There is nothing like a Maine summer, and as this summer approaches, three enticing new hotels have just opened their doors for the 2024 season.

Dunes on the Waterfront, Ogunquit

Dunes on the Waterfront, a group of 21 white clapboard cottages with green shutters on 12 acres of lawns overlooking Ogunquit’s famous beach, dunes, and tidal river, debuted this month. Ranging from one to three bedrooms, the cottages date back to 1936 and were owned by three generations of the Perkins family. Hotelier Tim Harrington and his company, Atlantic Hospitality, bought the cottages last year from the Perkins’ and spent $10 million renovating the property. Harrington has a strong record of restoring and reimagining vintage Maine coastal properties, including The Claremont in Southwest Harbor and Salt Cottages in Bar Harbor. He’s also a partner in the Kennebunkport Resort Collection, 10 hotels that include Hidden Pond in Kennebunkport. You can stroll to the resort town’s many restaurants, bars, and shops or take one of the hotel’s complimentary bikes and ride into town. It’s a short distance from the famed Ogunquit Playhouse, Maine’s most beloved summer stock theater. All cottages have a private porch or patio, the better to soak up the coastal atmosphere. Pursuits include relaxing in the heated swimming pool with ocean views, paddle boarding, kayaking, and waterfront yoga classes.

The Rockport Harbor Hotel, Rockport

The Rockport Harbor Hotel has been flying under the radar since it opened in December 2023. This 20-room boutique hotel is now ready for its first summer, a new luxury property on Rockport’s busy main street, with its restaurants, galleries, and shops. Rooms are traditional in style—no trace of trendy minimalism here — and every room has a marble bathroom, a gas fireplace, and a balcony, with views of either the harbor or the Camden Hills. The Oak Room restaurant, which looks like it’s been there for about 100 years but is, in fact, brand new, offers creative comfort fare from Chef Travis Nestor. Atrium, the hotel’s fine dining restaurant with views of the harbor and Penobscot Bay, will open soon on the hotel’s fourth floor. There’s plenty to do in town, and if you need more, the tony port town of Camden is just up the road. The Farnsworth Art Museum’s incredible collection of Maine-born artists, including three generations of Wyeths, is a short walk from the hotel.

Longfellow Hotel, Portland

Longfellow Hotel, originally scheduled to open in 2023, finally opened this month in Portland. The Congress Street location is in Portland’s historic West End neighborhood, one of the city’s best locations, amidst 19th-century Victorian and Italianate architecture. The hotel is within walking distance to areas like the Old Port, East End, and the Arts District. The city’s first independent, full-service hotel to open in many years has 48 rooms and a Nordic-inspired spa. The 1,800-square-foot spa, Astraea, focuses on whole body and mind wellness. Dining options include the Twinflower Café, a wellness-focused restaurant serving wholesome breakfast and lunch offerings. The Five of Clubs is the bar and serves cocktails, beer and wine, and small bites. The Maine-based, family-owned hospitality group Uncommon Hospitality is behind the Longfellow Hotel, named for Portland-born poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of America’s most-beloved bards.

Endwell, NY (WBNG) – It was Unified Basketball Pack the House Night at Maine-Endwell and it was packed indeed. Parents, fellow students and faculty were out and supporting both the Maine-Endwell Spartans and the Vestal Golden Bears Unified basketball teams.

Started back in 2019 with the purpose to bring people together and build sportsmanship, teamwork and having some fun. The event combines students from different sports with athletes with various disabilities, giving them the chance to put on the uniform and experience what it’s like to represent a school. Maine-Endwell took the win with a close finish down the stretch with a final, 48-44.

Copyright 2024 WBNG. All rights reserved.

The federal government has granted the state of Maine a lease for a floating offshore wind research station nearly 30 miles off the southern coast.

The dozen turbines located southeast of Portland would be the first floating, offshore wind research site ever deployed in federal waters. The administration of Gov. Janet Mills requested the lease from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in 2021, kicking off a multi-year process that involved an environmental assessment, public meetings and engagement with the commercial fishing community.

The stated goal of the research project is to study the technology and how it interacts with the surrounding environment and marine life as well as ways to reduce potential conflicts with existing uses, such as commercial fishing. The research could then influence development of commercial-scale offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine, which Mills has made a critical piece of her administration’s ambitious climate goals.

“Offshore wind offers our state a tremendous opportunity to harness abundant clean energy in our own backyard, to create good-paying jobs and drive economic development, and to reduce our over-reliance on fossil fuels and fight climate change,” Mills said in a statement. “This offer of a lease is a major milestone in our effort to embrace these significant economic and environmental benefits for Maine and Maine people and is a recognition of our nation-leading work to responsibly develop this promising industry.”

The Gulf of Maine’s near-constant, blustery weather conditions make it one of the nation’s most promising locations for offshore wind. But multiple commercial fishing organizations in Maine and New England have opposed the push by the Mills administration and federal regulators to develop offshore wind in the gulf, arguing that it could harm their industry and marine life.

The gulf’s waters are too deep to utilize the type of turbines envisioned for many other offshore wind projects in shallower U.S. waters. Researchers at the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center and it’s partner, Diamond Offshore Wind, have spent years developing floating wind turbine platforms that can be deployed in the gulf’s deep waters.

A federal environmental assessment prepared as part of the lease determined that the research project would have “negligible to minor” impacts on marine mammals, fish, commercial fishermen and ship traffic. While the assessment acknowledged the risk of vessel strikes with whales as well as entanglement in with gear during the eight-year research project, the BOEM said most impacts would be avoided through mitigation steps and that any impacts would not affect the viability of most species.

One possible exception is the North Atlantic right whale, an endangered species that is at the heart of a years-long regulatory and legal battle between Maine’s lobster industry, environmental groups and federal agencies.

But BOEM’s assessment states, “the likelihood of a vessel strike or entanglement (with a right whale) as a result of the proposed action is considered very low given the expected limited total extent and duration of activities considered.” Mitigation measures would further reduce that likelihood, the report states.