The KOHLS BEACH COTTAGE ON MARKEY'S BEACH is a simple, open concept, rectangular structure at the ocean's edge, well away from anyone else. The sand beach, which gets few visitors during the week, is 200 steps away down a woodsy path. There are three bedrooms--two with twin beds, one w/queen, and two futon couches. Picture windows along the length of the house keep the ocean ever-present. Lobster boats pull buoys outside the window. The sunrise and stars are clear and unobstructed. There's a private deck on one side and a grassy yard on the other. Washer, dryer, two showers (indoor and outdoor). Kitchen with plenty of cooking gear, four burner stove, oven. Good furnace. Decent WiFi. Dogs/cats welcome.
GETTING TO THE ISLAND: By private boat (1 hour trip), contact Matinicus Excursions, and by plane (12 minute trip) contact Penobscot Island Air. Guests should reserve travel in advance and check current fees.
Matinicus Island, the most remote island in Penobscot Bay is rarely visited by tourists, and is considered a working island, not a tourist island, but this beach camp, right on the ocean’s edge, has for 40 years been available for individuals and families seeking a place off-the-beaten-track who understand that in trade for the occasional shortage and uncertain timetables that island living imposes they will experience remote solitude, secluded sand beaches and an intimate look at the Atlantic ocean.
If you are considering Matinicus Island, you are already familiar with key Matinicus internet bullet points:
* Matinicus is the most seaward remote island community in Maine,
* Matinicus has a reputation, possibly mixing truth and fiction, as a pirate island with a smuggling history
* Matinicus has an undertone of past violence (that does NOT involve visitors) in defense of lobstering territory
* Matinicus is remote and you can’t always get what you want when you want it out there
* Matinicus feels special to the visitor and resident, and unlike almost anyplace except Matinicus.
You, as a visitor, will become part of that specialness, part of a type of traveller who can, as islanders say, 'make it at Matinicus'.
Beach camps are a dying housing type, but we attempt to keep the tradition: location at the edge of the beach and directly on the ocean, open kitchen shelving, basic indoor bathroom but the outdoor shower is popular, too. The three bedrooms are furnished with twin beds (2 rooms) and a queen bed (1 room), and futonr in the open living area that can expand sleeping capacity to if you bring children. GUESTS BRING SHEETS AND TOWELS.
The WORST THINGS about our offering has to do with the remote island location. We think the biggest problem a guest may face are:
The pre-planning, packing, and transport of stuff, given no store on island
If something important breaks or requires service attention during your stay, it may not get attended immediately due to parts delivery offshore via plane.
Having a background in camping or Scouting is helpful for visitors.
Everything that comes out to the island has to go off, but Island Recycling can take items Friday at 3 or Saturday at 10. If you can't make those times, please remove recycling, there's no place to let it collect.
The island has excellent, but highly limited service staff, so patience, improvisation, or do-it-yourself may be needed for a repair during busy season July 4- late August.
On December 28, 2021, we received a request via a website, and here’s what the guest wrote—--note the downsides she mentions!!!!
“We spent the same week at your cottage last summer.. great week! and though I found the travel piece and pack/food/STUFF a challenge.. I still can't see much that beats that view and sweet proximity to Markey Beach for the grands. We will be the same number this year with adult kids for a couple of nights on either end of the week. Kids are so excited we have decided to go back! Bring on summer!”
Matinicus, with rare sand beaches, and its remaining beach camps has been favorably compared to Nantucket Island in the 1950’s, that quiet period at Nantucket long before the billionaires pushed out the millionaires. Kohls is not precisely rustic, as the interior finish approaches, but does not quite achieve, a suburban feeling. The closeness to the ocean creates some challenges for maintenance: metal rusts quickly, for example.
Some people are naturally drawn to islands, and they bother with them because it removes you from the way that the automobile and roads and commerce define physical space and your agenda. While Matinicus has a few cars and some roads, many of which are more jeep trails than roads, it's a walking island, mainly. There are many remote beaches only accessible by foot, and rarely visited, unless you go see and comb the beaches there. Most people at Matinicus work harvesting lobster, a hard labor which begins before dawn, so that by 5:00 p.m. the island quiets down, and by dark, the day has ended. There is something comforting about being set up with your family group next to the ocean as this occurs, and the sense of closeness, remove, and privacy is something that you can't quite achieve on the mainland. Matinicus' sand beaches are nearly unique in rocky Maine, and the camp location right on the ocean is prime, the real essence of the experience, and why it can be successful, is the pleasure of being alone with your group with the vast ocean in front of you and little to interfere with your family plans. So visitors get to spend more and better time together.
We've rented since 1983, to probably 300++ guests/families, via our own website matinicusisland and have been with Homeaway since 2010 but Matinicus isn't 'home-away-from-home', it's different from home. We'd like potential guests to think less in terms of 'amenities' and more in terms of what Matinicus does NOT offer, as it is the absence of commercial distractions (and many conventional amenities) that makes a visit to the island memorable. I
A beach camp: for one thing, the furniture is mis-matched, comfy, and old-fashioned. If you bring a pet, you won’t likely harm anything in the house. The well water is heavily filtered, but contains an iron content that will stain white laundry, so don’t bring white laundry or linens to wash in the washing machine provided, please bring colors. The kitchen sink is an antique large single bowl cast iron farmhouse sink. Indeed, some of the metal on the base of floor lamps reveal oxidation from the salt air, which is no surprise given the beating the camp can receive in a winter storm, not an issue during the summer season. The mattresses including the queen-size are mostly dated post-2000.
A FEW CAVEATS: The well water sometimes has iron that will stain white clothing in the washing machine. Kohls has a dryer, both camps have washing machines. Buoys guests have collected hang in the rafters. The floor is uneven in places. There is no store on the island. Cell phones don’t work as well as on the mainland until you wander nearer the beach, but there’s WI-FI internet. The outdoor lighting is poor, but it’s easy to see the Milky Way. Lobster is the most fresh quality. Young men who work on the boats have been known to ride ATV’s on the wide sand on the beach, which is against Maine law. Other Maine laws are broken at various times around the island. Island residents mostly like it this way. You are on your own at Matinicus, and this is an attraction for many. However, in a medical emergency, the flying service can have you at a hospital quickly.
The concept is “housekeeping cottage” or as the British say, “self-catering” and you are on your own and may find you have to improvise. Self-reliance is essential if your trip to the island is to be successful.
The simplicity of the beach camp concept is that you can put a broom to the place and in quick order whatever mess the kids or the dogs made will be remedied. Guests are asked to remove/recycle their trash and leave the place 'Broom Clean' as turnovers on Saturdays are tightly scheduled, and in-between cleaning service can't be 100% guaranteed.
You have to do some menu planning as there is no store, just a two day a week outdoor Church market with some food, and lobster available. This is how Matinicus Islanders live: never having to drive to the super market or hassle the parking, but having selection available anyway.
