Lobster Pounds
As you drive toward Bar Harbor from Ellsworth, the road is lined with little shacks and stores bearing the magic word LOBSTERS.

Outside each is a strange arrangement of backyard barbecues in a row, with large pots or drums on them and stovepipes (in some cases very rickety ones) shooting up. These contraptions are used to prepare a traditional lobster clambake.

The drums or kettles are filled with lobsters, clams, corn on the cob, and seaweed, and then salt water is poured in, the fire is started, and the whole business is cooked up and served to the droves of motorists.

Some places have tables where you can sit to consume your feast, at others you take the goodies home with you, but in any case this is the way to get the most seafood for your dollar, and the eating couldn't be better!

This is the real Maine experience, and shouldn't be missed.

How does one pick the right place to stop? Every single one seems to have a signboard out front giving the price-per-pound of lobster, and you can go by this to some degree.

But the price and poundage depend on how the lobster is stored: The best places will store the live lobsters on ice, and not in seawater, as the seawater can add a great deal of weight to the lobster when it's put on the scale. In any case, make sure the lobster is alive, not dead and limp, when you buy it.

---

What to See & Do Acadia National Park Mount Desert Island Bar Harbor Transportation Bar Harbor Homepage