Waldoboro

Dating from 1936, the once-closed Waldo Theatre has arisen from Maine’s List of Most Endangered Historic Places to again assume a leading community role. Photo by Mimi Steadman

Just up the hill from the Medomak River, the Waldo Theatre’s lights glowed warmly through wide-open doors. On a soft evening last June, we joined a steady flow of guests arriving for the first play produced in eight years at this white-columned landmark in the heart of Waldoboro village. It was a time for celebration: Thanks to impressive fundraising and a cadre of volunteers, the 86-year-old theater was again open after a near-decade-long closure.

Residents hope the revitalized theater will help raise awareness that there are many reasons beyond the iconic Moody’s Diner to visit this historic town at the head of Muscongus Bay. A short detour off Route 1 leads to a village of Victorian and Greek Revival structures, Friendship Street’s short lineup of storefronts, and scenic byways tracing the southern shoreline and looping north into gentle farmland. Tucked along those back roads are the homes of enterprising artists, artisans, farmers, and small business owners.

Among them is Sara McNeil, who with her husband, John, moved here in 2018 to open the warm and welcoming Odd Alewives Farm Brewery. “Waldoboro is a little bit off the radar,” McNeil told me. “People are finding it quietly. New locals are moving here because you can live affordably. That allows people to pursue their projects.” Customers often ask McNeil about the town. “I profess my love for Waldoboro,” she said. “About a dozen of them have come back to tell me they’ve bought homes here.”

Caterer Laura Cabot first established her business in Waldoboro four decades ago and has recently opened a downtown space for pop-up dinners and private events. “There’s a lot to love here,” she said. “It’s full of beautiful, sleepy little hollows. There’s all sorts of opportunity for success with a business or to have a nice retirement.”

Waldoboro’s makers can take inspiration from a long heritage of exceptional local craftsmanship. Settled in 1748 by more than 1,000 German immigrants recruited by land proprietor Samuel Waldo, the community developed a reputation in the late 1800s and early 1900s for fine shipbuilding, and lays claim to having built the first five-masted schooner, the Governor Ames. In addition, antique Waldoboro hooked rugs, known for distinctive sculptural effects, are prized by collectors.

Old headstones behind the German Protestant Church chronicle Waldoboro’s earliest days. Photo by Mimi Steadman

Waldoboro’s hollows and byways called us back on a warm autumn day. Cruising down to the town’s southern tip, we passed restored capes and farmhouses on Dutch Neck, and simple homes of lobstering families on neighboring Gross Neck. Heading up Route 32, we pulled through stone pillars at the German Protestant Church, an imposing white-clapboard building. Erected in 1772, it was moved across the ice to its current location in 1794. Wandering among moldering headstones in the large graveyard, I searched unsuccessfully for a stone I’d read about that recounts the town’s settlement “...by Germans who emigrated to this place with the promise and expectation of finding a prosperous city, instead of which they found nothing but wilderness.” We studied many markers, which date as far back as 1797, and paused quietly at one that listed a family’s loss of six children, all under the age of four.

Long a sought-out destination, Morse’s Sauerkraut’s shelves and cases overflow with an international array of goodies. Photo by Mimi Steadman

Then it was on to East Forty Farm, where we bought Lakin’s Gorges cheeses from a help-yourself fridge. Some 10 miles away at the northern edge of town, we stopped for treats at Morse’s Sauerkraut, long known for house-made kraut and an international array of cured meats, cheeses, and specialty groceries. Jars of fresh, pale-yellow sauerkraut and a case of sausages reminded me of those intrepid German settlers of yore. How fitting it is that even though nearly three centuries have passed since their arrival, artisanal endeavors and the foods of their home country are both still celebrated here in Waldoboro. 

Contributing Editor Mimi Bigelow Steadman lives on the Damariscotta River in Edgecomb.