Harraseeket Inn Newsletter

Greetings from the Harraseeket Inn!  Maine's ship building heritage is long and storied, beginning four hundred years ago when the settlers at Popham, in desperation, built a ship that would take them back to England.  Last month we celebrated the return home of the oldest Maine-built schooner still afloat, the Mary E.  She sailed up the mighty Kennebec River and was welcomed to her new home at Maine Maritime Museum, which is located only a mile from where she was first launched one hundred and eleven years ago.  The Mary E was built on the Kennebec by Thomas Hagan, shipbuilder, and sold in 1907 as a sea going work horse. Her history is neither romantic nor flashy. For the next fifty years she worked as a dragger and fishing vessel out of Gloucester, Massachusetts. She also carried mail and passengers (and allegedly did a stint as a rum runner) until she was abandoned in 1960. A Thanksgiving Day hurricane sank her in Lynn harbor in 1963, after which she was bought for $200. by a Bath man whose great-grandfather had worked with her builder, and was restored at Maine Maritime Museum.  Since then she's plied the waters from Florida to Boothbay, until Maine Maritime bought her in 2016.  Following her current renovation at the museum, she'll be open to the public and will no doubt cruise the waters from time to time. This is a nice video posted on Bill Green's Maine showing her coming back up the Kennebec. Welcome home from your long journey, Mary E. 

For those of you who don't see our Facebook page, we recently posted a very short but incredible video of one of our tavern chefs, Ken Beaudoin, who is also a farmer and, unbeknownst to us, a moose whisperer.   This is an amazing video of what happened when he stopped his tractor to check out a yearling moose that stepped into his field. These yearling calves are driven off by their mothers just prior to the birth of the cow's next calf, and they wander around quite lost and lonely, looking for company.  This one found Ken, and what happened next is so cool, cool as a moose!
 
Upcoming Events and Special offers

* Hospitality for Habitat:   Between April 17 until May 25, 2017, we're offering a designated number of rooms at half our regular rate, in exchange for a $35 check payable to Habitat for Humanity.  (Weekends excluded.)
These funds will be distributed among the eight local chapters of Habitat for Humanity. Their website is  www.habitat.org.   Reservations must be made in advance, and the contribution to Habitat for Humanity must be in the form of a check. This is a great way to justify a Maine get-a-way!
*Cabin Fever Package through June 15 , Sunday through Thursday, and includes weekends through May 5th, 2017.  The  Cabin Fever Package  includes: 
*Two nights lodging
*$50. LLBean Gift Certificate
*Dinner one evening in our Broad  ArrowTavern
*Tavern Lunch Buffet one afternoon
*Full buffet breakfast each morning
*Afternoon Tea daily

$425. per couple, standard
$495. per couple, deluxe

*Wolfe's Neck Farm has special programs for the kids, and 'tis the season for baby animals in the barn.  This is a truly beautiful salt water farm and a wonderful way to make memories for your children.  Take a walk in the adjacent Wolfe's Neck Woods State Park afterward, and enjoy the views of Casco Bay.

*Check out all of our  special packages  and plan your getaway soon.  Let us pamper you for a day or two or three...the flowers are in bloom!

*The  Freeport Calendar  lists upcoming special events and all the fantastic sales in Freeport Village.  

*Downeast Reader's Choice 2017  Vote for your favorite places in Maine and let your voice be heard! We'd love your vote!

This month's trivia question is going to be a lot like this past March's trivia because I broke my left arm two weeks ago.  Practice makes perfect.  The trivia question was going to be: How many ships were built in Maine during the past four hundred years? Answer: five thousand, that's a lot of ships!  Enjoy your complimentary trivia voucher because hopefully this will be the last!

May 2017 Trivia Voucher

We appreciate your patronage and hope to see you soon! 
Penny Gray
The Gray family