Outlet shopping, beautiful coastal parks, and a desert are just some of what make this Casco Bay town a worthwhile Maine destination.
Freeport has a habit of attracting shopaholics and you only need to wander down Main Street to find out why. All along this short section of U.S. Route 1 are shoulder-to-shoulder brand-name clothing stores, galleries, high-end outlets, and sporting apparel shops. Leon Leonwood Bean, of L.L. Bean fame, crafted his first hunting boots here. The scene is all rather quaint, too. Several businesses have set up in historic landmarks; there’s a fast food joint in a Greek Revival-style home and a fashion store in an old library.
More of the town’s past is on display at the Freeport Historical Society. It marks the start of a heritage trail that incorporates 10 sites in and around Main Street. Stop by the Jamestown Tavern, not only to tuck into Maine’s world-renowned clam chowder and lobster but because it’s cited as the “Birthplace of Maine.” Poets Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and John Greenleaf Whittier both stayed here.
The heritage tour continues to a farmstead and school buildings on the shores of Casco Bay. This is your chance to explore the great outdoors of Maine. Feel energized as you hike around Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park, where elegant ospreys migrate in summer. Experience the enchanting New England foliage in fall and gaze in awe as blocks of ice settle on a snowy shoreline in winter.
Be sure to head inland from Freeport. A few minutes’ drive from the town’s coastal location and you’ll find a natural phenomenon called the Desert of Maine. This is no manmade tourist attraction but an 11,000-year-old glacial sand deposit exposed by poor farming practices in the 1800s. A tram tour and interpretive walking trails will tell you all you need to know about the area.