Estes Lobster House

Maine’s Mid Coast hides some of its best secrets on the “reaches”: long, narrow peninsulas that stretch like fingers into the sea. The sleepy Harpswell peninsula is just a half-hour’s detour off I-295, yet it could be 200 miles away. Morse Lobster is surrounded by water—Harpswell Sound and Potts Harbor—and has outdoor seating and a fire pit. The tables are occupied by families of Harpswellers, who know their way around a crustacean: watch that 10-year-old rip open a claw bare-handed. In the evenings, torches are lit and fading sunlight shimmers across Harpswell Sound.