Graham Lake Ellsworth Maine (Union, Troy: military, moving to, garage door)

[thedubbers]

We just spent a week up in Maine at my parents camp on the river (Union River Road). After spending the last 6 months in Kuwait where the weather is hot (130 degrees) and then coming from Florida the cool weather last week was not expected but welcomed. We did manage to have a few days of sunny but chilly weather. American Girl- I guess we do live up the Union River in the "willy wags". I had never heard of that before. I have 4 acres on the river (Orrin Road) but do not have a dwelling on it yet. Someday I will put up a home. We love the area and spending time there. My wife and I spent the day in Ellsworth which has a nice small town feel. We did take our boat down the river to the lake and treked around one of the islands, not sure if hit has a name. The water was perfect for swimming and surprisingly warm. We did not realize how many underwater obstacles there are especially on the upper river. Does anyone know of a map that shows the depths of the river and lake. Is the lake deep? I did not notice any boats on it but did see some pontoon boats at several docks, is a pontoon boat the way to go.
Anyway, we love to read the messages everyone writes about Graham Lake, living there and how much you all enjoy it. Someday Ill live there.

[American girl]

The "lake" was formed in 1922 with the construction of a hydro electric dam. The reservoir is shallow - 3 to 15 feet depending on where you are. The river channel runs upwards of 40 feet deep...according to our fish/depth finder. That's why you see so many pontoon boats. There are many, many underground denizens. The land was not cleared before the dam when into operation. Mostly you'll see tree stumps but there are some whopping big rocks to look out for, too. During the first winters after the reservoir was made the locals went out on the ice and cut most of the trees for firewood, leaving stumps that lurk below the surface. You should travel slowly and have a lookout in the front of the boat . This makes for a peaceful, quiet lake experience though as the folks with (loud) big boats don't dare run on Graham Lake.

Weather wise you picked the worst week in the worst summer in recent memory for a trip to the Maine Coast. It poured again yesterday and it was only 55 degrees this morning. But after the temps you describe it must have been refreshing.

[crb01]

This one is for "thedubbers", ( I feel awkward calling someone that)

Is your property on the other side of the power lines ?. Were you up there last week ?. If so, I probably saw you several times as we were up there last week from Monday to Thursday.

[thedubbers]

crb01
Yes, we were up there last week. We are back in Florida now. My parents camp is on the lake side of the power lines and my land is further up the river. I did not see anyone up there except a couple walking with 2 black dogs and two young boys heading out to fish with their fishing poles. We do not mind being called dubbers, its been the name of our boat for years, "just dubbin" . Its a word my brother uses.
Thanks for the info on kids in the area (American Girl) and the lake and its depths. I ran up on a "sand bar" with my small row boat with an outboard motor. The water wasnt 2 feet deep in the middle of the river just above the first island. I have a ski boat but I wouldnt dare put it in there. I will keep it in Flordia. I prefer my row boat or kayak on the river and lake. I just love it there and prefer the quiet and solitude. I guess we did pick a cold week to visit Maine but we enjoyed ourselves anyway.

[American girl]

[quote=thedubbers;4850177]crb01
We do not mind being called dubbers, its been the name of our boat for years, "just dubbin" . Its a word my brother uses.

"Dubbin around" is a common Maine term. Not sure where it comes from. While "dubbin around" can mean anything from not working very hard to just tinkerin' or hanging around, being a "dub" has the less desirable definition of not wanting to work very hard . In any case when your on vacation it's perfectly acceptable to be a dub and to just dub around.

[HWRT24]

Hi, I am jumping on on what appears an old conversation, but I'll tell you what I know about Mariaville and Graham Lake. In 2000, Mariaville had 440 residents, but the population has been growing. Mariaville is located between Bangor and Ellsworth, but closer to Ellsworth. It is about 45 minutes from Bar Harbor when the road to Acadia isn't jammed with tourists.
Graham Lake is a very large, but shallow man-made lake. It is in an area of a number of other lakes with public boat launches, so it would be a good starting off point for boating or kayaking in other lakes as well. We bought land (approx. 4 acres) in 2004 with 300 feet of shoreline. It was a fairly good value at that time. We have not had the time or money to do anything with our property. We first viewed our property on Memorial Day Weekend in 2004, and there was water at the shore. We now usually go to check out our property on a day in late August, and the for the last several years, the water level has been so low that we could not possibly get into the water from our shoreline. And, when we tried to walk into the mud, it was almost scary, since my daughter and I were sinking into the mud. Luckily our neighbor let us walk out from their pebbly shoreline. That said, where we are on the lake is very quiet, and you can barely see any homes. The scenery and the coloration of the foliage is beautiful and striking. I did read that the power company lease expires in 2018. I don't know what that will mean for the water level, but hopefully it will be a good thing.
So far all I have done is taken a quick swim from my neighbor's land and taken pictures of the driftwood on the shore that is very prominent when the water level is down. Still, it is a beautiful place, and it seems remote even though Ellsworth's bustle is just 20 minutes away. The water seemed very clean, refreshing and warm. I don't recall if it was clear, but clarity is often more characteristic of deeper bodies of water. What appeals to me is the lack of development of camps in our area. Unfortunately camps right on the water can be a cause for concern if the "septic systems" are old and archaic. Plus, some of us don't want to swim around boat docks and worry about gasoline, diesel and bilge flowing into the water.
We will see what the future brings. For now we are hanging on to our land and not building, since we have a camp right on the water on Unity Pond in Burnham. Unity Pond (aka Lake Winnecook) is not a pristine, clear lake and it has a history of "abuse", but we have a very quiet and picturesque lot close to a point and our camp is right at the water's edge.

[American girl]

Finally, after nearly a month, I saw stars in the sky yesterday morning during my 4 a.m. puppy pee trip outside. And, again this morning! What a welcome sight after days on end of fog, clouds and more fog obscuring the night sky. Yesterday afternoon we enjoyed our first boat ride in as many weeks. A lovely meandering ride with a stop on an uninhabited beach where the dogs swam and scouted for wild animal smells. A glorious day yesterday and today with several more predicted. It's too late for the tomato plants but what the heck, we have a good farmer's market here in town.

The upside is that the lake is still pretty full. We've only had to move the dock out once. Last year we had to pull the boat in the third week of August. With luck we'll get some good, late summer weather with water enough to play in.

[HWRT24]

Hi, you write you wonderful blogs about Graham Lake.
We are hoping to be up there for a day the last week of August, and I am hoping that the water level will be high for a change. It is a beautiful, pleaceful area. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it stays that way.
Interestingly enough - our road - School House Road in Mariaville - is not yet on Google Earth. School House (or Schoolhouse?) Road in Ellsworth pops up as the choice, but it is not the correct location. Our land is located near the elementary school in Otis.

[hermis]

Hello thedubbers, Good to read from newcomers to the forum. I love reading what everyone has to say.
The only map I have seen with depths, is in a book that contains depths for every lake in Maine, and it is very vague.
Here is a website that will give you maps of graham lake before it was a lake, in 1911, Then 1942 and 1957.
Historic USGS Maps of New England & New York
The maps do not show depths, but all three maps show the location of the original river.
My Husband and I have only owned on the lake for 3 years now, but have made good friends with some of the year rounders and they are showing us the "path between the stumps". Whenever we go out with them, we have not hit any. We are considering this winter, going out on snowmobiles or atv's when the lake is frozen good and solid, and maybe spraypainting, or marking with some type of bouys, the channel behind hardwood hill, as some of the stumps along the channel are taller than the others that we like to call the "mine field". I don't know if there are any legalities involved with doing something like that, but I would think that other boaters would like to know where to go to save their props. How do you all feel about marking the channel?
We spent a week in July on the lake for vacation and are there most weekends. Some of our favorite times are going with the kids, all of our friends and their boats (yes, pontoon) and jet ski's just south of eagle Island for a redneck-yacht club. We all tie together, just hang out, tube, eat, drink and just relax. During the week, we did not see any other boats on the lake, and on the weekends we see very few. We love how quite Graham lake is. We like south of Eagle Island as it seems to be free of stumps that we have seen so far.
We plan on moving to graham lake permanantly within the next 5 years, When our daughters are old enough to be doing their own thing.
I love the dog stories that are on this forum too. We have a 110 lb German Sheperd that is pretty comical. If any of you venture to the west side of Hardwood hill, you have probably seen him fetching his ball in the water or just taking a swim. He loves it at the lake also.
I hope to meet some of you someday!!

Originally Posted by thedubbers

We just spent a week up in Maine at my parents camp on the river (Union River Road). After spending the last 6 months in Kuwait where the weather is hot (130 degrees) and then coming from Florida the cool weather last week was not expected but welcomed. We did manage to have a few days of sunny but chilly weather. American Girl- I guess we do live up the Union River in the "willy wags". I had never heard of that before. I have 4 acres on the river (Orrin Road) but do not have a dwelling on it yet. Someday I will put up a home. We love the area and spending time there. My wife and I spent the day in Ellsworth which has a nice small town feel. We did take our boat down the river to the lake and treked around one of the islands, not sure if hit has a name. The water was perfect for swimming and surprisingly warm. We did not realize how many underwater obstacles there are especially on the upper river. Does anyone know of a map that shows the depths of the river and lake. Is the lake deep? I did not notice any boats on it but did see some pontoon boats at several docks, is a pontoon boat the way to go.
Anyway, we love to read the messages everyone writes about Graham Lake, living there and how much you all enjoy it. Someday Ill live there.

[American girl]

When we bought our place there was a photo copy of a map that I think came from a Maine State fishing map of some kind. You can see from the numbers where the channel runs. If I can figure out how I'll scan it and post it here.

We don't go up around Hardwood much because it's pretty stumpy up there. We're way down near Kidspeace and it's pretty clear going - stump and rock wise.

Be careful out on the ice in the winter. My Dad tells lots of horror stories about bad Graham Lake ice. Snowmobiles going through the ice in the dark and guys being pulled out at the last minute before the sled slides into the black water, creeeeepy. I don't trust it.

As I said earlier we were out for a couple of hours at sunset last night and we didn't see a boat, canoe, kayak, swimmer - not one living soul. It was as if we owned the whole lake.