Cutler's cold, beautiful coast

 

"Cutler, Maine,'' by PAULA MARTIESIAN, in the show "Thirty Years: Martiesian, {Kenn} #speiser & Bert,'' at the Bert Gallery, Providence, through March 28.

My wife and I rented a house in Cutler for a week in the summer of 1982. It was reachable only by a mile-long dirt road, One time we had to get pulled out of its mud by a local garage owner, who said "This is God's country!'' It was a terrible place to bring a toddler, but we brought one, and a dog. The water, of course, was far too cold to swim in.

It was also seals' country and drug smugglers' country -- with a foggy, deeply indented coastline perfect for sneaking in contraband. A very beautiful place (especially on the rare days without fog) but one to which I have no desire to return.

--- Robert Whitcomb