 14-inch reflectors to produce a fixed white light. The keeper lived on the island where he kept a garden and animals and cut trees for firewood.

The current 25-foot-tall lighthouse tower was built in 1896. If the caretaker is around he might open the door. Climb the iron stairs to the top and you can see east all the way to Cadillac Mountain.

From the lighthouse, wander the path around the perimeter of the island. The trail winds under the shade of spruce and fir, through a carpet of blueberry bushes, over wintergreen and reindeer moss, bunchberry and clintonia. 

When you’re ready for a break there are plenty of cedar benches that face either out to sea or back toward the harbor and Mount Megunticook in the Camden Hills.

The village of Stonington on the southern tip of Deer Isle is strategically placed for a world of sailboats and steamer ships. The town was built on granite and cod but then came industrialization and the automobile, and all of a sudden Stonington was at the end of the road instead of right in the middle of it. The graceful village is built into a steep hillside facing the sea. It is best approached from the shore, but these days most people get there on the blacktop.

First, for ballast, stop at El El Frijoles (41 Caterpillar Hill Road, Sargentville, 207-359-2486, www.elelfrijoles.com, all menu items under $10) and dig into a Maine take on homemade burritos, tacos, salsas, agua fresca, and horchata.

When you have loaded up, head for the dramatic, 75-year-old suspension bridge that spans Eggemoggin Reach from Sedgewick to Deer Isle. Drive over the bridge, then over a causeway, drive and drive, and eventually the road ends in Stonington. It feels like the end of the earth. Just because a person drives here does not make Deer Isle any less an island.

Wander around Stonington, then head out along the western shore of Deer Isle to Barred Island Preserve for a ramble.

Drive along the shore, past Allen, Crockett, and Burnt coves, past wharves and towers of lobster traps, past lily ponds and hayfields. Turn down Goose Cove Road, and drive on dirt, cruising past stone walls, old apple trees, and meadows of goldenrod and New England aster. Park on the side of the road and head into the forest and down to the ocean.

Barred Island is a 2-acre island once owned by Frederick Law Olmsted and donated to the Nature Conservancy by his grandniece. It is accessible at low tide by a sandbar.

The trail from the road to the island winds through spruce and fir, the ground a thick carpet of lichens, mosses, and mushrooms. After walking for about an hour through the rain and the mosquitoes, you will reach the shore. At low tide you can stroll over the sandbar. Stand on Barred Island’s dome of pink granite. The sea breeze keeps the bugs away. Harbor seals play in the rockweeds.