Montsweag Flea Market

No trip up the Maine coast is complete for us without a stop at the Montsweag Flea Market. We are flea market hounds and can never seem to get enough of pawing through dusty old relics.
This flea market has been in business since 1977. During the summer on Saturdays and Sundays you’ll find dozens of tables and booths laden with all kinds of finds. The sellers are an interesting bunch of characters who love to talk. And since I love to listen, it’s a good match.
The sellers it seems to me live curious lives. They are always on the hunt through someone’s deceased relative’s attic, basement or garage for things to buy that they can resell at the flea market. They’ll talk to you about the last house they were called to «clean out.» Perhaps a little unsettling but I guess someone has to do it.
The provenance tales these sellers tell you regarding whatever «treasure» you may have in hand, can be compelling but also need to be taken with a grain of salt.
As with anything, buyer beware is the name of the game.
Factories in China, not surprisingly make some pretty good reproductions of things so it’s best to try to know a little bit about whatever it is you’re buying especially if it’s on the pricey side and being touted as something antique.
The good news is that there are so many things for little money that you can indulge your whims easily and go home with a little something that catches your eye.
It’s fine to haggle over price a little as long as you’re polite about it and don’t offer something so significantly lower than what they’re asking that you won’t be taken seriously.
Here, I’ve found most things are priced pretty fairly overall though and these folks need to make a living too.
The items that tend to haunt me are the old photograph albums. I wonder: «Who are these people and how did they end up here?»
These people once sat proudly for these sepia-​toned photos and are now relegated to the flea market heap.
I suppose if you don’t care for your own family tree, you can snap up some of these photographs and hang them up at home.
During this visit, I found an aqua-​colored glass medicine bottle from the late 1800s with most of the label still intact. It was for some elixir of the day that touts its ability to cure «weakness and female complaints».
If you’re a collector of anything, you’ll understand the draw to places like this. It’s cool to be reminded of some of the stuff you might have grown up with too. There were a number of things I saw that we had at home growing up including a clear glass Pyrex coffee maker from the days people made coffee on the stove top.
The size of the field here is manageable and a couple of hours is all you need to see most everything. If you go, wear comfy shoes and layered clothing as it can be cool in the morning but it can heat up quickly.
Parking is free around the perimeter of the field.
And don’t overload on water or coffee while you stroll around… the only «bathrooms» are two outhouses. I take a pass on that kind of antique.