Rock Gardens Inn Blog

Our 100th Closing!

With the onset of fall, Rock Gardens Inn's 100th year has come to a close.  While we are sad to see everyone go (the season went by far too quickly), we have many wonderful memories to carry us through until next year.  It was very exciting seeing so many returning guests, catching up, and participating in RGI traditions both old and new.  Old traditions such as cookouts, cocktail parties, and contra dances, and new traditions such as campfire stories, cookout activities including games and a visiting naturalist, hoola hoop dance, lectures, movies, music in the lobby of the Inn, and bingo, were enjoyed by both guests and staff throughout the summer.  And making these great activities even better was some of the best summer weather we have enjoyed in years!

There is one other component in the making of a amazing summer here at the Inn, and that is the staff.  We had a wonderful staff this summer, both old hands and newcomers, all of whom provided our guests with excellent service.  Not to mention those staff members who pulled double duty and led, or joined in during some of the activities this summer!  As we do every year we held a staff party after closing, and we have included some pictures from it.  We will also be posting a video from a musical interlude during the staff party, so make sure to check our website in the coming weeks!

We hope that you enjoyed our 100th as much as we did.  Now that it's over, we are looking forward to planning a new century on the Maine coast for Rock Gardens Inn.  We hope you'll join us!

Last Cookout of 2011!

This past Friday we held our last cookout of the season!  It was a blustery September day, but we all managed to find sunny spots, tucked away from the wind.  This summer has been especially good for cookouts, with only one cookout being held indoors due to weather.  Some pics from the last cookout below, enjoy!

Ghost Stories!

One of the great traditions of summertime is the campfire.  Atop the rocks leading down to the sea, surrounded by the crash of the waves and the ocean breeze, the fire-pit is ideal for campfires.  Gathered round a fire, outside, in the night we become something more than simply a group of individuals.  The fire draws us in, away from the dark, and we feel simultaneously the safety of the light, and of the group, while also maintaining a corner-of-the-eye awareness of the surrounding shadows.  It's the perfect setting for a round of ghost stories!

This past August that's exactly what happened.  Ellie, Andrew, and a number of our guests gathered around the campfire, armed with sticks and marshmallows...and stories.  Ellie started the night off with a localized variation on "The Return of Hate Evil", an old tale that tells (fictitiously) of the ghost of the original owner of the Inn.  In the story the old ghost was angry and fed of the hate he felt in life.  On nights when there were few guests at the Inn he would appear in parts of the Inn, sometimes in the shadowy corner of a room, sometimes a form half seen from the corner of an eye, footsteps on stairs where no living person walked.  Items would disappear from the Library for months, only to reappear in the exact spot they vanished from.  Guests woke at night to feelings of terror.

Andrew followed with a story about a couple scuba diving off of Popham Beach.  They became separated and, while the woman was on her own, she saw a figure drifting downward through the water.  She swam quickly towards the drowning figure, and as she got closer it became clear it was a young woman sinking down with her back to the diver.  She reached out, turning the woman and flinched backward.  The face of the drowning woman was smooth, empty skin.  As the figure turned it started to fade, disappearing completely as the woman diver watched.  The origin of the ghost is believed to be a young woman who was brutally murdered in the 1800's.  Her blank face is attributed to the removal of her head during the murder. 

Once Ellie and Andrew had told their stories guests began to jump in.  One boy told a story set in the backwoods.  Hikers would hear cries for help coming from the woods off the trail, and would make their way towards the source.  When they got close the cries would cease and they would find a skeleton chained to a tree. 

These and several other stories were shared around the fire, along with the marshmallows.  Everyone enjoyed themselves and, as they left, paid a little more attention to the shadows than they had before.  Below are some pics.  Enjoy!

What is a Vacation?

One topic that we haven't written much about on our blog is one integral to Rock Gardens Inn, and to all inns, hotels, resorts, etc: the nature of vacation.  People take vacations for all sorts of reasons, but most have a single, underlying purpose, rejuvenation.  Rejuvenation of the mind, the body, the spirit, be it through relaxation, exploration, excitement, or rest, most people take vacations to restore something that can become worn or lost during the rest of the year.  Vacation can allow us to strengthen our connections with our families, our partners, even ourselves, in a place free of the major and minor stresses of everyday life.

Rock Gardens strives to be a haven for rejuvenation.  Our cottages allow you to get away, relax, unplug.  Instead of gathering around a TV, gather around the fireplace, instead of being a slave to your cell, relax on a porch, or in the soft grass outside.  While we do offer TV and internet for those who want it, it is something of a communal experience as well, as there is only one TV in the Inn, and internet only in the Main House.  In addition to the experience of getting away, we also offer therapeutic activities such as yoga and massage, as well as fun and excitement via kayaking, swimming, even hoop dancing classes!

With the speed at which our lives move today, and the hectic nature of many jobs, vacation is more important than ever.  Americans currently fall behind France, Russia, the UK, and Japan in vacation days taken.  And given the current economic situation in America, stress and anxiety levels have surged in the last few years.  Rock Gardens Inn offers both an escape, and a panacea.  We offer a vacation a little removed in time from the present, and beautiful, serene location to experience it in.  And we believe that every guest leaves rejuvenated, and reequipped to handle whatever stresses life brings.

 

Traditions

Friday cookouts are an institution here at Rock Gardens Inn. Those of you who have returned over the years may remember that each cookout (once temperature permits) is traditionally followed by the staff, and sometimes brave guests, taking a swim in the ocean.  While we continue to follow that tradition, we seem to have developed a new one, Cornhole.  Cornhole, or corn toss, is a little like a cross between horseshoes and skeeball, and you can find more about it here.  We have included pictures of the swim, and cornhole below.  And as you can see, we occasionally even have a game of badminton. Enjoy!

RGI in Print!

Happy Friday all!  Just a quick update/point of interest.  If you take a look at the May issue of Coastal Living Magazine, specifically pages 65 and 67 you will see a write up and some pictures from Rock Gardens.  Also, one of our guests, a member of the Winget family, can been seen holding up a lobster on page 68.  We thought it was fun to see, and we hope you will too!

Happy Holidays!

It's the holiday season once again, and though the Inn is closed and shuttered, our thoughts often turn to our guests and their families.  For all of us here at Rock Gardens Inn, I would like to wish everyone Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for the New Year!  

I've also included a couple of pictures of the first snow of the year here at the Inn, taken on the winter solstice, that I hope you'll enjoy! We'll be back in 2011 with more wintry photos, and sneak peaks of plans for the 100th!  Until then, be well and take care.

Ona

The Pyramids!

If you have stayed at the Inn then chances are you've seen our Pyramids lawn sculpture, courtesy of Jack Gilman.  Recently he decided they were due for a bit of an update, and we have pictures of the process!  If you join us next year for our 100th you can check out the changes in person, but for now we hope you enjoy the photos!

 

Lobster Bake

Every Friday at Rock Gardens Inn brings the weekly lobster bake.  It has been part of the Inn's history almost since its inception.  It is a great place for guests to gather and meet each other, which they know to do when they hear the clang of the bell (usually rung by someone, or ones, of youthful exuberance).  And it is also, as you can see from the pictures below, a great place for games!  This particular game, we're told, is called cornhole.  As you can see, the weather was perfect for an afternoon of food and games, much as it has been for almost all of the summer.  We hope you enjoy the pictures!

     

On with the Dance!

Here at the Inn we have an ongoing tradition of contradances several times during the summer. Local band T-Acadie calls the dance at the Studio Building and all of our guests are all invited to join in! For those of you who have never experienced one of our contradances, or if you have and are feeling nostalgic, we have posted some pictures below. Feel free to share any memories of contradances past in the commments section. Enjoy!