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Sifting History’s Sands: Desert of Maine owner seeks to separate truth from myth at Freeport landmark
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Mela Heestand, co-owner of the Desert of Maine in Freeport, shows off several old newspaper clippings and photos she has found in recent research.
Alex Lear / The Forecaster
FREEPORT Legend has it that William Tuttle settled the farmland that is now the Desert of Maine in the late 18th century.
Mela Heestand, co-owner of the Desert Road landmark since December 2018, doubts he ever existed.
The Desert of Maine, which opens again next May, consists of a 20-30-acre “desert” of very fine grains of sand – not silt, as some once thought – that in the 18th century functioned as a successful farm. It offers tours in warmer months, and visitors can take free self-guided walks along the dunes and surrounding trails during the offseason.