Sylvia's Journal

Two of the five remaining days we are spending further north. We drove to Trention (ME) and found a no frills motel. We got the room right next to the Coca Cola machine, as Axel feared, across from the Trenton airport and right on the main thoroughfare that leads to Mt Desert Island, just outside Bar Harbor’s pricey reach.

We are going to visit the author of The House at Lobster Cove. The book describes the man, George Nixon Black, and the house (‘Kragsyde’) he built across our cove. The house was demolished in 1929. It is a place of some importance to us because it is where Axel’s grandparents met. He was the gardener and she was the maid.

We are spending the night here in Trenton so that we can catch the early morning ferry from Bass Harbor to Swan’s Island. It is the only way to reach the island. It took us more than three hours (slow lane) to get to Trenton. The ferry leaves at 9AM, hence the need for a night’s lodging a little closer.

The author and her husband have built a replica of the house, using the original plans. They did this over a period of 20 years, stone by stone, with their own hands, on Swan’s island. And so we will see what the place where Axel’s grandparents met looked like.