Get Out of Town: Weekend Getaways Just Outside Rhode Island
If, like us, you're in need of a little weekend R and R this fall, we have some perfect close-by solutions.
Family Getaway
Spruce Point Inn
Boothbay Harbor, Maine
The Spruce Point Inn is surrounded by fifty-seven acres of waterfront. Courtesy of Spruce Point Inn.
Imagine your children unplugged, Minecraft replaced by stargazing and s’mores. That’s the agenda at Spruce Point Inn, which harkens to a more Luddite era. Perched on a peninsula, the resort was built in the late 1890s as a hunting and fishing lodge for “rusticators” fleeing the city summer heat. The sepia of good times in a dreamy setting is chronicled with maps and historical photos punctuating the walls.
The result is classic Maine. A cathedral of spruce trees, fifty-seven waterfront acres and Adirondack chairs on the front porch invite guests to bask in muted Midcoastal light. Ted and Robert Kennedy were regular visitors, and more than 25 percent of guests are returning ones. Several of the (updated) original 1930s cottages remain — some with rolled stone fireplaces and all with gas stoves — along with townhomes, modern lodge rooms and inn guest rooms. The inn also hosts an artist-in-residence series of four-day workshops hosted by painters, writers, photographers and other creatives.
The Spruce Point Inn’s cottages are perfect for families traveling together on an extended stay. Courtesy of Spruce Point Inn.
Conde Nast Traveler hailed the inn as the Best Resort for Family Reunions. The original recreation hall, where staff once performed for guests, still stands. With its arcade games and ping pong, the hall is an evening or rainy-day retreat since the inn’s fifty-seven acres offer everything from tennis courts to lawn games such as bocce, shuffleboard, croquet, horseshoes, volleyball, lawn dominoes and a life-size chess board. That is, if you can lure the kiddos from the kayaks and paddleboards, fishing for mackerel from the dock, or heated or oceanside saltwater pools; a kids’ camp also operates in the summer months. The Sarah Mead charter boat pulls lobster traps and the inn’s motor launch takes guests to nearby Burnt Island lighthouse, and can also create custom lobster or clam bakes.
Fresh Maine lobster from the Salty Stag at the Spruce Point Inn. Courtesy of Spruce Point Inn.
Guests can be ferried to town in a twenty-six-foot launch or a more traditional shuttle van. Kids will also enjoy Boothbay’s Railway Village and Auto Museum, which offers rides aboard a restored steam train. Nearby is the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens with its famous children’s garden and (depending on seasonal exhibits) butterfly house, fairy garden, puppet theater, caterpillar lab and storytelling. Plus, there is no dearth of autumn festivals in Boothbay, including a fall foliage fest over Columbus Day weekend. If the kids are still hangry, they may have to settle for lobster mac n’ cheese.
88 Grandview Ave., 800-553-0289, sprucepointinn.com. Fall room rates start at $245 per night. Note: For now, the resort is open mid-May through mid-October.
