About 45 minutes west of Portland, close to the New Hampshire line, sits Limerick — a farming town of roughly 3,400 people that dates back to the late 1700s. It's the kind of place where you can spend a morning browsing chocolate displayed on library-style bookshelves, an afternoon on the water, and the evening eating lobster rolls with your feet pointed at a lake.
Start on Main Street, part of the Limerick Upper Village Historic District, where colonial and Cape Cod-era homes line up beside small independent stores. Wright Chocolate House is the standout: handmade chocolates — some with liqueur, some with nuts — arranged among old hardcovers on dark wooden shelves. Note that the owner closes the shop for the summer. Elsewhere in town, Home Sweet Home sells rustic, country-style furniture and decor from a gabled cottage of a building, and Vickie's Olde School Gift Shoppe on Alderwood Farm offers candles, books, knitwear, jam and fresh beef. Both post hours on Facebook. For produce, Libby's U-Pick Fruits is a family-run favourite for seasonal apples and cherries.
Lodging options are thin on the ground — the Jeremiah Mason House Bed and Breakfast, a 19th-century brick house on Main Street, is the town's only hotel — so many visitors opt for a lakeside rental instead. Airbnbs on the water often come with private docks, beaches and gear.
The water in question is Sokokis Lake, a 192-acre man-made lake just over a mile north of Main Street. It's a proper recreation spot: boating, kayaking, tubing, water skiing and swimming (the beach at Scout Island is the go-to, with summer highs in the 70s or low 80s Fahrenheit). Anglers report good largemouth bass fishing, and ice fishing continues in winter. Boaters are asked to travel counter-clockwise, and there's a public ramp. For a view, Sokokis Lookout on Route 5 looks over the lake — especially good during fall foliage — and Sokokis Seafood Shack & Ice Cream serves fried shrimp, scallops and lobster rolls at picnic tables overlooking the water from roughly May through October.
Limerick works best as part of a weekend. Portland is under an hour east and ranks among the best food cities in the US, with a walkable old port, quirky shops and serious seafood — so pair the two: quiet lake time in Limerick, restaurant nights in Portland. If you want more lake action, Sebago Lake, New England's deepest, is nearby with beaches and camping.
This one's for travellers who like their New England low-key: small-town shopping, farm stands, a swimmable lake and foliage views, without the crowds of the coast.
