A KILLER VIEW

When an heiress to the L.L. Bean fortune noticed that a grove of majestic oaks on her coastal Maine property had died, she cast her suspicions on her neighbors uphill, summer residents who wanted a better view of Camden Harbor. The legal fight that ensued became a town drama that roils to this day

- KEZIAH WEIR

KNOX COUNTY. CAMDEN, Maine. In summer, beach roses tumble over dry stone walls and the long lupine spines streak roadsides and garden beds with purple. On certain winter days, when the temperature's right, sea smoke—a vaporous, ghostly fog—rises from the harbor. The craggy face of Mount Battie looms to the north. On the cover of Camden's 2024 annual report, available for passersby at the town office, the town slogan: “Where the mountains meet the sea....”

For visitors, Camden might be a stop along US Route 1, called the Coastal Highway, though it only briefly kisses the water. What the drive on US Route 1 lacks in actual coastline it makes up for in dense stretches of trees, various rock and mineral shops, excellent thrift stores, and the Taste of Maine restaurant—almost impossible to miss, given that the world’s largest inflatable lobster, a 700-pound behemoth named Larry, sprawls across its roof. Once you see Larry, you’re about an hour out.

In Camden you’ll find a town of tidy Colonials and Cape Cods and bungalow cottages with names like “Shamrocks” and “Millstones.” After a fire decimated 40 buildings on the main drag during the shipbuilding boom back in 1892, business owners got together and decided to remake the district in brick, rendering it more fire-resistant and perfectly picturesque. When it came time to choose a filming location for 1957’s Peyton Place, a story of gossip and violence roiling against a backdrop of New England charm, the filmmakers chose Camden. Today, thanks in part to a local ordinance, even the Walgreens sign is quaint, its logo rendered not in the usual oversized red plastic but instead in a tasteful, unassuming gold on black.