To me, there are two kinds of travel: There’s escape travel, and there’s reality travel. I want to go home a little bit different, a little less afraid, a little more thankful, a little better citizen of the planet.
-Rick Steves
Author of Europe Through the Back Door
Photo: Devin Oktar Yalkin for The New York Times
After beating cancer, Rick Steves has a new take on travel. This quote articulates perfectly what we strive to provide to our visitors at the Desert of Maine.
Raise the bar in travel
Future Forward
The Desert is a visible reminder of the complex choices that people faced in the past, not unlike some of the challenges that face us today. European-style farming had been stripping top soil in New England since the early days of colonization. And while it may seem plausible that people “didn’t know any better” when the Tuttles farmed here in the 1800s, in fact farmers were well aware that their fields would “run out” if they continued to remove crops year after year and “put nothing back.” So why did they continue a way of life that jeopardized the health of the land? Can we not ask ourselves that very question?
After beating cancer, Rick Steves has a new take on travel. This quote articulates perfectly what we strive to provide to our visitors at the Desert of Maine.
Raise the bar in travel
Raise the bar in travel
To me, there are two kinds of travel: There’s escape travel, and there’s reality travel. I want to go home a little bit different, a little less afraid, a little more thankful, a little better citizen of the planet.
-Rick Steves
Author of Europe Through the Back Door
Photo: Devin Oktar Yalkin for The New York Times
Ecology, Geology and History
When you visit the Desert, you'll experience ecological wonders, uncover geological secrets, and learn a little-known history about this corner of Maine. The Desert of Maine landscape is vibrating with life and stories that span thousands of years. The Desert tells the story of the slow motion ebbs and flows of geological time that take place on a grand, planetary scale. It tells the story of human folly, but within the context of the social norms and ancestral practices that are handed down to any individual group of people. It tells the story of a local man who saw opportunity in what for others was tragedy and loss. It tells a story of people who spun meaning and a livelihood out of a patch of land that was otherwise irredeemable. It tells a story of the triumph of creativity. We want to help continue the story of this place in a way that is healing and enlivening for the people who come to enjoy the Desert’s beauty and wisdom.
Future Forward
The Desert is a crucial site of Freeport's agricultural history that nurtured close-knit communities that have much to teach us. On the other hand, the Desert is also a visible reminder of economic decline and harmful disturbance to the land. CAE is committed to telling the stories of the past with complexity as Freeport builds a future on the cutting edge of agricultural innovation in soil regeneration and sustainable farming as part of a nature-centric future. We've cultivated partnerships with similarly mission-driven groups and organizations all across New England.
