The Real Cabbage Island Clambake

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by Barb, enjoying the most beautiful day on the coast of Maine

My kids and their kid gathered with us in Boothbay Harbor for the Fourth of July this year. One request from them all was a visit to the Cabbage Island Clambake, the inspiration for the Snowden Family Clambake in my Maine Clambake Mysteries.

I’ve written before about the differences between the real Clambake and my fictional one. You can read about that here.

But this year there wasn’t a hint of a research trip. It was a happy day with family. I thought I’d take you on a photo tour below.

Friday started out rainy and windy, but it was the only day all seven of us were available, so we pressed on.

The crowd lined up in the rain and ready to get on the Bennie Alice

But then the sun came out just as we got to the island.

We grabbed a table under the covered porch, but plenty of people wiped off picnic tables and settled outside.

People getting their food
The clambake meal
After the meal
Badminton on the lawn
One of the island cats–there are four
Employees up on a platform washing the trays the meal come on
The little house the the dock. (The one in the books is slightly bigger.)

Time to go.

The owners, brothers Bob and Wayne Moore see the Bennie Alice off
On the boat ride home
Passing the osprey’s nest
Good-bye Cabbage Island

Readers: Did you do anything fun for the Fourth of July?

Published by Barbara Ross

Barbara Ross is the author of twelve Maine Clambake Mystery novels and six novellas. Her books have been nominated for multiple Agatha Awards for Best Contemporary Novel and have won the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction. She lives in Portland, Maine. Readers can visit her website at www.maineclambakemysteries.com

26 Thoughts

  1. What a wonderful event and a great gathering for you all! Of course you had to use it in your books. (My day was boring, but I wore my Liberty t-shirt, the one I bought in Philadelphia down the street from Independence Hall.)

  2. Read most of Cursed Stone by D.N. Leo and went next door for barbequed shrimp (yum).

  3. Our little town of less than 3,000 has lots of events on the 4th. We start off the night before with a street dance. On the 4th, it started off with a parade and went right into music on the courthouse square. There are games for the kiddos where they can win little prizes. Around 2:30 you could go out to the Ozark Folk Center for watermelon and old fashioned games for the kids. That evening there was a firework display at the fair grounds. Just great fun for us on the 4th!
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

  5. The island is absolutely lovely and people enjoy going there. It must be my poor photography skills.

    I fixed the bird reference.

  6. That looks amazing! Unfortunately, our Fourth was washed out by an amazing amount of rain, but we did manage to get a good meal with a whole bbq chicken and homemade coleslaw in first.

  7. Barb, just have to tell you, the photos look so familiar, because this is exactly how I pictured the island from your books! Well done, and thanks for sharing.

    Our farm in rural Kentucky is on a hilltop (I always say most of the farm is vertical), and we had heard that fireworks could be seen from there, but had not ever been able to see them, for various reasons, until this year. We enjoyed seeing no fewer than six different displays this year, finally, with our nearest neighbors and their kids. And then just walked back down the driveway to our bed!

    1. I LOVE the idea of being on a hilltop and seeing fireworks from six different towns. Once I took the ferry from Provincetown to Boston on the evening of the 4th and saw the fireworks all along the Cape and south shore, culminating with Boston.

  8. Looks like a beautiful spot. If it were for eating clams, I’d love to visit.

    I had a relaxing day at home for the 4th after watching Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

    1. They have barbecued chicken or hot dogs for the non-shellfish eaters.

      How was Won’t You Be My Neighbor? I have heard great things.

  9. I drove from Lancaster, PA to Phoenix, AZ to spend a couple of weeks with my daughter. For the 4th, we went to historic Bisbee for three days. We watched the coaster races and the parade in the morning. Then we did a tour of a copper mine. In the evening we went to the fireworks. What a delightful way to spend the holiday in a small town.

  10. I took the Cabbage Island trip a few years ago with a bunch of fellow University of Maine at Augusta
    Alumni & ‘’twas nifty. The only thing. I do on July fourth is walk the block or so to the lake when I hear the fireworks start. I’m not big on celebrating.

  11. Loved seeing your pictures! We were able to watch the town’s fireworks from a friend’s balcony. It was nice not having to fight the crowds.

  12. Oh my how fun. Thank you for putting photos to your wonderful books. And wow those are some big hostas, lol

  13. Pingback: A Fourth of July Weekend in Boothbay Harbor | Maine Crime Writers

  14. Judy Moore
    I really enjoyed the pictures. They were much as I had imagined. The hostas look like shrubs. They really like the location.

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