MONDAY
4 p.m.

“Google Maps can’t be right,” I think, as it guides me along twisty residential streets in York, but as always, it is. As I navigate the turns, I keep getting tantalizing glimpses of the ocean but can’t focus on it until I pull in to my destination in Cape Neddick: the Viewpoint Hotel. I’m here to check out its almost-completed sister project, the Nevada, but since its rooms aren’t quite ready for visitors, I’ll be staying at the Viewpoint. It doesn’t disappoint: my room, in the new shoreside extension of the hotel (see Design Wire, May 2024), has an amazing view of Nubble Light. It also has a glass-enclosed bathroom, a fabulously comfortable bed, and poured concrete floors that are cool underfoot. I enjoy my complimentary glass of prosecco on the private deck before strolling down to the light itself, past immaculately kept cottages with names like “Shore Bet” and a roadside ice cream spot called Dunne’s that I mentally bookmark for later.

7 p.m.

My husband drives down from Portland to meet me for dinner at A Little Auk, the outdoor restaurant at the hotel. The kitchen is housed in an Airstream trailer; you’d never guess that such a variety of food could come out of such a small space. We sit under an open tent as we enjoy their cocktail offerings (I opt for the spicy peach margarita), vegan onion dip, and lamb sliders. After dinner, we stroll across the road to Dunne’s, where I am excited to see my old summer standby, Grape-Nuts ice cream. It’s creamy and delicious—just what was needed to round out our meal.

9 p.m.

Determined not to have to keep one eye on my phone while driving tomorrow, I check out a map of the area and discover that York is composed of distinct sections: there’s Cape Neddick, where I am, but also York Beach, York Heights, and York Village. I start to map out plans to see as many of the neighborhoods as I can the next day.

TUESDAY
8 a.m.

After an initial cup of coffee in my hotel room, I take a stroll along nearby Long Sands Beach, where I mingle with dog walkers and surfers emerging from the water. In search of more caffeine and breakfast, I head toward Route 1 and the Stonewall Kitchen Company Store. I enjoy a strong latte and an avocado toast on the cafe’s patio before heading back into the shop to buy some jam to bring home. (I can’t resist throwing in a jar of the sriracha aioli they used on my toast, too.) I also check out the new Stonewall Home Company Store, which carries beautiful table linens, sweet-smelling candles, and nautical-themed pillows.

My next stop is Atlantic Design Center, a bit up Route 1. There, I wander from showroom to showroom, dreaming of finally renovating our kitchen back home. There’s lots to see, but I am especially drawn to a display of drawer pulls with everything from sea stars to pineapples.

Continuing up Route 1, I stop in at York Antiques Gallery. Housed in a big red barn, it boasts five floors of antiques from multiple dealers. I could spend the entire day here, lost among the nineteenth-century cake molds and the early-twentieth-century Indonesian textiles, but after buying a simple bead necklace, I move on: I’m meeting Joe Lipton, owner of the Viewpoint and the Nevada, at the Nevada on Long Sands Beach.

11 a.m.

Long Sands Beach is busier than when I left it earlier in the day; sun worshippers and families with small children have replaced the surfers and dog walkers. I find Lipton surrounded by a crowd of workers. He explains that the Nevada was one of Maine’s very first motels; a returning World War II veteran, having seen his sister’s new “motor hotel” in Florida, built the distinctive U-shaped building in the early 1950s, bringing the motel concept to southern Maine. (He named it after the USS Nevada, the ship he had served on during the war.) The motel stayed in his family until Lipton and his wife and business partner, Michelle Friar, bought it recently.

Lipton plans to honor the legacy of the original motel while creating a twenty-first-century luxury experience; many rooms at the Nevada will have private deck spaces, and all will catch cooling sea breezes from the ocean across the street. As we walk around the building, Lipton points out the artwork he has commissioned from local artists, as well as the carpets and retro light fixtures Friar has picked out; no detail has escaped their notice. They also plan to include a tiki bar with a comprehensive taco menu, and having tasted their cocktails, I know I will be back for an umbrella drink as soon as they open.

noon

Because he’s clearly a local expert, I ask Lipton where I should go for lunch, and he urges me to head down to York Village to try the Deck at Dockside. Perched above a busy marina, I enjoy a Caesar salad, some excellent fries, and a cool beverage while watching boats putter around York Harbor. Lipton was right.

1 p.m.

I head next to Sara Fitz, nearby in York Heights. I profiled it a couple of years ago in our Shop Talk column, and I’m excited to see what’s new since my last visit. Sara Fitzgerald O’Brien greets me and shows off some of her latest prints and stationery; I’m also drawn to her new line of soft cotton voile pajamas that lines one of the walls.

2 p.m.

Time for some history! The Old York Historical Society has a small complex of museum buildings clustered in the village, providing a respite from the warm day outside. In the Museum Center I learn more about the first European settlers in what was then the northern part of Massachusetts while admiring the furniture, paintings, and textiles they left behind. (The elaborately embroidered four-poster bed hangings are my favorite.) Across the road and up the hill at the Old Gaol, the docent gives me such a thorough and vivid overview of crime and punishment in Colonial days that I feel grateful to emerge a free woman out into the afternoon sunshine.

4 p.m.

I don’t want to ignore Short Sands Beach in favor of its longer sibling, so I drive there next. This York beach has all the elements of the true beach towns of my childhood: a playground by the shore, plenty of souvenir shops, and (most important) several candy shops making and selling sweet treats. Unable to resist, I duck in to the most storied: the Goldenrod, which has been in the same spot for nearly a hundred years. Although I am tempted by the caramel corn being made right in front of me and several hypnotized children, I choose another oceanside treat: a little homemade peanut butter fudge. It gives me the strength to return to the Viewpoint and get changed for dinner.

6 p.m.

My husband drives down from Portland again to join me, and we head to Stones Throw, another Lipton and Friar venture. It’s also on Long Sands Beach (when the Nevada opens, it will be, indeed, a stone’s throw away), and we enjoy the cool sea air on the terrace. The menu is full of inventive vegetarian and vegan dishes as well as seafood favorites, and we have a hard time making our selections, but end up especially liking my chickpea and sweet potato burger.

8 p.m.

In lieu of dessert, we decide to get two cocktails to go—Stones Throw packs them in perfect little sealed cans. We bring them back to the Viewpoint, where we sit on our terrace, savoring our beverages while gazing out at the moon rising over Nubble Light; if it weren’t for the occasional mosquito biting us, it would be too perfect a scene.

WEDNESDAY
8 a.m.

With our time in York coming to a close, we have one last destination to check off our list. York’s famed Wiggly Bridge crosses over a bit of water in York Harbor; as promised, the tiny suspension bridge does indeed wiggle as we make our way across it for a brief walk through shady Steedman Woods. Then we head back north, promising ourselves we’ll be back soon for more York adventures and a tiki drink or two.