4 Best Sights in Milbridge Area, Way Down East

At this hillside winery outside Cherryfield along Black Woods Scenic Byway (Route 182), wines are made with local berries as well as grapes from beyond Maine, and artisanal methods are part of the winemaking process. The tasting room is in a restored barn with purple doors. Names of vintages like Cherryfield Blues and King Tunk play on local place names. Check the website for the winery's many special events and happenings.

The facade of this museum may lack period charm, but the interior more than makes up for it. Permanent exhibits document maritime industries past and present: shipbuilding, sardine canning, weir fishing, and lobstering. Each year there is a new exhibit, as well as a gallery that showcases local artists. On the second Tuesday of the month at 7 pm in-season, talks are held; check the website for details.

The refuge's 2,178-acre Petit Manan Point Division is a sanctuary of fields, forests, and rocky shorefront at the tip of a peninsula. In August, it's a popular spot for hand-picking wild blueberries. Whatever the time of year, you can explore here on two trails. Mostly a loop, the 1.7-mile Hollingsworth Trail has a gorgeous shore stretch on Pigeon Hill Bay where it's easy to head off path to clamor on the large granite ledges. Petit Manan Lighthouse—Maine’s second tallest, on one of five lighthouse islands belonging to the refuge—towers in the distance beyond a wide cove. The 2.2-mile Birch Point Trail leads to salt marshes and mudflats on Dyer Bay, with side trails to a cove and rocky beach.

At 317 feet, Pigeon Hill is the highest coastal point in Washington County, and it doesn't disappoint, rewarding hikers with panoramic views that stretch to Schoodic Peninsula, where Acadia National Park's mainland district is located; Petit Manan Lighthouse off the end of the narrow peninsula where this land rises; and island-splattered waters farther Down East. Hike up to the summit on the short historic trail, with some steep sections, that locals have used for generations. There are also longer, easier routes on the interconnected trail system, which was created when this became a Downeast Coastal Conservancy preserve. One trail traverses an old silver mine and another passes by a glacial erratic boulder. The 185-acre preserve’s loop trail to Pigeon Hill Bay begins across the road from the parking area.