We started out with a short side trip to the Bangor area to visit the Harley dealership (Doug wanted to show off his power center stand again) and after chatting with the friendly staff there (not sure they knew where BC was) we continued our meandering along the Maine coast. Can’t seem to make a single trip without our compulsory Harley visit.
While traveling through Thomaston, ME a wooden motorcycle in a store
window caught our eye. It turned out to be one of the most amazing places we have ever seen. It is the woodcraft sales outlet for the State of Maine prison. Yes, you read that right: prison. The motorcycle was a full size wooden reproduction of Dave Mann’s paintings (see pic). It had taken them over 1500 hours to carve and used some phenomenal amount of Maine native wood – can’t remember how many board feet but they did tell us that.
This was for display, not for sale. That was OK, but the woodwork on sale there was not to be believed. Beautiful handmade furniture for amazing prices. We talked with one of the guards (prison – remember) and he explained the program: they have 150 inmates involved in the program. They have a large shop and the proceeds go to support the program, which is not funded by the state. They pay a small wage to the inmates who take part. We weren’t able to take any pictures in the shop due to Department of Corrections rules – wouldn’t want to get a picture of one of the working inmates or guards. Some of the prices were – and remember this was all exceptional workmanship – dresser $450, hand carved moose standing about 8 “ $12.00, etc. If we had the truck we would have been taking something home! Meandered along the Maine coast – very touristy the entire way – to Freeport, which seems to be the outlet capital of the state and this smiling face is what we found! Yes, we managed to hook up with Bruce, Holly and Ciaran as they are here on a short vacation from Bermuda.
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