3 Best Sights in Biddeford, The Southern Coast

Ten miles east of Biddeford lies Ocean Park, a vacation community founded in 1881 by Free Will Baptist leaders as a summer assembly with both religious and educational purposes, following the example of Chautauqua, New York. The 1881 Temple, in an unusual octagon shape, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Today the community hosts an impressive variety of cultural events, from concerts to sand-sculpture contests. There's even a public shuffleboard area for vacationers not interested in the neon carnival attractions in Old Orchard Beach just up the road. Get an old-fashioned raspberry-lime rickey at the Ocean Park Soda Fountain, at Furber Park.

There's a reason why all the good craft cocktail bars in Maine stock Bimini Gin, the flagship spirit of this distillery, located in a 150-year-old textile mill on the Saco River. Learn more about the best small-batch gin in the Pine Tree State, and be sure to take a peek at the production area: the distillery uses steam to power its modern steel-and-copper still. Finish up in the well-designed bar for a gin tasting or cocktail and snacks, or pick up a bottle of house-made spirits to go.

The 42-foot stone lighthouse and attached two-story keeper’s house are on the 32-acre, uninhabited Wood Island off the coast of Biddeford. The island is closed to the public except for two-hour guided tours hosted by Friends of Wood Island Lighthouse. Tours are offered several times a week in July and August and on Maine Lighthouse Day in September, and reservations can be made starting in June. Boats leave from Vine’s Boat Landing in Biddeford Pool. Note that people wearing flip-flops will not be allowed to board.